EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

The Trans-Canada Highway leaves Terra Nova National Park - interrupted about halfway at Gambo , where the Smallwood Interpretive Centre (June-Sept daily 9am-7pm; www.gambo.net ; $3), has several exhibits and memorabilia commemorating Newfoundland's Father of Confederation, the late premier Joey Smallwood - to sprint 60km to GANDER , an inconsequential town built around an airport, whose site was chosen by the British in the 1930s - they considered it ideal because it was far enough inland to escape Newfoundland's coastal fogs and near enough to Europe to facilitate the introduction of regular transatlantic flights. During World War II, the airport was a major staging point for American planes on their way to England and later developed into an important air-traffic control centre for much of the northwest Atlantic. Since the 1960s the airport has been a major stopover destination for incoming flights from Europe. In the 1970s and 1980s several Eastern European airlines used Gander as a refuelling stop on the flight to Cuba, and hundreds of passengers decamped here to ask for political asylum. There's no reason to stop - unless you're tired from the long drive - but in emergencies Friends Bed and Breakfast , 66 Bennett Drive (tel and fax 651-2269; $40-60/$60-80), situated not far from the tourist chalet on the Trans-Canada (June-Sept daily 9am-9pm; tel 256-7110), has pleasant double rooms. For standard motel accommodation, the Comfort Inn , on the Trans-Canada (tel 256-3535 or 1-800/4-CHOICE, www.comfortinn.com ; $60-80/$80-100), and the Country Inn , 315 Gander Bay Rd (tel 256-4005, countryinn.inc@nf.sympatico.ca ; $40-60), provide comfortable, no-frills rooms. If you're hungry , try Jungle Jim's (tel 256-3535) on the Trans-Canada at the Comfort Inn .