Journal Entry # 13

February 2-3, 2002

Summary: Travel and arrival in Chile

       All right, the one deceiving thing about this entry are the dates.  Now when I was flying from New Zealand to Chile, I actually spent three days traveling via airplane, but technically to the world I traveled for only two days.  The reason for this discrepancy is while I was flying from New Zealand to Los Angeles, California, I flew over the international date line and went back a day.
       However you look at it, whether I traveled for two days or three, that was too much flying for me.  I had a total of five flights ranging in length from three hours to twelve hours a piece.  And I never had a layover longer than two hours.  Which was basically just enough time to get off the plane, go through customs and arrive at the next gate.  Needless to say, by the time I reached Chile I was tied.  The two days I had before getting on the ship, the Laurence M. Gould, for the ride down to the Palmer Station, I spent sleeping in the hotel room.  
       Although having to recover from the epic flights didn't afford me the opportunity to explore any aspect of Chile, I was in better condition for the transport down to Palmer Station.  Which was a big concern since we were still unsure about the weather for our trip across the Drake Passage, which is known for rough seas.