Girona is a small medieval city about a 1.5-hour drive north of Barcelona. Located halfway between the majestic peaks of the Pyrenees and the…
Velvet Escape travel blog
Experiencing the Victoria Falls
Locals call it Mosi-oa-Tunya – the ‘smoke that thunders’. No other name describes the Victoria Falls better. Straddling the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe,…
A Shangri-La in downtown Toronto
Definition of Shangri-La: 1. An imaginary remote paradise on earth; utopia. 2. any place of complete bliss, delight and peace (source: online dictionary) The…
Highlights of 2012
Wow, another year has passed. Well, almost. 2012 has been an incredible year for me, full of unforgettable travel moments, speaking engagements and many…
My TEDxTalk – Passion. Empowerment. Social Media
It was undoubtedly one of the highlights of 2012 for me: my TEDxTalk for TEDxSaxion. I felt very honored to be invited and I…
The castle of dreams
As a child, Albert Diks spent many summers camping with his family in Catalonia. Each time they went on a drive around the Catalan…
The colours of Lunenburg
The town of Lunenburg (map) is a gorgeous fishing town on Nova Scotia’s eastern seaboard, southwest of Halifax. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage…
Luxury on the slopes
The ski season is now upon us, as resorts in Europe and North America open up their hotel doors, and get the chair lifts…
A forest of glass and steel
It was one of the first things I asked when I arrived in Toronto: what is the origin of the name ‘Toronto’? A quick…
