THE CENTRAL AMERICAN SERIES PT1
HOME – GREENLAND – BAHAMAS
I was about to start my Central and South America trip and had booked a great deal with Westjet who would take me from Gatwick, a night in Toronto airport and then to the Bahamas. Or that’s what I thought
WHERE IS KANGERLUSSUAQ?
Emergency landing in Greenland
ISSUE
About 5 hours into the flight the captain said there was a slight issue and he would have the land in Greenland. All I could think of was how lucky we were that the issue happened then, while we flew over this town in the absolute middle of nowhere. There is no other international airport within a 3 hour radius so who knows what would have happened if the issue came at another time.
Flying over Greenland it looked nothing short of breathtaking and I made a mental note to visit it as soon as possible as I wouldn’t be counting this stop as a visit on my way to every country in the world. Check out day one of my Greenland trip here.
REPLACEMENT PLANES
The issue with the plane was considered bad enough that they wouldn’t be able to fly until several engineers came over from Canada. So Westjet thought it to be better to send a replacement. And as there was no plane available that was big enough they then had to send two. This will give you an idea on how much compensation costs airlines, that they are better off sending 2 replacement airplanes to pick up a group of passengers that racking up fees.
Emergency landing in Greenland
DOUBLE THE POPULATION
The delay was about 6hours but in all fairness to the airport they had the canteen stocked full of food in no time. If anyone knows Kangerlussauq you will know it’s a small town with only 500 people and the airport only has a few flights a day. So for it to get stocked up on food so quickly in the middle of the night was a pretty good effort. Not to mention we almost doubled the population that night
RELATED READ: SEEING MY FRIEND ALMOST GET MURDERED IN TEXAS
Westjet get a bit of criticism sometimes but I couldn’t fault them. They were quick to ground the flight, done everything they could to update us via Twitter (more that can be said for every other airlines) and issued the compensation without me having to lift a finger.
BAHAMAS
Fast forward a day and I arrived into the Bahamas and checked into an Airbnb, the only affordable way to stay there. Took a walk around Nassau which is the main town and where all the cruise ships dock. I tell you if I was on 1 of those, I wouldn’t be bringing home any positive stories about the Bahamas. If you plan on visiting the Bahamas then get yourself off to the islands, not Nassau!
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are going to need to make an emergency landing just make sure you happen to be flying over the isolated town of Kangerlussauq.
NEXT UP
Diving with 30 sharks at Stuarts Cove. Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
55/229
This is episode 1 of the Central American Series. Click here to explore more.
