The Arctic Post

I am currently an instructor for two separate courses. I had just finished my certification as we were moving up here. I am required to teach each course once between now and April. I have been frantically looking for courses that are being taught in Nunavut. I was unable to find any information. I also looked into NWT. I wasn’t overly successful there either. After a few discussions, Etienne and I decided it would be best if I flew down myself to teach the courses. We aren’t due to go on our next trip until mid March/April. Since this is way too close for comfort for me, I have signed up for a course mid Feb in Edmonton. There is another one being held at the end of March, so I will do that one as well. This should meet my minimum requirements for another year!! Now I have a year to look into doing some teaching closer to home.

When I first started looking into flights I noticed there was a big seat sale going on. We also have recently found out that Calm Air now honors Aeroplan miles. So it just made sense for me to take a small trip. I wish that I could end things there. Why is it always so complicated to book a flight? or is it just me?

I had to call to transfer my Aventura points to Aeroplan points. That takes a few days to take effect. So in the mean time I decided to book my hotel room in Winnipeg for both ways. I also plan to visit a girl friend in BC. So I also wanted to book that flight. So, I went onto Air Canada’s website to book my flights. Well, after I submitted my request it came back saying “insufficient funds!” WHAT?!?! There was no way, we figured something was wrong with their site.  We tried on both of our credit cards, and it said the same thing. So we decided to phone Air Canada and book online. After waiting online for 45 minutes, Etienne hung up frustrated. I decided to phone back an hour later and waited online for another 45 minutes. I finally spoke to an agent and they booked my flights for the online price. Thankfully! After I booked my flights, I realized that I booked the wrong date for my hotel room in Winnipeg! Oops…so I had to call and change that.

Today my aeroplan points had been transferred so I called to book my Chester to Winnipeg flight. I was happy I only had to hold for about 15 minutes when it rang and I heard someone pick up, then I heard voices, then the line disconnected! GRRR….I phoned back and waited for another 15 minutes. When I finally got an agent we started booking my flight. When I told her where I wanted to go, she asked if I wanted a direct flight? I was like, huh? There is no such thing in the north. She couldn’t find the entire flight, so I had to start telling her each and every stop along the way. I wasn’t sure the exact route for the day, so I tried to look it up online. Is there something wrong with that picture? Me telling the agent the flight route? For some reason I couldn’t get the Calm Air site to load properly!! GRR…so I had to hang up and phone back once I got all the information.  I called back and that is when the lady started arguing with me that the flight would be from Chester to Iqaluit to Winnipeg?!?! I then explained that the flight from here to winnipeg would be making 5 stops before landing in Winnipeg, which would not be including Iqaluit. She told me that I was incorrect, there was a quicker way to fly! Wow…she really had no clue. After all that, I found out there were no flights available for the days I wanted. So, my first lesson, book your flight from the north, before booking anything else.  I made Etienne phone Air Miles during his lunch break. He sat on hold for 15 minutes before someone answered and told him he had called Customer Service and not bookings!! So then he sat on hold for another 15 minutes before we finally booked my flight! Wow….who would have thought it was that complicated?

I’m finally relieved that everything is set. Now that I sit back and look at all the plans I’ve made, this is going to be an extremely busy visit. Many miles are going to be put on my car. I am guessing I will drive over 1000km’s in a couple weeks. Not to mention all the flying I will be doing. I am so excited and can’t wait to see all my friends.

Now my next goal is to cook a few meals and freeze them. I’ve been told I’m crazy, but I think of it as doing something nice. Everytime I leave town, I make sure Etienne has enough meals to eat while I’m gone. This way I know that the kitchen will be decently clean when I get home. Not that he’s a messy person, our standards are just a little different.  I hate cooking for one person. You always have left overs, and honestly I’m not a big fan of them. This way, he will be able to eat home cooked meals and not have to worry about cooking for one and having left overs. I think he is just a little bit spoiled!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 18:16 and is filed under The Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.