Here is a recurring theme and recurring problem for our tourist industry. To put it simply, getting to Newfoundland and getting away from here isn’t always easy. True we are not just an island but we are not far off it and “the island portion of the province” as all the broadcasters insist on calling it is out in the middle of the north Atlantic Ocean.

Now I can talk all night about the geography of it all, but I have a little story by way of illustration to make the point. When one of my sons was living in Ontario while going to school, Kentucky Fried Chicken introduced something called the Double Down sandwich. It was a menu offering that had two pieces of chicken as items that held the sandwich together. There was no bread. The ingredients went between two pieces of chicken instead of bread.

The Double Down had bacon and cheese and a special sauce. Yum. This was more than a decade ago and apart from concerns about your diet you may have been disappointed to find that the sandwiches first were only available in the United States. Now my son, who was studying in London, Ontario hopped in his car and with a few of his mates drove down to the United States.

Detroit was the actual destination. It only took a couple of hours. They purchased a sack full of KFC Double Downs and came back to Canada. It seems like a silly adventure but that is what life is all about. I tell you the story so I can point out to you that if you drove that distance from St. John’s by car you would get end up somewhere near Gander with no sandwich.

That odd tale popped into my mind because of the recent panic over the delay into service of the Marine Atlantic ferry Ala’suinu.

It isn’t a matter of blame but simply put the delays for service this year on “the Argentia run” was a nightmare for the tourist industry in the area. If you are driving a car there are only two ways onto the island of Newfoundland. Argentia is one and Port aux Basques is the other. If you are a tourist, it surely “gives you pause” considering such things as the vagaries of the weather and the Atlantic Ocean and anything else that might cause you a delay. Unfortunately, after several delays in the introduction of the new ferry because of mechanical issues some tourists just gave up.

Well, what if you didn’t come to the island of Newfoundland by sea and you flew in? There is the ongoing issue of rental cars during the tourist season. It is hard to get one here in peak season. It is partly related to the now gone COVID outbreak where fleet cars were sold off because the market for rental cars had shrunk. It also has something to do with a worldwide shortage of semi- conductors needed for automobile manufacture. That makes sense I am told but that doesn’t really help me if I am looking to visit.

Now I started with an anecdotal story about driving to the United States for a chicken sandwich, let me finish with another true story. Some years ago, one of my sons was on was as school outing to Quebec. The last stop before St. John’s on the way back from Quebec was Halifax. My son and his fellow students were stuck for SIX DAYS in Halifax. Why? Fog at St. John’s airport. There was one more delay when the flight was turned back because there was a moose wandering around the tarmac at the airport in St. John’s. It is hard to believe that story, but it is the truth. My boy thought the whole thing was an excellent adventure, but you know he isn’t in the tourist industry.

None of this is a complaint about anyone in the transportation system. There is no bad guy in the story. It is just pointing out how difficult it can be here on this island. This, by the way, was the year of few icebergs.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]