The Trip South

The Trip South

It takes a long time to get to Antarctica from Seattle. I left Seattle, with Joe, at 2:42 pm on October 30, 2006 and arrived Christchurch, New Zealand at 10:00 am on November 1, 2006. I am not really sure where October 31 went but it always sucks to lose a holiday. Joe wanted to bring a Halloween mask for the plane but decided the Federal Marshals and TSA may not find this amusing. I did eat some Halloween Peanut M & M’s on the flight, so I guess that was Halloween.

Speaking of the TSA, I flew for the first time with my less than 3 ounce bottles of fluids in my carry on. I figured this was a good idea since we would be in the air for multiple days. I was wrong. To start out, let it be known, I read the TSA website for traveling with fluids before hand. It says something like, “ less than 3 ounce bottles of fluid in a clear Ziplock bag…” I did not read carefully enough though because it said in a one quart ziplock bag. I had put my fluids in a gallon ziplock bag. Seatlle TSA sent me happily on my way through the security checkpoint. When I got to LAX, the most confusing and unmarked airport I have ever experienced, I went through the security line. As soon as my bag came out of the x-ray machine it was confiscated and I was pulled aside. My gallon ziplock bag with fluids was the offensive item. So offensive, in fact, that I had to be escorted out of security. I went to the store and purchased a 1 quart bag, put the fluids in the bag, stuffed the gallon bag in the quart bag and then cleared security. What if I would have had a liter ziplock bag?

The flight to Auckland was nice. I was sitting next to a man who’s son was a steward for Quantas, so we got all the business class stuff, nice headphone, toiletry kit, and lots of special food. I slept fairly well on the flight and was not super tired when we arrived Christchurch.

We walked around Christchurch for the afternoon. We at this point was Joe, another UW grad student, Andre, a driller, Brian, a radar guy, and I. We walked through the bueatiful botanical gardens and went to the Canterbury Museum where I got to sit on a really cool bike.

Our second day in Christchurch was clothing issue day. We went to the International Antarctic Center and received out ECW, extreme cold weather, gear. The boys went in one room and the girls in another. We each got two bags with lots of cloths in them. You try them all on and make sure they fit. Then you repack one bag for a carry on with all the gear need to keep you safe if the plane goes down. The other gear is checked through. The most fun gear is the big red parka and a onzie fleece unitard. Hopefully you will all get to see the unitard soon because Joe and I are going to coriograph a little ballet routine just for these outfits. Hopefully we can upload the video. We will make sure Terry Hughes is the lead ballerina. Oh and Joe is already writing the script to turn our adventure into a reality TV show.

So back to the trip south. On November 3, 2006 at 9:00 am we took off from Chrischurch in a C17. It is a huge plane with plenty of leg room. We had a very nice flight and arrived McMurdo Station to a cloudless day with mountains out all around. At 2:41 pm on Nov 3, 2006 I finally set foot on my 7th continent. I was pretty excited about that.

We immediately loaded Ivan the Terra Bus to take us on the 5 minute drive to McMurdo City Center. Shuttle Bill the driver and tour guide accidently hit on me. Here is the converstation,
Shuttle Bill, "Are you Single, here?"
Lora, "Umm, I am married I think that applies here as well."
SB, "No I mean did your husband come with you or are you single"
Laghter from all other Ivan bus riders who realize the ackwardness of the situation while lora considers how to answer the question, "ummmm, My husband is not here but I am not single."
SB, "Oh then you will probably be staying in that dorm"
Ivan riders bust into histarical laughter along with Lora, Shuttle bill turns bright red and mentions that he did infact watch the sexual harasment video in Denver.

McMurdo is much nicer than expected. The buildings are really nice and well done in the inside. I expected a much rough place on the eyes. McMurdo has everything you need. A post office, store with good stuff, video rental, gym, clubs, coffee shop and even an activities center. I feel like I am back in undergraduate school living in the dorms. I wish I had more time to participate in all the activities.

Today we started to sort out all of our gear for the traverse. I am very excited because al my boxes arrived with everything intact. The weather is good today, though overcast. The temperature in the day is around 5 Fahrenheit. The food is good, too. That’s all for now. I will probably post again before leaving McMurdo next week. As I will be writing an entry for the ITASE site so check it out if you want to know more about the people I am with and the work we are doing. Lora:-)