Victoria Day is the least reliable of Canada's statutory holidays. Where do you think the punny quip "It’s been raining longer than Queen Victoria" comes from?

Canada Day, the Civic Holiday and Labour Day are reliably sunny and warm (two out of three ain't bad, right?). And Christmas Day and/or Boxing Day? Let it snow.

But just about anything is possible, weather-wise, on the third Monday in May. Now, I know the GTA forecast for this weekend is generally sunny. But clouds are predicted for the holiday Monday, and where there are clouds, there's rain, and it seems like every May two-four that precipitation moves into the weekend, and then...wham! You're stuck in Ikea with a shopping cart full of bjornlokas you don't even need or want, surrounded by surly youngsters who have maxed out their Smaland privileges.

That's why I'm glad I have Legoland (pictured at left) in my back pocket.

Ever wonder what your flight attendants do on their days off?

So do other flight attendants. Fortunately, there's a social network to remove all the speculation.

Bibafly is a private social network that helps aviation crews to socialize on layovers. Basically it's like an exclusive Facebook for pilots and flight attendants to secretly plan their weekend-long toga parties in Rome. Based on their Facebook promo cartoon (below), Bibafly thinks it's a Wingman Superhero.

Pilots and attendants can download Bibafly for free to their iPhone, iPad, or Android. In their iTunes writeup, Bibafly claims it "provides you with all the information you need to make your layover and the day-to-day much more easy & fun."

The app's blue-and-white colour scheme is similar to [let's say 'inspired by'] Facebook and you collect friends just like Mark Zuckerberg's site.  But on their website, Bibafly describes how their app is much more than just a Facebook for randy flyboys to poke cute stewardesses.

Flashback to Jan. 21, 2002: The Canadian dollar closes at 61.79 cents U.S., an all-time low. Just five years later, however, the loonie reaches parity with the greenback for the first time in more than three decades.

Maybe it'll be another 30 years before we see a 60-cent Canadian dollar. Maybe it'll be three years. Back in 2002 -- not so long ago, really -- many Canadians would have scoffed at the idea of parity in so short a time.

My point: The Canadian Tourism Commission's recent move to curtail its marketing efforts in the United States -- revealed in its 2012 annual report, released last week -- is short-sighted at best.

To be sure, the CTC -- a Crown corporation that acts as a national tourism marketing board -- faces an uphill battle when it comes to luring Americans north of the border. For one thing, its operating budget for 2012 was slashed from $72 million to $58.5 million. But the most obvious hurdle facing the CTC is the relatively strong loonie.

It's hardly surprising that many Americans aren't venturing north, as most of the trappings of travel -- hotels, rental cars, dining and especially drinking -- end up being considerably more expensive in Canada than in the U.S. 

Don't get me wrong: Exploring Canada is worth every penny. But American holidaymakers surely perceive it as being similar to the U.S. This could be seen as a positive attribute, given many Americans' skittishness abroad, but why would they visit Banff National Park (pictured below), say, when she could explore Montana's nearby Glacier National Park for considerably less? Why visit Toronto when there's Chicago? Why visit Whistler when there's Vail?

Photo by Kevin McNeal/Bournemouth News/Rex Features

Here's some breaking (eardrum) news:

Last Thursday, an American Airlines flight left LAX in Los Angeles at 3:30 pm. The flight was bound for JFK in New York. But at 6:06 pm the plane had to make an emergency landing at Kansas City International Airport. 

Apparently the flight crew was concerned about a terrorist on board. And by that, I mean an unruly passenger who would not stop singing Whitney Houston songs.

In this passenger-shot video, you'll see the unnamed woman singing Houston's big hit "I Will Always Love You" as she's yanked from her imaginary spotlight.

"The woman was being disruptive and was removed from the plane for interfering with the flight crew," airport spokesman Joe McBride told KCTV news. "There was a federal air marshal on the aircraft, who subdued the woman and put her in cuffs and removed her from the plane."

I'm constantly on the lookout for innovative, offbeat travel gear and gadgets.

Previously I've checked out fun carry-ons like the scooter suitcase, Ostrich Pillow, jetlag-fighting glasses, a suitcase you wear like a jacket, and Knee Defender clamps that prevent the jet passenger sitting in front of you from slamming their seat back into your knees.

Today I found this simple, comfy-looking Travel HoodiePillow.

Soulful hipster not included      Photo: Travel HoodiePillow

It looks like it was inspired by the Hijab that many Muslim women use to cover their heads.

According to the Travel HoodiePillow website, this headwear is made from "premium sweatshirt material," and has adjustable drawstrings "to block out the world around you." The pillow also deflates so you can fold it up neatly. Apparently this neck-saving, eye-sheltering, hand-washable product is ideal for "reading, watching TV, studying, listening to music, napping and sleeping."  

I have to respect a company that considers napping and sleeping to be separate actitivies, by the way. 

The Basecamp idea is actually not novel. It’s a way of travelling that some people have been doing for a long time but it has never really had a name or been defined as a specific category of travel.

Travel Basecamp, the series, follows myself and two friends as we travel to stereotypically resort driven destinations, and book all-inclusives, but then spend all of our time busting off of the resort grounds in search of real, authentic travel experiences.

Are you addicted to sleeping on strangers' shoulders?

Then get the new EZ Sleep™ Travel Pillow to make airplane sleeping a breeze.

It's basically an inflatable wedge that isolates you from the passenger sitting beside you...so you can finally enjoy a private public sleep!

It's much like a giant border wall that some Americans want to build to prevent some Mexicans from sneaking into the USA. The only differences are:

1) To secure your EZ Sleep™ Travel Pillow, you strap it to your armrest. Which you can't do with a big, cross-continental border wall (yet).

2) Mexicans might like the EZ Sleep™ Travel Pillow

The EZ Sleep™ Travel Pillow's website touts their product as the "world's most effective travel pillow" and promises "the best sleep you'll ever have on a plane."

Your passport's about to turn into a 007 gadget. Whether you want it to or not.

Passport Canada's slick new digital ePassport looks just like a normal passport. Except it contains an embedded, electronic 'biometric chip' with personal details like your full name, gender, date of birth, where you were born, and a digital picture of your unsmiling, superspy face.

Oh, and this is Canada we're talking about, so your ePassport pages will feature images of an Inukshuk holding a giant feather, Niagara Falls, Samuel de Champlain (The Father of New France), Sir John A. Macdonald looking sober and profound, The Last Spike, a sailboat about to crash into Newfoundland, a train passing oil derricks in a bleak and humanless land (you're welcome, Prairies), and children playing hockey and football instead of studying math and sciences like kids in other countries that are totally kicking our economic butt.

If you're wondering 'Why design a new passport when my last one works perfectly fine?', then Passport Canada's FAQ has your answer: "The addition of the electronic chip to the Canadian passport will increase security, provide greater protection against tampering and reduce the risk of fraud."

Passport Canada promises that their ePassport will not contain a GPS tracking device (so you'll have to escape from Blofeld's volcano fortress all by yourself), and will not contain "biometric information such as an iris scan or fingerprints" which of course means they're totally planning to add your iris scans and fingerprints once they figure out how to add your iris scans and fingerprints without sparking a slew of riots.

How many more Air Canada passengers will feel like this as a result of the airline's new check-in deadline? Photo credit: KAI PFAFFENBACH/Newscom/RTR

When I heard the sad tale of Newfoundland's Cumben family -- who, on Sunday, became the first widely-reported "victims" of Air Canada's new domestic check-in policy -- I initially felt some sympathy for them.

According to the CBC, the Cumbens' two daughters, aged 13 and 15, were barred from a flight from St. John's to Halifax because they were 120 seconds late for check-in, arriving 43 minutes before the scheduled departure time. (It apparently cost $349 to rebook a later flight, said their dad, Michael Cumben, who went on to request reimbursement, and even a free flight, as compensation.)

Cumben and his wife (whose name was not reported) wanted to accompany their daughters to the gate, he explained, and were told by Air Canada staff that they shouldn't bother checking in online as the parents would need security passes from the ticket counter, where the teens could also check in.