LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Travel can take us to the edge of things: the physical borders of underexplored destinations, but also the margins of our own beliefs, capabilities and understandings. This issue was particularly inspiring to work on because we had the opportunity to explore the outer limits of science, food, culture, technology and adventure.
You will want to visit Tel Aviv after seeing how tech entrepreneur Maayan Ziv, who lives with muscular dystrophy, explores the city to its fullest. Ziv founded the accessibility app AccessNow, which taps into a global community with a single mission: make the world more open and travel-friendly for everyone.
Ivvavik National Park in the Yukon is a beautiful Canadian hinterland that welcomes just 100 visitors a year, on average. For the past three years, Parks Canada has offered up the adventure of a lifetime in Ivvavik, inviting visitors to join a team of scientists and Inuvialuit cultural interpreters as they collect environmental data to help them understand, and protect, this unspoiled area of the Arctic.
On the other side of the world, an exciting culinary renaissance is taking place in New Zealand. We explored widely and ate well to discover more about the national celebration of Maori cuisine, which has Indigenous star chefs rising out of the traditional village marae (meeting grounds) and into the mainstream.
And how do you travel the planet when you can’t physically leave your home? When Jacqui Kenny was diagnosed with agoraphobia, her nomadic lifestyle changed dramatically. But she found a new way to explore the world around her, using Google Street View. She says it led her to “a whole new world of discovery, which is what travel can do for you, no matter how you do it.”
These are just a few of the stories that await you this issue. We also travelled to Morocco, skied from France to Switzerland, scoped out the largest telescope in China and much more. Thanks for ending 2019 on an adventurous note with us. If you have thoughts about the issue to share or great stories to pitch, e-mail me at jody@aircanadaenroute.com. In the meantime, have fun exploring!