very OT - anyone from Canada or Alaska here, Brit needs info for hols

From Anchorage drive East along Turn Again arm. Great 40 mile trip and visit the Ski area and the Eisenhower Glacier.

Going North to Fairbanks you should visit Holmer for a lot of gold rush era history and local flavor.

Charter a plane ride from Anchorage to see th> As per subject line - just after some motoring and general info for my

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll be flying into Anchorage from Vancouver on Alaskan Airlines (and back again at the end of my tour) - will I not already see this on the approach. Or do you suggest I get a ride on a small / light aircraft?

One other thing - food - any tips, 'cause this Brit and his Wife has never been accross the 'pond' before! I am a big meat eater, and am usually adventurous when trying different animals, but I am fussy with vegatables. My Wife - well she eats anything you put in front of her! What kind of eateries am I likely to find in the more remote areas?

Thanks again.

I'm near Windsor, so here's some Ontario Province info on the motoring aspect. I'm not certain if it carries across all Provinces. The radar detector issue can cost you the device plus a ticket (last I knew it was $250C). I don't believe that they have scanners to detect a detector just old fashioned observation. Speed limits are enforced like the UK. Pay attention to surroundings and drive appropriately.

One last thing is that we drive on the wrong side. ;-) GS

Drive it in your rental car. You need to involve yourself in Alaska and flying over it just is not the same.

You should be able to find anything you want. The thing you need to experience is the frontier spirit of the culture. The people tend to be very self sufficient. If you look past the scenery and get to know the people you will begin to feel like you have walked back into the late

1800s. Outside the cities you are truly in the wilderness.

Hi Teutonic, First; in Calgary, the Calgary Stampede starts this weekend en there is plenty so see even if you don't like rodeo. There's a big fair and a native village. Second; I don't think you'll need the 4x4 at all, a nice big car or even better a van would be my choice to do the trip to Vancouver. In Calgary I can advice a visit, at supper time, to the Red Lobster, a good variety of food, good service and not expensive at all. If you like meat, good meat, do the Keg and ask for the prime rib Keg size, you won't be disappointed. You'll never had a steak like that, even better is the sirloin with lobster and you have some room left for a perfect desert. Calgary Vancouver is about ten-eleven hours so you'll have plenty of time to snoop around. Take the number 1 highway and stay away from the Coquithalla, a toll road that will save you an hour, but that will be so boring that you might as well do the autobahn from Frankfurt to Muenchen in Germany. How expensive is it ? I don't know, I take the number 1 :) but somewhere around the 10-15 $ Canadian. Some stops if you get in the neighbourhood; the hot springs of Banff, between Revelstroke and Sicamus the Giant Cedars, Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, go for a swim in Salmon Arms or rent a boat and check out the lake, stop in Frazer valley and do Hells Gate, Lake Louise, the Columbia ice field, there is too much to see, just plan next year 6 weeks and we'll show you the rest. They have to give you notice that they are controlling the speed,( Radar enforced) turn on the local radio and listen where they check. It isn't nearly as bad as in Europe, like Germany or worse Holland. The max speed is

110 km/hour but they start stopping you when you go over 120 km/hour or when traffic is to dense. Calgary rush hour is nothing compared to a rush hour in Bonn or Amsterdam, signs are good and easy visible, when in doubt take the middle lane until you find the road number you were heading for. A walk in the park after doing cities like Paris or Athens. Calgary Cops like to use ghost cars, but if you behave a bit and go with the flow, there's nothing to it.

Have a great trip and take an umbrella for Vancouver :)

Richard

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aircraft?

OK. That was in my plans anyway - I do like to get off the beaten track, and I certainly don't like overly commercialised or overly touristy places.

areas?

Great, that's exactly what I look for. Wherever I holiday, meeting local people, and trying to get involved or at least understanding local cultures and traditions, is vitally important to me. I'm a great beliver in the sentiment of taking home the memories. As for the wilderness - well, it seems I'm comming to heaven! England is so so conjested and the urban sprawl is extending all the time, there will be few areas of greenery left soon. The only true areas of wilderness in the UK are in the northern highlands of Scotland, and yes they are truly beautiful, but they also suffer in the summer time from an overload of tourists, it's much better in the winter though.

Thanks again, I'm looking forward to this more and more!

motoring

surroundings and

Thanks for that.

Yeah, tell me about it. Whenever I drive in mainland Europe, they also drive on the wrong side too - some people eh! :-))

Sounds interesting, I'll only have one night in Calgary though.

It's actually a "small" 4x4 from Alamo, not the brochure stated "large" 4x4, on this leg of the trip.

Ow stop it - you're making my mouth water already :-))

Coquithalla,

Banff,

Columbia ice

It's actually an itemised, pre-planned itinerary, 8days from Calgary to Vancouver for this part of my hols. 6 weeks :-o , if only I could get that long off work!

Thanks for the tips. I presume for "ghost cars", the cops use unmarked and without roof light bars, instead of the usual highway patrol cars with their usual "company logos" plastered down the sides!

I'll do my best.

The wife can pack that :-\

Hi, some hints after arriving in Calgary airport. Long walk through narrow corridors until you hit the immigration/customs booths, the nice Labrador they have there is not pettable, but will get close to have a sniff :) After customs follow the crowd through the doors, say Hi to the Cowboys and Cowgirls and if you're a smoker turn left and enter Tim Horton's rear Tank :) a glass thingy where you can have your first smoke after 8 or 9 hours. This would be a good time to quit! Don't worry about you luggage, it wont be there yet. Non Smokers walk straight ahead and wait for their stuff, smoker finish their smoke and turn left (!! I wrote right to teutonic) when leaving Tim Horton's and get their luggage. Try to get a cart, to the rentals is an other nice walk, your jetlag is hitting you and it is only one hour later then when you left England, but it feels like the whole night:) Check before you leave where you pick up the car, two companies work from down town, which means get a cab. The rentals are back to Timmy and get the last door on your right, cross the road and start reading the signs, they are all together, but try to hide behind each other :). Get directions to your hotel/motel and book in. This is stampede week and rooms are expensive and rare.

Then go and see the rodeo grounds, in a cab. You'll never be able to park close and you don't feel like walking 2-3 miles just to get there. If you're early, you can see the chuck wagon race of that day, else see the fair and the native village. If you go to bed at this time you'll wake up at 2 in the morning and you keep your jetlag for an other day.

Never mind you won't feel like food anyway tonight but there is a Keg and a Red Lobster in Vancouver too :).

Getting gas outside Calgary can save you some money, but you're doing the tourist trail so it will still be expensive as long as you stay on the main roads. We are up to 88 cents a litre for regular now. But you are on holyday and unless you're getting hooked like I did you will never see it again, so enjoy the trip and worry later at home :) Save all your recites and pick up a form in your hotel in Calgary, they do sent you your GST tax back within 1 to 2 months!Unfortunately only of the stuff you take out of the country.

Yes bears are dangerous and so are deer, take pictures and keep your distance, don't feed them. Buy a family size bottle of Off or Deep Woods and a hat. Have the trip of a lifetime and talk to /ask the locals, they'll tell you if it's worth doing or give you a better option. Check your email in a local library, they all have some free internet connections.

Right, usually a van or SUV in a dark colour, look for the mess on the dash when you pass them.

Nice having you in Canada, have a good flight.

Richard

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