Travel Alert--Remember to take passports to any of the Caribbean, Central American, Mexican, and Canadian locations. Even children traveling with their parents need passports.

Newfoundland and Labrador are the "far east" of the Western Hemisphere and Canada and the most northerly of the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Although the island of Newfoundland has the larger population, its land mass is smaller than Labrador which is connected to Quebec. However, Newfoundland has over 480,000 of the Province's 513,000 inhabitants. St. John, which is the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, is located on the very picturesque Avalon Peninsula on the coast of St. John's Bay of the Atlantic Ocean and near a national historic park. Travelers to Newfoundland and Labrador must bring passports and rewind their watches because the Province is in a unique time zone, the Newfoundland Standard Time, which is a half an hour later than Atlantic Time and an hour and a half later than Central Canada Time. Legends suggest that Vikings were the first Europeans to visit this remote area of North America.

When visitors to Newfoundland and Labrador first arrive in the Province and see all of the natural beauty, they forget settlers and natives of the region had to carve out a culture through depression and uncertainty. Early settlers to Newfoundland and Labrador "toiled at the sea and land" for centuries to create today's welcoming environment.

Newfoundland and Labrador are accessible by car, train, boat, and airplane. Auto-tourists and train enthusiasts have to travel through Quebec to get to the mainland of Labrador before taking a ferry to Newfoundland. Rental cars are available in Labrador and Newfoundland for those visitors who chose not to drive to the Province. Once in the Province, however, visitors in the "far east" will experience a vacation like no other in North America where "the New World begins." People often comment that there is plenty of "breathing room" in the wilds of Newfound and Labrador. Visitors are reminded of Ireland, rather than Canada.

In St. John's, visitors can walk on Water Street, the oldest street in North America., and see the naturally-sheltered harbor where vessels moored forty years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock.

The Province has scenic routes to traverse by car or bicycle with lots of hiking and backpacking trails along the rivers and streams. The Province has an abundance of natural areas as well as provincial and national parks. However, none are more remarkable than Gros Morne National Park that was recognized by UNESCO for its natural beauty. Hikers in Gros Morne National Park can see Precambrian cliffs and other unusual rock formations as well as giant Arctic hares, caribou, moose, alpine bear, partridge, and many types of fauna.

Labrador has mountain ranges and boasts the Snow Goose Ski Club. If visitors would rather fish than ski, brook trout, land-locked salmon and Atlantic salmon run in the rivers of Labrador. Hunters also find the Province an interesting place to visit.

Geologists, anthropologists, and archaeologists learn a lot by exploring the Province where they can find one of the world's last great wilderness areas with some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet. Caribou, wolves, lynx, polar bears, seals, porcupines, and moose roam. Whales frolic off the coast. There are also burial sites of indigenous people 9,000 years old.

On the Island of Newfoundland, a main scenic highway runs from St. John's through Corner Brook and Stephenville to Channel-Port-Aux-Basques. Auto-tourists can use this road to explore different mountain ranges and villages where they can purchase unusual handmade art objects and crafts of the region. Another interesting auto-trip would be to take a detour at Deer Lake and head north to Cook's Harbor and take the ferry to Labrador.

Memorial University of Newfoundland is famous for its marine studies. Over 500 marine scientists gather there annually to share research findings on marine biotechnology.

Other trips:

• While in Newfoundland take the ferry to Nova Scotia and visit the other Maritime Provinces;
• Do a discovery tour, visit Jamestown, Virginia, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Plymouth, Massachusetts-all early settlements;
• Create a circle tour by driving to the Labrador section of the Province from Quebec and return to Quebec via Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; and
• Sail or Cruise from the eastern United States to St. John's then circumnavigate the Province.

See the other Maritime Provinces:

• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island
• New Brunswick