I'm writing this review as we start the long journey home from Winnipeg. Hopefully the others on here (Hils, 1981Kedi, Taffy) will fill in any gaps I leave.
So, where to start? I will confess to being very slightly disappointed with the trip - nothing to do with JY or the rep but more to do with nature which didn't perform its best for us. The group which arrived the day before us had much better sightings of Polar Bears and Northern Lights than we did, but as ever with Nature nothing is guaranteed. Having said that, it was still a fantastic trip with many highlights. I'll try and include as many details as possible now for the groups going next year as by then I'm sure this trip will just be a distant memory.
We met most of the group at the Heathrow Terminal 2 lounge which was very nice with hot breakfast available as well as the usual coffee etc. We were under the impression that the TM was travelling with us which turned out to be false and could possibly have caused problems as we transited through Toronto. First tip for next year - when you reach Toronto you have to collect your luggage and go through Customs as if you were staying there then go upstairs and re-check your suitcase and go back through Security. We managed to muddle through between us but I can imagine an inexperienced traveller who hadn't found others in the group having difficulties. One lady was contacted as she got off the plane with an emergency at home and I'm sure she would have benefitted from having the TM on hand to help. After a few hours at Toronto we had the 2.5 hour flight to Winnipeg which went off without a hitch.
On arrival at Winnipeg we met the TM and were put into a number of taxis for the five minute drive to the Hilton hotel. The hotel was lovely with suites rather than rooms, it was a shame that we arrived at 9pm and left at 9am so didn't have much time to appreciate it. The hotel had toiletries, hair dryers and wifi.
Our tour of Winnipeg was slight different from the schedule as it was a national holiday for Remembrance Day but we were able to see the big 21 gun salute at 11am which was very poignant. Lunch was in a restaurant in the French Quarter - very good food, particularly the local meat pie. We left for the airport after lunch, the flight was slightly late leaving - a 30 seater twin prop plane but the flight was very smooth and the 2.5 hour journey passed quickly (the cookie service on board was particularly good).
On arrival at Churchill we were greeted by our guide and very deep snow. We transferred on to the school bus style transport to the lodge which took around 15 minutes. The schedule was tweaked once again as we had to go straight out on arrival to have a talk and slide show from the photographer Mike Macri. After an hour of seeing amazing images we returned to the lodge for dinner.
The Lazy Bear Lodge was a fantastic place with a really homely atmosphere. The lounge has tea and coffee making facilities and cookies which you could help yourself to at any time (even at 4am! as I discovered). It is very warm inside the lodge so there is no need to bring warm jumpers for your evenings in, and it was helpful to have lighter shoes so you weren't clumping around in snow boots all the time. This might be a good time to mention clothing. It was cold. It was very cold - on the last day the wind chill was -33C. Wear as many layers as possible. Definitely have good boots, thermal underwear, gloves, scarf / buff, hat and good coat. The strong wind made it painful to be outside for longer than a few seconds so wrap up well and maybe bring good moisturiser as your skin dries out really quickly. The rooms in the lodge had toiletries, hair dryers, flat screen tv and wifi but no wardrobes - just two hooks and four hangers. There was a chest of drawers for other bits and pieces and with twin double beds there was plenty of space for luggage. The hotel doesn't serve alcohol and it couldn't be openly consumed in the restaurant, however a nearby liquor store and coffee cups got over that problem!
Our first full day was spent on a Tundra Buggy or 'crawler' as they called it. We took the lodge's 'school bus' up to the 'launch site' where we boarded the crawler. This was a very large white 'bus' with around 20 double seats and lots of standing space, a toilet and outside viewing platform. We had already had our first polar bear sighting on the way to the launch site - a mother and cub walking away from us (cue to jokes about bear behinds!) but we're lucky enough to see a total of 13 that day, albeit all from a distance. The guide had a telescope which he set up to allow us a close up of the Bears which were mostly sleeping and staying out of the wind. When bears were sighted the windows were opened or you could go out on to the viewing platform so although the crawler was heated you still needed all your layers on. Lunch was had on board - soup, sandwiches, crisps, fruits and soft drinks. There was also hot chocolate in the morning and cake in the afternoon so there was no chance of going hungry.
The next day was a town tour which considering size of Churchill was surprisingly interesting. We learnt about the history of the place and also a great deal about how they survive in such harsh conditions. The afternoon was free and some of us took the chance to return to the photographers studio to buy some of his prints. After a welcome hot chocolate we braved the blizzard to do some souvenir shopping. Churchill is essentially two main roads and even without the provided map it would be hard to get lost. The TM arranged an early dinner at Gypys Restaurant - more a cafe but with very good home cooked food. We were then collected from the lodge to go 15 minutes up the road for the dog sledding. The sledding was done in two's and each pair had around 10 minutes being pulled by eight dogs, with two sleds running at a time. The sleds were very low to the ground but people were on hand to assist people in and out. They provided very warm coats and gloves but you still needed your own gear as it was bitterly cold. While not on the sleds we gathered in the 'tent' which was very warm and had hot chocolate and cake. The owners took photographs of everyone and provided a slide show of them at the end (and got a memory stick of them for free). The northern lights made a very brief faint appearance - apparently nothing like the previous day's but enough to say we had seen them. We were back to the lodge around 9.30pm. The following day was another Tundra day but with having put our bags out by 8am. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and it was too cold for Polar Bears! We had no sightings and spent a lot of the day scraping the ice off the inside of the crawler windows (the first holiday that I've been given my own ice scraper!). We did however see an Arctic Fox buried in the snow - a rare sight according to our guide. We returned to the lodge for a 4.30pm dinner before a 6.30pm flight back to Churchill which despite the blizzard was uneventful.
The hotel at The Forks was very luxurious with live music on (although most of us wimped out to get repacking and to sleep). The usual toiletries, hair dryer and wifi were present.
The final morning was at leisure. The hotel was ideally placed - The Forks has museums and shops aplenty, some ventured out to Winnipeg zoo to get the close sightings of Polar Bears they had been after. The TM arranged a meal at a local restaurant for lunch before leaving for the airport at 4pm and the long journey home.
Hopefully someone else will add anything I've missed out and please ask if there's anything I can help with but to summarise this was a great trip with a really good group. Something for JY to bear (excuse the pun) in mind is to look at summer tours to see Beluga Whales, Polar Bears and other wildlife. One thing I didn't know was that the Lazy Bear Lodge was named after the PB's in summer - they laze around in the same place for days on end conserving energy so are easy to see. The only downside of that time of year is the abundance of Mosquitos.
