number of hours, it was shorter than on the way out. One night at
McMurdo, no delays back to Christchurch. After three nights at
Christchurch, back in the air again to come home. They had to give me
two tags per checked luggage at Christchurch since they couldn't fit
five flights onto one. We flew through Christchurch - Sydney -
Honolulu - Los Angeles - Chicago - Madison in 38 hours. Wow. Each
step seemed a little closer to home: we entered back into the U.S. at
Honolulu, mainland at LAX, the the all-too-familiar ORD, then seeing
my family's faces in MSN!
It was a gradual path back into my daily life: gradually we shed our
ECW gear, put on our street clothes, got our haircuts, men shaved
their beards, and slowly blended back into the society. At McMurdo we
got reintroduced to life with keys, locks, dirt, and people we don't
know in the galley. It snowed while we were in McMurdo: that was a
strange sensation. I spent two weeks surrounded by snow and ice, but
it never actually snows there, just kind of blows around. Then
Christchurch with more people, private bathrooms, money, restaurants,
grass, trees, cars, and dark nights. Restaurants and mountains! I
felt relieved when I realized that I was at a place accessible by
civilian/commercial flights, never mind that people were staring at us
at the airport wearing the full Antarctic gear in the middle of the
summer. Several Chinese tourists asked us where we came from (that's
right, move over Japanese tourists!).
It was an incredible trip. I met and worked with some incredible
people down there where everyone had a story to tell. I hope to be
back again soon, and maybe then, I will be writing here again. Thanks
for reading!
