Soon the time will come and we will start this year's summer vacation in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Since we want to be on the road with our tandem, we are currently looking back on almost a year of preparation!
Almost a year ago we decided to spend this year's summer vacations in Canada. Since taking a tandem on a plane is not without its problems, we decided to work with a travel agency right from the start.
Since we were already very well served by the BLS travel agency in Gümligen for a conventional trip (i.e. without a tandem), we decided to ask them for our Canadian trip. Mr. Ramseier and his team accepted the challenge and after many inquiries with various airlines, they were able to arrange a flight route to Edmonton and back from Calgary. The clarifications with VIA Rail, with whose train we want to go from Edmonton to Jasper, were in contrast to the flight search probably trivial :-)
Fortunately, with the experience we gained, we were able to quickly find another flight to Frankfurt, where our tandem can be transported, even in case of a flight schedule change.
So now we have tickets for the outbound flight from Geneva via Frankfurt and Houston to Edmonton and for the return flight from Calgary via Houston and Frankfurt to Zurich. On all tickets it is also noted that we will carry a tandem over 2m long. Many thanks for the great preparation to the BLS Reizezentrum in Gümligen!
Last week we sent our camping stove with the mail on the way to Canada, so that it does not hold us up at the luggage control.
The organization of the transfer from the airport in Edmonton to the hotel at the train station was again exciting. When we first asked the shuttle provider, a tandem was of course no problem. After specifying the dimensions of the box, it looked different again... Therefore, a large-capacity cab is now planned for this transfer.
Since we don't want to drive only on the big roads, we faced the challenge to get suitable maps. With maps from ITMB (Alberta and British Columbia) and internet maps we were able to sketch some 700-900 km route variations (if a road is marked on 2 of 3 maps, we take it as given).
Due to the heavy rains of the last weeks, some roads and bridges were made impassable, accordingly we will probably then flexibly adjust our route choice based on local information...