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May 07, 2006

A nice flight.

I'm in Edmonton now, after a nice flight from Whitehorse.

It was my first time in a Hawker Siddeley, which is the biggest prop plane I've been in for quite a while. There was a little bit of turbulence, which made some people queasy, but really it was an uneventful flight.

I was looking forward to imagining hiking through the mountains, but the clouds obscured the view shortly outside of Whitehorse and didn't clear again until we reached cut-line scarred northeastern BC. Fortunately, I had my laptop with me, so to keep occupied I did some work.

The plane was noisy. At least when you're flying on a small Cessna, you're provided with headsets or ear plugs. No such luck on this flight. I can still hear the hum in my ears. It was weird listening to the guys across the aisle talk to each other. The vibrations from the plane made their voices sound like they were talking through a horrible VOIP connection.

The service on the flight was good. Any airline that offers beef jerkey as an in-flight snack is alright with me! I was quite impressed by the duct-tape on the overhead bins. It was the high-quality stuff, so I know they're paying attention to details.

I'm in Edmonton for the Meet the North Conference. After arriving in Edmonton, we spent the rest of the afternoon setting up for the conference and then a few of us decided to go for dinner. We set-out, walking to the restaurants. It's strip mall central here. On occasion, we came across some pedestrial lights, but there wasn't a sidewalk in sight.

We walked for a while, sometimes playing "Frogger" through the traffic, and ended up at the Keg. I ordered a steak done medium to medium well. When I got the steak it was blue, so I sent it back to get cooked some more. They cooked it until it was well, but but by the time I got it, everyone else had finished their dinner. Before I had the chance to be unimpressed, they gave me my meal on the house. That's good service. I'd go back.

Now, I'm back at the hotel and just got off the phone with Fawn. It shounds like she and Jade are doing well, but I do miss them. I think it's a sign of the times that the hotel charges 75 cents to make a local call, but high speed internet is free. Pa Bell, look out!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, you flew on a Hawker Siddely from Iqaluit to Pond Inlet a few years ago. I remember calling the flight attendant as we were getting ready for take-off because the engine cowling was not properly dogged down.

Happy to find your new space,
Cheers,
Alex

Meandering Michael said...

Was that a Hawker Siddeley? Howzabout that! And I recall noticing that the engine cowling was not properly dogged down. They should have used duct tape.

Anonymous said...

Did you know Pop worked for Hawker Siddeley at one time?
Have a good time at the conference.