Be inspired by the UK's biggest choice of leading and specialist travel companies at Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show at Manchester Central on 11-14 January, and Olympia London on 1-4 February.

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• Over 700 brands across the two shows, offering unlimited travel ideas
• Over 120 tourist boards showcasing the latest destination hotspots
• Exclusive show-only offers and discounts
• Experts on hand to tailor-make your next trip
• Inspiring tales of travel, as well as practical advice from our fantastic speaker line-up.

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Sounds like you’ve got an exciting year ahead of you, reader! Canada is a large and fairly expensive country, so you’ll understandably want to be picky about where and how you spend your money on travel. Here are a few tips for making the most of it before resorting to car hire:

Train travel

Trains are the obvious choice here, if you’re looking for a comfortable and somewhat relaxing way to get between cities, or even across the country, while also soaking up the varied landscapes. But they can be pricey, and the limited route map is far from convenient when you want to get off the beaten path.

So when is it worth choosing the train in Canada? Well, for a really memorable trip between Toronto and Vancouver, hop aboard the ‘Canadian’. Over four days, it moves from city to city, passing through lakes, prairies, and Rockies, and it won’t even cost you an arm and a leg… if you go for standard seating.

According to Flight Finder Fran, it’s the 30-ish-hour ‘Ocean’ route between Montreal and Halifax that is worth splashing the cash on, though. After leaving the cobblestone streets of Montreal, you’ll meander along rivers, through hills and forests, past lighthouses and rocky bays, all the way to Halifax, on the vast Atlantic Coast.

Regardless whether you take one of these long, scenic trips or you’re just hopping to the next city over, there are a few ways to cut costs: by booking early (yawn), making your booking on Discount Tuesday, and by signing up for the VIA Rail loyalty programme.

While there are also bus services between the cities on the East Coast, the real way locals get around high train fares is in cars—but not always their own.

Ride-sharing

Anyone who watched Race Across the World series 3 will remember some of the highs and lows faced by competitors trying to hitch a ride across remote Western Canada. Luckily for you, reader, you presumably won’t be faced with the same lack of internet access and tight schedule as those on the show.

Facebook is the go-to for finding a lift through a ride-share group—just search, e.g., ‘Canada ride-share’, and you’ll have plenty to choose from. Post your departure, destination, and travel dates, and cross your fingers that someone will metaphorically swipe right on your trip.

Generally speaking, you’ll be expected to contribute cash towards the journey, and on some longer trips, you may find that the person offering the ride wants to share driving duties. If you’re uneasy about the casual arrangements and security of a Facebook ride, Poparide is a local app that makes it all a little more formal.

The best thing about ride-sharing is that you don’t have to miss out on any of those areas you really want to see without buying a car. Of course, sometimes it’ll be a little harder to get exactly where you want to go—maybe you’ll only be able to find a ride 50 miles down the road (apparently that’s close in Canada). Well, that’s where hitchhiking comes in…

Hitchhiking

There are a couple of things to consider before hitchhiking in Canada.

Firstly, like anywhere, is safety. Just because we consider Canada to be a generally safe country does not mean that hitch-hiking is entirely risk-free. As well as keeping your wits about you and plenty of charge in your phone, a can of bear spray never hurts for those long rural waits.

Secondly, hitchhiking is not always legal in Canada! In most cases, you can’t just stand at the side of the highway and with your thumb out and a cardboard sign in hand. But what you can do is stand with your thumb out and a cardboard sign in hand at a petrol station by the entrance to the highway.

Smaller roads are fine, though, and you likely won’t have such a long wait. People on quieter roads in smaller communities tend to be quicker to help out.

In fact, the vast majority of hitching experiences will be pleasant, and the people who stop for you anywhere will be well-intentioned. It can be an incredibly rewarding way to see the country and meet locals you’d never have encountered otherwise.

Hopefully that’s given you a few ideas, reader. You’ll find lots more ideas from our members over on our Facebook community, including advice on seaplane trips over Vancouver, wineries in the Okanagan Valley and more. Everyone there is more than happy to help, so ask away with all your travel questions!

Is there an article you'd really like to see in the Detour? Do you have a burning travel question? Just let us know!

Ask us for a travel tip!🌴

In news that will surprise nobody, the JFC team got about a bit last year. Here are some of their top destinations from the past year, and where they’re looking forward to going in 2024:

Andrea Member Experience

Favourite trip: St. Maarten

What made you travel there: We travelled there for a cycling race. This will always be one of my most favourite places to visit because the people are so friendly, the place is beautiful, I love the shopping and I just feel at home when I'm there. I always say this would be another island I'd move to if I left Antigua.

On the cards for 2024: This might be a stretch, but I'm gonna try to make it happen. I really wanna go to Italy. Something is just telling me that this food haven is a place I need to be!

Hannah Flight Finder

Favourite trip: Caribbean cruise: Barbados, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada & St Lucia

What made you travel there: It was a joint 21st & 60th bday present/celebration for me and my parents, which made this trip super special. It also changed my perspective on what I want from travel—I'd always been after the city vibe, but that soon changed after walking through the rainforest in Dominica (my favourite island we stopped at) and seeing Trafalgar Falls :-)

On the cards for 2024: I don't have anything booked yet!

Henry Member Experience

Favourite trip: Mexico

What made you travel there: I had to go and meet my girlfriend’s family, so I decided since I was going that far, I might as well stay a while (6 months). That way, I could spend time with her very big family in different parts of Mexico. It was an amazing experience to see all the different sides to Mexico. The traditions and cultures were something you will not see anywhere else. It was a little too hot for me, but I found shade!

On the cards for 2024: Home :) I think the more you travel in another country, you realize that you have not seen a lot of your own country. So I am going to travel around as much of Ireland as I can.

Dream error fare: South Africa

Lauren Flight Finder

Favourite trip: India

What made you travel there: I don't even know where to begin with India, I was always intrigued to visit, and it ended up being one of the most magical trips I've ever taken. From the hectic Delhi traffic, to the mind-boggling symmetry of the temples in Agra and Jaipur, and the hazy shores of Goa, it was a whirlwind of colour, culture, and crispy samosas that I'll be dreaming about for years. As soon as I boarded my flight home, I was already planning my next visit.

On the cards for 2024: Apart from being sooooo flippin’ excited about visiting Tanzania with the JFC crew at the end of this month, I'm also counting down the days until I fly to Lima in March! It's going to be pretty jam packed as I'm hoping to hit Machu Picchu and the Bolivian salt flats in 2 weeks, but I can't wait! My only concern is altitude… One of my final stops on my DIY itinerary is Juliaca in Peru, sitting at 3825m above sea level. So please, JFC-ers, hit 'Reply' and let me know if you have any tips on how I can avoid altitude sickness!

Dream error fare: I'm currently manifesting some super cheap Sri Lankan fares to pop up for November!

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• From the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Copacabana Beach, here are the obligatory New Year’s fireworks photos from around the world.
• Information continues to trickle out as to the cause of Tuesday’s tragic crash between a Japan Airlines plane and a coastguard aircraft. As well as crossed wires about who was cleared to be on the runway, it seems that the runway warning lights may also have been broken.
• If you just feel the need to know what it looks like on a beach in Italy right now, or in a supermarket in Brazil, here’s a slightly weird collection of CCTV cameras from all across the globe.
• And finally, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. A flight attendant went viral last year after he worked out how to bake a cake at 30,000 ft and shared the evidence on TikTok. Unfortunately for Miguel, it also seems to have been his downfall.
  At the time, other flight attendants commented that they were amazed he wasn’t fired for his culinary activities, and surprised that he got away with spending so much time filming. Well, it turns out that Ryanair agreed and he was let go in December. He must have been in tiers!