Christopher was honoured by a request for him to come back to Yukon to Northern Tutchone country to Facilitate/Chair the May Gathering. This is a Traditional Governance Gathering held annually by the Selkirk First Nation on behalf of all Northern Tutchone First Nations in Yukon to check in on the condition of the fish, animals, plants water and land.
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| The Palermo Airport. Go get a coffee... come back in 15 mins the ticket agent told Christopher |
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| Leaving beautiful Sicilia... |
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| Points Tickets! Yeah Baby! |
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| Two pics of Christopher's room in Frankfurt at the Stiegenberger Hotel. |
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| The airlines tried but could not defeat the olive oil can! |
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| Back in Vancouver on the long road home. Watching Alaskans arrive in Vancouver and mill around visiting with one another. |
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| Vancouver Lineup for the Lufthansa flight... thank goodness for Business Class points tickets again! |
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| Comfortable chairs in the Brussels airport... it's like they are prepared for what happened next! |
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| Was I going to stand in this lineup hoping ten hours from now that Brussels air might take pity on me... nope. |
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| I threw myself on the mercy of some generous Belgians who opened their home to me, helped me make alternative travel arrangements and took me out for dinner! There are still wonderful people in the world! |
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| The unbelievably beautiful Antwerp Train Station... multilevel train station... what those engineers can do! |
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| Walter Hens, one of my Belgian Saviors... showing me around the Old part of the Antwerp Train Station before our train arrives for Amsterdam. |
The Journey took Christopher from Palermo, Sicily to Frankfurt, Germany to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Whitehorse, Yukon and finally to Pelly Crossing Yukon and back again in 12 (Belgium Airport problems extended it to 14) days. Perhaps it is needless to say but Christopher is VERY committed to his clients and the Northern Tutchone Elders he works with.
Everything was going smoothly until the electricity went out in Brussels air traffic control. Christopher's flight was supposed to leave Brussels at 10:15am, flying him direct to Palermo with his anticipated arrival at 12:15pm. He was lucky to meet a wonderful Belgian couple who were on their way to a holiday in Sicily who gave him a place to stay and rearranged his travel for the next day. Brussels to Antwerp by van, high speed train from Antwerp to Amsterdam airport, KLM to Rome, AlItalia to Palermo, taxi to Balestrate. I was so happy to have him home!
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| The good people of the world... Christopher's saviors in the Amsterdam KLM Business Class lounge. |
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| The Amsterdam Airport... |
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| The absolutely crazy busy Rome Airport... 2.5 hr delay to Palermo! |
funny coincidence - we got stuck in Belgium too (on our way to Barcelona for olsen fam med cruise)! haha! I consumed a lot of chocolate to pass the time. Happy to hear Christopher made it back to Italy eventually.
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