Journeys with my Gun

(54) Canada Alaska

Photo©️🆎 The Cruise Ship 'Star Princess' holds off a Holland America vessel from access into the Sawyer Glacier, Glacier Bay which separates the U.S from Canada, I took this photo from the U.S. side.
                    
Everyone wants to go to Canada and Alaska and so they should, especially to see the fabulous sights of the Rocky Mountains and the frozen coastline of Alaska. It is all very well admiring photos and videos of these brilliant locations but to experience it is something that warms the soul.

Like most popular places, Canada is a long flight (s) from Australia, on my recent third trip I observed that after 24 hours from leaving home we were still at 40,000 feet heading to Vancouver. (door to door was 27 hours)
On one trip a long time ago whilst standing near to a conference door in Canada a woman was disappointed when she received a negative reply when she enquired if I was attending the conference. She stated it would have been good to have someone on it who came from so far away....

Flight times change of course and there is more than one way to fly to your destination but it is still 16 hours + for example, Sydney/Vancouver via Hawaii at 805 km/hr plus adding airport and takeoff waiting times. Of course newer aircraft do not need to refuel so the trip would be shorter in time but not the agony of cattle class which thankfully we avoided on our last trip.
As we say 'it was worth it'
On one trip our travel time was vastly extended due to an aircraft blowing an engine taxiing on the runway in front of us.

The Joy of Flying
Don't we just hate everyone on board, the fatties, (look out- he is going to sit next to us ) crying and sometimes smelly poo babies, loud talkers, overweight carry onners, the brats who soak themselves in aircraft deodorant, the noisy and running up the aisle brats, kids who are kids therefore soon to be brats, the frequent up and downers, the sniffers, the snoring and farting, the 'newly met' behind you, (having to listen to their life stories) the stepping overs, the smelly, the back of the seat pullers and the up and down overhead bag people to name a few, not to mention - 'You are sitting in my seat'
It is now imperative for airlines to utilise the 'pick handle' technique for measuring arses as people board, with anyone exceeding two pick handles be removed from the aircraft.
What I hate most is if you are amongst the last onboard everyone sits and stares at you in their smug comfortable situation knowing that you have no chance of getting overhead storage space.

Ok, I have already agreed to being a snob and one who disapproves of my fellow travellers (confirmed)

Part of the reward for your efforts  in buckling down to the Canada trip and passenger onslaught, is the Rocky Mountaineer Train from Vancouver to Banff or Calgary, there is no better train trip with great service.
However, remember that the train shares its track with many huge freight trains which for us was a problem due to the train in front of us breaking down one hour from Banff.
No problem, within a short time coaches appeared and were loaded with goodies from the train and when we stepped off the coach in Banff a train representative was waiting to hand out cheques for $200 each.

After an interesting tour of Banff whilst billeted in the famous Fairmont Hotel we experienced a very pleasant coach ride back to Vancouver by visiting some beautiful places along the way surrounded by spectacular mountains and glorious coloured lakes. Stopovers of course, like Kamloops on the way up (taking a shortcut returning to the train I  fell down the side of a dusty hill  in Kamloops and then had to explain my bleeding and dirty condition on the train) We also visited the very impressive ski town of Whistler on the way back.
We loved the brief tourist stops along the way and rate the trip as one of our best.
Canadians are more reserved than Americans but like the Americans they are friendly and welcoming. It is interesting to note that Vancouver is practically an Asian / European citizen city.
In time we also toured the eastern side of Canada which was most enjoyable especially the wonderful character exuded by Quebec, one of my favourite cities.