Flying is not the only way to get south
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 20/01) - The high cost of living here never hits home harder than when you want to leave.
Full airfare from Yellowknife to Edmonton clocks in at (sitting down?) $1,523. That's affordable to government and some businesses, but few individuals.
When it's coming out of our pocket we typically wait for a seat sale, when a round trip ticket goes for anywhere between $440 and $600.
(We won't get into the never-ending mystery surrounding why it costs $114 to fly the same distance when its between Edmonton and Vancouver.)
But flying isn't the only way to go. Taking a bus provides about the same level of discomfort, albeit over a longer period of time, at slightly more than half the cost of flying.
Frontier Coachlines agent Les Herring said if you book 14 days or more in advance, a round trip to Edmonton rings in at $320.
"It's not too exciting," confessed Herring, who's taken the 22-hour trip. "But you get to see all the little towns along the way, at least for a few seconds."
Driving the 1,495 kilometres between here and Edmonton is also an option. But the prospect of turning around and driving 1,495 kilometres back is fairly daunting.
On the more creative side, there's always biking. But Greg Loftus, who with Corey Elliott cycled to Edmonton last year, said the trip was a grind, with headwinds most of the way, gusting up to 70 kilometres per hour.
"It's not cheap," said Loftus. He figures he and pedalling partner Corey Elliott shelled out about $500 each during their 12 days on the road.
"If you've got good equipment, you're going to have to wait for parts if you're stuck anywhere between here and Edmonton," said Loftus. They were stuck in High Level for three days waiting for spokes for Elliott's bike.
Get even more creative and you start thinking of things like, er, freighting yourself south. Poke a few breathing holes in a large trunk. Strap on whatever hockey equipment you feel may be necessary to survive the luggage carousel. Get a couple of willing friends to check you in.
Think again, said an airline administrator who asked that his name not be used.
"You can't, but it's a novel concept," he said. "It's against Air Transport Safety rules. The only thing we can transport as freight is live animals and they have to be in cages. We can transport people as freight but they have to be dead."
