Still packing, still planning, still fretting

My last day of work before I leave was yesterday.  As anyone with a job and a huge impending vacation knows, it has been very busy at work trying to get a bit ahead.  So much fun writing out comments on policy because you won't be in the meeting.  Actually, that is fun but that might just be me.  

(Shout out to Robynne who is covering for me at the busiest time of the term while I'm away, and the rest of the team who will also be living the chaos. Sorry!)  

Packing:  bah!  I just rummaged around in my storage closet to find my bigger backpack.  I haven't used it in years because I never need this much stuff.  Plus,  it is too heavy when it is full.  It's just on the packing bed, not in use yet.  We'll see.  I'm not too worried about the packing.  It is just a matter of getting the majority into the bags and the minority out of the bags.  

Planning:  Amy came over the other night for a 'planning session'.  There are two sources of stress for me.  Technology and flight connections

Planning session.
Pigeon is helping by standing in for the Thurple.  

Amy, who is technologically wiser than me (not hard to be but also part of her actual job), She has discovered this cool site called Google.  On this site, she discovered that there is a BlogSpot App which I can download to my phone and Chromebook.  As I mentioned before, I bought a  little laptop which apparently isn't a laptop at all, or even a tablet, it is a Chromebook which is something else altogether and has NO storage.  Amy did the same but she just cut bait and started again with a different little computer.  I am way too cheap for that.  I will make this stupid Chromebook work if it drives me crazy and risks the blog (aka my trip memories).  

I uploaded all of the pictures in this post from my phone to the BlogSpot app.  Saved, and then had access to the updated post on my computer.   So, so far so good.  

When we are on the cruise, no wifi!  NO WIFI!!!  So, I can't upload my blog.  I can't even access it.  So, my plan was use Word docs.  Nope, you need wifi to save word docs to google cloud if you are using Chromebook.  Bah!  but I can access the blog with the app.  I can't save though. What I don't know is how much storage the app has.  It is the level of storage on my computer?  If so, hmm, not great. 

I can close the app and the draft post is still there (at least the little bits I have created so far sans wifi)  but I can't access it from any other device (aka my phone). As soon as I have a scrap of wifi, I can go in and save.  That won't take much so maybe in the Falklands, and fingers crossed for South Georgia.  Uploading takes a lot more power, so is unlikely until we are in Ushuaia. 

(update, last night I tried uploading some giant pictures on the app and it let me and they were still there when I closed it and reopened it without signing onto wifi - cautiously optimistic)

We leave in 4 days, almost to the hour!

Back from a trip to the mall.  A pedicure and a few supplies (mainly a silicone water bottle cause I can't fine my collapsible bottle).  

Next day.  Yesterday got away from me a bit there.  Now we are down to three days!  

This is it, the end of time (or at least time is running out), I have resorted to writing lists!  I'm gonna say when 'make decisions' is the first thing on your 'to do' list, it's not a great organizational tool.  

This is how bad I am at lists.  I started this one at work on Thursday.  I got a few things done and then I lost the list.  This photo is my only record.  

We're already well into Fretting but my last thought before I go off and 'make decisions' is to mention my new plan about my flight connections.  Two hours in Vancouver with US Immigration is making me very nervous.  I am going to go to try to speak to an actual Air Canada person to try to get my 10 am flight (Vic->Van) moved to 9am.  

There is nothing to be done about the one hour layover in Houston.  Amy is choosing her bags based on how easy they are to carry while running.    One last shout out to how much Air Canada sucks.  Actually, doubtful that is the last but let's hope.  This is all their fault for cancelling the Calgary to Houston connection.  

United, on the other hand, sent me an email asking if I wanted to pre-choose my meals.  Oh, I was so excited!  Business class meals!  

so exciting! 

And then I signed it.  And discovered that the meals are really nothing better than I've ever gotten at the back of the plane.  Boo.  I chose 'I'll choose on the plane' hoping their will be better options.  Now I see that things are even worse (sold out!).  They're going to feed us right?  It's an 8 hour flight!  I bought some tootsie rolls and babybels just in case.  

So not exciting

Ok, I'm off to try to finalize some packing decisions/actions.  I'm sure I will be able to get one more post in before I go (although someone may have to remind me why I bought a ticket to the opera for Monday...)

Just a random jumble of thoughts etc.

At this point, two weeks before we leave, I am just pinging ideas, plans and actions around in my head without any rhyme or reason.  This post, I'm sure, will be as disorganized as my thinking.  

1. Flights.  Air Canada keeps moving our travel times around, just a bit at a time, but now we have less than two hours layover in Vancouver on our way to Houston.  We have to go through American border in that time.  Amy has Nexus, I do not.  

I called my lovely RBC Travel agent to see if we (I?) could leave on the 9am flight from Victoria to Vancouver, instead of the 10am, adding an hour to get through customs.  She tried but she said if she changes even that one short jump, I am looking at the current price of the tickets.  Which is many thousands of dollars more than when we bought them.  So, no.  New plan, as yet not discussed with Amy, go to the airport crazy early (this was already my plan) and try to sweet talk my way onto the 9am.  I looked on the Air Canada website and the 9am flight is cheaper than the 10 so I assume this means there are more seats available.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

There is also only one hour layover in Houston on the way down.  I figure we'll be lucky to make the connection.  It will be a miracle if our checked bags do too. So, with that in mind... 

2. Packing. My plan is to pack like this trip is actually two trips.  One bag with Antarctic/cruise only stuff and the other with Buenos Aires and total trip stuff.  I will check the Antarctic bag with the assumption that it will be delayed.  So, boots, rain pants, base layers, mitts, toques etc. And then daily clothes, camera, binoculars, and electronics in my carry on and personal bags.   

I have been throwing things at my spare bed as my ever efficient and organized packing system.  Plus, of course, the things I would remember to throw at the bed at a later date.  There was stuff on the bed that was never going to go and stuff not on the bed that definitely needs to go.  

My friend Val, experienced traveler and way more organized person than me, came over last weekend to make me buckle down.  She gives me someone to bing my ideas off of and forces me to actually create an organized plan.  

Although, here she is dressing Pigeon up in my cowl so maybe not all organization related but we did get there eventually. 

This is more organized than it looks

Pigeon was surprisingly ok with this child abuse

3. Ablutions: I got a haircut and I booked a pedicure. I need to buy SPF Chapstick. (update - can you believe a tube of wax costs $6!)

4. Clothes.  I hemmed a pair of quick dry travel pants.  They are my 'Antarctic pants' because they are too big for me so there is room for many base layers.  They are purple so you get to enjoy my Joseph's Coat of travel wear in my pictures (or more likely Amy's pictures).  

I also went to Value Village to find a fleece jacket.  I wanted a light weight one with pockets.  I found an LL Bean one but it is cream-coloured.  Not my favourite but right size, right weight, good enough. 

I also bought the ugliest belt.  Again, right size, right weight but so ugly, I may just take my regular one 

I didn't even bother to cut them, I just folded up 
and hemmed them from there

Seriously, so ugly! 

I have multiples of everything.  Which pants, which sweater, which t-shirts, socks, pajamas, undies, so many decisions.  Must not spiral.  Who am I kidding, the belt-decision (or lack thereof) just about did me in.  

5. Rain pants.  You knew this was never going to end.  I still have two pairs.  I think I will take the pair that packs smaller in my carry on and the proper ones in my checked bag.  I am getting paranoid about the possibility of losing that checked bag.  No rain pants, no shore excursions in Antarctica.  I can borrow the boat boots but I can't borrow boat pants.  Always have a back up plan I tell my students.  Or in this case, back up pants.  

6.  Vaccines.  I got my fourth Covid vaccine dose today.  Yay, my whiffle-waffling on when to book paid off and I managed to get it done two weeks before we leave but late enough to get the super-charged bi-valent.  I also got a Shinrex vaccine (not required for the trip but a very good idea no matter) and will take my Dukoral tomorrow.  

7. Technology.  Word. Stupid Microsoft Office.  Remember when you bought a computer and it has Office installed and you could just open it up and all was good.  Now you have to sign in and it saves to google documents.  and all of that requires Wifi!  At least I get it free through work but that won't help me when I am trying to keep track when I can't get online.  

At the moment, my plan is to create a bunch of word documents on my travel computer and save them to my work account and then download them to my travel computer.  It's not a great plan.  And it means I have to have my work account on my travel computer.  Are we all just fodder for our google overlords?  Don't answer that, I don't want to know the truth.   

8. Other. I am trying to do things as I think of them.  Renew prescriptions.  Done although I had to sign a form to get them early due to travel.  Buy cat food.  Done.  Request mail-in ballot for the civic election.  Done but not received yet. Sign up for banking auto payments so I don't miss bills. Not quite done yet. 

Now when I buy things I say to myself, will this tank of gas/gallon of milk/bunch of bananas last until I leave? 

9. Blog.  That's enough for today. 

Aaackk! 

Shopping, mending, practicing and some serious time-wasting

Do I need a balaclava?  If I want to afford this trip I do!  Haha!  No, Amy and I are probably not going to rob a bank (although there's still time so never say never).  And no, we probably don't need this much protection from the cold.  But Costco has them on two for $10.  So... 

Give us all your penguins! 

I also bought a selfie-stick.  I know, I know.  I hate selfie-sticks and selfie-stick people and now I have one and I am one!  I am telling myself this is more of a height enhancer.  It involved more downloads and getting one thing to talk to another thing (stick to phone, I haven't gotten phone to computer yet, or maybe I have, I have completely lost track of what talks to what, and any thread of a thought process or sentence structure apparently, but I digress, yet again). 

Anyhoooooodle, here is me practicing taking selfies. And practicing uploading photos from my camera to this blog.  Just in case. 

Height enhancer! 

It has a wobbly tripod and remote! 

Time wasters: 

I decided I needed a very warm toque. So I knitted this up from Peruvian Alpaca wool.  

this is not going to match my free RED parka! 

My watch that I use for travel broke.  That thing has been to four continents with me, and it was supposed to go to a fifth.  But the plastic on the band gave out.  I wanted to just get a new band but a new band was practically the same price as a new watch.  So, goodbye my old watch, you have served me well, but you have been replaced with a shiny new watch.  

One thing that always annoyed me about my old watch was that the band was too long for my wrist so the watch face sat on the side of my wrist.  The end of the world?  Not completely.  But, hey I thought, looking at the broken band, I see how it can be shortened.  So, I Frankenstein-practiced on the old dead watch and it worked, I was able to shorten the one remaining side of the band. So, I spent a couple of hours shortening the new watch bands so the face sits properly on my wrist.  

Speaking of time wasters, you all just read that 
whole boring watch story! 

We just got an email from G Adventures letting us know, after careful consideration, they are going to require everyone on board to have a their full rounds of Covid vaccines, the last one within the last four months, but not less than two weeks before we start the cruise.  I'm all for that.  I am booked for my bi-variate fourth booster for next week.  But the question is, how do I get proof of that out of my government which G Adventures requires.  That is for another day.

Oh, there's a link in that email with pages of information to go through. 😐

I'm sure there is more that I've done but it's been a busy week so that's it for now.  

Less than three weeks to go. 

One month to go!

 Well, today is the one-month-to-go mark.  At this time next month, Amy and I will be in the air on our way to Houston!  It seemed so far away for so long. And now it is practically upon us!  What have I forgotten.  What do I need to buy, hem, fix, pack, convert, plan...  ?  

I have been practicing with my camera.  I even forced my photographer friend, Andrea, to read my million page manual for my camera.  She didn't even get a beer out of the deal, just coffee.  That was a rookie mistake on her part, suggesting we got out early to catch the morning light!  

Andrea, in a pub, beerless 

Because I turned out to be such an awesome photographer and Andrea really could give me no notes (haha, or I was so hopeless it wasn't worth her breath to even begin to teach me...  the actual truth but let's pretend), Andrea only gave me one homework assignment.  Or at least only one I remember... 

Figure out how to set up Bluetooth transfer from my camera to my travel computer.  My computer is so tiny, it only has one USB-C port, no SD card slot.  I tried, I really did.  I managed to get my camera to talk to my home computer but my travel computer, nope, 'no comprende, mi amiga'.  Which is a problem.  I need to use those pictures to keep my hoards of adoring blog fans (aka my mom) satisfied! 

I ended up buying a card reader.  It seems so work.  That's the thing that I have to wrap my head around as we get closer.  If I don't have it or I have it but it doesn't work, I won't be able to get another one.  No fly-by-night packing for this trip. 

I also bought two extra batteries and an external battery charger.  And an extra 64 GB memory card.  

Card reader

Next issue to try out, Word.  No Wi-Fi for many, many days.  So, no access to BlogSpot at all, let alone to post anything.  But you know I am going to write posts, just not be able to upload or post them.  This happened once before, when I was on a train,  maybe in China?  Anyway, I didn't have Word downloaded onto my travel computer so I had to use Notebook.  That was a formatting nightmare.  And then go back through my millions of photos to find the ones that happened on the day I wrote about.  And that was only for one day!!  What am I going to do for three weeks!  

So I tried to create a Word document, with text and photos to see if I could cut and paste right into Blogspot.  I can cut and paste the text.  And the photos.  Just not at the same time. I can live with that.  

Here is my test Word document.  Might as well start into the packing posts now...

Test to see if I can cut and paste from a Word document to Blogspot with pictures!

getting my packing working area ready

throwing stuff at my packing working area

Pigeon, as always, super helpful with all travel related tasks.  Supervision is very important. 

I have to get all of that culled, sorted and shoved into packs.  And I haven't even started adding regular, non-Antarctic clothes.  It's mostly rain pants to be honest.  

Ok, that's it for now.  Serious count down begins!  

The Thruple makes her first appearance

The one year mark (Oct 22, 2021) before our cruise passed by and I barely noticed.  This trip has been so far away for so long, I kind of forgot to think about it.  

I am trying to read some Antarctic history books but the first one I tried was "The Worst Journey in the World" about the fateful (and fatal) Scott expedition.  But it is DENSE.  It is barely readable. I should be called "The Worst Writing in the World".   I have a new appreciation for editors, let me tell you.  This book is a solid  block of text, barely a paragraph break, let alone a chapter break.  Oldy-Timey books about exploration by ship involve a lot of weather reports and wind speeds and the word 'lee'.  

The bottom one might not be too historical 

I abandoned that one for a fun novel about an old lady who is bored so goes to the Antarctic.  After that, I dipped into some Cook diaries.  More weather.  Time to work on some Shackelton before I go back to Scott.  These guys are basically insane and suicidal but at least Cook and Shackelton waited to explore themselves to death on a different continent.  

Seriously!  Hit Enter every once in a while!  

On a more practical note, it is time to start considering our flights.  I am hanging out on Google flights.  Our dates aren't even available yet.  We are up to Oct 12 as the last day with tickets as of today.  I put an alert on our flight for Sept 2022 so I can see what is going on with prices.  I have $2000 worth of ticket with my Air Mile points.  

Business class tickets, to Buenos Aires return, have dipped as low as $2160!  They are bouncing up and down so Amy and I had a 'trip meeting' to decide if we want to book super early if the tickets are super cheap or wait until we have a better idea of what the world will look like in 11 months.  Book early and cheap is the decision.  I called my bank to make sure if I have to cancel, I don't lose my points.  I do not.  Done and decided. But not booked.  It is too early.  

prices at 12:15pm on Nov 17, 2021 

I bought a new travel computer.  It is teeny tiny (just one pound).  Of course, there won't be any Wi-Fi on the boat so expect to be blasted with 21 posts from Ushuaia.  

Oh gosh, I started this post on Nov 17 and now it is Dec 3.  I have been so busy.  I worked overtime three weekends in a row ,it is crazy at work.  And then I picked up a little 30 hour contract so I have been working a lot.  All for the penguin fund!  

Important shopping.  I bought these ridiculous slippers!  

Ridiculous yes, warm and comfy, also yes. 

So, that's it for now.  Just obsessively checking google flights even though November 2022 dates aren't loaded yet so there is nothing I can do but fret.  Two more weeks. Dates to Oct 28 today.  The world and/or prices just have to hang on for two more weeks!  

A reminder! Follow me to Antarctica!  

One more update (now it is Dec 11!).  Still waiting for flights (getting closer, just 10 more days, prices are holding steady) but I just checked G Adventures and our cruise is up to $22,400!.  It's like we are saving $7000 now.  And I see that our 'third bed' in our Triple room is sold.  Our Thruple exists!  We just haven't met her yet. So exciting.  

Hello Thruple!  You will probably read this one day and know we are/were keen to find out who you are/will be.  We may even stop calling you 'the Thruple' once we know your name (but I make no promises and I really hope you have a sense of humour!)  

10 months to go!  

No one say Omicron variant.   

Oh my god, it's still 16 months away!!

Really no updates, but the system crashed at work so I decided to spend my coffee break doing this instead of working like usual.  

I have been reading my Antarctic travel guide.  I am very excited about the Falklands.  Rockhopper penguins!  Can't say no to seeing this crazy bird with his crazy do. 

I am going to have to add some links to this blog for some shops in Stanley.  Shopping is going to happen!  

For example this:  Falkland Islands Wool Store that seems to have no internet presence except for the occasional mention on other sites:  here is a photo, which as you can see is not advertising by the business.  

Oh, I have fallen into a knitting and yarn on Falkland Islands vortex.  Back to work!  

Oh wait, THIS: 

______________________

Its a few days later.  Still daydreaming about the trip but this time on a Saturday when I have more time.  I found the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) website.  And a couple of very well made videos:  

Going Ashore in Antarctica.  I can't imbed the video so here are a couple of shots in case you don't have 2.5 minutes to spare

If you sense an attack!

Stop often and reflect on the beauty

You will see many types of birds

Species in their natural environment

and Cruising in Antarctica.  Ditto 

Last great wilderness on Earth

visit the snowy breathtaking scenes

Don't feed the animals!

disturbing the wildlife is prohibited

And this just in (in June):  The ocean surrounding Antarctic is now being recognized as the fifth ocean.  Unimaginatively, it is called The Southern Ocean.