Hi Bjoern,

mk>> We searched a lot, but we can't find out a way to make our dream
mk>> real without paying less than 33.000 US-Dollars each person.
BF> You must be kidding. $ 33.000!!! Each?
BF> That's abut 264 000 SEK and for that prize times 2 is over a half
BF> million SEK I could buy at least 6 trips around the world....... in
BF> luxury hotels.


Our planed trip was not a package holiday on an cruising ship but a semi-
full-grown camping expedition to the arctic zone of Canada. Personally I
wanted to visit Beechey Island to find the four graves of the seaman, who
died there in 1846 and 1853. The three, who died in 1846 where members of
the John Franklin expedition, who tried to find the legendary northwest
passage. Prince-of-Wales-Island, Cornwallis Island, Union Bay, Erebus Bay,
Terror Bay was on our list, too.

There is the necessity to employ at least two professional guides for
three weeks, there is the necessity to buy food supply for 6 people for
three weeks and arctic proven equipment for six people for camping in the
arctic zone, there the necessity to charter more than one helicopter or a
Twin Otter to transport six people and all the equipment and food supply
including a big enough boat with enough gasoline (this must be borrow or
bought, too) and transport it to the islands, and of course, back!.

We didn't want to make normal vacation, like sleeping in the only hotel of
Resolute and going on trips each day. For this the land is much to big. So
we wanted to go directly in the wilderness and stay there for three weeks.

Of course, we can borrow most of the equipment, but the prices went up to
the sky at this moment, we told them where we wanted to go to and that we
are no professional scientist with an university which answer for us if we
made (perhaps) deadly mistakes. For those guys, there are many realtiv
cheap offers, but we didn't find such offers for private guys without
arctic experience.

Or we must pay such a high deposit of some major equipments (a rubber
dinghy for six persons with an outboard motor, GPS, radio for six people
and for the the security pawn for one satellite telephone I must work
three month!

Some guides, you can hire, specialize in artic camping wanted much more
money to see, but we are no millionaires!

And these are only the cost from the startpoint Resolute on Cornwallis
Island.

Add the costs to get from our small village in Germany to Ottawa plus the
transportation of three semi-big teleskopes to Ottawa and back, of course.
First Air of Canada provides two times a week comercial flights from
Ottawa to Resolute.

Ad the costs for new insurances, that we need to take out...and so on, and
so on...

Of course, we can make a comercial cruising tour on an former sovjet
Holliday-Ship, but then you have no control over the things, you really
want to do. And it costs exactly 12.262 US-Dollars each person.


No, we does't want to live for the liquidation of debts for the next ten
years...

So now we make it much more smaller and we are looking for vacations in
the Yukon Territory, Whitehorse.



Guet goan!
Michael


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