Air Canada announced it's "North America Unlimited Pass" today. While I like the idea the price seems to put it out of the hands of us everyday day folk.

The unlimited pass costs $3,499.00 CAD per month. In the small print you'll read that you have to buy a minimum of two months. So the minimum purchase would really be $6,998.00 plus applicable taxes (GST). That's a lot of money. It really would only be of value to the uber business frequent flyer.

What’s Good:
Tour Guides, Atmosphere, Service, Food, Wildlife

What’s Bad:
Primitive Accommodations, Bugs, Reservation Communications

Hotel website: http://www.explorersinn.com/

On our recent trip to Peru we had the absolute pleasure of going on a five day Jungle Expedition with Explorer’s Inn. Explorer’s Inn is based out of Puerto Maldonado located in the south eastern portion of Peru. The Inn is dubbed an eco-lodge, along with many others in that area, so the accommodations were primitive but authentic.

Our personal tour guide met the six of us at the Puerto Maldonado Airport. His name was Edwin and over the course of the next five days he proved to be an excellent guide. From what we could tell, each group, no matter their size, had a personal guide. Edwin was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and had a great sense of humor. He made our great stay an excellent stay. We had the chance to talk with other groups at the Inn and, from what we could tell, they enjoyed their guides as much as we enjoyed ours.

What’s Good:
Clean, Great Service, Food, Modern Jets, Price

What’s Bad:
Shifting departure times, minor boarding confusion

Airline website: http://www.lan.com/

In May of 2005 six of us traveled around Peru for a period of eighteen days. We made stops in a number of cities and used LANPeru as our main transportation around the country. As we made five flights (well, actually four but one flight involved two segments) across the country we were able to get a pretty good understanding of the airline and its pros and cons.

What’s Good:
The Cause, Clean, Friendly Service, Breakfast, Showers, Price

What’s Bad:
Noisier Street, Walk to Plaza Des Armas

Hotel website: http://www.ninoshotel.com/

We were lucky to stay at Los Ninos for three nights of our visit to Peru. We had read about this place before we planned our trip and managed to get our reservations in early. It was well worth it. Los Ninos has become somewhat of a famed destination in Peru. Travelers, backpackers in particular, are starting to treat the hotel as a destination in and of itself.

Los Ninos was started in 1996 by a Dutch couple who wanted to help the street kids in Cusco. All proceeds from the hotel go to programs that the couple has designed for the street children of the city. The hotel has been such as success that they have recently opened a second hotel and other apartments nearby.