Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Up North Again

As I was sitting in the airport, I noticed that the UAF logo plane was pulling out getting ready to head for Anchorage. I was waiting for the next plane which was heading for Deadhorse aka Prudhoe Bay. As you may guess, I'm headed for Barrow for a relatively short visit. I had agreed to meet with one of the groups this week and another one near the end of the month.

The Deadhorse airport has much better free Internet than the Anchorage airport and if I'm stuck in one of them, I prefer Deadhorse. It was a balmy 35°F and windy and it wasn't too much warmer inside of the terminal since the air conditioning seemed to be stuck on high. Even the airport agents and TSA were wearing heavy coats inside of the terminal. I arrived in Barrow at around 6:00pm which is about 6 hours after leaving Fairbanks. It sure would be nice to have a more direct Fairbanks-Barrow flight. Oh well...

6 comments:

  1. You'd think some entrepreneur would establish a regular air run between Fairbanks and Barrow but perhaps the numbers just aren't there?

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    1. There are other providers but their schedules are even worse. Right now, the cheapest flight is from Fairbanks to Anchorage (at 6:00am), switch planes, Anchorage to Deadhorse, wait on the plane, then Deadhorse to Barrow. The Fairbanks-Deadhorse leaves a little after noon and is a much shorter flight.

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  2. Sometimes you wonder, why the internet so so much better in some of the remote places. In Iceland you could get free wifi at a gas station or a bakery or a fishing harbour in the middle of nowhere.

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    1. GCI (an Alaska telecom) is providing the free Internet at the Deadhorse airport. For them, it's great advertising as many of those north slope workers have homes in Anchorage and Fairbanks. I didn't do a speed test but no problem with HD videos. And Prudhoe Bay is on their fiber network.

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  3. Have fun in Barrow. 35 degrees does not sound pleasant for August.

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    1. It's always fun in Barrow... After just the few 80°F days in Fairbanks, the 35°F feels kind of refreshing. Even though it is only August.

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