Credit: PxHere
Travelling is an amazing escape from reality and a way to vacation, with 4.4 billion passengers using world airlines in 2023, according to the Airport Transit Action Group.
However, with a trade war underway between Canada and the United States, Canadians are beginning to look elsewhere to travel.
“I don’t feel comfortable with the states. Never have, never will,” Kylie Muncaster, a second year Travel and Tourism student said. “If you go as a Canadian, I feel like you’re putting yourself at risk for those die hard Americans, you know.”
Canada is a well of gorgeous places to travel and see.
“I just recently found out about how amazing our country is,” Muncaster continued. “I didn’t know we had mountains, and we have beaches and stuff. I thought we were just like a big city.”
When asked where outside of Canada people should look into travelling, Mucaster named countries in Asia, including the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
Second year travel and tourism student, Kylie Muncaster (Credit: Kylie Muncaster)
“They are amazing, they’re so cheap, they have such beautiful waterfalls, oceans, mountains. They have so much to offer and I feel like no one’s actually going there,” Muncaster explained.
Travelling internationally, however, does have its risks.
“That’s something you really have to consider, all the vaccinations you need to get and, you know, all the sicknesses you can get, let alone just the sicknesses, a lot of countries don’t like women, they don’t like if you’re gay, they don’t like so many things and that’s terrifying, but that’s just kind of what you sign up for when you’re like traveling,” Muncaster said. “You risk your safety, sometimes if you’re traveling unethically and it’s not very like equal tourism, you could be damaging the local communities. You have to learn how to properly travel and know the customs there and such.”
Cruises are becoming a fairly popular form of travelling, with 31.5 million people taking ocean cruises in 2023, according to Expedia Franchise.
“People always say it’s expensive because, obviously it is expensive, but you’re getting your bang for your buck. You are visiting so many countries at once,” Muncaster added. “You’re not just on a boat, you’re literally on like your own little resort. There’s some places that have water slides and amusement parks on there. Then there’s casinos and bars and everything.”
But there’s a clear difference between vacationing and travelling.
“vacationing is expensive, traveling is not that expensive,” Muncaster explains. “Vacationing, you’re doing all inclusive resorts, so you’re paying for all the meals, all the drinks, all the fun entertainment and stuff. But if you’re, let’s say, backpacking and you go to a country that isn’t so expensive, you’re spending like five bucks Canadian every day for all the food for the day, all your entertainment, you can buy clothes and everything.”
Muncaster adds that flights may be expensive but there are ways to make that money back.
“Some people don’t mind going on vacation every 5 years, some people need to go every month, whether that’s to just another state or province or if it’s a whole other country. And some people like to go by themselves and they’ll make money while they’re traveling. There’s so many different ways to make money while you’re traveling,” Muncaster said.
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