November 14, 2018
Adventures in Layovers
Itâ??s 12:15 am on November 15th and I am writing this on the final leg of a way too long travel day. I left Boulder at 8:30 on Tuesday morning, the 13th. By the time I get to my hotel in a few hours in Punta Arenas, Iâ??ll be closing in on 40 hours of airplanes and airports. Not my record, but a significant amount of time non-the-less.
Iâ??m not complaining. I managed to get a really nice nap in from Denver to Houston - actually falling asleep before the plane took off. Then, en route to Santiago, I watched a movie while I ate a terrible airplane meal (which is surprising for me to admit because Iâ??m not a finicky eater) started a second movie and promptly fell asleep for nearly seven hours. Not surprisingly, I just woke up from another nap on my final LATAN flight to Punta Arenas. If I have one super power in life, itâ??s my ability to sleep nearly anywhere. I swear I should start a napping blog.
Another thing Iâ??m definitely not complaining about is my layovers (which I would think the opposite would be true). For me, it was the first time in I canâ??t even remember how long where I was actually able to sit for an extended period and get office work done. For the past several months there has been a non-stop mix of tasks, training, logistics and gear intermixed with daily going ons of life and family commitments. Itâ??s insanely busy and I seem to well with the frenetic pace, but itâ??s tiring and Iâ??m not as young as I used to be.
Of course, now Maria has to deal with this on her own. I talked to her after she had dropped the kids off at school and she said it was the usual morning chaos. Ellie, our three and a half year old daughter, refuses any assistance with nearly any daily task - getting dressed, putting on shoes, buckling her seat belt, nearly anything except brushing her teeth where she docily opens her mouth and lets us scrub away. Itâ??s crazy. Merritt woke up and wanted to read from his book of science experimentsâ?¦ Just read the directions. Equally as crazy.
These small details will most likely make the most mundane reading for you, and I apologize for that, but this is my life and these are the things that occupy my mind as I make my way to the end of the Earth.
Going through customs in Santiago, they pulled aside one of my Granite Gear duffels. Inside it was completely filled with Mountain House freeze dried meals. 75 total packs I believe. â??Camping food,â?? I managed to state. Itâ??s what my son calls them and it seems like an accurate description and applicable here since my Spanish is terrible (Why did I study German of all things in high school). Heâ??s always had a unique perspective on the English language. When he was younger, he used to ask me to â??broomâ?? the floor not knowing that some verbs were rooted in their noun counterparts, while others like â??sweepâ?? were separate altogether.
Two late 20 something guards inspected several of the meals. They pulled out a â??Chicken and Noodlesâ??, â??Beef Stewâ?? and â??Chicken Casseroleâ??.
Three good choices I thought to myself. I consider myself a freeze dried efficiando and these are definitely tasty and I look forward to eating them soon. I told them I was going to Antarctica and showed them a few pictures on my phone. They smiled and zipped up my duffel. I smiled even bigger in return. There are certain things that are somewhat stressful when traveling with large amounts of expedition gear - checking bags, customs, airport transfers, simply loading on them on a smart carte at the airport can be dicey. Twice I had my whole duffel and ski bag tower topple over on me.
If this was one of my StateATHON adventures, this would be the time that I would say 'adventure is everywhere', but it's not. Instead, I took a taxi down the dark but familiar streets of Punta Arenas. At one point, a stray dog crossed in front of us as we drove. To our left, the Pacific Ocean stretched into the darkness.
Image: The Granite Gear Duffel Shuffle
Iâ??m not complaining. I managed to get a really nice nap in from Denver to Houston - actually falling asleep before the plane took off. Then, en route to Santiago, I watched a movie while I ate a terrible airplane meal (which is surprising for me to admit because Iâ??m not a finicky eater) started a second movie and promptly fell asleep for nearly seven hours. Not surprisingly, I just woke up from another nap on my final LATAN flight to Punta Arenas. If I have one super power in life, itâ??s my ability to sleep nearly anywhere. I swear I should start a napping blog.
Another thing Iâ??m definitely not complaining about is my layovers (which I would think the opposite would be true). For me, it was the first time in I canâ??t even remember how long where I was actually able to sit for an extended period and get office work done. For the past several months there has been a non-stop mix of tasks, training, logistics and gear intermixed with daily going ons of life and family commitments. Itâ??s insanely busy and I seem to well with the frenetic pace, but itâ??s tiring and Iâ??m not as young as I used to be.
Of course, now Maria has to deal with this on her own. I talked to her after she had dropped the kids off at school and she said it was the usual morning chaos. Ellie, our three and a half year old daughter, refuses any assistance with nearly any daily task - getting dressed, putting on shoes, buckling her seat belt, nearly anything except brushing her teeth where she docily opens her mouth and lets us scrub away. Itâ??s crazy. Merritt woke up and wanted to read from his book of science experimentsâ?¦ Just read the directions. Equally as crazy.
These small details will most likely make the most mundane reading for you, and I apologize for that, but this is my life and these are the things that occupy my mind as I make my way to the end of the Earth.
Going through customs in Santiago, they pulled aside one of my Granite Gear duffels. Inside it was completely filled with Mountain House freeze dried meals. 75 total packs I believe. â??Camping food,â?? I managed to state. Itâ??s what my son calls them and it seems like an accurate description and applicable here since my Spanish is terrible (Why did I study German of all things in high school). Heâ??s always had a unique perspective on the English language. When he was younger, he used to ask me to â??broomâ?? the floor not knowing that some verbs were rooted in their noun counterparts, while others like â??sweepâ?? were separate altogether.
Two late 20 something guards inspected several of the meals. They pulled out a â??Chicken and Noodlesâ??, â??Beef Stewâ?? and â??Chicken Casseroleâ??.
Three good choices I thought to myself. I consider myself a freeze dried efficiando and these are definitely tasty and I look forward to eating them soon. I told them I was going to Antarctica and showed them a few pictures on my phone. They smiled and zipped up my duffel. I smiled even bigger in return. There are certain things that are somewhat stressful when traveling with large amounts of expedition gear - checking bags, customs, airport transfers, simply loading on them on a smart carte at the airport can be dicey. Twice I had my whole duffel and ski bag tower topple over on me.
If this was one of my StateATHON adventures, this would be the time that I would say 'adventure is everywhere', but it's not. Instead, I took a taxi down the dark but familiar streets of Punta Arenas. At one point, a stray dog crossed in front of us as we drove. To our left, the Pacific Ocean stretched into the darkness.
Image: The Granite Gear Duffel Shuffle