"Are you crazy?"

“You’re going where?” and “Why?” are the incredulous questions that everyone seems to ask when I tell them I’m going to Antarctica. (If people don’t know me, they either think they misunderstood me or that I’m joking, but the folks who know me simply think I might be crazy.) Well, I’ve heard that it’s the most beautiful place in the world. It’s still largely untouched by humans. I’d like to visit all 7 continents. And, well, after a challenging year, I am looking forward to some serenity.

So I am spending some time around the holidays on the Great White Continent. I won’t be able to post anything while I’m there (connectivity is limited and expensive) but I do plan to write a bit, take lots of pictures, and post when I get home.

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, let me say that I’m thankful for the opportunity to take this trip. I am healthy. I was able to afford it a few years ago. And since my first trip (scheduled for 2009) was canceled, GAP Adventures hooked me up with a nice 40% discount off this year’s trip – and they bumped me up two categories in the cabin. That means instead of bunking in a tiny closet with two women I don’t know, I’ll be in a larger suite with only one woman I don’t know. I am looking forward to meeting my roommate, because I know we already have something in common: both of us wanted to visit Antarctica and couldn’t find a soul to join us!

My family and friends have been very supportive, but none of them have a desire to join me. Keith finds it comical that Chicago in winter was too cold for me, but Antarctica is okay. Well, it is the southern hemisphere, so it will officially be summer. But yes, it will still be cold. Especially the night that I camp outdoors. Yes, you read that right. The brochure said “Your camping excursion will take place in one of the roughest and toughest environments in a remote part of the world. We cannot guarantee any location because our ability to do so very much depends on the weather and ice conditions, which can be changeable, and over which we have no control.” Though the toilet facilities will be “rustic at best” I am looking forward to an opportunity to experience the quiet majesty of the coldest, windiest, driest, iciest and highest of all the major landmasses in the world.

I’m hoping that it won’t be too cold, but the lowest temperature ever recorded anywhere on earth, -89.2°C, was recorded on July 21, 1983, at Vostok Station there. I also don’t like wind, and winds have been recorded at 200 mph in the interior of the continent. Wow!

I am very excited about the trip, and looking forward to starting my adventure. Happy Thanksgiving!