First Departure

So the big day finally arrived. I am trundled off to the USAP Antarctic Center which is right near the CHC airport. There you pick up the gear you tried out the day before and head over to check in your checked bag and pick up your boarding pass. The annoying part is that you must wear a complete set of Extremely Cold Weather Gear (ECW) onto the plane. They prefer that you don't discover that you left some piece of gear lying on the floor somewhere when you reach McMurdo.

OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. You don't have to wear all your gear all the time. In fact, while waiting most people ditch their gear in a waiting area and get some coffee and/or breakfast. However, they do want you in your snow pants boots and parka in hand to board the plane. That can get to be a fairly long wait. The flight was a 10:00am flight and we were at the departure point at around 7:00am. Check in is similar to a normal airport except they weigh you and your gear. Oh, and the security checks are quicker. A lot if it is handled by dogs beforehand.

This is where my terrible tourist abilities really manifest themselves. I managed to get a few pictures running around Christchurch and had noticed that the battery on my camera was getting low. No worries, I'd be able to recharge at McMurdo or the pole. Unfortunately, the battery was completely flat. This is a pitty as for me, this is where the trip starts getting interesting. That made me a bit grumpy, and a bit fearful for my life when Jodi finds out about that. Fortunately, I'll be a few continents away when that happens.

Eventually, things get rolling. We are ushered through a final security checkpoint and onto a bus to reach our aircraft. Our flight is operated by the US Air Force. It is a C-17 cargo transport rigged for carrying both cargo and personnel. There are quite a few of us (120 - due to an earlier flight that was canceled) so it's a sea of red coats in the plane and some cargo at the back. The plane itself is huge. Not as big as the airbus 380 I flew from LAX to SYD, but still big. Being a military craft, there's not a lot of extra effort put into creature comforts. Certain niceties like interior walls are just extra weight which limits cargo capacity and operating range. So you get to see some of the guts of an airplane.

For passengers, there are two types of seating: traditional airplane seats, and combat seats. The combat seats are pretty basic and highly prized. The traditional airplane seats are actually mounted on a modified shipping pallet that can be loaded onto the plane in the same way as normal cargo pallets. I can now say that I have flown "cargo class." The seats are about the same size as normal airline seats, but are spaced a little farther apart than most airline seats. The Air Force crew is really good. They get us in, seated, and briefed. The briefing is similar to the normal briefing you get on an airplane except here you have to pay a bit of attention as there is different equipment and it's all stowed under your seat in some way.

After that, it's up, up, and away - hopefully to McMurdo. I say hopefully because the weather on the ice can change rapidly. It is not uncommon to get most of the way there only to discover that you can't land and have to return to CHC. This is called a "boomerang" and it can truly suck. Depending on the timing of the flight, you can arrive back at CHC fairly late, and then get up early and do it all over again. For this purpose you designate one bag as your "boomerang bag." This bag will be returned to you in the event of a boomerang. The others stay in the pallet they're shipped in.

The flight itself is similar to most commercial flights. However, another creature comfort which is conspicuously absent is noise reduction. It is loud. They issue you earplugs for the flight. So basically, it's a decent flight you spend mostly in isolation. Books are good. There aren't really many windows and honestly not a lot to see as far as I could tell.

We got lucky - the weather in McMurdo was good and was dominated by a massive high pressure system. We touched down pretty much on time, and I stepped onto the Southernmost continent ...