Travel Update: ‘Green-Stickered’ for Igloolik! | Sybaritica

Well, so much for my flight to Igloolik today! Traveller’s in the North are used to getting the notorious ‘green sticker’ affixed to their boarding passes meaning that a flight may well not land at its intended destination. Usually, this means you take off, fly for several hours and then return to wherever you started from, but, occasionally, you can end up somewhere you didn’t expect to be…

This time last year, I left home for Arctic Bay, which is a good three and a half hour’s flight north. We didn’t land, due to poor weather, and after circling the airstrip a few times we headed even further north to Resolute on Cornwallis Island where we spent the night. The next morning (at 5am, if you please) we tried again to get into Arctic Bay, only to be weathered out yet again, and eventually ended up back home almost 24 hours after we started. The only bright spot, on that occasion, was that the airline had neglected to give us the green sticker, meaning that they had to pay for our accommodations in Resolute (Yay!)

Today, however, I lucked out and the furthest I got on my travels was the famous yellow plastic airport here in Iqaluit. After being given my green sticker I was resigned to spending a fruitless day in the air but after an hour hanging around the airport for only an hour they announced that the flight was cancelled and off I went home. I have to do it all again tomorrow, of course, but tonight I get to spend the night in my own bed. As I write this, I am enjoying a nice cup of Raspberry leaf tea and getting to use a reliable Internet connection to reply to blog comments and e-mails.

My wife and four of our five cats were happy to see me home (if only briefly). The fifth, as you can see, was more concerned with the safe return of my baggage!

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