Canada Is Cool, Not Cold. Its 150th Birthday Gives You A Chance To Warm To It As Never Before
Canadians are often stereotyped as unarmed Americans with universal healthcare who dress in heavy winter clothing. Nice and polite, but boring.
We may utter too many "sorrys," but we are not boring, not the diverse 36 million of us who make Canada unique, and certainly not our 3.8 million square miles of landscapes.
The blend of these merits make Canada not just an ideal travel destination, but — dare I say it because it's so un-Canadian to boast? — the ideal travel destination.
Sure, we have an identity issue, obvious from the fact that we define ourselves by our subtle but significant differences with our American neighbors.
The United States is a vocal, assertive influencer. We're more reserved and low key until, of course, we do something like vote in eye-candy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has helped us grab a share of the world's spotlight.
I didn't always appreciate my country, not fully anyway, and not until I decided to leave my birthplace — Vancouver, in beautiful British Columbia — in the late '80s in search of something different.
I spread a world map on the kitchen table and began, for various reasons, eliminating vast regions of the world until all that remained, to my surprise, was Canada.