Interview – Mallory on Travel

We were lucky enough to catch up with influential travel blogger Iain Mallory after he returned from his mammoth trip to Canada this year. Read about his exciting adventure and why he thinks a holiday to Canada should be on everyone’s bucket list.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your most recent trip to Canada?

A: I spent six weeks travelling coast to coast, starting in Halifax and travelling all the way across to Vancouver. I met incredibly passionate people, saw some of the iconic wildlife – it was a really fantastic trip.

Q: What makes Canada a great holiday destination?

A: It’s so diverse – there’s so much you can see. You’ve got some fantastic cities: Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec, and they’re all slightly different in their own way. You’ve got amazing wildlife and incredible wilderness, which you just can’t imagine.

We’ve got places like Scotland and the Lake District, which are beautiful, but you can’t imagine going somewhere that you can completely really get lost in. You could wander there for days and probably never bump into anybody; we just don’t have that sort of thing. And there is a culture there – people talk about the fact that North America is still a young continent, and there isn’t much of a history there, but of course there is.

Q: Do you prefer Eastern or Western Canada?

A: The Rockies are just so beautiful – they’re rugged and accessible, and you can drive up to most of the mountains. You’ve got Lorraine Lake, and also Lake Louise, which is one of my favourite ski resorts in the world.

Q: What’s your Canadian hidden gem?

A: The Great Bear Rainforest; it’s a beautiful place. Also, Wolf Beach, where the wolves come down to the ocean, forage along the coastline and fish in the streams. You fly in by float plane and land in the ocean, just outside a floating lodge – it’s amazing.

Q: What’s your best memory of your trip to Canada?

A: It’s very difficult to pin down just one, there were so many. If I had to pick out one thing, I suppose it might be spotting the bald eagles, which were just all over the place. On a bear watching trip, the guides threw things into the air to attract bald eagles and it was just fantastic – I took some amazing photos.

Q: Would you recommend travelling on the Rocky Mountaineer?

A: Yes I would certainly recommend anybody who loves train journeys to take a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. They slow down when there’s something of interest and explain it to you, and the team on board are great. It’s very panoramic with full view windows so it’s easy to see what you want and to take amazing photographs.