So many flights...

I thought I’d share our travel route with you all. We will be left from Boston, Massachusetts to fly all the way to Christchurch, New Zealand. It took us two days to get all the way from the east coast of the United States to New Zealand. This is both because it is a very far distance and we have to cross the International Date Line. Crossing the line from east to west results in adding a day to our trip without us actually experiencing those hours. On the way back we will subtract a day and arrive on the east coast the same day we left New Zealand.

Yesterday we collected all of our cold weather gear for the field and early this morning we flew out to McMurdo Station in a C-17. It is a HUGE military plane that was carrying people and equipment down to the base. In about a week we’ll finally head out to the McMurdo Dry Valleys. During that week the three of us will be busy running around to meetings and making sure all of our equipment is accounted for and assembled.

Labeled map of Antarctica, showing travel route in red (modified from United States Antarctic Program (USAP) image).