Arrive in the Arctic

Probably due to jet lag, I woke up around 3:00 in the morning, and from then on I slept awhile and then woke up, repeating this over and over again. I got up at 5:00, took a shower, and prepared for the day. After having breakfast at the cafe at 8:00, I headed for Edmonton Airport. The flight to Cambridge Bay was departing at 11:30 and it was a domestic flight, but I left Hotel at 9:00 for the airport because nobody knows what's going to happen.

The baggage allowance was 22kg, so we had to re-organize our baggage in front of the check-in counter. We though Canada has stricter measure for baggage screening, so we placed portable tool sets into check-in baggage. However, at the security check, something we never though of was caught. It was so called tie-up, which was used to bind up power cords. We were initially told to send it by post to the hotel we will be staying in Resolute. But when we asked if it was possible to go back to the check-in counter and put it in the baggage room, it was no problem.

When we got on Canadian North Flight 5T446, there were less than 10 people on board. Seeing from the sky, outside the window was pure white. While listening to Mr. Ohba's explanation of the snow conditions up in the air, I spent 1 and 40 minutes on board before reaching Yellowknife, the town famous for northern light tours.

At Yellowknife Airport

After a 30-minute stop over at Yellowknife Airport, we flew on the same airplane to Cambridge Bay. It was a 1 and 28 minutes flight and we arrived in Cambridge Bay at 15:23. Now we faced was our baggage's overweight problem. However it turned out that except four of us there was only one more passenger on board of the 8-seat airplane Beechcraft 99. So our baggage, which was clearly more than twice the allowed baggage limit, was able to be checked in. All of us felt greatly relieved because otherwise we had to leave our baggage behind to transport later tomorrow.

Beechcraft 99 which took us from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay (Kenn Borek Air Flight 1296)

After sunset, Kenn Borek Air Flight 1296 took off from Cambridge Bay. Now it was a 2 hours flight without flight attendants and service of juice. During the flight we experienced -1 hour time change. Everybody was tired and fell asleep in the airplane.

The orange light seen in distance told us that we were arriving in Resolute. When the airplane landed in the airport at 19:30 there waiting for us was Lucas of Inns North. On the way to the hotel, he took us to the Meteorological Center and showed us satellite images. It is an indispensable institution in Resolute a gateway to the arctic expedition for many people around the world. From now I will try to come here often to get information necessary to ensure the safety and security of the expedition members.

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we were served a meal that was huge in quantity and size. After we stuffed ourselves, we decided to have private time and took rest.