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On the Road With...
On the Road with Kevin Brauch
02/03/10 09:17
(Extended, unedited version) 
The Toronto-based host of The Thirsty Traveler TV show, Brauch makes a neighbourhood pub crawl look like a cakewalk: he combs the entire world in search of weird and wonderful alcoholic libations. Sixty episodes of the show are now airing on Discovery, The UK Travel Channel, Discovery Asia, Fine Living and BBC Canada.
But Brauch, a self-professed “jeans n’ t-shirt guy,” is just as happy in a dive bar as a flashy cocktail joint. Reb Stevenson caught up with him at Toronto’s Victory Cafe – over a beer, of course.
What came first, your thirst for travel or your thirst for booze?
Booze. The first drink I had was when I was five or six. My dad let me have a sip of his beer at the cottage. I hated the flavour, but I thought if I was drinking his beer, he might think I was old and I might be able to stay up later and watch more TV. The first time I was on a plane was when I was 18. Since then I’ve done almost 700 flights.
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The Man in the Khaki Hat
25/04/09 17:21
Want to hear about a hat trick? Alex Tilley turned a single hat into a travel wear empire that spans 18 countries and 2,600 stores.
In 1980, Ontario-born Tilley was just an amateur sailor with a thorn in his side: his hat kept hitching a ride in the wind.
So, purely as a hobby, he set about designing his own stay-put headwear.
He teamed up with a milliner, a seamstress and a sail maker. The original Tilley Hat was born and before long other sailors wanted one, too.
Tilley also designed a pair of sailing shorts with a reinforced rear, but those were a bit of a flop. But then a man asked him to create a similar pair of pants - not for sailing, but for travel. From that moment, it was anchor’s aweigh for Tilley Endurables.
Now there are six family-owned Tilley-brand stores in Canada (the flagship store is on Don Mills Road) and the hats come in 30 styles, 9 fabrics, 13 sizes and 24 colours.
The Star recently sat down for a chin wag with the man in the khaki hat. Read More...