Super7 from Antarctica
This will be the main source of news from us when we are in Antarctica.
http://macintyreantarctica.wordpress.com/
21st November
Arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday morning. Waited for 3 hours at the airport for the crew to arrive and finally met up with them in the hostel. It is a comfortable place; even with 4 of us sharing a room with excellent showers and a lovely atrium where we had breakfast. It’s probably about 200 years old and was obviously a very grand building in its prime with ceilings 22 foot high and all the original tiling, stonework and cornicing still in place. The lower floors are in good order; but there are trees growing out of the upper levels…
I’m here with 3 of the team. Some of them have over 3 decades of expedition experience… We’re having some interesting conversations and I’m fortunate to be on a trip with them.
The weather here is agrebale; about 18 degrees in the shade and the climate redolent of an English summer day. Last night we dined al fresco in a nearby plaza and were treated to a Tango show…
The first drama of the expedition is that one of Derek’s bags are still in Madrid….. This will hopefully be sorted soon.
Planning to relax today. Maybe do some low energy tourist activity like going for a walk in a bit.
19th Nov; 2108, Buenos Aires Time.
Somewhere above the UK. I’ve just been to the bathroom and had a mosque style refreshing of feet, stuffed the used socks (soaked!) into the depths of the wellingtons and for the first time in 10 hours I am wearing just a jeans and a T-shirt and the increase in comfort levels has it feeling like my seat in coach has just been upgraded to first class.
I’ve been advised to set my body clock to destination time; which I’ve done; and reset body clock to uk time using caffeine; which is now possible that I have successfully given up my 8 cups of tea a day habit.. To my surprise and delight; Buenos Aires is ONLY 3 hours ahead of France. That, basically, means, almost no jet lag; which is a very nice unexpected surprise. I am now looking forward to a nights sleep and to my first weekend ‘off’ for quite a while.
19th November
A comfortable journey up north tieing up various admin loose ends I’d allocated for this journey… Back in Waverley; and three ‘oh so helpful’ cabbies refused to take me to the waverley bridge… I waited for the taxi rank to ‘refresh’ and stand in the taxi queue behind a lively hen weekend up from Newcastle and all about to party like crazy kids in The Grassmarket…
Cigarettes blazing illegally in the station, Glass mugs containing vodka in hand, and enlarged photos of the more bride-to-be in more youthful times strapped to their necks, with matching black team hoodies with “SAZ BOB’S HEN WEEKEND” in flourescent pink. I intend for this trip to have the ‘festive’ atmosphere of the Newcastle hens… Aparently it is a tradition on the yacht to bring a bottle of alcohol, eg. Whisky, to imbibe… (however; there is no alcohol when we are actually attempting to cross The Southern Ocean). I will give my share to _____, who is more Whillanesque in his approach to these things.
Anyway, I digress… Second try with the Edinburgh taxi drivers and my friend Liz pulls up in her extremely flash new M8 and we’re footed.
Still working; I manage to delete loads of obsolete phone numbers from my telephone on the airport bus ride to Turnhouse.
I arrive a splendid 4 hours in advance for the flight and after a visit to the airport prayer room I set up camp in Cafe Nero and power through a load more admin on the laptop. 2.5 hours before departure and I’m locked in the toilet cubicle re-distrubuting my clothing to decrease xs baggage charges.
FEET: 3 pair of socks. Thigh length wellington boots for xing The Climber Filter (aka as The Southern Ocean or ‘Paying the Drake Tax’). The crossing seems to, ahem, filter the wheat from the chaff….
Legs. Med weight power stretch pants, full battle dress fleecs sallopettes. Howies jeans on top. I am extremely proud that they still can be semi buttoned up under such duress.
TOP: 8 layers including full expedtion weight goose down jacket.
The girl at the check-in is a sweetie and gives me an bulkhead aisle and tells me how to repack to miniminse xs charges. I split the load: 35 kilos into two lesser weights, plus what I’m wearing (approx 12kilos, plus handbagge of 10 kilos: Total payload: approx 55 kilos.
All transport nodes are v quiet today and I spend about half an hour in a quiet corner of the airport getting this sorted.
Even tho’ I’m still overweight I get the nod and then I get distracted by more work and go to gate 18 instead of 1E.
The result of this is that I get to gate 18 late, late, late and then I have to run at about 75% of maximum effort down the entire length of the terminal building; (about a quarter of a mile); wearing 19 layers of clothing including a down jacket AND carrying a 10 kilo pack plus a laptop. I arrive; almost the last passanger at the gate, less than cool, calm and collected, just as it closes and fortunately; for the comfort of other passengers, I have an aisle plus one seat to myself as I steam off from the self-created sauna I have just made for myself.
That’s it for now. About to leave Paris CDG.
2108, Buenos Aires Time.
Somewhere above the UK. I’ve just been to the bathroom and had a mosque style refreshing of feet, stuffed the used socks (soaked!) into the depths of the wellingtons and for the first time in 10 hours I am wearing just a jeans and a T-shirt and the increase in comfort levels has it feeling like my seat in coach has just been upgraded to first class.
I’ve been advised to set my body clock to destination time; which I’ve done; and reset body clock to uk time using caffeine; which is now possible that I have successfully given up my 8 cups of tea a day habit.. To my surprise and delight; Buenos Aires is ONLY 3 hours ahead of France. That, basically, means, almost no jet lag; which is a very nice unexpected surprise. I am now looking forward to a nights sleep and to my first weekend ‘off’ for quite a while.
