(Almost) In Antarctica!
I’m writing this on the flight, 1.5 hours from landing. There is no indication we’ll turn back, so we’re almost there. I saw sea ice out the window. By the time I post it, we’ll be in Antarctica!
***
Today started at 5:15 am with a walk over to the CDC. There, we donned our cold weather gear, did our final packing, and got in line for checking bags. You can take up to 150 pounds of checked luggage per person, and they weigh it. Mine was probably close to 100 pounds. One bag is designated as your boomerang bag. It’s the only one you get back if the plane boomerangs, i.e. it has to turn around in mid-flight. You can put your tooth brush and regular street clothes in it. Your other checked luggage is placed into huge crates that are loaded into the back of the plane. It won’t be available unless you are delayed by 3 days or more. Your boomerang bag is piled on top so it can be unloaded more easily.
After they weigh your checked luggage, they weigh you with all your carry-on luggage, which must fit into a small box. My carry-on is dominated by the microelctrodes we’ll use to measure the chemistry in the microbial mats. I also had my cameras and my cold weather clothes. Alfonso carried my computer for me. You are then free to head over to the Antarctic Center Cafe for breakfast. I ate my own yogurt, but did enjoy a cup of hot tea. There were lots of excited people, some new and some very familiar with the process. Two (possibly three) of the characters in Herzog’s film “Encounters at the End of the Earth” are on my flight.
After breakfast, it’s back to the airline gate. We got a briefing about the flight and watched a DVD about being safe on the ice. They screened us with x-rays and metal detectors just like any flight, and we boarded a bus to our airplane. That’s when it became significantly different. Our plane is an US Air Force C-17, a big cargo transport.
They filled a lot of it with seats - 130 of them, but it is not at all like a commercial air-liner. There are a few airline-type seats, but I had a canvas seat on an outside wall. There are wires and pipes and tools all over the walls above our heads.
Seats with cargo way in the back.
There are 6 windows, two of which are 6 feet above the floor. There is an emergency water evacuation exit in the ceiling. There is no sound insulation; it’s noisy with ear plugs. There is only one lavatory. No one made us put our luggage under the seat in front of us. The cockpit has lots of buttons, switches, and dials, as well as friendly pilots. (Scott - They had heard of your brother but didn’t know him personally.)
Stepping onto this plane was the step from my familiar world into a new adventure.
***
Today started at 5:15 am with a walk over to the CDC. There, we donned our cold weather gear, did our final packing, and got in line for checking bags. You can take up to 150 pounds of checked luggage per person, and they weigh it. Mine was probably close to 100 pounds. One bag is designated as your boomerang bag. It’s the only one you get back if the plane boomerangs, i.e. it has to turn around in mid-flight. You can put your tooth brush and regular street clothes in it. Your other checked luggage is placed into huge crates that are loaded into the back of the plane. It won’t be available unless you are delayed by 3 days or more. Your boomerang bag is piled on top so it can be unloaded more easily.
After they weigh your checked luggage, they weigh you with all your carry-on luggage, which must fit into a small box. My carry-on is dominated by the microelctrodes we’ll use to measure the chemistry in the microbial mats. I also had my cameras and my cold weather clothes. Alfonso carried my computer for me. You are then free to head over to the Antarctic Center Cafe for breakfast. I ate my own yogurt, but did enjoy a cup of hot tea. There were lots of excited people, some new and some very familiar with the process. Two (possibly three) of the characters in Herzog’s film “Encounters at the End of the Earth” are on my flight.
After breakfast, it’s back to the airline gate. We got a briefing about the flight and watched a DVD about being safe on the ice. They screened us with x-rays and metal detectors just like any flight, and we boarded a bus to our airplane. That’s when it became significantly different. Our plane is an US Air Force C-17, a big cargo transport.
Our plane, but I took this picture two days ago when it was preparing for its last successful flight
They filled a lot of it with seats - 130 of them, but it is not at all like a commercial air-liner. There are a few airline-type seats, but I had a canvas seat on an outside wall. There are wires and pipes and tools all over the walls above our heads.
Seats with cargo way in the back.
Tools on the wall
There are 6 windows, two of which are 6 feet above the floor. There is an emergency water evacuation exit in the ceiling. There is no sound insulation; it’s noisy with ear plugs. There is only one lavatory. No one made us put our luggage under the seat in front of us. The cockpit has lots of buttons, switches, and dials, as well as friendly pilots. (Scott - They had heard of your brother but didn’t know him personally.)
Stepping onto this plane was the step from my familiar world into a new adventure.
The overhead exit (green and yellow box with “Warning Explosives” sign), the line for the lavatory, and carryons & clothes everywhere
