I had dreamed of travelling to the Yukon and see where the Klondike Gold Rush took place with my own eyes since childhood. Blame Jack London ‘The Call of the Wild’ and ‘White Fang’ for my desire to see the Klondike with my own eyes!
In 1976, I found a hiking with huskies holiday in the Yukon, but my ex didn’t want to go… Too cold and who wants to hike with huskies? I tried to go a second time as a self drive holiday in 1994, starting in Anchorage, Alaska and ending in Skagway from where we would travel by ferry to Vancouver for the flights back. The one way rental charges were however extremely high, so we decided to travel to British Columbia instead.
During a holiday to Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI and Cape Breton in the fall of 2019, I bought a book ‘Gold Diggers’ by Charlotte Gray at a shop in Kitchener Waterloo, Ontario. Even before finishing reading it, Graham and me decided our next large holiday would be to the Yukon in the spring of 2020.
Once home, I started preparing an itinerary and in November 2019 we booked flights and RV rental for May 2020.
But then came Covid-19 and by end of February 2020 it was clear it was an epidemic. By mid March 2020, countries closed their borders and imposed lock downs and airlines cancelled all international flights. Canadream proposed a change of date up to 1 year, but as it wasn’t clear how long the pandemic would last and I am in the high risk category, we decided to cancel and absorb a cancellation fee of CAD 100.
The provider of a private tour to Dyea moved the reservation to 2021 or whenever we finally would make it.
Air North cancelled the Calgary – Whitehorse and Whitehorse – Calgary flights on 1 April, 2020 and put the amount paid as a credit in our Air North account, valid till 24 June 2021. Air Transat did do the same on 13 April 2020 with our international flights. On 24 July 2020, Air Transat changed this credit into a transferable credit with no expiry date, but turned it into a full refund on 23 September 2020. On 30 September 2020, Air North extended the credit on our account to a validity of June 24, 2022.
Unfortunately, by the time the Yukon reopened its borders for foreign travellers, I could barely walk as I needed a knee replacement.
I contacted Air North again on 16 April 2022, just after having undergone the knee replacement, and asked for another year extension of the credit or a refund. They agreed upon a full refund but it took till December 2022 to receive it by which time we already had booked flights and RV rental for May 2023.
After more than half a century, my childhood dream would finally became reality in 2023!