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One country I need no excuse to talk about is Canada.

I've always been fascinated by it's vastness, and I've been a Canada Specialist for some years now. I've also been extremely lucky to have visited it three times. So far, that is!

I say on my web page, that Canada is a wonderful destination for any type of holiday - and this is true.

The majority of my enquires tend to be for holidays to the Rockies. They are everyone's first image of Canada. While there are many other wonderful parts of this vast country to see and experience, the Rockies are where most visitors want to head to first.

I've been to Western Canada twice, both to British Columbia and Alberta, and have been on the Rocky Mountaineer a couple of times. This part of Canada has always been popular with British visitors, and it's not difficult to understand why. It has great cities, like Vancouver, and Calgary. Plus breathtaking scenery, with resorts like Banff, and Lake Louise.

One of my favourite memories, is standing on the water's edge at Lake Louse early one bright autumn morning, and marvelling at the reflection of the mountains in the lake. And the colours! I have so many other images. Catching the first sight of Mount Robson viewed from the Rocky Mountaineer, the centre of Whistler with it's red maple trees, soft rain in Vancouver, a glimpse of a moose on the edge of the highway and the Icefields Parkway on the way to Jasper. No Visit is complete without venturing to Tim Horton's for a coffee and Tim Bits - boxes of tiny doughnuts in a variety of flavours.

Both times we flew into Calgary, and made our way via Banff to Jasper, and then caught the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver. We tried both the red leaf and gold leaf. The service is excellent in both, but for a trip of a lifetime, it has to be the gold leaf with it's viewing dome, and waiter service meals.

I've also been to the Eastern Seaboard, to Toronto, a city I fell in love with immediately. We took a boat ride out into the harbour, visited the CN tower, and walked over the glass floor at the top. The shopping is good, and a good rival to New York, and it's one of the bigger film venues in North America.

We took a side trip down to Niagara Falls. Had a helicopter ride over the falls. We had lunch in the sky tower - with it's amazing views of both side of the falls; America and Canada. Finally, no visit to Niagara would be complete without a ride on the Maid of the Mist. The wineries are also worth viewing on the way back to Toronto. The ice wine, is typical of this region.

Surprisingly, within a short drive you can be out of the city, and in the Muskoka region, and the Algonquin Park. This region if full of lakes, and is absolutely beautiful. We tried canoeing - quite an experience ! One thing people don't realise is that this region is a good alternative to New England to see the autumn leaves in the fall. The colours are as vibrant, and the scenery is magnificent. You can also stay in lodges on the edge of the many lakes.

From here we made our way up to Ottawa, Canada's capital. A lovely city, with it's rich culture and heritage, and vibrant student life. The native Canadian history is strong around here, and we visited several museums which gave us a taste of this.

Finally we flew to Montreal, a cosmopolitan city in Quebec, which is hip, trendy, and full of parks, pavement cafes and festivals.

But there is still so much I'd still like to see. The Atlantic coastline, the Yukon, the Northern Territories. Place like Churchill in Northern Manitoba to see the Polar bears and the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, to see the highest tides in the world.

Canada is easy to visit and get around. The flights to Toronto and Montréal are only 7-9 hours. Newfoundland less. Vancouver around 11 hours. The roads are easy to drive on, the train services are good. The people are friendly.

What can I say - do try it, and I'm sure like me you'll want to go back. Again and again.