When Greg Bungle purchased plane tickets to Cancun, he didn’t think he had to make sure he and his friends were headed for the right country. But 3,000 miles and a geography lesson later, Bungle and his friends found themselves vacationing in Cancun, Nunavut.

“I guess I should have suspected something was wrong when they loaded us into that cargo plane,” said Bungle. “I just figured the airline must be strapped for resources at this time of year.”

Bungle says he bought his tickets from a discount travel Web site that offered comparatively cheap tickets to Cancun. He was not aware Canada’s northernmost territory is home to a research station of the same name as Mexico’s popular tourist destination.

After enduring the cold winter months, spring break is usually an opportunity for students to flee southward to warmer climates.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the irony of the situation,” Bungle said. “I’m one of those people who can laugh at himself — really, I am. It’s just that I don’t appreciate snow blindness or running from a ravenous pack of arctic wolves.”

“The scientists up there studying the aurora borealis thought it was a neat joke,” he said. “But Jenny wasn’t laughing when she slipped into the icy depths of the Arctic Sea never to resurface.”

Bungle quickly discovered that the people of Cancun, Nunavut, had no use for shiny, plastic beads and were not willing to turn their research shack into a one-night-only blowout rave.

“And they certainly weren’t interested in hosting a ‘Golf Pros and Tennis Hos’ shindig,” Bungle said.

The group was able to purchase sealskin coats and several days’ worth of coal with their travel allowances, but they were soon forced to work in a zinc mine in order to purchase food and supplies.

“Don’t let anyone tell you frostbite is the worst pain you can feel,” said Bungle. “That prize goes to gangrene.”

The students attempted to cut their break short and call for help but did not know enough Morse code to operate the telegraph. But, Bungle claims the trip was not a total bust, as he was able to pick up a little bit of Inuktitut, one of the official languages of Nunavut.

“I know how to say things like, ‘I’m allergic to penicillin,’ ‘You woke up the bear” and ‘God is dead.’”

Bungle says if he could pass one thing he’s learned from this experience to others, it would be to double-check travel plans down to every last detail.

He then added:

“Also, you can’t fight a polar bear head-on. Use your dogs to distract it then spear it through the kidneys when it’s not looking. Works every time.”