D'Arcy Kavanagh

Don’t you love this picture? D’Arcy is in Guadeloupe, Caribbean sporting a tan, a happy smile and his little fold-up bike. Since we bought these bikes, our travelling overseas with bikes has gotten increasingly better. D’Arcy has travelled by bike for since 1970 and the airlines just don’t like bikes although he’s tried different ways to pack them so the airlines won’t damage them. In 2016, he discovered Bike Friday Company. They make fold-up bikes with gears that took D’Arcy up the highest mountains in Europe, and the bonus is they fold up and go into a regulation-size Samsonite suitcase. No more bike damage! No wonder he is smiling here.

D’Arcy Kavanagh’s working life has centred on journalism and telling stories. He was a reporter and editor for newspapers before becoming a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers in North America and overseas. Later, he took to the classroom to teach journalism, retiring in 2012 and then working with his wife Lynda with their strategic brand marketing coaching and training company, WOW Communications & Training Corp.

A lifelong fan of the open road, D’Arcy has travelled overseas dozens of times. Usually, his trips have focused on travelling by bicycle. A self-described “cycling fanatic”, he has toured in more than 25 countries over 35 years. He estimates he has travelled by bike well over 200,000 km. (See where D’Arcy has travelled.) 

D’Arcy has combined his travelling, cycling and journalism and has written 5 books. They are murder mysteries and has a very loyal followers of readers (all asking when the next book will be out.) These books are being published by BHC Press. See D’Arcy’s author page. 

So, it was natural that in 2000 he and his wife Lynda helped start Wow Tours International Inc., a travel company with an emphasis on bike touring. While they no longer lead tours (believe it or not, the airlines were just too difficult to deal with!!), WOW Tours provides travel webinars, consulting and slide-show presentations to eager travellers who either don’t know how to start or don’t know where to go. These webinars offer a glimpse of an area to help people compare.

And D’Arcy’s desire to keep travelling remains strong. He still goes overseas at least once a year – besides travelling in North America – and keeps polishing his language skills to ensure the best possible trip experience. Not satisfied with just travelling, D’Arcy has combined his writing background and his travel adventures to produce a series of murder mystery books, all set in European countries and in areas where D’Arcy and Lynda have travelled extensively.  So far, readers love the results.

And when he isn’t busy with travel-related matters, D’Arcy plays Celtic music on a semi-professional basis.