Hi Paul...
Interesting topic.
Before all the children came along, darn old girl, poked a little fun at her and she took it seriously...
We used to do one or two fly in trips a year to various parts of Canada and the United States. Sleeping under the wing of your own bugsmasher and enjoying the comradeship of other aviators, making many new friends was what it was all about. Sometime our flights would take a day and a half just to get there.
Along came the children and a Cessna 337 was not big enough and could not afford a DeHavilland of Canada DHC-3 "Otter" or a Douglas DC3.
We purchased a small motor home, the old girl loaded everything but the kitchen sink and we would travel several days to an airshow. A lot more freedom with the motor home than an aircraft however much more time is needed to get there and back.
Being an aviator, sometimes I would only get several days off a month and that did not leave any time to go anywhere. We all survived and you know the old saying, "Time to Spare...Go by Air" stands true. I never once lost a day off work because of weather but travelling overland made things a lot smoother for us as a family.
Canada is not portrayed very well in any of the Microsoft Flight Simulator Games or even the Payware add on ORBX. It is too bad as we have more lakes, rivers and bays than all other countries combined.
We are the second largest country in the world bordered by three (3) oceans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_CanadaI remember years ago talking to an American from the State of Texas.
We were all sitting around the campfire and he told us even with his new half ton truck it took almost a day to go across his farm from one side to the other.
The old girl told him to buy a Land Rover and he could do it in a couple of hours...
We do not take any long trips either driving or flying in a bugsmasher now Paul. We prefer the train, our own Cabin (which is half a car, two cabins to a car and they need booking months ahead of the trip) and there is a Observation Car with a Bar. With Ribbon Railing you get a smooth ride, not that clickety clack one used to hear and feel. The food, well that is just excellent on the train.
I do not think we put more than two thousand (2000) miles on a vehicle a year now.
Boat Cruises are another wonderful way to travel and see Canada. Flying Commercial one does not see much from thirty (30,000) feet, however if one is in a hurry that is the way to go from coast to coast.
I will just add a couple of other things Paul. The roads and rest stops here if travelling by motor car or motorcycle are very good. Lots of camp sites and Provincial Parks for camping or RVing.
There are several world yacht cruises a year which use Canadian Inland Waterways and they stop right here where we are for several days. Lots for them to see and do on the inland waterways.