The Informed Traveler
The Informed Traveler
The Latest Travel Lingo & The Golden Skybridge
Are you caught up on all the latest travel lingo? A lot of new phrases are out there to describe various aspects of travel so on this week's podcast travel expert Onanta Forbes will join us to introduce the latest travel vocabulary. Plus, thanks to our friends at Booking.com we took a short two day excursion last week into the Rocky Mountains spending an afternoon and night in Banff and then headed west to Golden, BC to spend a few hours at the Golden Skybridge. While there I had a short chat with the GM of the Golden Skybridge, Jason Crawford so we'll have that conversation for you as well.
Hello and welcome to the Informed Traveler Podcast, a weekly travel podcast where our goal is to help you become a more informed traveler. I'm your host, Randy Sharman. Are you caught up on all the latest travel lingo? A lot of new phrases are out there to describe various aspects of travel, so in a few seconds, travel expert Onanda Forbes will join us to introduce the latest travel vocabulary. Plus, last week we took a short two-day excursion into the Rocky Mountains, spending an afternoon and night in Banff, and then headed west to Golden, BC to spend a few hours at the Golden Sky Bridge. And while we were there, I had a short chat with the general manager of the Golden Sky Bridge, Jason Crawford, to learn more about what the Golden Sky Bridge has to offer. So we'll have that conversation for you as well. But first, let's kick things off chatting with travel expert Odanta Forbes, who joins us each week to discuss some of the travel news and travel trends. You can follow her adventures on Instagram, Facebook, Book an X at Onanta Forbes. Onantaforbes.com is her website. Hi, Onanta.
SPEAKER_02:Hi, Randy. Hi, everybody.
SPEAKER_00:We are going to get caught up on all this crazy travel lingo, stuff that I have never heard of. Me neither. But we'll get a lesson in some different types of travel vocabulary out there to describe different trends, I guess, that are going on. So I'll let you start. few of them.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So what the new vocabulary is supposed to be doing is supposed to reflect what travelers are really craving. So less stress, more meaning, and a slower pace. So the first one is land snorkeling. And this is the slow travel trend for curious souls. So this was coined by two Montana artists during a hike near Sedona. And land snorkeling is all about tuning into the small wonders beneath you, like rocks, moss, lichen. And it's experienced nature with a mindful ground level gaze. It sounds very Zen. How would you come up with that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's like, well, in a lot of these cases, it's things that people are, had been doing anyway, but just never put a name to it. You know what I mean? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well,
SPEAKER_00:I kind of, I do agree with a lot of the things we're going to talk about here is that it is nice just to slow down and taking all the wonders and that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and I think that's a very good point because so many times you're so focused on the next thing, you're not present in the now. And that could be travel or just life in general because life is kind of busy. So you want to get going, right? But yeah, it is good to slow down and to think about what you're doing and enjoying the moment.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of people get caught up in the destination and forget about the journey. And, you know, there's a lot of things you can enjoy getting to your destination, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny you say that because I know I have clients that are getting ready for an African safari and they're so excited. And it's almost like the anticipation and the planning is almost more exciting than when you get there. Not that they won't enjoy the African safari, but you're just so excited to get there and to do things and so on.
SPEAKER_00:So the next one on our list is townsizing. I like this one too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's about downsizing your vacation, trading the chaos of big cities for the charm of of small towns where, you know, perhaps you're going to get more cobblestone streets or local flavors or a slower pace that take center stage. So, you know, the closest example, because you were off to the mountains this past week, like maybe Panama instead of Banff kind of thing, or Lecce instead of Rome. So it's just different places that maybe are outside or nearby, different destinations that are very popular, very busy, but still gives you the same flavor.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Or Golden, BC, which is only a 90-minute drive or even less to Lake Louise and Banff area where, yeah, there's fewer crowds. Chances are the prices are a lot more affordable. Price is your thing. And there is a charm to small towns. And I'll give you an example, too. When I was down in the United States, in Louisiana, we stopped in a small town. It wasn't part of our itinerary. or anything like that. It was a Saturday morning. And one of our tour guides said, yeah, there's a little bar that has music on Saturday mornings. And so we decided to, they asked us if we wanted to take part in this. And we said, sure. And so we drove there and it was so much fun. And it was just some small little town. They do this every Saturday and the locals are there and the music's playing and there's food and there's such a great atmosphere. It's a really good way to Get in with the culture.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. And I like that. It's like exploring, just going down a different road. And I'm not being afraid to do that. And you don't have to stick to an itinerary the whole time.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm sure there's a lot of small communities near big centers that would love to have people come visit them.
SPEAKER_02:yes absolutely like you know i just you know when you just said that i thought um just because i have a partner that likes star trek welcome like you know like just something that's a nice day trip you can go out and just
SPEAKER_00:enjoy yourself yes okay what's our next one
SPEAKER_02:so we've all heard of fear of missing out and now there's domo which is joy of missing so it's all about So embracing the joy of missing that intentionally. So no pressure to tick off every landmark, no guilt to ditching the itinerary, just slower days, quieter places, moments that actually feel personal and performative. So just what you just said with, you know, going and spending that morning just listening to good music.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, these all kind of tie in together, right? I guess Jomo is just like land snorkeling. I think of, you know, one that comes to mind is Paris and you want to see the Eiffel Tower. And yeah, there is that thing where you want to see it because it is a famous thing, but it's not such a big deal if you don't, right?
SPEAKER_02:No. Yeah. And, you know, Paris is such a great destination just to walk and explore. Just explore. Like, you know, just go down this road and go have a, you know, go enjoy coffee in a cafe and just people watch. So you could do that in so many different places and not have to worry, you know, about going to major destinations or attractions because there's other places maybe lesser known, that are just as fun and just as engaging.
SPEAKER_00:Well, then with that, the next on our list is detour destinations, which again, it's sort of similar to what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_02:Right, absolutely. So instead of going to London, maybe go to Rye. Instead of going to Paris, go to Reims. So it's just basically charming, crowd-free detours that make a refreshing alternative to the main attraction. So it's side strips that steal the spotlight in a sense.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And like I said before, these kind of go all hand in hand. Here's one that stands out, the Hercule Dirkling. What is Hercule Dirkling? It
SPEAKER_02:comes up with the
SPEAKER_00:names. I know, it sounds kind of, you know, pornographic almost.
SPEAKER_02:You know, this is the Scottish art of bed rotting, but make it luxury. So born from the Oh, I like this one because I know I remember my first time in Edinburgh. We were in a B&B and they have the coziest bed with the best duvet. And it was just, you know how Edinburgh's cold and gloomy sometimes. It was the best day just to just. lie in and, you know, just snooze a bit. So it's about, it's a travel trend, perfect for sleep tourism. So it's about anyone who thinks the hotel itself is the destination. Well, I would
SPEAKER_00:be into that.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, totally. Totally into
SPEAKER_00:that. Maybe for one or two days. After a while, it's like, okay, now I've got to get doing something. Yeah,
SPEAKER_02:you spent all this money to get here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay, you're caught up in your sleep now. Let's go see something, right? Yes. Well, you can almost go out at night because our next term is not tourism, and this is becoming quite popular.
SPEAKER_02:Right, so this is stargazing in maybe remote spots to bioluminescent swims, and this trend gives travelers the opportunity to explore after hours. It actually kind of brings to mind what we did when we were in South Africa just recently. We went out into the savannah basically at night, and we were able to see the stars and the different constellations. So that was quite neat. And I know Jasper has dark skies events as well. So close to home. So good opportunity to be able to do this. And I think it is definitely, it's something novel to do, right? A nighttime adventure.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it is quite spectacular, too, if you get out into the areas where there is no light pollution, just how dark it is, for one, and just how amazing the sky looks, hopefully on a clear night.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's a good opportunity to experience something different, right? And not just in the day. And to, you know, experience both, you know, all hours of our 24-hour cycle.
SPEAKER_00:So raw dogging.
SPEAKER_02:So, yes, this is just being no plans, no plans, no strict plans, no bookings, just showing up and figuring out things. How to do it on the fly. So, like, landing in Lisbon with nothing but a backpack and ready for whatever comes next. You have to be a certain personality to do this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I was just going to say, this is not my cup of tea. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. You know what? It's... Yeah, it's good if you can do it. But if you, I guess, you know, if you're at a destination, you don't have a lot of time, you might want to plan. But if you can just roll with it, I think that's a great option.
SPEAKER_00:Me too. I agree. It's a great attribute if you can do it, but it's just not my thing. I think part of travel should be as stress-free as possible. This would not be in my stress-free bucket.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no. The example that they kind of give is going on a flight with no distractions, like no movies, no books, no snacks, no conversation, just looking out the window. No.
SPEAKER_00:See, now I've done that. I don't have a problem with that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well,
SPEAKER_00:there is something zen about that, but that's totally different, I think, to what they're talking about when you arrive at your destination and you have no plans and you're flying by the seat of your pants. I mean, when you're in an airplane, you're in an airplane. You're not really going. You can't really go anywhere. You got to sit and kind of zone in on yourself. That's fine. But to me, Just go somewhere with nothing but a backpack and good vibes. Well, it wouldn't be good vibes for me. If you can do it, good on you.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, absolutely. And the next one is a coolcation. So this is where you're kind of exploring the mountains or, you know, a forest or, you know, sipping hot cocoa in Scandinavia, chasing the northern lights in Canada. So it needs sweater weather and swapping crowded beaches for fresh air. I like that, though. I think I like seasons.
SPEAKER_00:Do you? I like warm. I like seasons, too, but I like warm. Yeah. And, you know, there is something cool about it. No pun intended. Just for enjoying the destination for what it is. But it's not high on my list.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What about phenomenon chasing? This is becoming more popular, too, now.
SPEAKER_02:So, yeah, especially like solar eclipse, like last year or the year before, like everybody thinks that, you know, going to a destination and watching a solar eclipse like it was in Mazatlan. was really cool. And I know even cruise ships are doing that, taking them out, people out. The Northern Lights or animal migrations like in the Serengeti is really big. So this is like, you know, swapping screens for moments, which is good. I like that idea. You know, you don't need to be always plugged in and on your phone or your smart device or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The problem with this though, is everybody's starting to do it. So the crowds are becoming a problem now.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Well, I think it's just, you know, the opportunity to do something a little different, but you're right. Crowds are there, but yeah, another, another vocabulary, you know, addition to our dictionary.
SPEAKER_00:And then our final one, me mooning. I thought this was me mooing, but it's me mooning. Me time.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So it's about like a solo getaway, celebrating yourself. It has equal parts of adventure, chill, self-love. And it could be, you know, on a tropical beach or a city break, a spa day. So it's about just, you know, pause, recharge and feeling fabulous, flying solo. And there's so many people, especially women, that do travel solo.
SPEAKER_00:I think everybody should travel by themselves at least once in their lifetime.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I agree with that. You'll be amazed at how much you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00:And how much you learn about yourself. And it's a good confidence boost.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:it is. I think anyways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And, you know, I definitely did that when I was with a group, but I was traveling by myself going to India because India is such a diverse culture. And it was a it was a good way to experience that destination. It was beautiful because you didn't have to worry about somebody else, their impressions of the destination and so on. You could just focus on what you wanted to do, go where you wanted to go or not go, you know, just be in the moment for yourself.
SPEAKER_00:So that was beautiful. That's our list. Me mooning. Phenomenon chasing.
SPEAKER_02:Raw
SPEAKER_00:dogging. Coolcation. Raw dogging. Knock tourism. Some of these are hard to pronounce. Hercule Dirkling. I like that one. Detour destinations. Jomo travel. Town sizing. Land snorkeling. So we're all caught up on our travel lingo now. Yes. What's your favorite? If you had to pick one that you had to do or could do, which one
SPEAKER_01:would you do? Let's see. You
SPEAKER_00:could combine, though, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:You can town-size, land snorkel, knock tourism. A lot of these you can combine. Yeah, I
SPEAKER_02:don't know about land snorkeling for me. Becoming one with the rock or the moss. It's like, really? Okay.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Onanta Forbes is a travel expert. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and X at Onanta Forbes. Onantaforbes.com is her website. Have fun, Onanta.
SPEAKER_02:Take care. Have a good week.
SPEAKER_00:This is the Informed Traveler podcast. I'm Randy Sharman. Just want to remind you of our website, theinformedtraveler.org. That's where you can find our contact page if you have any questions or comments about the podcast or any segment ideas. You can also email me too with any questions you might have. My email address is randy at theinformedtraveler.org. And if you want to get up-to-date travel info through the week or just see a few amusing travel stories and links, you can like us on Facebook at facebook.com slash On Instagram at informedtraveller or on X at informedtraveller. Plus, you can now sign up for our monthly newsletter. It's released at the beginning of every month. Our June issue is available now. Just go to our website, theinformedtraveller.org. Click on the newsletter button. It'll take you right there. Or better yet, just subscribe to it and have it arrive in your inbox every month. So as we mentioned at the beginning, last week we took a short two-day excursion into the Rocky Mountains spending an afternoon and a night in Banff and then headed west to Golden, BC to spend a few hours at the Golden Sky Bridge. And even though it was a short trip, I always enjoy spending time in Banff. It's just beautiful out there. And I was quite surprised at how busy it was considering it was early in the week and only the beginning of June. But thanks to our good friends at Booking.com, we stayed one night at the Tunnel Mountain Lodge in a one-bedroom loft suite, which comes with three queen which was just perfect for us since we have two teenagers traveling with us. Lots of space, a full kitchen, so it's perfect for families who want to save a bit of money on making a few meals of your own. It's a great location, too, away from the town centre, so you don't have the noise, but close enough to walk into town. In fact, I will say that the walk into town is downhill, which is very helpful. And if you don't want to make the walk back uphill from downtown, to the Tunnel Mountain Resort. BAMP's Rome Transit Service is literally at the front entrance of the Tunnel Mountain Resort, and the front desk actually offers free transit passes, which makes it really handy. And the one thing, too, I like about Booking.com is that you can book attraction tickets online while you're booking your hotel and airfare and everything else. Attractions like the Golden Sky Bridge, located just outside the town of Golden, B.C., which is about an hour and a half drive from BAMP, and that's where we head the next day after our stay in Banff and we do have some images and video posted as well on our Facebook and Instagram pages so I encourage you to have a peek of those and while we're there also got the chance to sit down with the general manager of the Golden Sky Bridge Jason Crawford to learn more about the Golden Sky Bridge what they have to offer the website by the way is goldenskybridge.com so here is that conversation for you now so tell me a little bit of the background it's been I think if my math is correct maybe three years since the this has been open, so take me back to what it was versus what it is now. I think, going back, we had our mountain coaster, zipline, since then we've added the giant canyon swing, and then of course we had the challenge course as well. New this coming summer, we're going to have a food and beverage pavilion, which will allow us to handle larger groups, as well as travel trade partners, things like that. And we've got some really interesting plans coming up in the future, which I can't talk about, but they'll get pretty exciting here in the next couple years. Well, I think that's always a challenge, right? Once you open someplace, you've got to keep it going so there's something new for people to come back to, right? Absolutely, and that's what we hope to keep doing. We have kind of a long-range plan that we worked on over the last couple years, and now we're starting to implement that. So we'll hopefully be able to make some announcements later this summer and take advantage of that planning that we've put in place. And it's easy to get to. I mean, the signage is pretty good off the TransCanada Highway, no matter what direction you're coming in, right? Yeah, it's great. Right off the TransCanada, it's really easy, and we're close to the town of Golden, which is a wonderful spot to be in the summertime and in the winter. So now, you just opened up for the season. Obviously, it's a seasonal place to visit. How long do you run to, run till, and what do people need to know when they come to visit? We had a soft opening this year in April, actually, which is our earliest opening ever, and that was just open for the locals so they could come in and use the park and help us work some of the bugs out of our system and get our staff trained. And then we open the following weekend in early May and we go straight through until Thanksgiving. Okay, so let's just run through, give me a quick tour now. I suppose if you were here for a couple of hours, could you do everything you wanted to do in a couple of hours or do you want to give yourself more than that? It really depends on which type of project product you're here for. If you want to just do the sightseeing and the bridge tours, a couple hours is more than enough time. If you want to get into using the challenge course and the coasters and the zip lines, that takes more time. So I would give yourself a good chunk of the day for those. The earlier you come in the day, the less lineups, which means you can use the park a lot faster. The later in the day, the lineups tend to get a little longer, especially at like the zip line, because that seems to be the last attraction people want to use to cross the canyon. Yeah. yeah that's kind of the way to do it right because it is sort of a loop through the the valley or not through the valley over the valley there's the one massive bridge and then there's there's another bridge if i'm correct yeah we have the upper bridge uh it's it's unidirectional so you cross one bridge you come to the challenge course which is a great time to great place to spend lots of time there's a wonderful area there with some picnic tables for people that don't want to do the challenge course they want to wait for their loved ones then you can continue along you can either do the zip line or go to the mountain coaster And then there's also the lower bridge that brings you back on return. And then, of course, we have our giant canyon swing. That's a little different than all of our other activities. It needs to be pre-booked, and it's completely separate from our adventure pass. It's one heck of an adrenaline rush. It's pretty fun. I've yet to try that. So, yeah, talk about the different levels of admission. There's sort of like a basic, and then you can add more things to it, right? Absolutely. If you come early in the morning, we do have... some unlimited programs or unlimited passes, which allow you to do unlimited coaster, unlimited zip lines. Those, I believe, go until around 11 o'clock in the morning. And then we have, you can add on, you know, just a zip pass if you want, or add on extra coaster passes to an adventure pass. But again, the general admission gets you the plaza, it gets you the bridges, and also our chill zone, which has a bunch of large size games and things like that. It's a pretty good crowd today. I expect that this is going to be a popular spot. And I'm kind of putting you on the spot because you're new to this position. So I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for you here. Yeah, it's six weeks in. A big chunk of that was onboarding off-site. So yeah, I'm pretty fresh along with a lot of our staff. When we had our first orientation, normally the general manager kind of leads that. And instead I did our land acknowledgement and then immediately went and started taking notes with all the rest to the new staff. So it was pretty exciting. So it's, so have you, have you tried everything? I have done everything except I haven't done the black challenge course. Uh, and that is not because I don't want to, I just haven't, uh, just haven't had the time to do that one yet, but, uh, it's, yeah, it's, it's such a fun place. Yeah. Well then it's for all abilities too, right? You don't necessarily have to be a diehard adventurer if you just, you know, it doesn't matter age groups or, or anything like that, right? Exactly. There's something here for all ages. Uh, you know, So whether you're an adrenaline junkie and want to do something like the Giant Canyon Swing, or whether you just want to relax and take in the sights, we can kind of cater to everybody here, which is really nice. Any special events coming up for the summer that's close to mind? We have starting the beginning of summer, every Saturday night, we have live music here in the plaza, which is really popular. We have some pretty big names. We have some Juno Award winners, and it should be a pretty good summer. Nice. So people just have to check out your website and keep that in mind for events down the road, right? Yeah, Saturday evenings for concerts are going to be a lot of fun. And how late are you open till? We will, once we get into the full swing in the summertime, we're open until 9 o'clock at night. And the season goes until first snowfall? Yeah, we go till Thanksgiving weekend. So once we get into September, our hours will die back a bit or claw back in just because of the daylight. Yeah. So... Anything else you want to add as far as what people should know or anything like that? No. For more information, obviously, check out our website, goldenskybridge.com, and we'd love to see you here this summer. Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Jason Crawford is the general manager of the Golden Sky Bridge. Looking forward to our day here, so thank you. Awesome. Thank you very much. I hope you guys have a great day. And that is our show for this week. If you have comments or questions, we'd love to hear from you. If you have a show idea, send that along as well. My email is randy at theinformedtraveller.org. And if you like what you heard, tell a friend. You can check out our website too at theinformedtraveller.org. In the meantime, thanks for listening. Travel safe and be an informed traveller.