Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jun 08/98) - Where are the polar bears? Can I bring my RV? What time do the Northern Lights come on?

For the answers to these questions and more, join the flock and head north for your summer vacation.

Every year, hundreds of tourists travel from coast to shining Northern coast and they sure ask a lot of questions in between.

"You get these kinds of questions from people arriving in town in the summer who have not made any plans, they just get off the plane and they're asking things like 'where are the igloos' and 'where is the ice?'" says Cheri Kemp-Kinnear, the executive director of Nunavut Tourism.

She's also heard a few whoppers from folks who phone before they arrive.

"What's Nunavut? Is this a new country? Do I need a passport? Why are you separating from Canada?"

Visitors also want to know if they 'can bring my motor home?' and are amazed that they can't drive to Baffin Island and shocked to learn that once they arrive, they can't drive to any of the other communities.

Pond Inlet Northern Store employee Shawn Burke says his tourists ask a lot of questions about the weather and the wildlife.

"I think their mentality of the North is that they have pegged everything back in the olden days. They expect dog teams," says Burke. "It's important that you be patient with them and make them feel welcome. I don't look on the questions as silly. I've been up North for eight years and I asked some silly questions myself."

In Fort Simpson, tourists ask about the mountains and the Dene way of life. Laurie Forrest, the village's supervisor at the village Information Centre can only think of one funny incident.

"She (a tourist) ordered a hamburger and chips and you get fries and she was expecting potato chips. She was thinking that Canadians are a little bit stunned."

What about Inuvik? Well, tourists who brave the Dempster Highway want to know why all the houses are built on stilts and, of course, they're looking for the ever-elusive polar bear.

"They're coming in June and they want to know when does it get dark. For an Inuit person from up here, that one really gets me. The really naive ones also want to know when they can see the Northern Lights," says Knute Hansen, the manager of the Western Arctic Regional Visitor's Centre.

So, if you're a Northerner, get ready -- tourist season 1998 is officially open.