The Hardest Part of My Trip

Well, the hardest part of my trip seems to be travelling back home. I had an easy flight out of Inuvik. The airline, First Air, didn't have a problem with flying my bike at all. They even had good food on the flight! I got to Edmonton, stored my bike in bagage storage, and headed over to my hotel for the night.

This morning, I caught the shuttle back to the airport and then things started to go to hell. The guy at the Alaska Airlines desk said that they wouldn't fly my bike unless it was in a bike box. Alaska, of course, doesn't have bike boxes. Neither does anyone else in the entire airport. All the other airlines let passengers fly their bikes in big plastic bags but not Alaska. They insisted that they wouldn't load an unboxed bike on the plane.

The Alaska ticket agents were incredibly surly and unhelpful. One of them was this bimbo chick who just stood there looking bored. The other guy just shrugged his shoulders. They basically said that this was my problem and I should have checked with the airline earlier as to their policy with bikes. I didn't have any trouble at all last year flying home with Alaska airlines from Juneau so I didn't think there would be a problem now.

On the other hand, all the Canadian airlines were amazing when I asked for their help making phone calls and brainstorming ideas to help me out even though I wasn't flying their airline. The even watched my bike and bags for me so I wouldn't have to drag them around the airport. Even the RCMP guys tried to help.

Finally, someone dragged out a cut apart box in two pieces and, with the help of another passenger who is also a bicyclist, we cobbled together a partial box, put it inside a big plastic bag, and taped the hell out of it. The whole thing was an awkward mess and way more difficult to handle than if the bike was in just a bag with both wheels on. But, rules are rules and pragmatism or logic has no part to play.

Next came customs. I had to drag my stuff through with little to no help from anyone from the airline. They literally stood there and watched me struggle with my bags and bike. The bike in the 'box' didn't fit through the big X ray machine so, I'm not kidding, I had to take it all apart to get it hand checked. Then, I had to put it together again using a few more miles of tape.

Next came security where they unpacked all my carry on luggage. The only thing missing was a strip search! At this point, I was late for the flight and was about to miss it. Amazingly, they held it for me and both Sam and I are now heading towards Seattle.

I have noticed that Canadians are much more laid back and easy going than Americans. They maintain their sense of humor and humanity and are always ready to lend a hand. The contrast in attitude between the American and Canadian airlines was truly striking. The Canadians were cheerful and helpful while the Americans were indifferent and unfriendly. I think we Americans have a lot to learn from our northern neighbors! J'adore Canada!
-- Post From My iPhone