It's been a busy few days. The flight from McMurdo to Christchurch was fairly tight. 8 hours on a military transport flying almost like cargo, is not fun. I know it could have been much worse, but that still didn't make it enjoyable. Anyway, all of my stuff made it ok. My co-worker had motor oil spilled on one of her bags, so at least that didn't happen to me. The transition from near zero humidity, no trees, no smells, no darkness and very cold to a very warm, humid, fragrant, and green New Zealand has been strange. You really don't realize how many outdoor scents there are here until you been without them for a bit. It's been nice having darkness and I've been sleeping pretty good. We've been eating at a bunch of different places, but my favorite so far was an Indian place called Two Fat Indians. It was great. I almost had to be rolled out.
I'm now in the surreal stage of travel where you start having to force yourself to remember where you've been. Maybe it just happens to me, but the recent trip is already starting to fade into the memories of my past travels. They are still fresh, but it requires a bit of effort to look back and think that a week ago I was standing at the South Pole! It was a great journey and something that I never figured I do. My whole life I've been hoping to just make it to edge somewhere on a cruise or something. The dream of just getting there was fulfilled last May. To think that I made it to the place that the heroes of my youth strove to reach and some did is amazing. The effort it takes with today's technology and actually seeing it first hand, makes their achievements even more impressive. It's been a good trip, but I'm ready to hang up the exploring hat for a little while.
The first leg of my journey from home starts at 3pm today and it will take me 22 hours of flying and layovers to get me home. I'm really looking forward to getting back, but hope to make it back someday, but not anytime soon.
For those interested, my flight from LA to Denver is AA1458 which is scheduled to arrive at 1645 MST.
I'll upload the remaining pictures when I get back home and look forward to seeing you all.
Have a good flight!
ReplyDeleteDear writer of Antarctic Pocketlint
ReplyDeleteLet me introduce myself, I am a college art student and I have been following your blog on Antarctica, along with some others, for a while now. I have recently been contemplating illustrating a short piece (a few pages) about Antarctica and I was wondering if you, someone who has experienced it for themselves, would have any insightful tips to give me either about the environment there, the people, the stations or anything else that you think people should be aware of. Any insights about Antarctica that you could possibly give me for this project would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Tierney Hogan
p.s. I want to thank you for blogging all about your adventures in Antarctica. I find it all so fascinating. Thanks, again! =)