Traveling to Banff, Alberta, Canada

Today is the start of my adventure, finally. After many preparations and looking forward for a long time, the time has come to leave home and head towards Banff in Alberta, Canada. In two days I will start riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Ride, starting in front of the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. But before that, I first needed to get there.

Going to Schiphol

It was 6am when our alarm clock woke us up. We had decided that Karin and the kids will bring me to Schiphol. There was construction work being done at the railtracks somewhere between Eindhoven and Schiphol. We thought that was too much of a hassle and risk with all the long queues in Schiphol at the moment. Yesterday, on Friday evening we already put the bike box on top of the car. Now that we’re with the four of us it does not find inside the car anymore. Since I needed to be at Schiphol at 8:30am the family decide to make it a day at the beach once they have dropped me of at Schiphol.

The whole ride to Schiphol went well, no delays. At 8.15 we were at Schiphol. We got all my gear and went to the deparures area. I needed to be in Departues 2, where KLM is located. Already long lines, but it was not too bad. I had to flip my bike box in a vertical position because otherwise it would not fit the waiting lines. We had to say our goodbyes with some hugs, laugs, and a couple of tears. This shows to me how we care for eachother in this famliy and I am proud of that! After about 25 minutes moving in the waiting line, it was my turn to formally drop-off my bagage. However there was nothing to drop-off yet. The bike box was odd-size bagage and needed to be dropped of a specific drop-off location. This section diserves its own paragraph, see next. After dropping of the box, I went to the very long queues for security. It took about 1.5 hours to get through security. Besides the bike box I also had a cardboard box that included camping gear, clothes, and also my tablet. The somehow showed something that needed to be inspected so my box had to be opened. It turned out to be the cover of my tablet. I was told those more often contain organic material and that shows on the scan. Note, nowadays you can leave your (small amounts) of liquid and electronics inside your bags during security inspection. At 10.25am I was through security. Better than expected!

The mistery of the bike box

When I was at the drop-off counter with my bike box, the KLM lady asked me if I already payed for the bike. I firmly said NO, followed by, but I am not 100% sure since it was arranged by the travel agency. She also was in doubt because of a status in the system and asked a colleague. Meanwhile she printed a normal bagage label and and put it on the bike box. It was on the side of the box that I could not see from behind the bagage cart. Then she directed me to the odd-size bagage drop-off. When walking into the directory I could not immediately find it so decided to explain and ask another KLM lady I saw. She directed me to the odd-size bagage drop-off. Arriving there, a guy scanned my box, and I helped him placing my box on a special cargo cart. No payment needed, all was good. OK, I decided to get in the long security lines. When I was already for a longer time in the waiting line, I found out that there was also a special KLM off-size bagage payment counter?!? Now I got nervous. What if … I decided to first go through the security check and then see what I could to to be sure. After completing the security checks, I opened the KLM app the check sthe status of my bagage. There was 1 piece of lugage, status ‘being handled’ followed by a ‘being on the plane’. OK. Lets hope for the best. Spoiler, only when checking the box at the campground I found a payed sticker from KLM on the box. The lady at the counter had put it on the box without me noting it.

The flight Calgary

Unfortunately the flight had a delay of 30 minutes because of lack of staff. No worries, all will be OK. Just after boarding I saw my bike gogin into the cargo hold of the plane. Happy me! Really happy me. The flight was as usual, uncomfortable seats, ample space, airline food, etc. During the flight I did enjoy remarkable views of Greenland. After viewing some movies and trying to get some sleep (which did not work, it never does for me on a plane) we arrived about 9 hours later at Calgary at 3.45pm. All went smoothly and at 14:25 I was outside the secure area with all my bagage. I saw a 7 eleven supermarket in the airport and was ready for something to eat. I asked if they had any fruits, and they did. I bought a banana, an apple and a salad for dinner.

The shuttle to Banff

I was just too late to catch an earlier shuttle to Banff National Park. Well, my original 15.30 shuttle was still OK, and we departed nicely on time. It was a smaller (20 person capacity) bus with very comfortable seats. I had nice conversations with an elderly lady. She came to Banff from California for a week of hiking. The landscape changed from a flat Calgary to the beautifull views of the Rocky Mountains. It was after about 1.5 hours that we dropped someone off in Canmore. 10 minutes later I was the next one, the first one to be dropped-off in Banff (I was expecting to be the last one). Quite a hassle to walk with the bike box and the additional box towards the check-in booth. Since I was by foot I was checked-in immediately via the check0out counter. Nice service! Now I needed to walk over 600m towards my camping spot. Pff, 50m one box, than back for the other. This was going to take a while. Fortunately it took not long before there was someone passing by and offering me a ride to my campspot. He had a very small van customized into a 1 person campervan. My two boxes barely fitted and I had to squeeze myself in as well. This person saved me over half an hour and a lot of effort. I could not thank him enough.

The campground

During the ride towards Banff we got some rainshowers and saw thunderstorms in the distance. Fortunately no rain anymory and I was quickly able to setup my tent, and assembled the bike (front wheel, handlebar, food bags and a harness, pumped up the tires because I deflated them for the flight. I ate my salad and enjoyed the views. When working on the bike I saw some people looking at me and my stuff. A few minutes later a car stopped and they asked me if I was going to tide the Great Divide. They were as well, leaving tomorrow. After a while three ladies came to me. They were my neighbours and asked if there would be arriving more persons to my campspot. They had three cars and only two are allowed per camping spot. I told them no problem at all to park over here. The offered me food and drinks if I wanted. But I was really tired and just ate my salad. Told them I would otherwise joined them for a drink. No problem. I could still ask them tomorrow when I needed something. They would be here till Monday, just like me. After cleaning up a bit, putting food and some other stuff in a bear box, I went to my bed. It was a long day. Fortunately without any issues and with really nice and helpfull people.

Gallery

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