Have you been to the Bay of Fundy?  I did an East Coast road trip to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia when I was a teenager, and I would love to go back.  One of the (many) cool things about the East Coast are the extreme tides in the Bay of Fundy.  I saw the “Flower Pot Rocks” in Hopewell Rocks Park (pictured above) at high tide, and then walked around them at low tide. Insane!

Here’s a neat time-lapse video featured on Kottke.org of the tide coming in and out in the Bay of Fundy.  I love how the boats are beached, and then the water comes back in and rises them up again.

[pic of the Hopewell Rocks by Flickr user chtyson]

I really don’t like the word “glamping” (which I guess combines “glamourous” and “camping”).  But I do like the concept – all the pros of camping (namely, being immersed in nature) without the cons (namely, uncomfortable sleeping conditions). Throw in some fancy amenities like spa treatments and gourmet meals, and you’re all set.

Check out Patagonia Camp – a luxury camp with 18 yurts on the edge of Lake Toro, just outside the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.  Gorgeous.

Wouldn’t you love to spend a few days lounging at this mid-century modern home (with private pool) in Palm Springs?  Rent it on Airbnb.

Wow.  This is what highway rest stops look like in Norway.

Have you heard of the ice hotel (Hotel de Glace) in Quebec?  It just opened for the season on Friday.  You can go for just a few hours, and take a tour, or eat brunch.  Or you can stay overnight. You can even have your wedding there!   And, because it literally disappears every year, the ice hotel is redesigned each season. I think that’s kind of neat.

Would you stay over at the ice hotel?  Even though those people in the picture up there look cozy, I hate being cold, so I’d probably only go for a visit.  Either way, it’s pretty rad.

I thought I’d interrupt the gift ideas to share this… Budget Travel has posted their annual list of top budget travel destinations for 2012.  Wouldn’t Belize or the Azores (shown above) be a lovely place to visit in February?

More gift ideas tomorrow and next week!

Nothing drives fear into the heart of this experienced traveller like the thought of flying with a kid.  We did it successfully back in September, on our trip to NYC, but that was a pretty short flight.  What if we want to go a bit further?

A friend and her 7-month old babe are flying to San Francisco this week, and I’ve been thinking about them.  That’s a 5 hour flight from Toronto (longer if you do a layover).  Yikes!  In order to try and help her out, I compiled a list of blog articles I’ve read about travelling with babies:

Ten Tips for Traveling with a Baby from Cup of Jo

Tips for Flying with a Baby from Hannah of akhmatova

Traveling with a Toddler from You + Me

Up, Up and Away from Coos and Ahhs

A bajillion handy articles from the Canadian site, Have Baby will Travel

And in this weekend’s NY Times, there’s a great article about flying with children.

Have you flown with your little ones?  How did it go?  Do you have any more tips?

[image via here]

Do you get intense wanderlust for a quiet place in the woods, like I sometimes do?  Check out Cabin Porn, “inspiration for your quiet place somewhere”.  Dreamy.

I saw this print hanging in Desmond & Beatrice (an amazing cupcake shop/bakery on Queen St East) last week, and it made me smile.  That, and the cupcake.

Do you sometimes wish you could escape to your own private island? You can. It’s called Nanuku Island in Fiji, and it’s only $400 per night, which seems like a deal, don’t you think?