Travel – Page 19 – a sibilant intake of breath

Thankful towards TransLink

On my first night in Vancouver, during the December visit, I was at the SeaBus terminal at Lonsdale Quay. Thinking the ticket machines work like the ones in Montreal, I bought ten tickets, expecting to be able to validate each one later in the visit. Unfortunately, the Vancouver machines sell batches of tickets all validated for the time of sale, leading to me spending about $40 for the one journey.

I let the people working there know what happened, and they gave me a little incident card with the time and some other information on it. Later, I mailed that along with all of the tickets and an explanation to TransLink. Today, I am happy to report that I got a refund for nine of the tickets.

I really appreciate the generous way in which they corrected for my error.

LORAN being shut down

The ground-based LORAN network has been aiding navigation since WWII. Now, it is being shut down to save money, based on the thinking that the GPS system has made it obsolete. I had direct experience with the Pacific LORAN array and its coordinate system during the LIFEboat Flotillas. Most of the LORAN stations will go offline on February 8th, with the rest shutting down in the fall.

It is probably fair enough to say that LORAN is antiquated and redundant, though GPS is not without problems. It may eventually get a backup, if the EU finishes building their Galileo navigation satellite system by 2013, as planned.

Both LORAN and GPS function on the same basic principle: that if you know where certain radio transmitters are, and how far you are from each, you can sort out where you are located. GPS has the virtue of being global and increasingly ubiquitous, as more and more devices become capable of locating themselves using the system.

India’s booming airlines

There are few elements of global climate change policy trickier than the relationship between climate change and development. Developing states insist that they have a right to get rich as fast as they can, with no particular heed paid to their greenhouse gas emissions. The figures for air travel in India show one small part of this:

According to the Airports Authority of India, the total number of domestic and international passengers was 10.7 million in October 2009, up 23% on the same month a year earlier.

Aircraft movements climbed by almost 59% in the same period.

And yet, if billions of people in the developing world follow a high-carbon path to development, the eventual emergence of catastrophic climate change is all but assured.

The future of human prosperity depends fundamentally on a stable climate. Achieving that end will require the recognition in developing states that they cannot pursue a high-carbon form of development indefinitely. To do so would be to grant a bit more wealth to those working now, while undermining the basis of prosperity for all future generations. At the same time, developed states need to show that it is politically and economically possible to have a society with rapidly falling emissions.

LC^3T: Part II

Compared with Part I, the second voyage was more chaotic but also more visually appealing. Not having something terribly exciting to look forward to contributes to a certain lack of focus and discipline on the voyage. On the positive side, I actually passed through some scenic areas during the daytime.

My video camera also suffered several cold-related battery failures, which explains some of the smash cut editing near the end.

Heathrow’s third runway and the carbon price

I have commented before on the incoherence of how the United Kingdom plans to both cut greenhouse gas emissions and increase airport capacity. The December 8th report from the Committee on Climate Change perpetuates this mis-match, saying that the third runway for Heathrow could be compatible with government emission reduction targets, provided the price of carbon reaches £200 per tonne by 2050.

To me, this view is rather perplexing. Why build a runway, then use taxes to choke off the demand for it? Either your taxes won’t prevent the flights, making it harder to reach your carbon targets, or they will and your investment in the runway and supporting facilities will be a waste. The committee also assumes that aircraft engine efficiency will improve by 0.8-1.5% per year, that biofuels that don’t compete with food crops will emerge, and that high speed rail will displace a lot of short-haul flights in Europe. To take advantage of assumptions about the future to defend a dubious current policy is a practice all too common. Rather than pretending they can have it both ways, the UK should acknowledge that achieving its climate change goals will require reducing incredibly emissions-intensive activities like air travel.

Thankfully, the British Conservative Party – which is likely to take power with the next election – continues to oppose construction of the runway, precisely because it clashes with climate change objectives.

LC^3T: Over and done with

The bus journeys were often uncomfortable and grindingly boring, but my low-carbon expedition out west went wonderfully, all told. I spent some excellent time with my family during Christmas and at Yellow Point Lodge; I saw a heap of long-neglected friends during the span of a frantic night’s partying; and I got to devote a solid block of time to catching up with Emily.

It will probably take me a while to adjust to the cold (and to normal working hours), though I will be aided in the former by an excellent woolen coat my brother Mica gave me. While the return journey involved the loss of a treasured green Pilot G2 pen, the whole expedition can only really be counted as an incredible success. My thanks again to everyone who contributed to that.

LC^3T: Thunder Bay

We are now departing from Thunder Bay – leaving me about 22 hours from Ottawa. While the journey west felt a bit like a measured and disciplined march towards an objective, the ride east has the feeling of a disorderly retreat. That said, I have read and eaten significantly more while heading in this direction.

Ottawa will probably be a shock after Vancouver, but I am looking forward to being able to sleep horizontally and eat something moderately healthy.

LC^3T: Swift Current

I am now 24 hours into the return journey, heading for Winnipeg. There will be no significant stopover there this time, so it is just another stop.

From a carbon perspective, it has been good to see that the bus is still operating close to capacity, well after the end of the peak holiday period. All the ones I have been on have been more than 2/3 full during the long intercity segments.

LC^3T: Vancouver to Calgary

The return journey feels a bit like repaying student loans – the cost that comes after the benefit, and which is paid with the excitement and enjoyment behind. That said, perhaps I learned something from the trip out, and the return trip will be less straining.

Ottawa does include things to look forward to: friends and a new job, particularly.

LC^3T: Part II strategy

I learned a few things taking the bus from Ottawa to Vancouver. Firstly, dealing with stopovers and bus changes is probably the most annoying part of the whole experience. It is wise to carry as little carry-on baggage as possible. Indeed, a few Greyhound coaches have such small overhead compartments, they leave you with no choice but to stack bags around your legs. Given that my bag of photo gear simply must ride on top, that means absolutely minimizing all other baggage.

Secondly, bringing changes of clothes is pointless. There isn’t much refreshment to be had from putting clean clothes onto a dirty body, and the Greyound human logistics chain doesn’t offer anywhere you would want to change. Between dirty bus station bathrooms and lurching bus toilets, I will just endure for three days in my woolen longjohns and cargo trousers.

Thirdly, the bus experience is not really compatible with reading, at least for me. I read more in the first two hours than during the rest of the trip. As such, I am cutting back in-bus reading material to one small book and a magazine, and probably even that is more than required.

Fourthly, I found bringing food to be more trouble than it is worth. You don’t need to eat much, since you aren’t moving and don’t need to heat yourself much (the buses are warm). Subsisting off Gatorade and truck stop food may not be glamorous, but it is probably the best approach.

Fifthly, music is critical. If you have an iPod, get a device that lets it run on AAA batteries. Then, bring at least 12 with you per journey. Those available on the route are absurdly overpriced, and often of very poor quality.

Sixthly, at least in the winter, don’t expect the journey to be scenic. During my spans of non-darkness, all I saw was endless snowy boreal forest one day and endless prairies the next. If possible, schedule your trip so it is daylight when you cross the Rockies. If you really care about scenery (and don’t mind the higher carbon emissions), consider taking the train.

On this journey, I won’t have the stopover in Winnipeg that offered a welcome chance to see my cousin and have a shower on the way out. It will basically be one long, often-interrupted run from Vancouver to Calgary to Regina to Winnipeg to Ottawa. Please wish me luck.