For more than 20 years, I'd built my North Wales coverage around a charming medieval banquet at Ruthin Castle. Driving into Ruthin — and knowing its banquet was no longer being held — I intended to cut the town entirely from my book. I was on edge, moody, as if I was about to commit a violent act. I was mad that many of my readers wouldn't be able to see the one thing that put it on my map.
I’m not big on traveling slowly. I need to move—walk, run, bike, poke around, get lost, climb something, meet locals. So, when an opportunity came along to cruise through Burgundy by barge, I was skeptical.
A barge? For six days?
Detours by Jim Byers
It was one thing when travel shut down due to COVID.
This was something else.
I was at home in Toronto in May 2025, feeling very sad about the death of my father two weeks earlier. I also was having sharp pains in my abdomen.
I Googled the usual ailments, but none of them seemed to match what I was feeling. When things got considerably worse, my wife whisked me to a nearby hospital.
It is indeed an exciting time with International Travel News coming back to life after a four-year hiatus, under new ownership and editorial management. It is an honor, as a former longtime ITN columnist, to be a part of this important relaunch adventure.
In my Far Horizons column, I will continue to address topics of interest to international travelers, as well as report on my own international explorations.
