FAIRBANKS TO VICTORIA

Early morning start today, the airport shuttle picked us up at 3.30 am for 6.00 am flight to Victoria via Seattle. Needless to say it wasn't a good night's sleep, not only because of the short duration but the usual waking up several times, concerned that we might oversleep. On the plus side, waking up what seemed hourly was a good opportunity to check just how dark it gets this far north and I can personally witness that it doesn't. The sun might slip down to the horizon and slide out of sight briefly before popping up again but in that time it stays light. Imagine how light it is half an hour before dawn or after the sun sets at home and that's probably darker than it ever gets here in Alaska in summer.

So, with a few other bleary eyed travellers we headed for the airport and be reunited with our luggage which had been collected a 11pm the night before (actually about 4 hours earlier) not sure why we couldn't just take the cases with us, the coach was big enough, but that's not how it's done. Stranger still because this way you don't see the people handling the luggage so there's nobody to tip (surprised these guys missed that opportunity) it just magically disappears from outside your room and appears in the next one, or in this case, on the pavement (sorry sidewalk) outside the terminal building. Fortunately the checking in staff didn't ask "could anyone have tampered with your luggage?" So I didn't have to "Well yes, anyone really".

Tired and grumpy doesn't make for a good travelling day but, I have to say, it went pretty well like clockwork, we made the connection in Seattle and were reunited with our luggage again in Victoria, had a very pleasant immigration control man and then we were in Canada. A quick adjust of the luggage (getting some heavy stuff out of the hand luggage which was needed to scrape the checked luggage below the weight limit, as usual) and headed for the bus into town....it had just gone and, because it was Sunday, the next one wasn't for over an hour. The helpful information lady said "you've got wheels on the luggage it's just about a 10 - 15 minute walk to the hub where you can get the bus into town....yeah right!

Eventually we found our way out of the airport after touring the car park, sheltering under a tree from a torrential hail storm, walking up a cycle track and having to turn down an invitation to a Jehovah's Witness party that a kind lady stopped her car to give us and there was the bus hub with not a bus in sight. We were just trying to work out which stop we needed when there was our bus going passed on the street by the side of the hub and at the top of some steps! But the bus driver spotted us and waited whilst we "ran" over and up the stairs.

An hour later we "debarqued" the bus (well that's what they call it when you get off the ship!) and had a short walk, really this time, to our apartment, well almost to our apartment in Chinatown. The address looked correct but the man behind the desk said "what are talking about this is an art gallery!" Just in case you're wondering why we couldn't tell the difference between an apartment complex and an art gallery, our first hotel in Vancouver was an art gallery AND hotel it wouldn't be without precedence. Anyway, we finally found the back alley approach to our apartment, put in the code to the gate and we were in, the cleaner, who couldn't speak English, was just finishing up so Gill got to practice her Spanish. We got some washing on, found some basic supplies, cooked a meal and thankfully went to bed pooped to get ready for the bike ride tomorrow.Read more