Canada

The world’s second largest country, Canada is bounded by the oceans Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic, plus some mildly excitable neighbours to the south. As enormous as it is, the population is mostly concentrated in the south (where the weather is warmer) with well over half living south of Seattle, and Canada’s borders extending as far south as Chicago and northern California. Famous for mounted police, maple syrup, proper bacon and red-bearded toothless ice-hockey players, Canada has much to offer the casual tourist.

My first trip to Canada was in 2000 and took in Montreal and Toronto in the summer, which given the stories I heard from the locals of typical winter conditions, was likely a smart move. It didn’t stop a reasonable amount of rain, however, and the CN Tower was shrouded in fog the whole time. It was to be ten years until I returned to Toronto on a long stopover from London, giving me a whole afternoon to explore the city anew, before heading on to Las Vegas. That time I was much luckier with the weather, finding great conditions for photography – and sporting a much better camera!