First impressions matter...

Late night, early morning... Airport living's not all that bad when you get invited to hang out in the AC Lounge pre-flight. Thank you to a very special coworker that was also lucky enough to travel on the 11th anniversary of September 11th for the hook-up! I may have gone overboard on the free magazine perk!

Loaded up with magazines. Ready for my trip up North! 

At the gate, I see the amount of baggage being loaded onto my flight to Iqaluit. I remembered the First Air attendant asking me at check-in which of my bags was my "priority" bag, as they were expecting a heavy flight this morning. Lots of field equipment, Rubermaid bins and coolers were also loaded onto the plane. Warned about the price of food in Iqaluit, I was also guilty of over packing, and packed a last minute suitcase filled with food. I think my 30$ grocery will end up saving me lots! 

Glad I wasn't the only heavy packer!

The flight was short, only 3 hours, and I got to enjoy complimentary in-flight food! Quiche, potatoes and grilled zucchini (my fave!) was on the menu. A nap and a magazine later, I was excited to get my first glimpse of land after being trapped in thick cloud cover while crossing the Arctic Ocean (exciting!) over to Baffin Island.  It looked pretty surreal, especially with Bon Iver playing in my earphones, and the memories of last night's concert so fresh in my mind!

It's fall in Nunavut - you can tell by the red in the tundra.

For those of you who aren't geography nerds, Baffin Island is the giant island in the Arctic archipelago on which Iqaluit is located. Aide-memoire: The island looks like an upside-down dog, and Iqaluit is located in the dog's mouth!

Map of Nunavut - Baffin Island is on the right

Ready for landing, I snap a quick picture of the city from the window. The city looks interesting, and nothing like I've ever seen. Dirt roads, and buildings that look very resilient. This being said my apartment whistles because there's a draft somewhere... I'll need to get to the bottom of that because it is a windy night.

Part of Iqaluit. View from the sky. It looks cold!

The Plaza I am staying in is called Inuksugait, and is made up of mixed-use buildings of different colours. I am staying in the blue one, and my office, is the green one. After the summer we've had, I'm glad my commute is only 10 seconds long! It's not that cold, but it was 6 today - brrrrr!

A look down the street from the balcony. 

Luxury satellite TV is waiting for me, and the finale of my favorite MTV show's about to start. I better go so I can watch it "live" for the first time in 2.5 years! ...I could get used to this!