r.
Pink I stayed for a few days in Boca Raton with Brooke and Bryan and their daughter Emerson, who we’d taken to the circus the previous weekend for her fifth birthday. Emerson graciously gave up her room for me to use while I was there, replenishing my pink consumption levels, which I hadn’t realized had fallen to a dangerous low. Thanks!

Pink

I stayed for a few days in Boca Raton with Brooke and Bryan and their daughter Emerson, who we’d taken to the circus the previous weekend for her fifth birthday. Emerson graciously gave up her room for me to use while I was there, replenishing my pink consumption levels, which I hadn’t realized had fallen to a dangerous low. Thanks!

SFO-YVR-LHR-CPH-SFJ-JAV Damn, if I’d known I’d be flying directly over Greenland on the way there, I would have arranged to have them drop me off on the way. I guess I should have organized this trip a little more carefully. Roughly 13560 km or 23 hours of air time over four days should be a lot of fun, and this doesn’t take into account the weather-dependent [ferry|dogsled|helicopter|?] final leg.

SFO-YVR-LHR-CPH-SFJ-JAV

Damn, if I’d known I’d be flying directly over Greenland on the way there, I would have arranged to have them drop me off on the way. I guess I should have organized this trip a little more carefully. Roughly 13560 km or 23 hours of air time over four days should be a lot of fun, and this doesn’t take into account the weather-dependent [ferry|dogsled|helicopter|?] final leg.

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Hotels and Highways - Train Whistle

Per the previous post, this is kind of the approach to travel I’m taking lately. It is nice to be home even for a day, listening to the train whistles echoing across the water instead of the jets roaring overhead.

Spin the globe; wherever it stops, I’m going
Hit the map with the dart in your hand
Gonna blow this train whistle till I find out who I am

The Surroundings From a Selected Point in Time over the Last Few Days

At the end of a twenty hour travel day I was bundled up in all the clothes I have with me, sitting on the ice-crusted bow of an old cargo ship as it crashed through foot-thick sea ice coming into the harbour of the town where we are now staying. Someone indicated an iceberg in the harbour with a green laser pointer. We moved forward twenty meters, got stuck in the ice, reversed one hundred meters, and had another run at it, repeating this process five or six times to make it the last distance to the dock. The searchlight attached to the fore mast shuddered with each drop through the ice, strobing the light fog and sea before us. The sky is black and clear, faint aurora waving over the mountain to the south.

Secondary

In and out of CPB secondary inspection (random pull on Nexus again) in less than five minutes is a record for me, I didn’t even get to sit down to begin the usual 45 minute sweat fest. I don’t think I’ve been able to use Nexus without getting stuck in secondary once in the last year. Hooray randomness =P.

Air Greenland Most any trip to Greenland begins with a flight on Air Greenland, which is now possibly my favourite airline. They have an awesome simple logo and colour scheme, but the thing that struck me immediately was metal utensils in economy. I have since been schooled that international flights on non-North American airlines may feature this, but it has been so long since I’ve been on a flight that has had food provided at all, let alone with usable utensils that it was a bit of a surprise. Right and Left did a thorough inspection.

Air Greenland

Most any trip to Greenland begins with a flight on Air Greenland, which is now possibly my favourite airline. They have an awesome simple logo and colour scheme, but the thing that struck me immediately was metal utensils in economy. I have since been schooled that international flights on non-North American airlines may feature this, but it has been so long since I’ve been on a flight that has had food provided at all, let alone with usable utensils that it was a bit of a surprise. Right and Left did a thorough inspection.

North Pole, 3hrs. 15min. I travelled to Greenland with Steve, a guy I met in Indianapolis on my drive across the US. Here we are with one of those sign posts that indicates how close you actually are to everything, while still being in the middle of nowhere. It took between twenty and twenty five hours of flying time to travel a straight-line distance (San Francisco to Illulissat) that could be covered in approximately five hours with a direct flight. This zigzagging about makes Greenland one of the most remote places I’ve been, and certainly the most difficult to get to from other parts of North America. However, the low demand and high cost of complying with TSA regulations (more on this later) means it is unlikely that a direct flight from elsewhere in North America will be re-introduced.

North Pole, 3hrs. 15min.

I travelled to Greenland with Steve, a guy I met in Indianapolis on my drive across the US. Here we are with one of those sign posts that indicates how close you actually are to everything, while still being in the middle of nowhere. It took between twenty and twenty five hours of flying time to travel a straight-line distance (San Francisco to Illulissat) that could be covered in approximately five hours with a direct flight. This zigzagging about makes Greenland one of the most remote places I’ve been, and certainly the most difficult to get to from other parts of North America. However, the low demand and high cost of complying with TSA regulations (more on this later) means it is unlikely that a direct flight from elsewhere in North America will be re-introduced.

Prefab Much of the architecture in Greenland is of the prefab kit variety, as there are no native natural resources to actually build anything out of, wood being the standout example. I don’t believe I saw a single tree in the entire time I was there. The designs are simple, efficient, and colourful.

Prefab

Much of the architecture in Greenland is of the prefab kit variety, as there are no native natural resources to actually build anything out of, wood being the standout example. I don’t believe I saw a single tree in the entire time I was there. The designs are simple, efficient, and colourful.

Antenna We had a three hour layover in Kangerlussuaq while waiting for the flight on to Illulissat, so we opted to take a tour looking for musk ox. Of course they waited ‘til after we paid to tell us that it was hunting season and that we were unlikely to see any. Either way we got a decent tour of the town including a bunch of antenna stations for the airport, the dump (and it was garbage burning day too!), the lake where the water supply comes from, and a restaurant.

Antenna

We had a three hour layover in Kangerlussuaq while waiting for the flight on to Illulissat, so we opted to take a tour looking for musk ox. Of course they waited ‘til after we paid to tell us that it was hunting season and that we were unlikely to see any. Either way we got a decent tour of the town including a bunch of antenna stations for the airport, the dump (and it was garbage burning day too!), the lake where the water supply comes from, and a restaurant.

Five Yellow Posts

Five Yellow Posts

466

466

Cargo I don’t think I’d been on a Dash 7 before this trip. This particular one had “first class” replaced with a pallet of cargo complete with rope netting and red webbing to strap it all down. When it came time to serve refreshments, the stewardess opened the cockpit door and served the pilots as well. Who needs the TSA out here in the middle of nowhere? Did I mention that flying is a surprisingly pleasant experience here? Or perhaps more accurately, flying is what it is, and it isn’t made into an uncomfortable ordeal of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Cargo

I don’t think I’d been on a Dash 7 before this trip. This particular one had “first class” replaced with a pallet of cargo complete with rope netting and red webbing to strap it all down. When it came time to serve refreshments, the stewardess opened the cockpit door and served the pilots as well. Who needs the TSA out here in the middle of nowhere? Did I mention that flying is a surprisingly pleasant experience here? Or perhaps more accurately, flying is what it is, and it isn’t made into an uncomfortable ordeal of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Issiatillutit Qitequteqarit wikipedia: Greenlandic is a polysynthetic language that allows the creation of long words by stringing together roots and suffixes. r.: Did you even know Greenlandic was a language? Or that Greenland is physiographically part of North America? I particularly like the alliterative ‘qitequteqarit’.

Issiatillutit Qitequteqarit

wikipedia:

Greenlandic is a polysynthetic language that allows the creation of long words by stringing together roots and suffixes.

r.:

Did you even know Greenlandic was a language? Or that Greenland is physiographically part of North America? I particularly like the alliterative ‘qitequteqarit’.

Information In case you want to find the heliport, airport, or whales.

Information

In case you want to find the heliport, airport, or whales.