What an adventure!

Well, we made it to Iqaluit, but wow, what a trip it was! As luck would have it, we were able to get a Tuesday noon hour flight to Rankin Inlet, our main hub. From there, the plan was to catch a special charter to take us to Iqaluit. Unfortunately, lots of other regions of Nunavut were experiencing the same blizzard conditions we had on Monday and had to be rerouted to Yellowknife, NWT, which was the only major airport open. A decision to use one charter to pick up our people in Yellowknife and then fly over to Rankin (3 hour flight) to pick up the rest of us was made.

More flight delays caused the charter to arrive in Rankin Inlet around 8:30pm. The long wait, with little or no food available at the airport and no water in the washrooms (!), meant a trying start to the trip. We were excited to see the charter arrive, only to find out that the air temperature inside the charter was similar to the outside air temperature.

As we were boarding the aircraft (4 engine, Dash 7) I could see people's breath and thought, "Are they smoking? I can't believe they allow people to smoke on a charter!". It wasn't until I took my first breath that I realized that they weren't smoking. As I breathed out, I could see my breath! And wow, was it ever cold in that aircraft. The seats were frozen and the metal was "ouch" to the touch. I told myself that once we were in the air, it would be warmer. However, it was taking a long time to fire up the engines. I wondered why...

About 20 minutes later, one of the crew came out and asked to speak to the person in charge. Oh, oh... that was me! As it turned out, the number of passengers on our list (40) did not jive with their manifest. Given the amount of fuel on board and the number of passengers, they told us we were the equivalent of six too many people to get off the ground safely! Once our senior management team decided which six people to jettison off the plane, we had to figure out how to get their luggage off the plane. The airport was now closed and the luggage handlers were gone home, so we decided to pitch in and help the crew unload the cargo and find the luggage for those not going on with us. It was a great team effort. I guess that's what "other duties" refers to in our contracts!

Well, once we unloaded and reloaded the luggage, it was time to take off. And, despite my thoughts that the cabin would warm up once we were airborne, it didn't happen! I (and everyone else) was frozen! I could hardly feel my feet, they were so cold. I snuggled down into my Canada Goose arctic parka, but it wasn't long enough to cover my legs or feet. I tried to sleep but even that was hard in the cold! After 3 hours, we finally arrived in Iqaluit at 1am (Iqaluit is on Eastern time zone,so we lost an hour). After we unloaded our own luggage (getting good at it now), we called taxis and headed to the hotel. Thankfully, a large number of taxis responded to our call and we got to the hotel quickly. The front desk attendant was great and got us quickly checked into our rooms. By 1:30am, we were safe and sound in our hotel rooms. And, boy, was I ready to report for breakfast at 7:30am. Having missed both lunch and supper during our crazy day, I was starved. Oh, well, thankfully, morning arrived very quickly and with it, food!!

The rest of the week was very busy as the conference was condensed into two days, rather than three. I didn't get out to see Iqaluit, but I did get to go square dancing (!). Square dancing is very popular in Nunavut, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I did, however, pass on the raw Arctic char that was spread out on a tarp on the floor, available for anyone who wanted to eat it! Someone recorded one of my square dances, so maybe I'll post it sometime for a good laugh! The rest of the week went great and despite a few warnings that blizzards were on the way to our region again, we made it home safe and sound on Friday afternoon.

As I sign off for this blog, here is the answer to my last blog question re: most verocious animal that comes into our town. I said it started with a "w" and was more vicious than the wolf. The answer is "wolverine". Yup, those little varmits do come into town from time to time, especially during blizzards. I'll tell you a bit more about that in my next blog.

Tomorrow I am off to Repulse Bay (sits on the Arctic Circle) and then onto Coral Harbour (located on a large island in the Hudson Bay). Wish me luck on my flights (getting out on time, and getting home next Friday!). Chat to you then! Have a great week!