Hamstrung in Hall Beach

A little tune and scenery change. Rather than enjoy the summer in Igloolik, I figured why not head to a semi-tropical location in the midst of their summer, hot and humid rainy season?!! Yea!

Off to Japan! But first, I had to escape Hall Beach.....

The town 15 min by plane away from Igloolik managed to derail an entire vacation plan.

The weather couldn't have been more beautiful, but the Arctic always finds a way to show you that you are not in control.

We blew a tire on landing in Hall Beach. I'll let you guess if the airline company stocks replacement tires in the sprawling megalopolis of 800 residents in Hall Beach.

Nope.

The closest tire was in Iqaluit. A 3-4 hr charter flight away....depending on winds. ....if there was a charterable plane available....

But first the flight crew had to notify their headquarters of the situation and get that tire ball rolling. Shouldn't be a problem....oh wait, Hall Beach was under a scheduled power outage. That's right, no power at the airport. No phone, no computer. They had to call via sat phone.

Also, a neat feature of Hall Beach is that it does not have cell service or wifi. So there we were, in a non-powered airport with no cell service or internet, no food, and no way to mitigate downstream travel impacts.....like a connection to Tokyo.

I made it 15 min from Igloolik before the Arctic exacted her revenge.

We sat on hard plastic chairs for 7 hrs.

They fed us the ham sandwiches they had on board the plane. Then, about 6 hours later, the crew was able to secure pizza from the local co-op with some 10 month old expired pineapple juice.

Coffee was also made about 2.5 hours into the retreat because the power was restored. Power also meant you could go to the restroom and see!

Of course all my connections were missed but I was worried about the next day Tokyo flight....that connection was going to be missed too. How could I reschedule from Hall Beach? Was it even possible to change the flight on such short notice? Would there be seats available on the following day's flight? Would they be 6 million dollars?! All of this I pondered while enjoying my plastic molded seat.

The lack of control is so much like traveling in a 3rd world/developing country. I now believe my travels have not been to enhance empathy and understanding of us as humans, but rather to simply understand and chill when your whole vacation is blown to smithereens by a flat tire. Lolol. What can you do?

I decided to ask if I could use the airport phone when the power returned. They said yes. I could not access my email to locate my Tokyo reservation. I called Jonathan to get the reservation code and then called the airline while the flight crew sat nearby listening to my little saga unfold.

Amazingly, the airline had seats the next day, albeit on an itinerary that was 7 hrs longer than the original, but hey!

I finally escaped Hall Beach and made it to the capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, at about 7 pm that evening.....just about the time I was supposed to arrive in Vancouver, some 4,000 km away.

The silver lining? A latte in Iqaluit before my departure the next day!

And, only 3 days traveling to finally reach Tokyo! Wheeee!Read more