Newbies from across The Pond

Whenever we have gone back home, people will say to my hubby, you are Canadian aren't you?

That's because he was wearing a furry hat, a red & black check shirt, and carrying a big axe?

No, that is an interesting observation, as I'm sure that before I came to Canada, I couldn't tell. I can remember having many Americans & Canadians in the banks I worked at and I could tell them apart before I saw which currency they had, not by the accents, but by the fact that the Americans tended to be a lot louder! (Honestly) It was the same between the Dutch & the Germans as well!

I have found that most British people can tell the difference between Canadian and American accents right away. Whenever we have gone back home, people will say to my hubby, you are Canadian aren't you? They say the accent is noticeable right away. Me, give me 30 seconds with anyone British or from Eastern Canada and I speak with as broad a Yorkshire accent as you can get.

I never noticed, but did anyone mention the fantastic drive between Banff & Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. This is probably the most scenic drive in all of North America.
As for Poutine, take a pile of chips, proper chips, not those wussy McDonalds ones, cover them with a dark beef gravy, dollop on some cheese curds, which as far as I can tell, is partially made cheese. Regular cheese will just not do!
As far as the accent goes, when you first get here, it will sound just like American. It will continue to sound like that until you meet an American, and then you will notice the difference. I lived in Britain at the time when the accent changed every few miles, so we all had an ear for the subtle differences. I was amazed when I first came here and most Canadians could not notice any difference when crossing the border!

A few years back we took a trip west. We decided on Wed night to go either back home (Yorkshire) or west. Flights made the decision west. We had such a good time 2 weeks easily turned into 6. We had no itinerary, just decided which way to go at the next intersection (truth).
If you've a chance the "bad lands" are a must. It reminded us of old western movies and you could easily put yourself back in time. Excellent photo ops.
One day we left our campsite in the mountains and when in town it was 30C. As we returned to our CG we were surprised by a beautiful site for the end of July...6" of snow. I made a snowman in flip flops and shorts.
We loved Port Hardy. Excellent place for seafood and pics of Eagles. We actually had over 200lbs of crab and halibut sent home. We chose live crab and fresh halibut. They fast froze it. This was around 4 in the afternoon. Before 9 the next morning it was delivered and in our friends freezer in southern Ontario. It was from Hardy Boys. If you have a chance try what they call "Indian Candy". My hubby is addicted, we still have it shipped. It is smoked salmon with a "special coating".
We could tell you wonderful places to see but sometimes knowing too much can spoil the trip. We prefer not to know what is around the next corner. You will have a great trip. We can't wait to see your photos.

Once again thanks for replies
Less than 2 weeks to go now before we depart UK for Calgary. Sorting stuff out as we speak. Managed to clean walking boots this morning as won't be needing them till we go away. Now drying so they can be proofed a couple of times to make sure.
Of soon to get last bits of clothes that the boss insists we must take (ball gowns, jackets, ties suits etc as I have said the "ferry trip" is a 5* cruise. Thats a joke as neither of us would cruise as you can probably see by our blog, we like getting away from others)
If I have any more last minute questions then we will post but in the meantime if anyone has excellent places or tips on getting the impressive wildlife then we would love to know. Some nice bear pics fishing or doing things would be good ;-}

FANTASTIC blog Mike - I am sure you and Jan will have NO problems on your trip, or - if you do you will take them in stride.

bbt

Looks like you have a great trip planned. My British Bride, born in Penge in SE London, visit our northern neighbours yearly. Great place, great people!
A couple of things not to overlook:
-Language. Canadians speak a passable form of English, somewhere between Australian and Soutth African. After a few days, you should probably have no problem except in Quebec. They also say "eh" a lot, which rhymes with nay and neigh. Not sure what that means, but they say it a lot. I just grin nod my head from time to time.
-Tire pressure. Make sure your rental vehicle has metric air in the tires. Many Americans have made the mistake of putting standard air in the tires, and since metric air is 2.2 times heavier than standard air, it really impacts gas mileage.
-If a native Canadian offers you Poutine, politely decline. What goes into Poutine is a closely held secret. Having seen it up close and personal, I'm glad.
-Do not refer to Canada as the 51st state. Canadians will kill you. Slowly.
-If you get to Victoria on Vancouver Island, look up Orion. He is an ex-pat Brit who speaks your language.
-Further up-island, look up Mr. and Mrs. Artum Snowbird. Great people.
-if you see burned out wagons and the after affects of raiding and pillaging, that means I've been there on my annual invasion.

Have fun and enjoy your trip.
Oh, if you plan to travel through First Nations territory, give me a call. I can fix you up with a safe-passage document.

Grey Mountain,enrolled member of the Sovereign Comanche Nation

BucksMike:

Thanks for the info. on William Penn. Next time we travel to the UK we might try to visit Jordans. I am happy to learn that you have made your ferry reservations and your Denali reservations. I agree that you should do well with playing it by ear for the balance of your trip. I have a suggestion and a caution for you. You might want to get a copy of Mike and Terri Church's book called "A traveler's Guide to Alaskan Camping; Alaska and Yukon Camping with an RV and Tent". It contains detailed information on camp sites, dump stations, locations for grocery shopping, and general tourist info. specific for camping. The caution is related to your time of travel. I don't know how long you are planning to be in Alaska and northern Canada areas. Be advised that some campgrounds begin to close up by mid September. If you plan to boondock (camp without electric, water, sewer hook ups), it probably won't be a problem. But, if you want or need hook ups, it could be an issue. As reported elsewhere on this forum, snow will begin in some areas by mid September, and measurable snow may accumulate by end of September. Best wishes for a great trip and keep up the adventures!

Bob

Looking forward to reading your adventures on your blog, which I've bookmarked, Mike. Safe travels and enjoy your time on your trip. We did the ferry at the tailend of our Alaska trip last summer. Loved everything about the trip. We especially thought Sitka was picturesque. We camped across the bridge from the town on Japonski Island in a city park. Inexpensive for water/electric and a dump station. We easily walked across the bridge to town. Lots of beautiful views and photo ops from the bridge. The cruise ships cannot dock because of the shallow harbor, so they have to sit out in deeper water and use water taxis to take their travelers to show. You also have a good look at Mt. Edgecomb from the bridge. If you go to my FB page, you can see the picture from the bridge on my timeline.

Dale

Hi all and thanks for the great replies and advice. Let me answer a few things direct
Bob,
I spent the first 55 years of my life living in Buckinghamshire before moving to London when I married Jan. Just down the road from where I lived is a small village called Jordans that has a huge link to Pennsylvania. William Penn along with his wife and many of the early Quakers are all buried there. He of course was founder of Pennsylvania and he is buried in the grounds of the oldest "Friends Meeting House" in the world.
Our travel bible for many places is the "Lonely Planet" guides so we bought one prior to sorting anything to research our trip. A family member who lives in Calgary suggested that "MilePost" was the travel bible for Canada and Alaska so I ordered one a few months back and completely agree it is a fantastic book for the area we are going to. We have booked the ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau, an RV pitch at Mendenhall Lake Camp ground, a day trip by plane and boat to Glacier bay, Ferry to Haines and the campground in Denali Park along with a bus ride deep into the park. Everything else is play it by ear and see what happens and what we want to see and stop at so as you can see we are a little ahead but that has been due to reading both Lonely Planet and Milepost. The only other place we have booked is the 1st night in Calgary and the last couple of nights before flying back.
Food is generally not a problem as it is me that does the cooking and we love to cook and eat out around a fire when we can (weather permitting) What is fun is the sorting out food, I love any thing and everything where ever we go. I like nothing more than trying the local food however weird and wonderful it may be. Jan meanwhile is vegetarian so it takes some sorting in some places but we manage. We also like eating out in restaurants so not all our food will be cooked by us. It will be the same with the sleeping, sometimes we will choose to sleep in hotels/lodges/motels etc. Like the buying of supplies we do prefer to use the local places, markets etc and we tend not to stay in big multi national hotels etc and prefer the smaller B&Bs, small independent hotels although this is not always possible and we end up in a big chain impersonal business type hotel for a night.
We do write a blog on our travels that also has photos and links to photos. We try to update this as we travel. If anyone may be interested in past years then take a look and search about on the various sections as it has places such as Botswana, Namibia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Indonesia amongst other places. It can be found here
http://mike-jan.blogspot.co.uk
If you do look at the blog then any comments are appreciated

As for places to see on the route then your suggestions are great and "local" knowledge is always welcome. We like talking to people as we travel and two questions we often ask people that are at the end of travelling in an area are, 1. What place would you definitely want to return to that you have seen here and 2. what place would you not bother going back to.
Surprising what answers you get and what fantastic places away from the main tourist drag, where in a city or in a larger area, you can find that way.
Mike & Jan