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Contact Azorcan Global Tours
e-mail azorcan |
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Azorcan has conducted tours in Canada
for sports teams and sightseeing groups. Azorcan can arrange all aspects of
your visit including hotels, transportation, sightseeing, meals and
special events. Our specialty is Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
Alberta and the Canadian Rockies are the most popular destinations.
Contact Azorcan for opportunities for your group to experience Canada.
Please see below for a story from a
Ringette team from Finland that visited Canada through Azorcan recently.
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Sample 9 Day Sports Itinerary
Day 1
Arrive in Edmonton
Day 2
City tour of Edmonton
Visit Fort Edmonton Park
Evening game # 1
Day 3
Day at the West Edmonton Mall
Evening game # 2 or see a professional sporting event
Day 4
Depart for Canmore near Banff National Park
Stop at the Alberta Sports Hall Of Fame Museum in Red Deer
Evening game # 3
Day 5
Morning to Lake Louise
Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff
Afternoon free in Banff to shop and sightsee
Evening to the Banff Hot Springs
Day 6
Morning depart for Calgary
Afternoon guided tour of Calgary
Trip to the top of the Calgary Tower
Evening tournament game # 1
Day 7
Morning tournament game # 2
Trip to the Calgary Olympic Park
Evening tournament game # 3
Day 8
Morning tournament game # 4
Tournament closing ceremonies
Evening party with teams
Day 9
Depart for home
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2009 FORSSAN PALLOSEURA
RINGETTE TOUR OF CANADA
Our team decided to make a trip to Canada, because it is a tradition for
our clubs boys ice-hockey teams aged 14 to 15 to visit Toronto every
new year. However as a ringette team it became clear that we would make our
journey to Alberta, since we found out how many teams there are. We did fundraising
for two and a half years.
We were a bit concerned about a long flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Calgary,
but everything went really well. When we started landing towards Calgary
we got a good look at the mountains. The beauty of them was breathtaking.
At Calgary airport Paul Almeida was there for us. Don Rivers from Sahalla
"airlines" was our busmaster for a whole trip. Paul couldn't have chosen better
driver. We had John "oukki doukki" McIsaac as our guide for a couple of days.
He's very nice person who took us to places in Calgary that were really interesting.
We spent our first four days in Calgary, playing tournament matches in Stavely.
Girls played very well despite different 30 second shot clock rule (which
is now used in Finland) and suffering from jet-lag. We also had two Canadian
girls playing for us; Karlie Beiko and Gillian Griffin. Girls adopted to
our team immediately. Girls travelled in a bus with our team and it was great
to hear our girls speaking english. At least my oldest daughter is in touch
with Karlie in Facebook. Tournament banquet in Calgary was amazing. I'm still
sorry I didn't make a speech there on behalf of our group. We went to Olympic
Park, where Matti Nykanen won three gold medals in 1988. We felt very patriotic
up in the ski-jumping hills. Calgary is a beautiful city with amazing scenery.
But most importantly the people are very friendly and we felt really welcome.
It was time to visit the mountains. Unfortunately the weather was really
bad, but we went up to Sulphur mountain. Gondola ride was fun. However snow
blizzard was so hard that we couldn't see other mountains. I remember Paul
being really sorry for us, but I found positive side from it. It gave us
a reason to come back someday. We also spent some time in hot springs. That
was funny because our hair was frozen, but otherwise it was warm. We slept
in Canmore and then we were supposed to visit Lake Louise but it was ruled
out because of the weather. So it was time to head to Edmonton. Alberta sports
museum was a great place. Although it was in the middle of nowhere. In Edmonton
we had typical Finnish weather with temperature dropping to -25 C. We played
a couple of games in Edmonton and it's surroundings. We were also lucky that
we got tickets via Paul to Oilers-Jackets game. The game itself wasn't very
exciting. As my son said to Paul "Edmonton sucks" Describes it all. We went
to West Edmonton Mall for a day. We found out it wasn't enough. It's good
to have a Visa. Many families had to buy new suitcases. Prices in Canada
were lower than in Finland. Edmonton is very developed city and we were lucky
that Paul almost forced us to take a few days in there.
After Edmonton we headed back to Calgary, where we played our last game.
On our way back to the hotel we went through next days program with Paul
as we did every day. Then I translated it into finish for others. I told
we would be heading back home next morning; dead silence landed on a bus
then one of the girls said in a low voice "We don't want to leave just yet."
After our journey in an interview by our local newspaper I told that our
visit to Canada and Alberta was, in a scale from 4 to 10, 11 and a half.
People were so nice and really interested in us. We learned so much about
Canadian culture and society. It was a surprise that Canada is much more like
European country than an American. We're hoping to be able to come back someday.
We were really lucky that we got Paul who organized our stay in Canada. There
are no words I can describe my gratitude to Paul and his wife Jan and everyone
else who helped us while being in Alberta.
Jussi I. - Team Manager
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THANK YOU FORSSAN PALLOSEURA
I would like to thank Jussi, the coaches,
players and parents that made this trip a great pleasure for us to host.
The girls were fantastic ambassadors for Finland and their sport of ringette.
All the Canadian teams were so happy to play you and it was a really great
experience for them as well. I have many great memories from the trip and
it was very tough to say goodbye to everyone at the airport. Thank you to
all the teams in Canada that made this experience come true. A special thank
you to Brad Charlton from Calgary who was instrumental in assisting us with
the tournament in Calgary.
We look forward to hosting other teams from Finland in Alberta in the future
and would love to have the great team from Forssan Palloseura back again.
Paul Almeida
Azorcan
e-mail Paul
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