When getting ready for my voyage down to Antarctica, packing presented quite a challenge. I usually travel light, like as in whatever I can fit into a carry-on item is what I’m taking with me type thing, but trying to fit everything I’d need for the next six months into just two checked bags was a whole new challenge for me. So in order to pack efficiently, I sprawled out everything I thought I’d need (and more) onto my living room floor. I clearly had too many items and had to make what felt like a zillion cuts in order to make everything fit. But only time will tell whether I made the right decisions with each item I packed. When I get settled in, I’ll try to take inventory on what items actually made the cut.
The morning of my flight to Punta Arenas, I was still packing right up until the moment I had to leave for the airport. Even after clearing security, I found myself checking off last-minute tasks like calling my bank, paying bills, and making a few personal calls before the journey truly began. It was a 27 hour travel day ahead of me and I’ve been running off minimal sleep in order to get everything done. I normally am a terrible plane sleeper so I was hopeful that this with a combo of only one cup of coffee in the morning would help me get to some sleep.
The first layover of the two was in Atlanta followed by a 9 hour flight to Santiago, Chile and then a quicker 3.5 hour domestic flight to Punta Arenas. The long 9 hour flight surprisingly went well and I watched about 2.5 movies on my way, one on the flight to Santiago and 1.5 on the flight to Punta Arenas. If you were curious they were; The Ballad of Wallis Island, Memoir of a Snail and a partial viewing of my all-time favorite movie Secret Life of Walter Mitty. All three were pretty entertaining so I would recommend them, though Memoir of a Snail caught me off guard since I was not expecting a tragic comedy with darker adult themes but it definitely kept my interest through the flight.
When I attempted to grab some sleep, I did the airplane shuffle and tried all the positions – head on the snack tray, head straight up, head on the seat next to me, etc. Luckily I the middle seat next to me was empty which allowed for more room and the benefit of stealing that extra pillow that they preset out for each passenger. I finally got myself to knock out by shoving two pillows into the hood of my hoodie, one by each of my ears and clonking out for a bit. This worked out surprisingly well in ways that no neck pillow has ever worked for me before.
When we landed we had to get our luggage from the international terminal to domestic. Which wasn’t too bad but definitely much harder sleep deprived. The drive to the hotel was a bit of a blur but I quickly checked in, showered and laid down for an hour before my stomach started to growl.
I met up with a few new colleagues and grabbed a bite to eat. I ordered a hardy fish dish and the local drink of choice, a pisco sour – which is made with pisco (a grape base spirit), lime juice, simple syrup and an egg white. Both were fabulous and filled me to the brim. After dinner, a few of us made a lap or two around the block before turning in for the night. Truly only giving us a tease of what’s to come in the next few days.
