Home Sweet Home....for 16 days.
I made it back to Kansas City after a marathon of travel so to speak. The boat made the turn away from Antarctica at 5:30pm Saturday, March 14 and headed for Cape Horn at the tip of South America. We arrived in port around 6am on Monday, March 16 after 36 hours of pretty rough water with some ghale force winds. Debarking from the ship at 8:30am, I started the last four legs of the journey home. From the port town of Ushuaia, Argentina a three hour flight to Buenos Aires. Four hour layover and then to Miami, Florida. Three hours in Miami and then off to Dallas. Three more hours in Dallas and then finally home to Kansas City at 2:35pm. Just short of 36 hours from leaving the ship to being home - the clothes I was wearing started to show/smell a bit of the travel. But it was worth it.
The trip to Antarctica is like no other. A once in a lifetime trip most say; so I did it twice.
At the reception dinner in Buenos Aires, the owner of Marathon Tours tells all in attendance that the marathon is just a very s
mall part of the whole trip. Most laughed this off as nonsense as the marathon WAS the reason for the trip. At the end, I would be willing to bet 99% of those who made the journey would agree with him. While the marathon was the reason for the trip, it paled in comparison to everything else. maybe because running a marathon was the only familiar thing for us. We knew what to do, how to do it and somewhat of what to expect. Sure the terrain and conditions may be different, but the objective was the same. As for the rest of the trip - everything was different. How do you prepare for living on a very small ship for 10 days? Not a cruise ship, but a Russian scientific research vessel not designed for luxury. How do you prepare for twice-a-day calls to suit up in three layers of warm clothes covered by waterproof clothes, knee high rubber boots, life jackets, backpacks, etc...then down the gangway to an awaiting zodiac (rubber boat with motor) and off to play with the whales or onto land to play with thousands of penguins? And what do you take pictures of? What don't you take pictures of? Every second of everyday is worth taking a picture. The whole trip was one big photo-moment. It's hard to explain.
mall part of the whole trip. Most laughed this off as nonsense as the marathon WAS the reason for the trip. At the end, I would be willing to bet 99% of those who made the journey would agree with him. While the marathon was the reason for the trip, it paled in comparison to everything else. maybe because running a marathon was the only familiar thing for us. We knew what to do, how to do it and somewhat of what to expect. Sure the terrain and conditions may be different, but the objective was the same. As for the rest of the trip - everything was different. How do you prepare for living on a very small ship for 10 days? Not a cruise ship, but a Russian scientific research vessel not designed for luxury. How do you prepare for twice-a-day calls to suit up in three layers of warm clothes covered by waterproof clothes, knee high rubber boots, life jackets, backpacks, etc...then down the gangway to an awaiting zodiac (rubber boat with motor) and off to play with the whales or onto land to play with thousands of penguins? And what do you take pictures of? What don't you take pictures of? Every second of everyday is worth taking a picture. The whole trip was one big photo-moment. It's hard to explain.
whew - gonna take a breather and post some pics. More later.
Awesome Bob! Can't wait to see more pictures and hear more about it... soo jealous!
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