Canada is big enough to make choosing where to go a holiday in itself. Sandra Potter, founder of Frontier Travel, returns to Destination Unlocked to help us find our way, from the lakes and mountains of the Rockies to Québec City’s historic streets and the icebergs off Newfoundland.

Joining Daniel Edward for a coast-to-coast conversation, Sandra shares the places she loves, the journeys she recommends and the decisions that can make a Canadian holiday work better. Having lived in Vancouver and built a travel business that began with Canadian skiing, she brings decades of experience and plenty of strong opinions.

We start with Canada’s cities. Toronto has distinctive neighbourhoods and an impressive restaurant scene; Montréal offers a different cultural flavour; and Québec City has left Daniel with some of his favourite Canadian memories. Sandra explains why Vancouver remains her favourite city, with ocean, mountains and outdoor adventures close at hand.

Then we head into the Rockies. We explore Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper, compare skiing holidays in Alberta and Whistler, and consider what makes a winter visit rewarding even when you aren’t spending every day on the slopes. For train lovers, there’s a discussion of VIA Rail’s Canadian and the Rocky Mountaineer, including why travelling through the mountains in daylight matters.

Further east, we consider Niagara Falls and Sandra’s preference for staying in Niagara-on-the-Lake, before turning to Ottawa, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Expect Peggy’s Cove, colourful coastal towns, maritime history and the appeal of spotting an iceberg from shore.

There’s also time for food: lobster on the Atlantic coast, salmon in the west, Québec’s poutine and Daniel’s enthusiasm for sharing a BeaverTail. Sandra introduces her favourite Canadian cocktail, the Caesar, and reveals the Vancouver Island village she heads to when she wants a few days off.

In this episode:

• Choosing between Toronto, Montréal, Québec City and Vancouver

• Victoria, Vancouver Island and Sandra’s love of Tofino

• First Nations cultural attractions on the West Coast

• Scenic rail journeys through the Canadian Rockies

• Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Whistler

• Niagara Falls versus Niagara-on-the-Lake

• Ottawa and Canada’s Atlantic coast

• Newfoundland’s Iceberg Alley

• Canadian food, drinks and tips for a first visit

About our guest

Sandra Potter is the founder of Frontier Travel, specialising in tailor-made holidays, with extensive experience of travelling throughout Canada.

Find more episodes and share your own Canadian recommendations at destinationunlocked.com.

Follow Destination Unlocked wherever you listen for a different destination each week, explored through conversation with someone who knows it well.

This is destination unlocked with me, Daniel Edward.

Hello, welcome back to Destination Unlocked, the Conversational Travel

podcast where each week I'm joined by a different local or travel

expert to talk about a part of the world that they know best.

And we're going with a friend of the show.

Sandra Potter, the founder of Frontier Travel, joins us again this week

on the Destination Unlock Podcast.

she joined me to celebrate 250 years of the United States of

America, where we took a whistle stop tour across the states.

And now we're going to do the same for a country that she knows and loves so much.

So please enjoy this whirlwind tour of Canada.

Sandra, welcome back to Destination Unlocked.

Where are you unlocking for us today?

I'm unlocking the second biggest country in

the world, which is Canada.

Canada.

Oh, Canada.

Oh, Canada

I love Canada.

Canada is oddly for the size of it, overlooked by people, I think

because of its southern neighbour, but there is no reason to overlook it.

It's such an amazing country.

Absolutely.

And it's just got a bit of everything.

It's got all those amazing cities, which people overlooked.

People think of New York, but they never think of Toronto or Montreal,

and they're both stunning cities.

And you've got the national parks, acres and acres and miles and miles

and miles of space and lovely people.

got it all.

It was the National Parks that first got me interested in Canada.

I saw photos of them and I thought, my goodness, this is heaven on earth.

The big ones.

Bamff and Jasper are the iconic ones.

but there's loads of much smaller national parks.

In other provinces, as you probably know, there are 10 provinces and every

province has got a bit of a national park.

, And they're all different because you've got Maritimes, you've got

the mountains, you've got lakes.

It's just a bit of everything.

And then of course each of the provinces has a big

city, some bigger than others.

Has come a lot bigger than others.

You've got little St.

John's and Newfoundland.

Which I loved.

So do I actually, it's a really nice city and

now they've got direct flights.

You can actually get there quite easily, which is very good news.

the not all the capitals are the biggest cities.

I mean, Ottawa is the capital of Canada to Toronto is the

city that everybody goes to.

It's funny because Toronto, I feel, is the one that

loses out to New York because they're actually not that far from each other.

No, they're not.

and indeed culturally.

Oh, agreed.

It's by far the nearest in character to New York.

It's got the same sort of shops.

It's got water.

It's a lake rather than the ocean.

It's got great entertainment.

It's got great sport.

But Toronto has its own very clear and very exciting vibe.

And it's also, which a lot of people don't think of, has got a

lot of different neighbourhoods.

It grew up in chunks.

So you've obviously got the main downtown area, but you've got places

like Yorkville and several different areas and they've all got a different

field, different types of shops.

Full of little boutique shops, excellent restaurants, really

good restaurants in Toronto.

So if you were going to Canada for a city,

would Toronto be your pick?

If I was going a city break, probably for ease of access,

my favourite sitting in Canada without question is Vancouver, but it's far

too far to go for a long weekend.

But totally overlooked is Montreal, which is first language French,

although they're obviously completely bilingual, you've got a completely

different vibe than you do in Toronto.

You've got direct flights into Montreal, spend three or four days in

Montreal, but within that, take a day trip to the old Quebec city, Beautiful

old architecture, even more French.

And all the history of the invasion and the Franco British

War and all that sort of stuff.

Heights of Abraham, you might have learned about in your history books.

And you can see where Wolf and his crowd were trying to scale the heights.

It's fabulous.

Quebec for me , is the most fairytale city in Canada.

It is amazing.

It is the one that stands out in my memory the most, much more than Montreal

actually, which felt more practical.

Very fair.

If you're going to Montreal, you really should day trip it to Quebec.

Use Montreal as your hub 'cause there are direct flights from here

and there's nothing direct , into Quebec, it's only a three hour drive.

Only.

Which in Canadian is nothing.

Well, that's true given how large it is.

Let's go to the extreme west and we can work our way back to the Maritimes.

You said that if you were going for a city, your choice would be Vancouver.

Why is that?

I live there, so I know it very, very well.

I love the combination of the open air, the ocean, all the outdoor

activities that you can do.

I mean, you can go whale watching, you can go cycling, you can go

skiing, any number of activities, and yet you've got superb food.

good, entertainment.

You can go out Grass Mountain for the day.

You can go walk across Catalina Canyon.

You can take a float plane across to Victoria.

It's just endless.

I love Victoria as well, given that you've mentioned that.

Well, yeah, mini London

It feels it.

Yeah.

and they've lit up their parliament building in Victoria, again,

like a bit of a fairytale.

It is, it's sort of icing on the cake somehow, isn't it?

The other thing that I really enjoyed in Victoria was going to

Ah, yes.

Built out of a gravel pit, which is extraordinary, I dunno the

acreage of it, but it is glorious.

I haven't been for far too long.

The other thing is the Royal British Colombian Museum, which is so well

worth a visit and it gives you a lot of information about the First Nations

who were there long before we were, and their history and some of the

maritime history of the West coast.

Canada seems to have a very positive relationship with the

First Nations communities much more so than other nations where you don't

really hear about the different tribes and the difference of the cultures.

Canada does seem to recognise

they have learned,

a few years ago it wasn't quite so good.

The First Nations actually own most of the land that Vancouver sits on, so

there's had to be a lot of very deep and sensitive talking on both sides.

when you say own the land, what does that mean?

it's their ancestral lands.

They were there long before George Vancouver arrived.

I can't remember the history, but peace was made between the incoming

Vancouver and the local tribes.

But every now and then there is a bit of sabre wrestling, if you like.

the First Nations people are very well looked after by the government.

they get quite a lot of benefits . There's still fractures.

but they've, by and large, I think got it right,

And looking at Canada from a, a First Nations perspective,

the parts of Canada where you are most likely to be able to get that direct

experience, of First Nation cultures.

Looks like it is the centre and out west.

yes.

I think that's probably true.

I mean certainly if you've got the West Coast or somewhere like

the Queen Charlotte Islands.

They have been renamed the Haida Gwaii Islands, which not many

people get to 'cause they are a long way from everywhere.

but are well worth the effort if you can, and you feel, I am really in

First Nations land and there's a lot of places in and around Vancouver,

whereas I say there are a lot of tribes, all that area, all way up.

The West Coast is all, Indian land.

there's hotels in Vancouver, which are first nation owned restaurants,

which are First Nation owned.

And so you, yes, you can get quite a good feel to it and almost

wherever you go, you will find First Nations architecture poles.

I'm sure you've been through Stanley Park, which is part of Vancouver,

it's within the city limits.

And there's an amazing, selection of totem poles there.

I think you're always aware that they were there first.

the totem poles are very interesting.

once you learn to read them, there's actual storytelling in the way that

they've been put together.

first Nations subsist on their storytelling.

it's in their polls.

It's in their life, it's in their dance, it's in their songs.

it's in their sculpture.

There's a wonderful museum, out at UBCU, university of British

Columbia, which is mostly First Nations, and it's fascinating.

Really good.

As you mer your way into Canada.

from British Columbia above it, you've got Yukon,

Yes.

then you've got Alberta to the east of it.

Then you've got Saskatchewan, then across from Saskatchewan, you've got Manitoba.

Above that, you've got

Nunavut.

Yeah.

These sound like some of them might be First Nations names.

Nunavut absolutely is Saskatchewan is Manitoba.

I don't know.

Northwest Territories of course isn't.

which is the one next door to the Yukon.

and the only territory I haven't been to.

Oh, there you go.

I Nor have I.

And it's those inland parts of Canada, which I haven't been to.

But I also feel like a lot of people who go to Canada don't think to

go there as their first choice,

nor would you.

The only reason most people go to, Manitoba is to go and

see the polar bears up north.

to be honest, there's not a lot to see except wheat fields.

if you take the train across, which some people do from Toronto across to

Vancouver, you have two days worth of prairie and it's got its own beauty.

But as a visitor with just a couple of weeks, unless you're

maybe going on a ranch holiday, there's not a lot to call you.

I have been, but I sort of scooted through.

we chatted last time about trains I, I like trains.

I know you preferred to drive, but that train that goes across Canada

Via?

A Via rail.

Yes.

you can go the whole way from Halifax in Nova Scotia through Montreal to Toronto.

Change trains in, Toronto.

And then you get on the Canadian it's called and it's stunning.

It's, I can't remember how many carriages long.

It depends how many people are booked.

But what you might not have known is that you can be in little tling to on the

marsh in a sort of one horse town and you can let vie know that you want to get on

board and the train will stop for you.

Isn't that amazing?

If you're thinking about doing a train journey through Canada,

which bit goes through the Rockies.

two choices Via rail goes from Jasper.

it overnights and lands up in Vancouver the next day.

But the better option from a tourist point of view, although it is a

bit more expensive, is something called the rocky Mountaineer.

it's a luxurious train.

It's equivalent to the Venice sample.

train over in this part of the world, it's very, very comfortable.

You have very good food, you have guides on board, and crucially, you don't

waste any of the scenery by sleeping.

it starts in Vancouver, all the trains go to Camloops, which it has to be

said isn't the most exciting time in Canada, but it happens to be halfway.

At that point, the train splits and half of it goes north to Jasper and

the other part goes south to Banff.

and it's a two day journey.

And Banff in the winter gives you some skiing options, doesn't it?

It gives you some very good skiing options.

It has three ski hills.

, Lake Louise is the biggest mountain, Norway is the smallest, which is

one immediately above Banff and then Sunshine Village in the middle.

it's a very good way of having, I mean, first class skiing, don't get

me wrong, but also because you're in a national park, you are in the

countryside, you've got lots of things like dogsledding, and ice skating

things that are a bit Canadian.

Actually.

the whole of Lake Louise is, obviously frozen.

and the hotel at the end, the Chateaux Lake Louise, the Fairmont,

builds a ice castle and you can go skating around the ice castle

Wow.

it's fabulous.

And of course you've got the Victoria Glassier at the end of the road,

or the end of the lake rather.

, it's glorious.

It sounds amazing.

And ice skating is Canada ice hockey, which I think for them is just hockey.

Yes, because there's no such thing as grass hockey.

, If you have to play on grass, that's referred to as grass hockey.

Hockey is on the ice

. Daniel Edward: There are more ice hockey rinks than there are Tim Hortons.

Never.

Yeah.

Wow.

There are an awful lot of Tim Hortons.

There are exactly.

And Tim Horton, of course, is a very good coffee

chain for those don't know.

it's Canada through and through.

It absolutely is Timbits.

Timbits.

Gotta get your timbits.

Absolutely.

wasn't Tim Hor

Yes.

I think he was, I think you're right.

I think he was a hockey player.

Yeah.

But yes, if, if you're gonna go to Canada, you've, got no choice.

you simply must go to Tim Horton's, a nice box of Timbits.

This is what I do in, Halifax.

Take the Timbits to the park.

but we'll get to Halifax in a bit.

we're not yet on the East Coast.

ing in the middle.

Of course there's ban.

The other one that maybe more people have heard of would be Whistler.

Whistler is just to the north of Vancouver.

If you are skiing in, the Banff area, you fly into Calgary

and it's a 90 minute drive.

If you're skiing Whistler, you are flying into Vancouver.

And again, it's a 90 minute drive on, I must say, one of the most

beautiful roads in the world.

The, sea to sky highway is just glorious.

So which would you choose for skiing?

' Cause I know you like skiing, how do you choose between Whistler, banford, or

perhaps any other that I've not heard of?

Depends on what sort of skier you are and what

you want outta your holiday.

If you are a diehard skier whistler, if you want a bit of variation,

you can spend a couple of days in Vancouver before you go up.

You can do things like heli skiing from whistle.

What's hell is skiing.

Hay skiing.

Oh my goodness.

They take you up in a helicopter and they drop you.

They do land, they land at the top of a mountain and you ski

down, so you don't have to worry about lifts or anything like that.

Wow.

And it is the most amazing skiing you are ever likely to do.

Gosh, that does sound exciting.

Oh it is.

So you can do that in Whistler.

You can't do it in bap.

You can also, when you are in Whistler, 'cause there is lot, quite a lot of

back country lodges where you, live for a week and just head ski every day.

and quite a lot of people will warm up in Whistler and then

go up to one of these lodges.

If you're a cross country skier, then you want to be going to ban, lake Louise.

You can be a very good skier and have a lot of fun in Banfield,

Louise, and Jasper to the north, which I'll come to in a second.

but for a family holiday, for people who don't necessarily want to ski all

day and every day, you've got options.

you've got your skiing, but you've also got the dog sledding, the ice skating, the

snowmobiling, the cross country skiing.

it's more of a, winter experience as well as absolutely first class downhill skiing.

So then what about Jasper?

Jasper is a lovely resort.

It's probably my favourite actually.

it's a bit hard to get to.

It's like a small lake Louise.

very good skiing.

If you are a top class skier, you'd get bored quite quickly

'cause it's fairly limited.

But again, you're in the national park and the scenery is

glorious and the food is good.

And it's just a lovely, friendly town because for all that area, because

you're in Banff or Jasper National Park, their main tourist season is the

summertime skiing was only started as an add-on late eighties, mid eighties.

they were looking for something to do with their empty hotels and thought, oh,

well why, why don't we do some skiing?

they've got the snow anyway.

We started Frontier Ski in 91 and the reason Frontier

was called Frontier was 'cause very few people went to Canada to ski.

Yeah.

This is your origin story, isn't it?

It is.

Yes, To get to Jasper, you can either fly into Edmonton and then

it's a four hour drive, or you go into Calgary and then it's a six hour drive

via Banff.

They are long drives.

what quite a lot of people will do is do a two centre,

Banff and Jasper, because the road from Jasper to Banff is the Icefield

Parkway, which is one of the most beautiful roads in the world.

Mind you, at that time of year, I wouldn't recommend that people self-drive

there's a lot of snow on the ground.

There's lots of buses . No train, no train goes north, south.

but there's lots of buses because it's a well worn route.

these are public buses or these are tour buses?

There are two of buses.

You book it alongside the rest of your trip with your travel agent.

They just sort the transfers with it.

with Frontier given that it started with ski, what was it that made you

say to people who were in the uk so not far from the great ski slopes of

France, Switzerland, what was it that made people so keen to, go to Canada?

Skiers like somewhere different.

and once they got there, the amount of space, the lack of queuing.

back in 91 when we started, it was cheaper to have two weeks skiing

in Whistler than it was to have two weeks skiing of others There.

and people were so polite.

in France you tend to have people elbowing their way onto the lifts.

In Canada, it's an orderly line

Oh, how nice.

and the people offering you a tissue, if your nose, it's dripping.

it's just well organised and late Louise, I dunno if they still do it, but for the

longest time, if you had to queue more than 10 minutes at the base, you've got

your lift pass price refunded for the day.

Wow.

And they've never done it.

They've never had to refund it.

Oh, that's very impressive.

Yeah,

you started with the ski, but you did move into

other areas of, Canadian travel.

if we take things away from ski now, where would you say is your second thing that

people start talking about with Canada?

the West Coast, the Rockies, Vancouver, the islands,

and of course Niagara Falls.

Yes.

So a first timer will quite often fly into Toronto, have two or

three days in Toronto, do the day trip to Niagara, and then fly across to Calgary

or Vancouver, whichever, explore the west.

And that breaks up the journey as well because

it's obviously so much closer.

it's an eight hour time difference to Vancouver.

And the Niagara Falls point, it is so much

better on the Canadian side.

Oh yes, no comparison.

and that's not just me being a Canada file.

I think even the Americans might submit to that.

In fact, I was told that by an American.

They said,

were you?

Well, there you go.

I proved my point.

they said If you're going to Niagara, you, you must go to the

Yeah, right.

It's, it, I don't know why I've seen it from both.

it just looks so much more impressive, but be warned, it is very touristy.

Yes.

and actually you wouldn't want to spend too much time there.

most people just do a day trip from, Toronto and that's

easy, but if you've got a bit more time, actually Niagara's got quite a

lot to offer because it's one of the biggest wine growing areas in Canada.

And there's a, Niagara town is based around the falls, obviously loads of

hotels and all the rest of it, but 30 minutes down the road, there's something

called Niagara on the Lake, which is much more laid back, has got four or five

really nice boutique hotels, and you've got the shore festival, you've got, the

wine tours, s there's quite a lot of more cultural things to do if you like.

So I quite often recommend to people that they spend two or three days

there, see some of the rest of the area, which is, it's very pretty.

You're up on the Niagara garment it's lovely countryside.

It, and if you are canny, you then drive from Niagara to Toronto

airport, which happens to be the Niagara side of the city.

Drop your car and off you go.

It's convenient.

It does make sense.

What do you think about doing a trip to that part and doing some time in Ottawa?

It's the capital, but it does get overlooked.

It gets very overlooked, which is a bit unfair because it's

actually got quite a lot to offer.

It's got a lot culturally, it's got an excellent museum.

The museum of Civilization is brilliant.

the Bywood market is good fun.

It's right on the river.

You've got all the Parliament buildings.

it's certainly worth spending two or three days there.

you wouldn't be disappointed if you are more of a city person than a,

countryside person, than a scenery person to have a four centre , Quebec

city, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and the direct flights home from Ottawa.

So you could do that very easily.

And if you are in that area, I agree with you,

you can't be in that area and overlook Montreal and Quebec.

I don't think so.

They are such a must in my opinion, and they are the only part

of Canada, which is truly bilingual.

People say Canada's bilingual, it's only bilingual in the French areas,

you don't think.

New Brunswick.

Is bilingual, possibly even more French than English?

That's interesting.

So how come there.

Oh, it's a bit of history.

I, it escapes me.

but it's all to do with the first landings.

it's nearer the coast.

It joins onto the north of Nova Scotia.

So it's bordered by Nova Cacia on Quebec Province.

And Nova Scotia also started life speaking French.

it did.

Yeah.

But it is New Scotland

Yes, for reason.

and did you know that there was a French province in Canadian waters?

You can actually go to France.

Are we talking Samia?

Yeah, absolutely.

Well done.

Not many people knew that.

It's so funny.

It is tiny.

Yeah, two little islands.

this is the thing with France, they never let go.

Not as they can possibly help it.

They lost Quebec and they're still bitter about it.

I'm told.

Oh, we've made it over to the, East Coast, known as the Maritimes,

but that's more than one province.

The Maritimes.

Yeah, the Maritimes are in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.

Newfoundland.

Prince Edward Island.

Knew I was missing one.

Yeah.

PEI.

Thank you.

Known for its potatoes.

Indeed , and, and a green Gables.

That's true.

It's funny, it's one of these places where the biggest attraction

is something which isn't real.

It's like when people come to Baker Street in London and expect to see

where, where does Sherlock Holmes live?

Absolutely.

of the Maritimes then, which, speaks to you most clearly?

It's not Prince Edward Island, but which of the others?

I'm pretty torn.

Nova Scotia, I think is probably number one.

but I do love Newfoundland.

Mm.

I love the dogs.

Oh, that too.

Yes.

let's start with Newfoundland then, it's actually huge.

it's much bigger.

It's sort of, Labrador and Newfoundland are sort of smushed together as a

unit, but it's quite a large space and it goes quite far north to places

that you probably wouldn't ever go.

No, somebody wants to go to Northern Labrador has got

some very special reason to go there.

there's polar bears in the Trunk Mountains.

but I would never promote that for a tourist because unlike Hudson Bay, where

you can pretty much guarantee to see them in October, November, the toolkits, no,

they're there, but it's such a big area.

They don't congregate in the same way as they do run Hudson Bay.

Something that I found quite exciting about

Newfoundland was Iceberg Alley.

Oh yes, that's fun.

up by TWI and Gate.

at the right time of year, which is May, June, you can

see icebergs off all the coast.

You've got deer Lake up up north.

All the way up to Kapo, which actually as another reason to go there is there's a

huge Viking settlement up there on, so Me is, it's where Viking settled in Canada.

that's a good drive up there and you've pretty much got to

drive it unless you're on a tour.

and then you've got the area in the middle, the north coast, around Twi Gate.

Very good icebergs there.

But if you don't wanna go that far up, you can actually see the more St.

John's.

Yes, if you go at the right time of year.

It's always a bit hit and miss to see when you're gonna see

them, but they should be May, June.

Which is also when the weather starts to get a bit nicer.

Yes, you might have to contend with black

flies, which are not nice.

But I went in June a couple of years ago and I didn't see a single fly

and I saw some amazing icebergs.

I think I was there in May

And did you see them if they started carving?

Yeah.

Because you need it to get a bit warmer for them to calve to

then float down along the coast.

in fact, I sort of followed, the Vikings actually came across from

Europe, Iceland, then Greenland, then down the coast of Canada.

Fantastic itinerary.

Yeah.

And there was still a big, big buildup of icebergs in a couple of the Greenland

ports that we were trying to get into.

Oh, right.

cause you just need it, you need it to move.

that'd be a really good fit.

Oh, fantastic.

yeah.

Actually, my first experience of Canada was a one week cruise that

went from Boston through to Montreal.

Yes, that's a jolly nice itinerary.

that's a well worn one, but really good.

And there's a lot of different cruise lines offering it from the really quite

big to the actually quite small and boutique, which you get lots of choices.

And I think the ports are ideally sized for a one day visit.

Aren't they?

And places like Halifax.

Perfect.

Halifax will be my go-to on the East Coast.

In terms of cities, I suppose is the largest option.

by quite a big margin.

Yes, absolutely.

Capital city of Nova Scotia, of course.

And again, a very good jumping off point for doing all sorts of things.

Even if you stay in the city, there's the Citadel,

which has fabulous history.

very interesting museum within the Citadel, which if I'd had more time,

I could have spent a whole day there.

Really?

Gosh.

Because what?

I didn't know, and having spent a bit of time in Halifax, now you realise

that it, it's one of the main stories is about the Halifax explosion.

Oh yes.

it wiped out much of the waterfront, which is why the

waterfront is actually pretty ugly.

Yeah.

They've tried to beautify it, but not really.

It funny how the new builds, I guess they were, they were rebuilt

in a hurry where there was no money to make them look beautiful.

today's new builds you might make something looking

really pretty spectacular.

But back then, they just, yeah, they're blocks.

And actually yes, they have been building, I think they're

calling it the Cunard building, and that on the waterfront looks lovely.

That looks good.

Yes.

Good name, And did you get down to Lunenberg as well?

Piggy's Cove, obviously.

'cause it's just

That's the most photographed point, isn't it?

Yes it is.

It's pretty, pretty.

It's a sort of, it's a good day trip,

yes, absolutely.

It's only, 40, 50 minutes outside the city centre.

a good day trip, which you can do by coach or self drive.

You can go from Peggy's Cove on down to Luna, which is a very pretty

multicoloured, one of those towns with lots of different colours, houses,

and a good maritime history as well.

There's somewhere else, I've forgotten the name of it, where

is it that there's the French fort?

Lewisburg,

Lewisburg, that was it.

which is up the other end.

So you go north to Baddeck, which is a very pretty little town.

Go on up, to.

Sydney.

And then across to Lewisburg.

that's a fascinating for you can just feel the soldiers there in some way.

it's one of the best things to do if you're going to Sydney

area 'cause there's not much in Sydney.

there are some hotels if you wanted to stay there.

But the road trips you can do around there.

'cause that's on an island,

It is.

there's causeway across.

the other thing up there that's absolutely fascinating is the Alexander Graham Bell

National Historic site, which you can get to either from Baddeck or from Louisburg.

Well worth a visit.

and it's very convenient, located sort of halfway between the two

. . Daniel Edward: Let's move to St.

John and St.

John's.

Okay.

two very interesting, cities in different provinces, but

people do get confused between the two.

Of course they do.

One has an apostrophe and the other one doesn't.

The apostrophe S is in Newfoundland

John, no apostrophe

Correct.

Which would you go to first?

Oh, St.

John's Newfoundland every day, St.

John New Brunswick, and, sorry, tourism New Brunswick.

It's a nice enough city, but there's nothing to hold you there.

The only must do if you're in that area is Hopewell Rocks, which is

where you get the reversing, river, it's the biggest after Bristol.

Funnily enough, the river goes out and comes back in, but it goes the wrong

way around because of the pressures

It's all about the tides, which go up to 12 metres in one tide,

yes.

Oh my gosh, yes.

the Bay of Fundi.

It washes so far out that for a few hours in the day, you can go

and just pick up fresh seafood.

Correct.

That's been washed up.

Yeah.

And you can kayak down there and do sorts of things,

but it's the second highest tides in the world after Bristol.

given that we've arrived at seafood, Let's talk

a bit about Canadian food.

' there is quite a range across the country.

there are a few things though, which I think people must try.

Okay, what are your things?

And I'll tell you mine.

I'm gonna start with a silly one.

I'm gonna start with Beaver Tails.

Okay.

beaver tails are not healthy in the slightest,

they're like a flattened do

Yes.

But they look like a beaver's tail.

exactly.

And then they doll up all sorts on top.

It's sickening really.

yeah, they're not, my thing, but yeah.

Go for it.

I've never successfully finished one.

They are worth sharing.

Definitely, definitely, definitely.

so I give a beaver towel.

you raise me a

Oh, a lobster.

uh.

If you're talking tails.

It true East coast.

East coast.

Yep.

Salmon in the west coast.

lobster on the, even McDonald's serves a, lobster Big Mac.

It's so funny the regional variations in

McDonald's they do a, mc lobster.

Yes, they do.

And they're not stupidly expensive.

Are they all so nice?

I've never had one.

I've never recommended McDonald's as the, gourmet destination.

When you're on holiday, there is always a reliable place.

If you're stuck,

you know what

and it's cheap ish.

I just think it's fun that they do it, to be honest.

Yes, exactly.

what else is there Canadian food wise that's quite special.

beef, beef, beef and beef.

amazing steaks, obviously.

I mean, if you think of all that grassland, you've gotta

have something to keep it down.

Tidbits we mentioned before.

You've kind of about tidbits.

Yeah.

there are, I believe, still restaurants where you can eat all

sorts of funny things like bear

Oh my gosh.

caribou is actually delicious.

That's well worth having and is not so culturally difficult.

but seafood on, on all coasts, and beef are probably the two biggest.

And a bit like America.

The portions are pretty generous.

I've got one more

that's come to my mind sort of special to Quebec.

Oh, I know where you're going.

It's poutine.

What are your thoughts on poutine?

heart attack on a plate.

It's really good though.

Yes, Squeaky cheese curds.

I hadn't thought about that quite right.

Squeaky cheese curds on chips.

I'm gravy.

And the gravy.

It's all about the gravy.

Challenging ones , such a large region to cover.

But what would you say is the top thing to see or do anywhere in Canada?

What you haven't asked me is where my favourite

place encounter is, and I think I'm gonna pull it in to do this.

So it's a place called Totino, which is a relatively small village on

the west coast of Vancouver Island.

and for a few days off after being busy, busy, busy around

Canada, that would be my go-to.

the most important place, if you're not going anywhere else at all,

would be Banff National Park.

What would you say is a tourist trap or a common mistake to avoid

There aren't any.

I mean, well, you can avoid Niagara and if you hate crowds

personally, I would avoid Niagara.

So maybe your common mistake is to stay in Niagara, rather than Niagara and

the lake, or just doing a day trip.

that's my common mistake.

Do not stay in Niagara Falls.

What's your favourite time of year to visit Canada?

Spring once the snows have melted.

and that doesn't happen until in the Rockies, mid to late May.

So June is a lovely time to be there.

Before the school kids get out, before it gets super crowded.

Do you have a book or film recommendation for people

who are interested in Canada?

There are a few actually.

obviously Anna Green Gables, shipping forecast is both a film and a book, but

something slightly different maybe would be The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.

It's set in a mythical village, about two hours outside Toronto.

how about your top food or drink to try in Canada?

My favourite drink is something called a Caesar.

which brings in two things.

It's vodka, it is like a bloody Mary, except instead of making it with

tomato juice, you use C tomato juice.

Now that's a very Canadian thing, which I probably should have

thought of earlier, but didn't.

it's a mixture of clam juice and tomatoes you know how tomato

juice can be a little bit cloying.

putting in the clams just takes the, cloying this out of it.

you can go and buy in the supermarket cla tomato juice

and you serve it with ice and, a slice of celery stuck into it.

and you can make it quite spicy.

So a good, good chunk of, Tabasco.

Huh.

Okay.

And what about food?

Salmon on a wooden board.

Specifically a wooden board.

grilled.

Yes, it's very west coast, it's absolutely delicious.

And final question, and one that, , is challenging

for you is to do with souvenirs.

And I know that's not your favourite thing, but if you are heading to

Canada and you want to get a souvenir, and, and maybe this is too broad

a question because there are such different cultural highlights across

the country, what could you keep an eye out for to bring home as a memento?

Well, I always bring home melatonin because you can't buy it in this

country, and it helps with the jet lag.

but perhaps that's not for everybody.

maybe something cowboy related cowboy hats.

something quite fun actually to, to do with the mounties.

Oh yes, of course.

We didn't mention the Mounties.

We didn't mention the mountains, which we really should have.

The mounts are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and they are

resplendent, I think is the correct word, in a scarlet jacket and a how

on earth do you describe their hat?

A cowboy hat that's been iron out straight.

How do you describe it?

I dunno.

a hat.

A hat.

Yes.

you know It's almost like the Puritans hat as well, isn't it?

Oh yes.

It's a very old fashioned hat, and it always looks rather uncomfortable

and it's about to blow off.

But if you can ever catch a mounted musical ride anywhere,

it's absolutely blended.

You might get one in somewhere like Kingston, where the

forties, Kingston, Ontario.

And of course their base is in Saskatchewan.

Sandra Potter, founder of Frontier Canada.

Thank you so much for unlocking Canada for us.

Thank you very much for having me.

It It's been fun chat.

Thank you once again to Sandra Potter, founder of Frontier Travel.

And my goodness, what a range we covered today.

And do you know, that's not even the half of it.

If you've got tips and tricks for Canada, send them my way.

Or if you follow any of the ideas that Sandra shared in this conversation,

I'd also love to hear from you and what you thought of them as well.

You can always get in touch just by going to the Destination unlocked

website, destination unlocked.com,

and, uh, drop me a message from there.

if this is your first time listening to the Destination Unlocked Podcast,

then give it a follow wherever you're currently listening, and that way,

whenever you wanna go travelling somewhere else around the world, you'll be able

to find us again nice and easily.

Until then, have a great day.

Thanks for listening.

Bye-bye.