I'm scheduled to leave McMurdo station tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 8:00 a.m.! We're flying on a Basler...a plane that puts you in mind of an Indiana Jones transport option. Baslers can fly in a couple of degrees colder weather than the standard Hercules, but it's real advantage is that it can fly in less visibility. Instead of going over mountains, we're going through them. Also, it has windows! Flight time will be about 4 hours. It should be a really cool flight. However, as it's a smaller plane, there are more weight restrictions. As such, I had to give up all my luggage except for a carry-on today at the Bag Drag. To explain the bag drag (which is basically just toting your luggage all over the place), you bring all your luggage including carry-on to Building 140. With your ecw gear on, everything gets weighed and then you take your carry-on back to your room. The checked luggage will then be shipped down on a Hercules in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, a bunch of clothes, a couple of pairs of shoes, books, Eric's cool printouts, and some electronics got left behind. I guess that leaves me something to look forward to.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention there's no bathroom on the Basler. Well, there's a bucket and curtain if that counts, but my current and long-term plan will be to hold it.
So my new motto is "less is more" and I've traded a bathroom for windows!!
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