The advisory
Journeys taken slowly.
Longhand is a travel advisory for journeys taken slowly: across Canada by rail, along its coasts by small ship, and into its far north, where the roads stop and the good part begins.
The journeys are composed by people who have taken them. Not once, and not in the easy season. The itineraries on this site name real trains, real rooms, and real distances, and the advice behind them was earned at thirty below with a camera battery dying in the cold.
We work with travellers from Australia and beyond who have reached the point of asking a serious question: where should we go while the going is good? Canada is a large answer. We know it well, and we know which parts of it reward taking the long way.
The journeys
Composed the slow way.
21 NIGHTS
Photo: VIA Rail
Across Canada by Rail. Winter.
Halifax to Vancouver. Ocean to Ocean. From $36,725 AUD Read the journey
9 NIGHTS
The Far North
Winnipeg to Churchill, where the road ends. Read the journey
SEPTEMBER
Written for 2027
The Rockies and the Inside Passage
Joining the list in September. Deliberately few at a time.Beyond the journeys
The journeys on this site are worked examples, not a fixed menu. We compose variations on them, and we book the parts on their own: a Prestige cabin on The Canadian, the right room at the Frontenac, a lodge that never appears on the booking sites. If you already know what you want, we can simply get it for you, properly.
Canada is our specialty. For our clients, we plan well beyond it: the United States, Europe, and further. Most people come to us for Canada and stay for everything after.
From the advisor
The difference is knowing.
Anyone can book a train ticket. The difference is knowing which departure day makes the connection work, which of Churchill’s three seasons suits the travellers in front of us, when the ice hotel is worth one night and not two, and when a journey should be argued against. That knowledge does not come from a search box. It comes from going, and from going back.
Booking through Longhand costs no more than booking direct, and often buys more: room upgrades, breakfasts, early check-ins, and people who know the country, including the parts that wobble.
Start the conversationWhy Longhand?
Composed by a person
Itineraries written from firsthand winters, not templates.
Honest numbers
Exact prices, exact distances, stated plainly.
The same price as direct
Booking through Longhand costs no more and often includes more.
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The journal
Notes from the country.
Winter aboard The Canadian
What winter aboard The Canadian is actually like, what to wear at thirty below, what the light does on the prairies before sunrise. Written from experience, published when there is something worth saying.
Read the journal