TRAVEL&&TOURISM

THE WORLD IS YOURS TO DISCOVER

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Food and Drink Learn all about a famous dish from ITALY

A Vacation I will never forgetA shared experience from our editor

How Much Would You Spend?An exlusive look at the world’s most expensive hotel

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Awesome AttractionsYou’ll defi nately want to check these out! This week’s attraction is ancient!

Fun Flying FactsKeep these tips in mind the next time you go up in the air

True Life - Culture SectionLetter to the Editor, how much do you know about the world around you?

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FUN FACTSFACTSFACTSFLYING

In today’s society, a air travel is a very common source of transportation. Though many people would rather drive than fl y because of fear, there are three main myths about fl ying that could help re-solve this fear to get you up in the air.

MYTH 1Air pockets cause planes to fall hundreds of feet, potentially causing crashes.TRUTHIn actuality, there is no place in the sky that is a “pocket” without air. Imagine walking down the street and suddenly you could not breathe because you had walked into an “air pocket”?

MYTH 2Planes are fragile and with enough turbulence an airplane can be easily damaged, even have the wings break off, during fl ight.TRUTHThe fact is that commercial airplanes are built to withstand far more turbulence than could ever be experienced in fl ight, and there is no amount of turbulence that you would typically encounter that can damage the plane, and now way at all that could break the wings.

MYTH 3A plane will fall out of the sky if the engines cut out and stop workingTRUTHActually, even without engines, an airplane can glide for up to 100 miles from cruise altitude of 30,000 feet. The term is called lift, if the plane has speed then the wind passing under the wings will LIFT the plane up and not allow it to fall. Planes simply do not “fall” out of the sky, in fact, gliding without en-gine power on landing is quite common in order to save fuel.

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A L I T T L E TA S T E O F

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An Interesting Experience in the Kitchen The kitchen is not my most favourite place to be. When I found myself behind the kitchen counter yet again, I wasn’t surprised. I guess I need to get used to it. After all, I do need food to survive. This time the reason was completely my own fault. I was looking up recipes on the Internet for my mom when I stumbled upon a recipe I could not resist trying. The recipe was for bruchetta, an Italian appetizer whose origin dates to at least the 15th century. It looked easy to make, and the fl avours in the recipe had my taste buds running wild. The recipe called for:

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)2 cloves garlic, minced1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread1/4 cup olive oil1 cup goats cheese

If I was going to get cracking on this recipe and make a mean batch of bruchetta, I would have to go to the grocery store and get the ingredients myself. After taking about an hour to get the six items on my list that I didn’t have, I was ready for my gourmet kitchen to come to life. The (what felt like) everlasting process began with peeling the skin off of the tomatoes. It was a good thing my mom was around to give me some cooking tips, since I butchered the fi rst tomato with a paring knife. She told me to put the tomatoes into boiling water for one minute, then soak them in a cold water bath. I couldn’t believe I had wasted so much time trying to cut the tomato when the skin basically fell off as soon as it hit the cold water. I then had to mince the garlic cloves. Thank god for the electric mincer, I can’t imagine how my fi ngers would feel if I had to mince

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the garlic by hand. After the garlic had been minced, the very dis-tinct aroma of garlic fi lled the kitchen and my mouth began to water. After that was complete, I chopped the fresh basil into fi ne pieces. The smell of the basil mixing with the garlic was exquisite, and I could not wait to taste my creation! Next was my least favourite part of the process. I had to cut the tomatoes into quarters to dispose of the seeds and juice inside. I never knew how much juice a tomato had until it was soaking my hands and making a soggy mess all over the kitchen counter. The tomatoes were slippery and slimy in my hands when I tried to grasp them. I then plopped the remaining pieces into a bowl and began mixing in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh basil, and garlic. While I was waiting for all the fl avours to toss and tango together in the bowl, I sliced the baguette on a diagonal, each piece about half an inch thick and coated one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. It then went into the oven for about fi ve minutes to toast until the baguette was a golden brown and the olive oil had soaked into the bread to give it a glossy coating. My kitch-en had now transformed into a bakery, and the smell of fresh bread fi lled the air. After the bread cooled down, I carefully aligned the slices of bread on a platter, oil side face up. Using a spoon, I topped the baguette with the bruchetta toppings, giving a hearty helping on each baguette. I then topped each individual bruchetta piece with crumbled goat’s cheese and cracked pepper, and my mater piece was complete! After spending the past hour fi ghting temptation, I was fi -nally able to taste my amuse. My mom joined me, as she helped me along the process, and the two of us shared a bonding moment as we tried our creation. Our taste buds were thanking us as we put our pieces of bruchetta into our mouths. The fl avours ran wild, and I couldn’t help but notice the sharp taste of the garlic along with the sticky texture of the goats cheese on my palate. This experience has drastically changed my mind about avoiding the kitchen. Now that I know I can actually make some-thing tasty, I expect to fi nd myself behind the kitchen counter again very soon.

The mostEXPENSIVE

hotel in the world

The most

Those living the life of the rich and famous often expect the best of the best. While travelling the globe with the endless amounts of money that they have, they often wonder where to lay their heads at night. For those who are traveling to Geneva Switzerland, the royal penthouse suite in the Wilson Hotel is where they will spend a pretty penny.

Just steps from one of the most beautiful parks in Geneva and ide-ally located only ten minutes from he city centre, the Wilson Hotel is one of Switzerland’s most contemporary hotels. Last renovated in 2010, it now features 180 beautifully appointed guestrooms and 48 suites including superior rooms, prestige rooms (with or without lakeview), executive suites, junior suites, crown suites, presiden-tial suites, and the most luxurious,

Sarah NafzigerREPORTER

tial suites, and the most luxurious, 5

the royal penthouse. “The room was very spacious, clean with all the luxury extras you would expect from a 5 star hotel,” ex-claimed one review on Tripadvi-sor, “It had a very comfortable bed and pillows, something that is quite rare.” The royal penthouse suite offers the most extravagant luxuries for those willing to pay near $15,000 CAD per night. This 1,680m2 suite includes 12 rooms, and 12 bathrooms, bil-liards, a grand piano, fi tness centre, private elevator, and fl at screen TVs.

The hotel’s three fi ne res-taurants offer mouth watering dishes prepared by an award win-ning chef. Discover new fl avours at the Bayview Restaurant (newly opened). It offers panoramic views of the alps and Lake La-men. There are also three bars, a luxurious spa complete with a selection of over 1000 treatments and packages for two. The hotel also features nine meeting rooms complete with the latest technol-ogy, a salt water outdoor pool

overlooking the lake, concierge services, a fi tness centre, hair dresser and salon. Rates for each room start at $890.00 CAD per night, and average around $3500 per night. Not only are the physical features of the Wilson Hotel at-tractive, but the service is excep-tional. “The great service started the moment I stepped out of the Taxi,” said a reviewer on Tri-padvisor. The hotel offers many superior services such as valet

parking and bell service. “The staff always treats me like fami-ly,” a regular guest complimented on Booking.com. The only reviews you will fi nd on Trip Adviser and Book-ing.com are positive ones. Most people who have stayed at the Wilson Hotel have had a most memorable and pleasurable expe-rience, so when you’re travelling in Switzerland, be sure keep the Wilson Hotel in mind.*

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DOMINICAN REPUBLICAn Unforgettable Journey

Travelling to my fi rst country down south was an experience I will never be able to forget. I didn’t know what to expect in a country surrounded by crisp blue water and sunny weather almost 365 days of the year. It wasn’t until I had a chance to go to the Dominican Republic with my best friend that I knew what it was like to be on a tropi-cal island. Leaving the snow back in Canada wasn’t as dreadful as everyone says it is when travelling to an island where the weather is 30C at 10pm. We took an early morn-ing fl ight out of Hamilton, Ontario. Let’s just say we didn’t get much sleep the night before. Landing in Punta Cana at the Dominican airport was exquisite. Things down there aren’t as up to date as in Canada, so when I found out the airport had a grass roof, no air conditioning, and had no walls, I almost fell over. Our bumpy bus ride to our resort was very interesting. I don’t know if it was the pot holes in the roads or the eggs I had on the plane, but my stomach was defi nitely do-ing fl ips when we reached the resort. We passed through many townships, all looking the same. I wasn’t surprised that the unemployment rate in the Dominican is extremely high, as every town we went through had Dominicans lined up on cement walls staring us down and giving the stink eye as we passed through, like we were imposing on their busy daily schedule. What a friendly welcome. When we reached the resort, we were welcomed with pina coladas, the perfect way to start a tropical vacation. We got checked into our hotel, put on our bathing suits and hit the beach. The sun stung my ghostly fi gure as I put my toes into the luke warm, salty ocean water. The view of the bright blue ocean was stunning. The water stretched as far as I could see and changed colour with the light from the sky, from green to blue to grey. Ripples and waves continuously fl owed towards me, and eventu-ally broke to form a foam that tingled the tips of my toes. There was a smell of salt-water in the air, a scent like no other. Luckily, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky the day we arrived. Unfortunately with my new sun burn, I was cursing mother nature the next few days. No one mentioned to me that Europeans like to sunbathe naked. It was a very surprising view when we sat down under the shady palm trees to be laying next to a European family who should have been arrested for public exposure, or something. On day four of our tropical getaway, we decided to go on a snorkeling excursion on the coral reefs. This was probably the highlight of my vacation, as I had never been swimming with so many fi sh in my life. I have to admit it was a bit frightening, but their colours were gorgeous and the refl ection of the light accented every colour they had. It amazed me that they weren’t scared. They swam up to me in packs, swarming me me me 7

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like a big protective blanket. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Theres just something about waking up in the morning to hear-ing the waves roll over the ocean, or having breakfast with tropical fruit that excited my mouth’s multiple taste buds. I could live with laying on the beach from 10AM to 4PM every day for the rest of my life. Then again, who couldn’t? Oh right, my bank account. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. I sadly had to say goodbye to the warm beach, unlimited drinks, and my sun kissed skin. My successful trip to my fi rst tropical island was a huge success, and I would defi nitely go back in a heartbeat.

INDIA E D I T O R I A L C O L U M N

Dear Editor

My name is Sunna, I am a seventeen year old girl from the country of India. I was an exchange student for one year in Canada, and I am writing to you in order to give information about my culture and family life since I learned so much about yours. It may not be as glamorous as those nice fancy cars you drive over in Canada, but I believe it is important that people there know our way of living here. I’d like to begin by telling you a bit about the way our society runs and our culture. You see, people from In-dia are always concerned about social order and their status in society. They compare their social status to that of their family, friends, distant relatives, and anyone else who may interconnect somewhere in their life. Basically, all relationships in India revolve around hierarchies. For example, in our schools, the teachers are the gurus, in the family the father is considered the leader, and in the workplace a boss is viewed as the source of ultimate responsibility. Another way of life we are ac-customed to is the role of the family in our country. Our people are typically defi ned by what groups we belong to in society. Every person is deemed to be affi liated with a specifi c city, region, state, family, career path, or religion. Ancestors created these “names” for the specifi c groups we belong to. We don’t

get to pick which group we belong to. Some people are lucky to belong to a high - ranking group and others, not so much. Another thing that I have noticed you people do there that is weird is saying “no” a lot. I guess this is weird to me because in India, we don’t ever express that word. Rather than disap-point you, we would rather offer you the response that we think you would like to hear. Although you would call that being dishonest, we would be consid-ered rude if we didn’t try to satisfy your needs. I guess we don’t like to give or receive negative answers, but I think it makes the world a better place to have more positivity. The society we live in really re-fl ects how we live our day to day lives. One area in particular is our etiquette. For example, because we live in a hier-archical society, when greeting people we must greet the eldest or most senior person fi rst. Our geographical location and religion also affects us as individuals. Take Hindu followers for example. In the northern part of India, many people have both a given name and a surname, very similar to what you have in your country. However in the South, sur-names are less common and a person generally uses the initial of their father’s name in front of their own name. This is a more conventional naming in com-parison to Muslims, who usually do not

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E D I T O R I A L C O L U M N

have surnames, and instead add their father’s name to their name with the connector “bin” for males, and “bin-niti” for females. For you this is prob-ably weird, but for us it’s normal. One major difference in India compared to Canada is the food. In-dia has very strict dietary restrictions which greatly affects the food served and social aspects of life in our coun-try. A few examples are that Hindus and Sikhs do not eat beef, most are vegetarians. Indian Muslims do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol. Also, dining etiquette is very different from your country. For starters, most Indian food is eaten with our hands. I notice you normally use silverware to eat your food. Before sitting down for our meal, we have to wait until we are told where we sit, then we are served in a particular order depending on our status in the family. Guests always go fi rst, then men, and children are typically served last. Another form of etiquette is only eating with our right hands, whether using a fork on rare occasion, or our fi ngers. As you can see, our traditions in India may be a little different from

yours in Canada. Someday I hope to come back to visit your country. My favourite part was visiting the big wa-terfall in Niagara. I’m sure my family would love to come for a visit too.

Sincerely,

SunnaSunna

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EGYPTIANEGYPTIANALL ABOUT A T T R A C T I O N S C E N T E R

The Egyptian Pyramids

Travelling to a foreign country is a unique experience for all. If you’re looking for a once in a lifetime learning experience that will take you on an unforgettable journey, the country of Egypt is for you. It is full of history, magnifi cent pyramids and artifacts that date back to 2600BCE. There are actually over 100 pyramids in Egypt, built by an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 workers each. Many pyramids are relatively unknown to anyone who is not an ancient Egypt enthusiast (Egyptian Pyramids, 1).

Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids are some of the most magnifi cent man made structures in history (Egyptian Pyramids, 1). While pyramids were, for the most part, tombs for the Pharaohs of Egypt, you can nevertheless question the reason that Egyptian rulers chose this particular shape, and for that matter, why they built them so large. Today, it is believed that they chose the shape in order to mimic the Benben, a pyramid shaped stone found in the earliest of temples, which itself is thought to symbol-ize the primeval mound from which the Egyptians believed life emerged (Egyptian Pyramids, 1). In Egyptian culture, the primeval mound was believed to be the focal point of creation. This also connected the pyramid to Re, the Sun God, as it was he, according to some of the ancient Egypt mythology, who rose from the depths of the primeval mound to create life (Egyptian Pyramids, 1).

As for their history, before the pyramids, tombs were carved into bedrock and topped by fl at-roofed rectangular structures called mastabas. Mounds of dirt sometimes topped the structures.

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EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDSA T T R A C T I O N S C E N T E R

If you’re looking at travelling to Egypt to have a real life expe-rience with the pyramids, you must be sure to visit the king daddy of them all. The largest pyramid known to be built is called the Giza, with an astonishing estimated 2.3 million blocks of stone. The mas-sive scale refl ects the unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in ancient Egyptian society. This pyramid was built for King Khufu around 2500BC and is 146.6 metres high, complete with three burial chambers (National Geographic, 6). In addition to Giza, another very famous and well known pyramid is called the Step Pyramid, which is the oldest known pyramid in Egypt. This pyramid was built around 2630 B.C, at Saqqara, for the third dynasty’s King Dorser. The Step Pyramid began as a traditional mastaba but grew into something much more ambitious (National Geographic, 5) . For the full story, you know where to fi nd this astonishing artifact; it won’t be going anywhere for a long time.

Although tomb robbers and other vandals in both ancient and modern times removed most of the bodies and funeral goods from Egypt’s pyramids, more than 4,000 years later, the Egyptian pyramids still retain much of their majesty, providing a glimpse for millions of tourists every year into the country’s rich and glorious past.

ReferencesEgyptian Pyramids: The Great Pyramids and More. (n.d.).Egypt Trav-el, Tours, Vacations, Ancient Egypt from Tour Egypt. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pyramids.htm

National Geographic: Egypt Pyramids--Facts, Photos, Diagrams. (n.d.). National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Plan-et Since 1888. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://www.nationalgeo-graphic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html

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