Travelling Efficiently, Connecting Flights and Pee

Well this last trip to Montreal will be the last leg of my work travels that began in early January. While it has been a great experience to travel to almost all of the Davis offices, it has also been quite tiresome. I know that there are many people in this world who travel extensively for work or maybe even for pleasure. So my recent travels likely pale in comparison to some. One thing I have learned traveling these past couple of months is that I know I can travel light. I have learned how to pack efficiently. I have also come to realize that I don’t need to have a lot of “stuff” when I travel. Nor do I need a lot of “stuff” period. So after my trip back from Whitehorse, I took on the task of cleaning out my closet. I know I have a lot clothes and I have always been one who likes having unique and stylish clothing. But I know that I can still have a sense of style without so much “stuff”. I simply do not need all these things. I have donated 4 garbage bags of clothes and shoes. I will likely give away more when I get back home.

Efficiency and Connecting Flights

My flight this morning had a connection through Calgary and typically I hate having to catch connecting flights. I hate connecting flights for the following reasons, a) they are time consuming and I prefer using my time efficiently, b) I hate the possibility of missing a connection hence wasting more time waiting around trying to get to my final destination and c) I often feel a need to stop in the washroom to pee when I get off the plane. I know that c) is a ridiculous reason to hate connecting flights. I think I have been classically conditioned to feel the need to pee after I get off a plane. So you ask why does having the need to pee have anything to do with hating connecting flights? Well, if I have a very close connect time between flights, typically anything under an hour, I worry that my need to pee could make me miss my flight. I am obviously a control freak. What can I say?... I’m a Virgo.

Adding to my theme of efficiency, not only can you check-in on-line but Air Canada, amongst other airlines, can send you your boarding pass by way of a text message! It’s great and there’s no need to use a stitch of paper! Since I have learned to travel lightly, by bringing a carry-on bag, checking in on-line, and getting to the airport in just enough time to clear security, I can arrive at the gate and board a flight without having to wait. I hate waiting around and I find this system for travel unbelievably efficient. I love it when things tick like clock work! Now if only we were allowed to verify photo identification without actually having an ID card, the efficiency travel process would be complete. I know there is such technology available but given the debate surrounding privacy, I can understand the hesitation to implement. But a have a good reason why I would consider a retina and/or finger print scan and that has to do with a dirty toilet.

The Need to Pee

From what I’ve told you so far I gather you get that I am all about efficiency. I like to plan and be prepared. I even put much thought into what I will wear on the plane in order to ensure comfort on the plane, comfort during any connections if applicable, and I take into consideration the weather condition at my arrival destination. And in doing so, I always make sure I am wearing pants with back pockets. When I can, I often opt to wear my jeans as long as I don’t have to go directly to the office from the airport. The pockets are for my driver’s licence or my passport. So before boarding a flight, I have my Blackberry for my e-boarding pass in one back pocket and ID in the other. Well today something went terribly wrong during my connection in Calgary.

As I got off my connecting flight into Calgary, I, of course, have the incredible need to pee. The flight coming into to Calgary was late so my one-hour time frame to connect shortened to about 25 minutes. So I quickly drag my little carry-on bag with me to the bathroom. Of course, I’m about to burst and the toilet stalls are so small I can barely fit my bag in with me in the stall. At this point I didn’t care if the stall door was opened or not. I had to pee like there was no tomorrow and when I did, it sounded like a cow peeing on a flat rock. What a relief. I can now rush back to find my gate. At this point, I probably have about 10 or 15 minutes before the flight takes off. Well upon finishing relieving myself, I pull up my jeans and to my misfortune, my ID slips out of my back pocket…. hits the edge of the toilet seat and (it seemed to be happening in slow motion) jumps into the bowl full of my own pee! Aghhhhh! I am grossed out.

Now, if photo identification was not needed to board the plane, I would have simply walked away. Cards can be replaced! But I needed this stupid piece of plastic so what else could I do but reach into the bowl and get my driver’s licence. Now, it was very important that I did this in a calm and controlled manner. The last thing I needed to do was reach in and in a panic, accidentally splash around urine! My luck would have it that I would likely scream and flick pee into my mouth! Ughhhh! Hence, I am pro retina and/or finger print scan as a means of identification.

Mushing and Sourdough Sam in Whitehorse

What can I tell you all about Whitehorse other than it is definitely a friendly town. My co-worker Dean and I seemed to have arrived during the week of the 22^nd anniversary of the Sourdough Sam Contest during Rendezvous: A Wild Week in Whitehorse. So you are probably asking yourself “What is the Sourdough Sam?” Well apparently “Sams” are local male contestants that compete for 7 straight evenings in a wide variety of hilarious events like evening gown and bikini contests, karaoke, a kolbassa eating contest, turkey bowling, a dance fever night and the male strip tease. The audience votes for a winner each evening and at the end of the 7 days, points are tabulated and the person with the most points wins a truck. Not a new truck, just one that runs. There are also Can-can girls at these events.

Other interesting facts about Whitehorse:

• If you raise your kids in Whitehorse, they have the option to go on a Bison Hunt starting at age 12. Your kid(s) will have a great week long experience of hunting for bison with their classmates. Your children are permitted to use guns. You don’t even have to sign a waiver! Permission slips will work just fine.

• A newcomer to Whitehorse is called a "Cheechako". The word comes from "new comer" in Chinook jargon, a trader language in the late 1800's and early 1900's that incorporated English and the language of the Chinook First Nation. The term Cheechako was prevalent all along the West Coast during the Gold Rush. When new people came off the boats in Skagway on their way to the gold fields, local traders who had been in-country for decades called them "Cheechakos".

• A local who has spent some length of time in Whitehorse is called a Sourdough. I’m told that this terms comes from a famous Robert Service poem about the cremation of a prospector who freezes to death in the Yukon called "The Cremation of Sam McGee", published in 1907 in The Songs of a Sourdough (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses).

• This February is the 25^th Running of the Yukon Quest International Dog Sledding Race. It is a 1,020 mile race that runs from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. A single musher and a team of 12 to 14 sled dogs race for 10 to 14 days, following the historic 1890's Klondike Gold Rush and river mail delivery routes. The race route runs on frozen rivers, across open water and bad ice, over top four mountain ranges, reaching an elevation of 3,800 feet where temperatures can drop to as low as −40 to −60 °C with winds reaching 160 km/h on the mountain summits. The Yukon Quest is 'The Toughest Sled Dog Race in the World'.

Bueller??? Bueller…??? Anyone??? Anyone???

Graham Lang, an Articling Student at Davis LLP where I work, is the Ferris Bueller of Whitehorse. When my co-worker Dean and I arrived in Whitehorse, we decided to see what all the ruckus was all about in the bar next door to the restaurant we had dinner. If you can believe it, there was a Vancouver-like “bar line-up” at Coasters Bar and Grill. I couldn’t believe that Dean and I were waiting in a line-up to get in to the bar in Whitehorse! Well it turns out that Coasters was hosting a Sourdough Sam event. The people watching at Coasters was the primary reason we decided to line up to get in because there were all kinds inside. Such a wide variety and mish-mash of people in one bar. You would never see anything like this in Vancouver. Fortunately the line moved quickly. Anyway… once inside I thought I recognized someone but I couldn’t put my finger on where I knew this person from. I mean really, who would I know in Whitehorse? And then suddenly it hit me… it could bet money that the guy I recognized is Graham Lang! But of course I did not “know” Graham other than from reading a couple of his stories he had posted on the firm’s intranet about his experience working as an Articling Student at the Whitehorse office. Along with the stories were photographs he had posted. This is where I “knew” Graham from and this is how I recognized his face. Anyhow, I decided to ask this fellow if his name was Graham. This is how the conversation went… and keep in mind that we are in a bar with loud techno music and where many drinks had been had by all parties involved in this conversation:

Nancy: (walks over to Graham and friends and taps in on the shoulder)

Graham: (looks around, and then looks down - I am short so he has to look down)

Nancy: “Is your name Graham?” (pause)

Graham: “Ummm, yes.” (looks confused)

Nancy: “Graham Lang?” (pause)

Graham: “Ummm, yes?” (looks worried like he’s in some sort of trouble)

At this point I think he thought that perhaps he owed me or someone he knew some money. Either that or I was about to serve him with some papers or tell him about some love child he had had years ago. Anyhow, throughout the rest of the weekend any where we went in town with Graham everyone seemed to know him! Graham is a very friendly and funny guy. The overall impression we got was that Graham is the Ferris Bueller of Whitehorse.

Dog Mushing

I tried my hand in some dog sledding while up here in Whitehorse. Of course, it was nothing remotely close to what a musher would experience running the Yukon Quest. I did however have the good fortune of having Rudy, a retired Quest dog, in my little team of 6 dogs. Not much to talk about here except that I love the outdoors and sledding with some great puppies… well other than pooping. Most of you who know me know that I am anti-poo. The dogs did a lot of pooping while in a full run. I can’t really describe what it was like to smell it but I have attached a few video clips for you to view. I think I gagged the first time it happened... but I had stopped gagging when I shot this video clip.