Being a Tourist

I have decided to post before I am chastised for not posting. It's best to stay ahead of these things.

At the end of June I went over to Haida Gwaii for a couple of days. Definitely one great thing about working here is that you are already in a place to go and see a lot of other things in the area. My trip to Haida Gwaii was pretty great. It's amazing what you can see in two days and I do love a ferry ride. And perhaps I should have posted sooner seeing as how this is something to post about. However, short of a step-by-step recap and a slide show it's best to simply say that it was a good trip and you should go.

The one topic I did want to cover is how it feels to work in the tourist circuit and then to promptly join in. It is odd. Waiting in the ferry terminal to catch the 11 am ferry to Skidigate I couldn't help but notice that I recognised everyone there. Including the one school group. I had seen them all at North Pacific. I had either given them tours, checked them in or sold them things out of the gift shop. When I did get on the ferry as groups started coming out of the vehicles and on to the passenger deck I recognised even more people. There was a lot of waving and "how are you?" and "Oh me? I'm just taking the weekend off," and general pleasantries. Even once I reached Haida Gwaii I continued to see some familiar faces around. Including a second school group that had also been through the cannery. It's certainly interesting how oddly predictable the whole tourist circuit is. Certainly we knew before hand that many of the people who visit it us are headed to Haida Gwaii or to Alaska, but it's an entirely different thing to suddenly jump in and experiance exactly what this means.

So, for anyone who has ever been on a trip and thought "we keep seeing those people, they must be doing a similar route," as most people have at some point. It's really not just you, and it's not just those people and you as well. Take a good look around you. Perhaps everyone has been doing a similar route and been through the same places. Just a thought.

As one side note about being a tourist in north coast BC. It is now mid July and foggy, damp, and rainy. For all those tourists that keep asking: Why yes, this is summer. Welcome to the coast, and I swear it is sunny sometimes, even warm; just not usually for long.

Anne