Today, I’m working by the shore of the Arctic Ocean. It feels pretty surreal. Before I came here, I thought everything above the Arctic Circle is icy and snowy. I thought there would be no towns here, and everyone wears fluffy stuff all year round.
After I crossed the Arctic Circle, it felt pretty remote but it would take quite a few more hours for there to be nothing at all. Also, people who wear fluffy things are likely to be tourists.
Yeah, so even this little town of 600 at the latitude of 69°N has Wifi. That’s why I am able work under the sun by the Arctic Ocean today. It is 15C, but a girl from the tropics like me has three layers of paints, 5 layers of tops, and a scarf on.
Actually, if we didn’t come across this opportunity to do work exchange at this B&B, we wouldn’t be able to have internet access. This B&B is right by the Arctic Ocean and that’s why I can work by the shore. We couldn’t find any work exchange opportunities for Tuktoyaktuk on the internet, so we actually just knocked on some doors when we arrived in this town.
My cellphone doesn’t have signals here, so I also don’t have access to any data. None of the shops or restaurants in town (about 10) provide free Wifi, not even the tourist information center. Tips: The cellphone carrier, Rogers, doesn’t have good coverage in the remote places in Western Canada. Telus is better.
Inuvik, a city of 3000 south of Tuktoyaktuk, has more Wifi in the city. None of the restaurants provide Wifi, but hotels do. There are around 3 hotels in town. The city library has free Wifi, which is also pretty fast and stable. We were able to have stable Wifi in Inuvik because we stayed with a couchsurfing host, though we did have to make sure not to max out his 160GB per month.
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