Antarctica

No one will ever understand this trip. Don’t ever bother trying to explain. Just do it and experience absolute beauty. Pristine, quiet and awe-inspiring.

Just got back from a trip with Lindblad – fabulous. Sea kayaking, polar plunges, hiking up hills and sliding back down. Don’t go on one of the big cruise lines that keeps you on the ship, go with someone small enough to really make it an adventure.

The rumor is that my visit to Antarctica is about 7 years away. We got another brochure from Holland America Lines in the mail the other day. They had exactly the trip that I want to take.

I showed it to Mrs. viii. She looked it over and decided that she wanted to go. We decided that 7 years from now would be the ideal time. This is based on the ages of our offspring, figuring when they would be old enough that we could get away for about three weeks without leaving them with someone. The timing should also give us ample time to save up enough money for the adventure.

Mrs. viii mentioned this to my sister. Now she and her husband want to go with us. My sister is cool and a great person to travel with, so I am really looking forward to the possibility of her and her husband going with us.

If any 43T-er’s want to come too, now is the time to start thinking about it.

I’ve been trying to get a job as support personnel at one of the research stations down there through Raytheon Polar Services. I really want to go do this but I’m kind of in the dark. Raytheon’s web site is not very helpful. Has anyone done this? If you know anything about this and can give me some advice or info it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I cannot wait to see the glorious, majestic Ice World. It looks so beautiful and that’s all I hear about it as well. It’s Cold as all ever of course but still want to go! Would love to venture inland to see the emperor penguins and their chicks. Since reporter Ann Curry went recently, it seems that there are many more tourists going to the continent.

December 19th to January 4th

I’ll tell you all about it when I get back!

Just call me Shackleton, because I’m going to Antarctica. And after I go to Antarctica, I’m going to the moon, baby (I’d better bring my golf clubs). And after that, I’m going to Hades (better known as Grandmother’s house), Atlantis (I’d better bring my swim suit), and Zimbabwe (I’d better bring my own bread).

It’s the only continent I haven’t been to yet.

I want to ake my husband here for his 50h birthday – it is the only continent he has never been on.

Well, in a dream anyway…

Too funny…last night I had a dream that my husband and I went. Early this month we were as close as Buenos Aires and in February we were as close as Queenstown, NZ. I guess two trips well south of the equator in less than five months helped prompt a dream about going to Antarctica (and it’s on my list).

Weird (as dreams often are) that there wasn’t tons of ice where we were (in the dream). There was a village and the terrain was something like tundra…with permafrost. Weird also that I was in Alaska last month but not in an area as described above.

Also weird that I watched “An Inconvenient Truth” again last week. Who knows…a century from now it might look like it did in my dream.