To Pompano Beach
This post is provided for my neglected readers. Although the subject heading is not incorrect, it is rather misleading. We were recently in Paris, the smaller one located in Ontario. More recently we were also in Rome, the smaller one in the state of Georgia. While the former doesn't have the Seine, it does have the Grand and the Nith. The latter is not quite the Rome you assumed we were in, but it is not lacking in attractions. It is the home, for example, of the largest college campus in the world and one also finds there enough tennis courts at the hotel we stayed in to support the largest of professional or collegiate tournaments. I provided a post a while back about Berry College and I am glad we detoured off Interstate 75 to see it --- which also allowed us to avoid Atlanta.
That we are travelling during such a perilous period can be explained by the fact that I needed to do so for family reasons. Although you are now probably not thinking about heading for the U.S., I will report that the journey, so far, has been uneventful, politically speaking, and the political headlines are more concerning than the heavy traffic.
There was little traffic at the border and the guard was even polite. There have been no single fingers raised or horns honked when the "Ontario" plate was spotted. When citizenship was mentioned the reaction was one of curiosity rather than condemnation and the young ladies at the pool said they had experienced no problems. They are from Steinbach, Manitoba.
Although we Canadians are currently very agitated and concerned about such things as "tariffs", for many Americans, Canada is likely as remote as Steinbach, Manitoba and we are far more worried than they are about the relations between the countries.
The Bonus:
We have two TVs in our room now, but have not turned any on since we left Canada a week ago. Headlines have been noticed, however, and here is one from The Washington Post, which indicates that many Canadians are cancelling trips across the border:
"Canadian Travel to U.S. is Plummeting: ‘There’s a lot of anger’, By Ben Brasch and Hannah Sampson, April 3, 2025:
“For the nicest people on the planet, who are Canadians, the language is strong,” said Stacy Ritter, head of Visit Lauderdale in South Florida. “There’s a lot of anger out there.”...
"But the love fest may be on thin ice: Industry experts are reporting a steep decrease in Canadian visitors so far in 2025, pointing to a drop in airline and hotel bookings and scaled-back schedules by Canadian airlines for flights into the United States."....
‘Complete collapse’
McKenzie McMillan, a Vancouver-based adviser with the Travel Group, said his company would typically be busy this time of year arranging last-minute spring break and summer trips for Canadians to such favorite spots as San Diego; Palm Springs, California; Phoenix; and Las Vegas. Instead, he said, “it’s zero.” The steep drop-off started gradually, with some clients in January saying they were thinking they might avoid the U.S. this year. “Since February, it’s been a complete collapse,” he said.McMillan said about 20 percent to 30 percent of trips that were already booked got canceled. Since then, he said, the company has seen about a 90 percent drop in new bookings for U.S. vacations compared with the previous year, as clients opt for other destinations.
That is in line with what Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, has been expecting. His travel analytics firm predicted that 4 million fewer Canadians will visit the United States this year, a 20 percent decrease that could cost the U.S. $4.3 billion in lost revenue, he said. PT Tours, a bus tour company based in New Brunswick, called off the eight trips on the books for the United States, including visits to Boston and Washington, along with an October shopping trip to New Hampshire that has been offered for more than 10 years."
Post Script:
This is likely our last trip.
