Seeking Se7endipity

It's amazing what you learn when surrounded by epic quantities of ice and water. 

Some learnings--like the fact humpback whales weigh 200,000(!) pounds--aren't directly applicable to modern day life. However, others--like the one I'm about to share--are worth recounting. 

So here it is, my big, Antarctic, stroke of genius: anyone can travel. 

Now, I realize this idea isn't going to win me Most Provocative Statement of 2012 but it contains more wisdom than first meets the eye. 

This is a highly accurate, and well-researched, pie graph depicting the American population. 

The blue section is the percentage of people that claim they "love traveling" (and probably long walks on the beach): 

Now this graph shows what percentage of those "travel lovers" actually travel semi-regularly: 

(Side-note: by now you've realized my graph making skills are almost as superb as my data collecting skills.)

The point is-- a lot of people love to travel but very few people actually do. There are many reasons why this is the case but what I learned in Antarctica is that these reasons are actually excuses. 

I feel this might come across as harsh. I understand there are people interested in travel but not so interested they would bend over backwards to make a trip happen. We all have our priorities and sometimes travel doesn't make the starting lineup. 

This post isn't for those people. This post is for the people that have travel as a top priority but continually neglect to do it because they view it as an activity that is out of reach. 

When I really caught the travel bug in 2008, I quickly learned that traveling is easier (and oftentimes cheaper) than one might think. I went to Europe with a study abroad program and learned that with a little prep work, sense of adventure and budgeting I could find a way to go anywhere. This, I suppose, explains how I ended up in Antarctica where I met dozens of people that reenforced my mentality. 

In Antarctica, we met a diverse group of people on the cruise ship representing many walks of life: from married to single, young to old, college educated to college dropouts (and not trendy Mark Zuckerberg kind). There was a young cocktail waitress that worked multiple jobs for the opportunity to take five months to travel. There was also a darling 81 year old woman that decided two months ago she wanted to see Antarctica so she called her daughter and booked the trip. These were two ends of the spectrum with all sorts of people in between. Everybody had a different reason for going to Antarctica and unique story for how they made it happen. The bottom line is that they set a goal and made it happen. 

They all had reasons--excuses--why the trip was crazy, frivolous, unattainable or [insert other adjective from skeptical friend], but that didn't stop them. 

It was an inspiring lot to spend 10 days with while in the confines of a small(ish) vessel. The "I had an idea and found a way to make it happen" mentally is electric, which is why I wanted to share the lesson: anyone can travel. 

You just have to set your mind to it and keep going until you make it happen. 

Looking back, I suppose Antarctica taught me a lesson about something bigger than travel. It taught me a lesson in attempting big challenges. You can remove travel from the lesson and tailor it to the quest that captures your heart. 

The recipe to make it happen: work like hell and don't give up until it does. 

You heard about our successful adventure back home, but Megan left out a large piece of the story. Potentially partially because it’s so good and elaborate it deserves it’s own post, but probably a little bit of “I can’t believe that happened” on Megan’s behalf.

First I need to notify you of a little part of Argentina — Nothing in Argentina is organized. Life moves slower. Everything is merely a suggestion.

We arrived at the international terminal at the Buenos Aires Ezeia Airport about 2.5 hours early — more than enough time for an international flight. Right? Kinda…

We located the Delta counter and began the checkin process.

In a US airport, the process is very clear - check in, drop off your checked bags, security, gate, take off, land, customs. Voila!

Getting out of a foreign country, specifically Argentina, isn’t so simple.

The whole process is a bit hazy. You are herded around to 6 different lines like sheep.

First we show our passport to a Delta employee before checking in. This employee gives us a completely useless print out of our intinerary that appears to be printed with a typewriter.

It was that employee that noticed my bundle of art wrapped in white butcher block paper I had tucked under my arm. We explained it was cheap street art we purchased for $50 - definitely no Picasso. They were concerned about customs and whether or not we would be able to get it out of the country.

We dumped our bags, got our boarding passes and headed upstairs (potentially contraband art in tow) to have our passports checked — again.

After the second passport check you’re greeted by the line to declare anything, which we skipped (we waited in line and eventually gave up) and got right into a long line to go through security.

Security is different. There is no taking off of shoes. There is no full body scanner. You can leave paper and a bobby pin in your pocket. No one cares. Instead you walk through a useless metal detector and everyone gets a pat down. Everyone.

I attempted to retrieve my backpack and bundled street art but they were on that butcher paper wrapped package like I’m on a slice of raspberry cheesecake.

I tore it open to show security it was just cheap art, but we were informed we needed to go to the customs office to declare our potentially contraband art. Apparently Argentina has a thing about taking Fine Art back to the States. 

OK — we left security, went back downstairs, found our Delta friend and made our way to the customs office that was so tucked away it was almost in a men’s bathroom — literally.

We patiently waited and watched women gossip for 10 minutes before a man helped us. I use the term “help” loosely — mostly he just talked INCREDIBLY fast in spanish with our Delta friend who told us we needed to head to downtown Buenos Aires to declare the art… As if.

Delta friend recommends we try again and just go through a different security line. It seems like a horribly stupid suggestion, but we tried anyway.

We head back upstairs, passport recheck, declare anything line reskip and wait in security line… again.

We make sure to go through a line as far away as possible and send everything through the scanner. Our art is flagged again, of course, but this time we were sent along our merry way!

But that merry way lasted about 4 feet — we were greeted by a ZOO of people waiting to go through customs.

Our flight is officially boarding at this point and the panic begins to set in. This line isn’t moving fast enough and our gate is two terminals away.

We spotted a separate customs line that is reserved for diplomats, those with disabilities and pregnant women. Now, you know we're not diplomats, and we don’t have a disability… but we are women and capable of being pregnant!

I’m not saying one of us didn’t stick out our stomach, arch our back, move a ring to the left ring finger and fake a pregnancy, but I’m not saying we did either. ;)

A popular question one receives when you tell them you took a trip to Antarctica: 

What do you do in Antarctica? 

Our typical response: 

Chill. 

The deeper, less wry, response is that we took excursion around icebergs and went on hikes with penguins. It took three days to pass through the rough waters of the Drake Passage to reach the tranquil waters surrounding the seventh continent. Once near land, our distinguished navigator, Captain Boris, navigated the vessel in to various bays and harbors where we could anchor the boat and take the zodiacs for a cruise. 

Zodiacs are 12-person boats with steel bottoms and inflatable sides. Now, you may be thinking, you're trusting an inflatable raft to hold you afloat in freezing waters surrounded by ice chunks? Believe me, these zodiacs are sturdy little buggers. The biggest worry we had was staying warm. 

Second most popular question:

How cold was it? 

Answer: surprisingly, not too cold! But we have the layers to thank for that. Here's the standard protocol for dressing in Antarctica: 

Long underwear

Jeans (for me) or fleece sweats (for Jeannine) 

Waterproof snowpants

Two pairs of wool socks

Giant waterproof wellingtons (heavenly, and provided by Quark) 

Long sleeve base layer 

Warmer long sleeve 

Lightweight jacket if really cold 

Scarf 

Hat

Headband if extra warmth was needed 

Two pairs of gloves 

Sunglasses and sunscreen--sun reflecting off pristine snow is bright! 

and, my very favorite, the florescent yellow parka (also provided by Quark).

Then of course we'd have a bag loaded with necessary camera equipment and last, but certainly not least, our handy, dandy, life jacket in case we fell overboard. 

Getting dressed and undressed for excursions was quite a feat--and brought back memories of cheesy 80's aerobics exercise tapes with all the comical body motions required to wriggle into so many layers. 

Once properly dressed, we'd waddle down to the deck where a staff member would ask our name to check us out. After the cruise, we'd give them our names again to be checked back in. This was reassuring. The system reduced the likelihood we'd be left on the edge of Antarctica. 

Then we would step into a small bucket with a pink solution that removed any organic material on the bottom of our wellington to prevent us from accidentally polluting the continent. With our feet squeaky clean, we'd walk down the gangway where a crew member would take us by the arm and transfer us to the waiting zodiac driver. The instructions were to immediately sit down on the inflated side and slide down toward the end of the boat. Once everyone was safely in place, we'd wake up the engine and cruise. 

Half the time, we'd stay in the boat and just cruise. The other half of the time we would head to land for a hike or close encounter with the penguins. 

The boats move fast and can handle strong (30 mph one day) winds and small sheets of ice.

So what was cruising like? 

To be honest, once out of eyesight of the ship, it almost felt fake. I frequently felt like I was in the scene from Titanic when the rescue boats are wading through the wreckage, weaving around ice chunks, looking for survivors. That sounds grim, but it's the best way to paint the picture. Imagine that scene but in a happy light. The landscape, reminded me a little bit of the snowcapped mountains of Colorado--if they were sitting on the ocean. The best part was the various sized icebergs of many colors, shapes and textures. Yes, not all icebergs look the same. The amount of oxygen in the snow, position in the water and way the wind blows makes them all very unique and very interesting. Oftentimes you'd see seabirds, or better yet, sea lions, resting on the bergs (Jeannine referred to the sea lions as lard rocks, which is, surprisingly, accurate). 

We saw a few penguins on the icebergs but they were easier to spot on land hanging out in large quantities. Penguin watching was my favorite part. Penguin smelling, not so great. They aren't the cleanest animals but the scent isn't so bad that it ruins the experience. It would be hard to ruin the experience. Penguins are hysterical. While they are spectacularly graceful in the water, they are the complete opposite on land. I could watch them awkwardly waddle up and down hills all day. They little guys would be exponentially less awkward if they had kneecaps and knew what to do with their wings while waddling. But if that were the case they would be half as much fun to watch. 

Unfortunately, we only had limited time with the fowl phenoms. After about an hour we were ushered back into the zodiacs where we reversed the process: slide to the end of the boat, grab the driver's hand and hoist onto the gangway, up the stairs, check in (whew, didn't get stranded), clean off our shoes in the pink solution and peel off 18 layers of warmth. 

Then off to the dining hall for a warm hearty meal followed by a quick power nap (and power recharge of camera batteries)  in preparation for the next grand excursion. 

... 

It took 24 hours, but Jeannine and I both made it into the US and and back to our respective homes. 

It was a long and adventurous ride home. 

We left our Airbnb around 6:15 pm yesterday. This wonderful guy picked us up. I was taking one last photo of the neighborhood and he volunteered this pose. 

We had the cab packed to the brim. Jeannine's suitcase occupied the entire trunk while my suitcase rode shotgun and both Jeannine and I cradled backpacks and souvenirs on our laps. 

Argentina doesn't have major freeways integrated into the city so we ventured halfway across the city before hitting the highway for the airport. It's was our fifth time at the EZE airport and we had our fingers crossed it would be a seamless process to get through security and on our merry way to America. 

We were wrong. Argentine customs have peculiar rules, which Jeannine and I weren't expecting. We'll leave the details for another post but the key takeaway is we managed to get to our gate on time--although not without a little sweat and anxiety. 

Buenos Aires to Atlanta is just shy of a 9 hour flight. We left Argentina around 9 pm, arrived in Atlanta at 5:15 am and started our morning off with a couple hundred other weary travelers being shepherded through customs. Atlanta's TSA workers are surprisingly cheerful, which put a positive spin on the lengthy process. 

Once through customs, we had enough time to snag breakfast, recharge our electronics, run into an old friend (see photo below) and say our goodbyes before boarding different planes. Jeannine headed east to Detroit while I boarded a flight back to San Francisco. 

  Tomorrow we'll both be heading back to work with great stories to share with coworkers (that hopefully remember us after our two week absence).

We're crossing our fingers that assimilating back into the real world isn't too difficult after a 10 days at sea and a hectic weekend of travel. 

Here's to a great Monday! 

We're currently on a plane from Ushuaia back to Buenos Aires. Our long trek back to America (and reality) has begun. 

After eight nights at sea, we reached the port early Friday morning and by 9 am had said our goodbyes and disembarked from an incredible journey. Our first stop on land was an Internet cafe to connect back to reality, let worried family members know we hadn't been swept to sea and share the first of many photos online. The lack of easily accessible Internet and cell service turned into a blessing--while leaving the grid made it easier to be in the moment and maximize the memories, it felt good to be connected again.

Of course the downside of easy Internet access is that we couldn't update in realtime so now we're forced to wade through a week and a half of memories and piece together the details and stories worth sharing. It's late and we're tired thanks to today's 10-hour flight delay so we'll start by taking the easy road and just share the basic itinerary of the trip. 

Day One: We arrived in Ushuaia, met with Quark organizers and checked into our hotel for a relaxing night and half day of exploring the quirky port town. 

Day Two: Thanksgiving Day! We boarded the boat, went through required safety training, unpacked and enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving Dinner before calling it an evening. 

Days Three and Four: It's a long trek from the bottom of South America to Antarctica so the first two full days were basic sea days, without stopping to check out the scenery or get off the boat. Really, there wasn't a reason to stop or get off the boat. Crossing the Drake passage isn't an easy feat. It is some of the roughest water in the world, which meant two solid days of unsteady walking as the ship swayed from side to side. It took a while to get used to the constant motion and it's safe to say everyone was looking forward to reaching land where the water would be calm again. As for scenery, there's not much to look at in the Drake Passage. Besides the dozens of birds following the ship, there's nothing to see but water that stretches for miles. 

Days Five, Six and Seven: This is when the magic started. Once we reached Antarctica our days were packed with excursions on and around the continent. We'd wake up and eat breakfast at eight and be on the small zodiac boats by ten for an ocean cruise around icebergs or quick drive to land where we would hike and get up close and personal with the penguin colonies or, on a particularly beautiful, do a Polar Plunge into the ocean. 

These were the days where we wrestled ourselves into layers of clothes to stay both warm and dry in the freezing  temperatures, waddle down to the boat and return hours later exhausted and smiling with dozens of incredible photos to add to our growing collection. Between the incredible weather we had, clear blue skies and indescribable landscape, getting phenomenal photos was as easy as pointing the camera in the right direction and hitting the button. 

We'll soon be uploading photos of the penguins, icebergs and more.

Day Eight and Nine: We said goodbye to Antarctica to retrace our steps back through the Drake Passage and home to Ushuaia. Again, it was two days of big waves that would send the ship going from side to side. While we could stomach the turbulence better than in the first few days, it still had an affect on us. The constant rocking made it far too easy to take long naps in the comfortable cabin beds! 

When we weren't sleeping or enjoying a meal with the other passengers, we spent time sorting through our photos and attending different lectures put on by the Quark team. Each of the Quark Team members has an interesting niche of knowledge they passionately shared with us. We learned about the history of Antarctica's early explorers, the science behind penguins, whales, birds and Antarctic rocks, the governmental/ownership aspect of the continent and how various countries are working together to protect it. 

It was fantastic to learn a thing or two about the surroundings from passionate and knowledgable staff that clearly enjoyed sharing their knowledge with others. 

Day Ten: The final day was what you would expect: forcing the layers and layers of warm clothes we brought back into our bags, enjoying a last breakfast and wrapping up a few odds and ends before saying our goodbyes and leaving the ship. 

Inevitably, if you spend ten days with a set number of people in a combined space, you end the trip feeling a special bond. The boat was filling with interesting, fun, quirky people from all corners of the world and enjoying meals together, playing cards in the lounge and spending time out of the deck soaking in the beautiful surroundings brought us all closer together. Fortunately, with the powers of the Internet we can stay in touch and hopefully someday run into a few of the passengers again. 

...

That's the high level view of the trip, which hasn't officially ended. Our flight will arrive in Buenos Aires around 3 am and hopefully we'll be at our Airbnb spot by half past four. We'll either hit the pillows fast or, if we're up for it, hit the town for one more exciting Buenos Aires night. The locals stay out until seven or eight so showing up to the party at  five won't be anything unusual. 

Then we'll spend the afternoon seeing a few things we didn't see our first go-round before we head to the airport for our 9 pm flight back to the States. While we weren't excited to be leaving the cruise, after two days in transit, we'll both be happy to be back at home. 

More stories to come--thank you for following along with our journey! 

We're ready for our second attempt at getting to Ushuaia.  It's been a crazy day to say the least. We checked into our hotel this morning at 7 am, slept until noon, hung out around the hotel until 2 am and are now (3:15 am) waiting with other hopeful passengers to see if we can check into our 7:25 am flight.

(We've been posting more frequently to our Facebook page, so check there for full details: http://www.facebook.com/thanksgivingwithauntarctica)

Do to a nationwide strike, the airport was shut down for 24 hours starting yesterday at midnight. We were planning on heading to the airport at 4:30 Tuesday morning to catch our 7:30 am flight to Ushuaia (where we get on the boat) but found out through our Airbnb hosts that protesters were shutting down the road so if we didn't get on the road by midnight, we would make it to the airport the following morning. This was at 10:30 pm and by 11:30 pm we were all packed and in a cab headed to the airport. At 2 am, we discovered our flight was cancelled because all flights were canceled. 

Fortunately, we were able to secure two seats on the Wednesday morning flight and found a hotel room nearby that offered free transportation to and from the airport. In short, the past 24 hours have been unlike any airport experience we've had: 

Arrived at the airport at midnight only to wait near the checkin desks until 5 am 

Scheduled taxi pick up at 6 am and checked into a hotel room at 7 am. 

Slept until 1:30 pm. 

Explored the very interested shopping complex where the hotel was located for a couple hours. 

Cat napped at 10 pm. 

Checked out of the hotel at 2 am. 

Arrived at the airport at 2:30 am with hopes of leaving on a jetplane at 7:30. 

Our days and nights have been all sorts of crazy the past five days. It's been incredibly fun though. The kind of fun with a layer of anxiety that won't go away until we're on a plane getting ready to take off. 

With travel, especially international travel, it's best to expect the unexpected and roll with the punches, which is what we've done and so far things are working out for us, all things considered. 

We appreciate all the thoughtful words of encouragement. We're crossing our fingers we're on the plane and in the sky within the next five hours so the adventure south can continue! 

Last night started off as an adventure while we navigated the city's subway system, the Subte, which is the second oldest subway system in the world. We had the luck of riding on an original train -- you heard me, an original train from 1913. The interior featured wood paneling and was lit with classic lamps. Even the doors were manual and required two people to pull them open. A local student studying at the university, Sebastian, navigated with us towards Palermo (a fun district of BA full of restaurants, bars and a hoppin club scene). We found ourselves in a local square full of restaurants. It was 11pm, a normal hour to eat dinner, and we were beyond starving. We knew steak and Malbec, Argentinean specialties, were a must, but we didn't know where. Serendipity was on our side and we met Roberto -- a local Spanish teacher who had a love for meeting new people and a pride in Buenos Aires that he wanted to share with others. We asked for a restaurant recommendation and he suggested one of the best local restaurants for steak and wine. He became our cultural and city guide of sorts and we learned that it's a sin to pair an incredible steak with anything other than a red wine (vino tinto) or water (agua con gas o agua sin gas). It was a bold move eating dinner with a stranger (sorry Mom and Dad), but his heart was warm, he has many American students and the city was bustling. Roberto explained to us that the best things in life can only be bought with time -- family, friends, wine and love. Roberto's son, Fredriko, currently travels the world and surfs. He spent 6 months in the Dominican Republic and dreamed of teaching surf lessons. He wrote Roberto explaining that an Argentinean would never be able to teach surf lessons in the Dominican Republic. As these stories go, Fredriko soon found himself teaching surf lessons in the Dominican Republic. To Roberto, the explanation is simple

We've shared a few of the details of our Arctic adventure but it's time to share a few more!

Who? 

What? 

When? 

Where? 

Why? 

So the big remaining details: when and where.

Here's the itinerary:

November 16: Megan (in San Francisco) and Jeannine (in Detroit) hop on planes to Atlanta to meet up and head south to Buenos Aires. 

November 20th: Early flight to Ushuaia, Argentina: also known as Fin del Mundo or The End of the World. It's the southern most city in the world, and that is where we board our ship!

November 21: We board the ship and set sail across the Drake Passage. 

November 24 - 26 : We hit land and chill! Literally. Average temps in Antarctica this time of year are 25-35 degrees. While we're on land we'll hike, snowshoe, make friends with the locals and take a dip into the Arctic Ocean (seriously). 

November 30: We arrive back in Ushuaia and say goodbye to the wonderful new friends we've made on the boat before flying back to Buenos Aires for the last night.

December 1: Back to the reality! We leave Argentina on Saturday the 1st and, thanks to a 10 hour flight time, arrive on Sunday morning in time for a good lunch and long nap! 

Serendipity: the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. Synonyms: accident, fluke; luck, good luck, good fortune, fortuity, providence; happy coincidence. Megan: The above mentioned words aptly describe the story of Jeannine and I becoming friends. The story starts at Michigan State University. We lived five houses apart and hung out a handful of times with mutual friends, but we were definitely more acquaintances than friends and it seemed that's the way things would stay. But a simple act of kindness unexpectedly changed that. It was May of 2011, a week after I’d graduated and packed my bags to head off on a two-month adventure to Europe. I’d sold my furniture and needed a spot to crash for a few nights before my trip. Jeannine, always will to help someone in need, offered me some couch space made me feel right at home. At the time, neither of us realized it was the first of many nights I would crash on her couch over the course of the following year and, more importantly, be the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Jeannine: Megan jetted off to Europe and I thought that was it. I housed an acquaintance in need, and was happy to do it. When she came home from Europe, she made a few visits back to East Lansing and I was always happy to host her. When someone is sleeping on an air mattress in your room, you get to know them rather quickly and it soon became apparent that we were destined to be friends. If you know Megan and I, you know we’re incredibly different. Megan is brilliant, motivated and driven in an inspiring way -- always up for crazy adventure and spontaneity. On the other end of the spectrum you’d find me. I’ve also got brains and ambition but I like predictability, organization and routine. I think that’s why we clicked. Megan needed more routine in her life and I needed more adventure. Always scheming some sort of plan, Megan asked me what I wanted to do after I graduated in December. I told her I wanted to travel and the brainstorming commenced.