TODAY IS THE DAY!! I am writing this post at 3am New Zealand time, partially because I can’t sleep, and partially because I have to be up in 30 min anyway. The bus leaves to take us to the airport at 4:30am!!!
I am extremely excited. If all goes to plan today, I’ll be eating dinner in McMurdo this evening!
Originally, a few flights were supposed to depart today, but a few have been delayed until tomorrow because of weather reports of strong headwinds. Our flight is still on for now, though. We will be flying with the Italian National Guard in a JC-130 plane (everyone here seems to be incredibly knowledgeable about plane types, so I’m trying to learn).
There is still the chance our flight will “boomerang” today. This means we board and depart, but halfway there the pilots realize the weather will be too bad for us to land, and so they turn around and fly back. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen, but boomerang flights are all too common.
We have to wear our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothes on the flight because we will (hopefully) land I’m Antarctica and need them. We went to the CDC (no, not that one! the Clothing Distribution Center) yesterday to pick up and try on gear.
I was issued Carhartt snow bibs (overall-like and super insulated), a fleece jacket, a Carhartt work jacket, my Big Red (it’s what we call the big red parka), and hats/gloves/gaiters. I brought my own boots from work. The CDC has a well labeled wall showing the gear you can be issued:
Here’s a picture of me in my gear. I’ll wear either the big red or my work jacket, probably not both:
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