North America 2022

Today is our last day of our wonderful holiday. We have an early evening flight so we didn’t have to rush up. We went to have breakfast and whilst there a community police officer turned up on his bike we got talking then joined two of his colleagues. I thought that was quite infinitive, policemen patrolling on bikes interacting with the public and giving reassurance. It’ll never catch on in Britain. We got the final packing done and joined the other Newmarket Travel punters and waited for the coach. We were taken to the airport for the usual drawn out wait. We took off on time and had an uneventful flight home arriving at Heathrow half an hour early. Then our problems started. There was no dock for the plane so we had to wait half an hour before we could disembark then we discovered there’d been an incident in the tunnel consequently we couldn’t get our bus from the bus station stop so along with hundreds of other impatient people we had to go to terminal 5. It was utter chaos. We eve...

While we were asleep the ship docked in the Port of Vancouver. We awoke and went for breakfast then returned to our cabin collected our luggage and disembarked. We cleared customs and immigration without a hitch and regrouped with our fellow Newmarket Travellers but we had to wait a little while before our rep appeared. She showed us to our coach and we were transferred to our hotel. Unfortunately we could they access to our room until 16:00 some six hours away. I contacted my cousin Trent O’Donnell told him where we    were and he drove down to see us. We had lunch and he told us all about himself and where he fits in family tree. After he left we took a walk through the city and found the RCMP shop where I was able to gets some bits. We walked back to the hotel and gained access to our room and our luggage arrived soon after. We unpacked the stuff needed for the remainder of our stay and then went down for a drink and were joined by another couple from our group. It was a lo...

We had a very enjoyable morning in Skagway, where incidentally we found a Pandora outlet (guess what??) we then rejoined the ship in time for lunch. After we’d eaten we sat and relaxed on the lido deck. We had dinner, watched the entertainment then turned in. Whilst we were doing this the ship had left dock and was headed for Glacier Bay National Park. Glacier Bay National Park is located in southwest Alaska west of Juneau, its a marine park with inlets, coves and hide away harbours. It’s also a land park with snow peaked mountains, spectacular glaciers and emerald green forests. Wednesday 21st We awoke to discover park rangers had joined the ship and were giving a commentary on the ships PA system as we sailed up Glacier Bay. We sailed right up the bay to the John Hopkins inlet where we saw the John Hopkins Glacier. The views were just breathtaking and never before have we witnessed all the ice floating by. The ship did a slow but sure 360 degree turn facilitating some fantastic phot...

We arrived at the port and went through all the security and passport control. Then we boarded the Holland America Line’s ship the “Koningsdam”. It was magnificent as these cruise ships are. We went through all the obligatory safety checks and found our muster station. We then just wandered around trying to get the feel of the place, later returning to the cabin to unpack. We needed to get some dhobing done so Val sorted out the clothes ready to give to the dhobi whallers in the morning. We then went to the restaurant for our meal. This is the first cruise where you have a choice of restaurant. On our previous cruises the main meal venue and time have been allocated. Aboard this ship there not, nevertheless we found a lovely restaurant, we were joined by another couple from our group and had a superb meal. After we’d eaten we had every intention of wandering around but we were both so tired we retired to our cabin and turned in. We realised just far west we were travelling for we enter...

Friday 16th Sept. We boarded our couch and left Jasper. It wasn’t the most brilliant of weather, it was drizzle and low cloud, yet somehow synonymous with where we were so it didn’t matter it added to the ambiance. It was Perhaps not so low as we were high in the mountains. It didn’t spoil our journey and the views were still spectacular. We crossed the border from Alberta into British Columbia and lost another hour in the bargain. This was basically a day in transit but beautiful nonetheless. The weather brightened up a little. We arrived at Sun Peaks and checked in the Lodge. We took a walk around then resort. We returned to our room and had an early night. Saturday 17th we were up early and set off at 07:00. It was much brighter so we’re able to see what would be the ski runs in the winter. It was a great time of the day looking at the clouds halfway up the hills. We took a short break at Kamloops. We then drove onto aHope for Lunch, a place that exhibits wooden statues carved with ...

I managed to overcome the hitch and here are the photos to go with the last blog.

We appear to be getting over jet lag and we both had a good night’s sleep. We left the hotel and drove to Lake Louise and had a look round. We then headed off to Bow lake another beautiful stop where we witnessed a perfect rainbow arcing the water. We then moved onto Lake Peyto where again beautiful scenery comprising of water, mountains and glaciers. You might think seen one lake you’ve seen them all, I assure you that is not the case.    We then continued our journey through the mountains and stopped for lunch en route. We continued along Highway 93 known as the Icefields Parkway. We drove around the Big Bend where the road construction crews from Jasper linked up with the road construction crews from Banff and so completed the highway. We then stopped at another lookout known as Saskatchewan viewpoint. We carried onto the Columbian Ice field Centre. We left there and carried onto the Athabassa Falls that were fantastic. After this short stop we drove to Jasper for our overn...

After a fitful night’s sleep we assembled at 08:30 and boarded the coach. We drove to Sulphur Mountain stopping at some view points on the way. We arrived at the foot of the mountain and then    took the gondola, or cable car, depending what school you went too, to the summit. The views were spectacular and we were above the cloud which made them more so. We returned to Banff and wandered around the town and had lunch in the park. After we’d eaten just four of us went out on a helicopter trip through the Rockies. It was absolutely fantastic, Val and I had the helicopter to ourselves and I managed to get a number of spectacular photos. We returned to Banff and hit the shops again including Pandora. It’s a beautiful town, we wandered around then had dinner. Still a bit jet lagged and at 18:30 we were really tired but knew if we hit the sack too soon we’d be wide awake in the middle of the night. Tomorrow we move onto Jasper.

We knew it was going to be a long day. We climbed out of bed at 05:00 and did the final bits until the taxi arrived at 06:00. We were taken to Thorne Hill and within minutes of being dropped off our Heathrow coach arrived. Our journey was without incident and we were soon within the mighty world of Heathrow. We found the Air Canada desk and dropped off our luggage. We then went a found the assistance desk as we knew the distances would be too much for Val. We were taken through security and we found a place for breakfast. We then waited for our flight to be called which it eventually was. We were taken by buggy to our departure gate. We boarded the plane and at 12:15 BST we took off. It was a comfortable flight and we arrived 15:15 local time (22:15 BST) We soon cleared immigration and customs and met up with our tour manager. We boarded the bus for our transfer to Banff. On the way we drove past the ski jump where Eddie the Eagle made his name. There was an issue on the way which mad...