The Trip of a Lifetime

It started at 4am yesterday, crawling out of bed and waking up the baby to go to the airport. After my husband dropped baby and me at the check-in counter of Canadian North (right next to the check-in to Cuba, I might add), I learn that I will not only have to get off the plane in Edmonton, but also in Yellowknife, as I am flying on a free pass, and they can't guarantee me a seat. What???? A little panic sets in as I consider the possibility of me, baby and 2 bottles of milk being stuck in Edmonton for who knows how long while my suitcase travels in its merry way to Norman Wells, NWT. (Its North, its far, far North my friends.) I quickly enter denial mode, and head to the gate. At boarding time, there is no plane in sight. At scheduled departure time, still no plane. Finally, a snow covered vessel arrives at our gate, and we begin boarding.

After the 45 minutes on the plane at the departure gate waiting for the de-icing, and 10 minutes of baby screaming and squirming because he was already tired and bored before we even took off, we finally took to the air and baby fell asleep. Phew! Phase one complete. Unfortunately, the flight to Edmonton is only about 25 minutes. If you don't count the 20 minutes we spent sitting in plane waiting for the auxiliary power to be fixed before we could get off. Are you kidding me?

Here is where I get to point out to you spoiled travellers that in Edmonton and Yellowknife you must disembark the plane using the stairs. More good news, since it isn't too difficult to walk down steep icy stairs with a baby in one arm, and a carry-on bag in the other. Put baby in stroller, run for the door, find check-in counter, get boarding pass, wait to re-board plane. Longer flight to Yellowknife, the plane is packed, and this time baby does not sleep. He is in a good mood, eats lots of snacks to keep busy (I can't stress enough how important it is to have numerous snacks when travelling with children), makes friends with our neighbors, even the ones who resist his charms, and then 10 minutes of crying and squirming until we land in Yellowknife and get off again. Put baby in stroller, run faster for door (its WAY colder in Yellowknife), find check-in counter...you get the idea. This time baby fell asleep as soon as he was in the stroller, and slept almost all the way to Norman Wells. Phew one more time. A friendly fellow traveller helps me with my carry-on bag while I carry baby down the stairs and into the terminal, where a loving family member greets us with a smile. We did it!!!

It is minus forty one degrees here today. You might be thinking that all that travel stress might be worth it if I was going to, say, Hawaii. Who goes North in the winter? Well, I guess I do. And its all worth it to spend part of the holiday season with family. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. (In fact, I get to do to all again on Friday!)