01: Punta Arenas, Chile

For some reason I don't get much sleep the night before I leave for Antarctica. Actually, I usually get zero: I just can't help but stay up all night finishing the packing and doing my best to prepare to be gone from my home and my life for about 4 months. It also has a lot to do with the fact that my flight is usually at 6am, which means I'm leaving home at 4am at the latest (just to be safe) which means I need to be up by 3am at the latest (just to be safe) which means I'M PROBABLY NOT GETTING MUCH SLEEP. 😵

The flights are a bit of a blur (thank you zero sleep and dramamine), but I did make a couple new friends at the gate at LAX! I was picking up the vibe and literally walked up lowkey like, "Hey, are y'all going to Antarctica?" It was awesome having a few buddies right at the beginning (thank you Abby and Angela). Along the way, from Portland to Punta Arenas, we made a short pit-stop in Puerto Montt, Chile, to pick up some other passengers, and we never got off the plane! It was curious. I don't think I have ever experienced that before, but it sure didn't stop me from snapping this pic as we were just about to touch down...

OK, OREGON!?! For real?! Doth mine eyes deceive me?! Legit, this could easily be any number of mountains and forests and valleys and snow-capped volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest. Then I checked the relative lattitudes of Portland and Puerto Montt, and they are nearly the exact same on the opposite ends of the earth. GO FIGURE! 🤓

Anyhoo, after 5 flights and about 36 hours of travel, I made it safe and sound to Punta Arenas (or "PA" if you're into that whole brevity thing) and got settled into my fancy hotel room with the most gorgeous views from 10th floor.

Over the course of the next 5 days we had a few zoom meetings from the comfort of our hotel rooms (with that gorgeous view at my finger tips), some in-person meetings, got outfitted with cold weather gear, did some last-minute shopping, went out for morning coffees and dinners and drinks, practiced our spanish, flew my kite (!), and I even got to go roller skating a little bit.

Most everyone had left home and arrived in PA on the same days that I did, but a few folks had slightly different flight plans or delays here and there. Eventually though everyone made to town, and it was great getting to finally meet everyone and see everyone in one place for the first time. It was pretty wild looking around and realizing it was gonna be just the ~30 of us for the next 3 months.

On the morning of our 6th day in Punta Arenas, we checked out of our fancy hotel rooms and check on to the vessel that will be taking us all the way to Palmer Station, Antarctica – The Nathianel B Palmer! And it's not just a funny coincidence, they are both named after the same wacky guy from the 1800s, whom Wikipedia says was "an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, ship designer, and a whale hunter, known for being the first person to sight continental Antarctica."

After a fire-line of our luggage on to the ship, we got a quick tour of the facilities: the kitchen and galley, our cabins where we'd be sleeping for the next 10 days, and many different lounges and conference rooms across three different decks. Next up was a safety briefing, and then we were pointed to our cabins to get a bit settled for the night. After 5 days of orientation and training and preperation to leave, we had one last night in PA to get walk around on land (not be motion sick), get snacks (Abby is obsessed with Doritos Dynamitos), and say hi to dogs!

This the what our next 4 days is going to look like!

It was pretty wild falling asleep on the boat that first night, still tied up to the dock in PA, realizing that tomorrow they would release the lines and then we'd be underway for the next 4-5 days. I was fully jacked up on Scopolomine Patches with the additional meclazine or dramanine to keep me company. I drifted off to sleep in my lil bottom bunk, lowkey locked-in, ready to roll.

COMING SOON! -> Part 2: The Nathaniel B Palmer