It really is the Journey, not the Destination that matters

 Has anyone traveled recently and had the experience of everything going perfectly? I don't think so. 

But that just means we always go into an adventure with an open mind. Lost luggage, cancelled flights, the gift of COVID, delays and reroutes are all on the table. Add that to "normal" travel issues like uncooperative weather, unexpected quirks from travel companions, packing faux pas and if one can come out the other side still smiling, we call it good, right? It's part of the journey.

Mark and I booked a rail journey on Amtrak in July. A kinda us-to-us birthday gift. We chose September 24th because there was a fairly good chance some or all of the aspens would be in all their golden glory by the end of September in the Rockies.

Denver to Salt Lake City is reportedly THE most scenic section of rail in the USA. The train winds its way leisurely through the mountains via Frazer and Glenwood Springs, to Grand Junction, in about 6 hours. The other 9 hours constitute the journey via Green River to Salt Lake. 

Planned departure: 8:05am from Denver's beautiful Union Station.

Planned arrival: 11:30pm. A hotel was booked!

The train which originated in Chicago, was 3.5 hours late from the get go. Amtrak let us know they would make up time and depart Denver at 9:45am instead. We arrived just after 8am and found a nice place to have breakfast. 

By 9am, the train was showing departure now at 11:30am. Shortly after that it was around noon and by the time we left Denver it was just shy of 12:30. I guess they didn't make up time after all!  LOL. Mark and I spent the morning wandering Denver, challenging each other to games of gin rummy and indulging in "vacation food". It was very pleasant and I have no complaints.

The train was clean, the other passengers were friendly and interesting and our conductors (Luke and Cody) were flawless. They handled ALL the complaints and the pile of poo that was otherwise known as passenger check-in using slips of paper and a marker pen, with smiles and professionalism. I swear you'd think Cody had been trained by Mary Poppins herself!

I know... What you really came for - and what we really went for - is the view from the train. I took several hundred pictures but you'll be pleased to know you only have to see my favorites in this post.

Denver to Frazer:

Lots of tunnels. Just when you think you have your camera poised to take fall foliage pics, you find the environment pitch black!

Fraser to Grand Junction, via Glenwood Canyon:

See the guy in the turquoise cap? That's our cheesecake benefactor! Keep reading for more on that.

To appreciate the cheesecake below, you have to appreciate the situation onboard. If a passenger didn't book a private room or roomette, dining in the fancy dining car is not included. Once upon a time the privilege of the dining car was extended to economy class folks like us, after the private room guests had eaten. The private room fare includes dining car food and economy class used to pay as they went for the same privilege. Then COVID happened. For social distancing reasons, the dining car was reserved only for the passengers who's fare included food. And when things kinda returned to normal, this part of Amtrak never did. No private room = no cheesecake for you! 

However we were lucky enough to make friends with two guys traveling all the way to California and despite being "downgraded" to economy when their sleeper rail car was removed for mechanical issues yesterday, Amtrak still honored their dining car privileges. I guess one of them overheard me noticing that the economy class café didn't serve desserts because after their meal in the dining car, they returned with a "to go" piece of cheesecake and fork for us!!! Both the gesture and the cheesecake were just lovely!!!

The unfortunate part of leaving 4 hours late is that it got dark a tad before we saw all that we could have. No worries. The observation car remained a lively gathering place where games and snacks and chats were filling the void nicely.

Our conductors got off in Grand Junction. This was the end of their segment. We continued on to Salt Lake with a new set of guides. Being that it was now bedtime, the "getting to know you" part of this team was pretty limited and most passengers retired to their bunks or reclining seats for a much needed sleep. 

Salt Lake:

Honestly the railway station seemed quite lovely. All of the city that we meandered through at 2am was really nice looking! But that's the thing... it was now after 2am and we basically took a taxi to the hotel and crashed. 

* We stayed at Comfort Suites Airport Hotel. It exceeded expectations. Josie gave us a friendly check in at 2:30am and was totally fine permitting us a late check out -> 1pm. Our room was spotlessly clean, had plenty of towels and little bathroom accoutrements, a coffee maker, microwave, fridge and was located in a quiet area. 

In the morning Kristy helped us arrange a free ride to the airport. 

We gobbled down a really good complimentary breakfast, soaked our weary bodies in the hot tub, washed and dried our swimsuits in the shared laundry area, ate complimentary cookies and drank lemon water in the lobby and then had the sweetest shuttle driver chat/drive us all the way to the airport. 

It really doesn't get any better than that.

Great weekend... but also good to be home by 6:15pm that night. Our fur-babies were happy and had clearly been well cared for by Amy and Steve in our absence. It goes without saying maybe, but without Amy and Steve, we could never have snuck away for a weekend. (Teddy's first night without us was A-OK!)

Packing for Antarctica

 Raise your hand if you have watched a dozen packing videos like me. 

Ok, so I know you haven't. I'm well aware of my obsessive-compulsive tendencies. It's normal for ME to pack months in advance even if it's odd for other people. We are still 3 months from departure and I've fielded packing questions already, which tells me that even though I deal with the jokes about my pre-packing, it must add some value too. 

Organizing aside, there are several great reasons for checking it once and twice, making lists and recording all that goes in a bag in preparation for a long journey to a place that would be tough to find gear if you lost, damaged or forgot anything. 

My system is as follows: 

1 Checked bag

1 Carry-on backpack for the overhead luggage bin

1 Personal item for under the seat in front of me

CHECKED BAG - Weighing in at around 30lb when stuffed. 

In this bag goes most of my gear. At least the gear that I plan on wearing. 

I have 3 packing cubes. 

The largest holds 4 long sleeved, 1 t-shirt and 2 singlet tops - all merino wool. I'll be actually wearing stuff from this bag on travel day too, FYI. For good measure and just in case Christmas or New Years Eve warranted something clean and mildly fancier, I have a silvery top in there too. There's yoga tights (who knows... maybe I'll work out at the gym onboard!), wool straight leg and wool tights and a pair of base layer bottoms.  Add to that a possum fur hat, electric gloves and socks and sheepskin liners for my sneakers - Don't knock it 'til you try it! Aside from the boots they give you onboard, I only plan on taking sneakers for the whole trip. Am I crazy? (If so, I have plenty of time to change my mind before we leave.) Yep, there are ski googles and polarized sunglasses in this cube too.  I've heard that ski goggles might be the ideal scenario on cold and windy days when the Zodiak is flying across the water, dodging icebergs in search of penguins, seals and whales. 

In the medium sized cube I have a basic full set of what one might need. Two long sleeved, one short sleeved and a singlet top in merino wool. A pair of blue wool base layer pants, black "wear for all occasions" tights and a pair of Goretex shell pants. A neck gaiter and hat, wool glove liners and minimal underwear and socks.

This cube will be swapped with one of equal size of Mark's. This ensures if one of our checked bags doesn't make it, we have a little of each others clothes in our bags to make do with. 

The smallest cube contains underwear, bikini and socks. Also another wool neck gaiter, balaclava and glove liners.

Taking up space elsewhere in my pack I have a toiletry kit - with hair ties, sunscreen, a tiny sewing kit and all the typical things a bathroom kit might contain. 

I have a first aid kit - minimal but should cover cuts and scratches, head colds, digestive issues and emergency antibiotics, along with pain meds, sleep meds and allergy meds.

One inner pack pocket sports some disposable handwarmers and a head lamp. 

The bottom compartment is where I keep the bulky ski pants, fleece, wool zip-up cardigan and warm jacket. Oh... and there might be a pair of down pants in there with the overnight camp-out in mind - but I am considering swapping it for an ultralight down quilt/bag to stuff in the sleeping bag or put in the carryon for use aboard flights.

We are given a puffy jacket and a waterproof shell as well as waterproof boots, when we get aboard the Ocean Endeavour.

I know what you are thinking! What about techy gear?! Camera, computer and the like?

I consider this to be much harder to replace - especially given how long it takes to "get to know your gear" and set it up how you prefer it. ALL of my camera and picture-related gear is to be kept in the waterproof carry-on bag and will never leave my side. 

CARRY-ON BAG - Probably 12-15lb

I'm taking two camera bodies and lenses.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II and its predecessor, Canon EOS 50D as a backup.  Both lenses are telephoto and since I don't want to switch lenses in Antarctic conditions, I'm hoping the range each lens offers will be good enough to capture almost anything.

Memory cards, card reader, hard drive, computer, battery chargers and all the lens cleaning bits and bobs will be in the bag too. I'm taking a basic, way light and very short tripod. And a remote shutter cable. Not sure if I'll be using these things but I feel there is room and why not?!

Also not worth losing is my giant kit of anti-nausea solutions. If you've heard of it, I probably have it. There is an extended version of what this includes, in the last post: Antarctica in T-100  Scopalamine patches are the only things I'd consider off-limits for myself. A wee bit of blindness is a wee bit too much when it comes to my photographic asperations.

I'm planning on putting spare sunglasses in here too. Good for Panama City and a good backup plan for the inevitable loss or breakage that my other sunglasses are statistically likely to succumb to.

Last but not least, a handful of clothes that I'll wear to-ing and fro-ing from Ushuaia. This includes 48 warm hours in Panama City and a jacket/warm layer for Denver and Ushuaia weather as well as overly air conditioned airplane temperatures. (I'll take one of the ones mentioned above, from the back pack.)

PERSONAL ITEM/TINY BACKPACK 

Final bag - the tiny daypack that attaches to the big back pack when required. This will serve as a personal item under the seat in front of me or a day pack for Panama City outings. While traveling it will contain the passport/vax cert/wallet essentials as well as printed flight, hotel and cruise info, lip balm, headset, eye mask,  journal and pen, phone and charger.  For sure Mark and I will sneak a pack of cards into this or his personal carry on bag. My trusty neck pillow will be bobbing around on the outside. What?! It's a long journey and sleep is important!

Between now and departure I'm betting a few things will change, but not anticipating too much to be honest. 

NOTE: If you are looking for discounted/end of season merino wool, fleece, shells, hats and gloves, I have a list of sites that I recommend:

MountainSteals.com

SteepAndCheap.com

Sierra.com

BackCountry.com

Amazon.com - Every now and then random colors and sizes have really good deals. They don't last long and won't come back!

My preferences for brands that I trust are: Icebreaker, Smartwool, Odlo, Ortovox, North Face and Mountain Hardware. I try to support brands that have high standards when it comes to animal welfare and sourcing of materials. Im not packing DOWN to go to Antartica because unlike wool, it won't keep you warm if it gets wet.

Antarctica in T-100

 CLASS A. BUCKET. LIST. ITEM.

Forever, this has been on my list. Antarctica. 

A land owned by no-one and in theory honored by everyone, home to the penguins and ridiculously large icebergs. A place where whales hang out and people really don't.

So here's the plan: 

We depart Denver on December 17th for Panama. Chilling for a couple of days, taking in the rainforest, some monkeys and warm weather before heading south... way south. Ushuaia via Buenos Aires. 

Ushuaia is the southern tip of Argentina, located on the isle of Tiera del Fuego. A jumping off point for the Beagle Channel, then Drakes Passage and on to the Antarctic Peninsula and the continent itself. We'll be taking the Ocean Endeavour. 

"We" being Team Antarctica! Mark and I, Kelli and Todd, Gail and Teresa. A fab group of travel friends with a lust for adventure and courage to jump with both feet, completely out of our comfort zones. Driven to go places that few dare to dream of and make memories that last a lifetime.

This expedition cruise will last 14 days and dip down south of the Arctic Circle. We'll celebrate Christmas and New Years Eve while onboard too.  2022 has been challenging and we plan to offset all the weird and unsatisfactory bits with a kick-ass vacation and ring in a new year with joy, hope, adventure, laughter and thousands of pictures!

Speaking of pictures, this voyage has "add-ons" and one of them is the option to join a photography group while aboard. I did! And while I'm likely to be the least experienced and talented, most clumsy and awkward photographer in the group, I'm 100% looking forward to the classes, tips and tricks that will be showered on us in an effort to elevate opportunity and skill. And maybe bring about some half way decent penguin shots!

What other options do they offer?

Gail is enrolled in sea kayaking! It comes as no surprise that the option that would scare me the most is the one that literally floats Gail's boat!!! But I REALLY hope my photography group motors past her flotilla and I get pics of this amazing human paddling her way around icebergs.

Mark and I joined a waitlist for the "overnight camp" option and found out recently that we made it to the top of the list. Woohoo! We'll be spending a night on the continent itself, tucked up in bivvy bags on the ice. Sleeping? Maybe... but probably not. I'm already too excited to sleep and this is still three and a half months away!

The Ocean Endeavor is a thick-hulled ship designed to take less than 200 passengers at a time, into the polar regions. As sturdy and rugged as she is, she is also beautiful and well appointed. 

For those of you not aware, Drake's Passage is the roughest water in the world. A six foot swell is plenty enough to make me upchuck all day long and that is considered calm here. They call that the Drake Lake. The other end of the spectrum is Drake Shake - 20-30' swells that toss the boat around for 48 hours or more as it navigates from the Beagle Channel to the Antartic Peninsula. It's a means to an end and besides, I'm coming prepared. 

There is a baggie of doctor-approved meds in my packed carry-on. (Yes, I'm packed already. Get over it!)

Inside said baggie there are pills, patches, wristbands and even suppositories. I'll do everything I can to keep down all that high-end food eaten in a classy dining room while watching the horizon fly up and down in the window.  The goal is to stay clear-headed and clear-eyed... but if push comes to shove, I'll take the "may cause drowsiness" stuff too and ride it out in my bunk. And when the ride is over and calmer waters and stomachs prevail, I'll be recovering in the hot tub on top deck, perhaps indulging in a massage or spa treatment, sipping something sweet, viewing wildlife and icebergs, replenishing calories and loving every minute of travel with my friends. 

Anyway, that is the plan... a plan that we are counting down to. 100 days to go!

* Life and it's unexpectedness has recently come between Teresa and her place with us voyaging to Antarctica. I know the right thing for her is to delay adventuring until 2023 and I fully support her too but I'm still devastated by her "missing-ness" and therefore will be taking her along in spirit the whole way. So when you hear me referring to Team Antarctica, Teresa is included, we are a team of 6 still. If you see me photo-editing her into some pics... just let me be. It's how I'm dealing with my grief.

CocoCay - the Bahamas

 A cruise is what I would call a cross between Disneyland and Las Vegas and an all-inclusive resort. Super contrived, immaculate, entertaining, a place to lose time and well designed to facilitate a complete disconnect from real life. 

On the surface you book a resort type vacation with stops in other lands. Ours promised Haiti and the Bahamas. Scratch the surface and it takes just 2 seconds to realize you never really leave America. Each stop is Royal Caribbean's version of a new port. Passport control is not necessary as RC owns or rents the port of call and you'd be kidding yourself if you thought you could stray 2 steps from the intended location of the day. Every staff member from the excursion staff to catering and cleaning are paid by Royal Caribbean of course. Locals? Definitely none to be seen on Coco Cay!

We disembarked at Coco Cay on the last full day of the cruise. A small rocky island in the Bahamas completely owned by RC - of course. I think they may even have brought the sand here when it was created!

The island is made up of two parts... the chillin' side and the thrillin' side. Beachy and relaxing with loungers, markets, dining and snorkel stuff for rent or a water park with balloon ride, ziplining and more food. 

My plan for today was "Swimming with the Pigs" - a shore excursion I had booked way ahead of time using the RC app now on my phone. Quirky right? I always go for the option least likely to be found anywhere else and once I saw wee piggies chasing bits of apple in the ocean on YouTube I knew I'd be there too!

The boat sped away from Coco Cay with about 15 or 20 of us - headed to Treasure Island - another little rocky outcropping in the Bahamas and home of the swimming pigs. We spent the next hour frolicking in the warm water, holding pigs and posing for pics. It was all I thought it would be. Nothing more and nothing less. I was happy - even as I was sun burning!

At the end of the day, when the passengers depart back to the ship, they are followed by bags of trash, left over food, equipment and staff. The island is closed for business until the next Royal Caribbean ship docks.

As for us... it's time to shower, enjoy the last afternoon aboard the Mariner and capture a little of what the girls have been working on all week! I'm impressed. Athleticism and grace... both of which are extremely challenging to harness on the Flowrider!!!

Time for one more show? Yep!

Night-night for this lady. I was tired, a tad pink and happy. My belly was full of great food and maybe a glass of wine too. The ship was already headed for Florida and we were packed and prepared for the early-ish disembarking procedure.

Royal Caribbean is All Knowing and All Seeing!

 I have no idea what time B came to the room last night. I fell asleep around midnight and the first inkling that I wasn't alone was 3:30am when one of the girls was talking to B at normal volume about her toenail at the foot of my bed. 

I think that was the start of RC unraveling what has been going on, which was (in diplomatic terms) a situational grey area. 

We were called into the Head of Security's office around noon. Turns out the girls had coerced alcoholic drinks out of new friends last night. Upon returning to their room, discovered one had a bleeding and damaged toe and went in search of nail cutter - finding herself lost and disorientated in crew quarters and in violation of a handful of ship rules. Security escorted her "home" to her state room where upon they found her friend dazed, confused and intoxicated in the hallway outside it too. 

"The Mothers" were called to the equivalent of the Principle's Office for a chat - it was immediately assumed I was the mother of one of them. Don't worry, I quickly cleared that up!

This is the part where we figure out darn fast how monitored we are. I was asked if I knew where the girls got alcohol last night. I said no and that my card was not authorized with "all you can drink" privileges because honestly, all I can drink is 1 glass of wine per day.  The Chief of Security (wearing a bodycam) said "I can see that" as he glanced at my file on his computer!

So yeah, every purchase is in your file. All the jewelry, drinks, excursions... on record. And connected via our Sea Pass/room card, which is attached to a credit card and brings up your picture when it's swiped. Safe to assume there are video cameras operating on every inch of the ship too.

At this time, everyone knew B's card was loaded with "all you can drink" privileges and it was her daughter who was in trouble.  They released me and called in the daughter.

I guess warnings were given and after a brief hold, privileges were also restored to B's card. But ok, it did get a bit weirder; Today B's daughter returned her Sea Pass to her and confirmed she had borrowed it at 3:30am after once again locking herself out last night. B had no recollection of that visit AND had no idea she she now had TWO Sea Passes with her name on it. We had one deactivated and handed in at Customer Service then carried on with the day. Did anyone feel the need to alert security and risk being invited in for another sit down behind closed doors? (I think it goes without saying the only person who could get another - replacement - card with B's name on it was B. They would never have issued a card with drinking privileges on it, to the 19 year olds and I certainly didnt go asking for it! Plus now we have a record of memory issues last night too.)

Onward!

Highlights of my day? The ice-skating show = funny, colorful, upbeat, fast-moving. Really talented performers in the most creative costumes I've ever seen.

Then before dinner we hit the comedy show. Fabulous. Hilarious. 30 minutes well spent. 

Today I wore white jeans and a purple silk blouse. Dinner was less formal. I had an early night - with a belly full of mushroom risotto and crème brulee. 

Side Note: I put on a Scopalamine patch Tuesday in preparation for my Haiti Labadee Bay boat ride. It did the trick. After 36 hours of wearing it, I could honestly say I felt fine - no motion sickness. However, it appears to have a side effect and my near vision was very blurry.  I couldn't focus at all within 2' of my face. I couldn't even read the journal I had just written, not to mention menu's, emails, brochures - Nada! I took the patch off at 7pm Thursday and concluded Saturday that 36 hours of patch wearing = 36 hours to recover vision.  

One thing I had wanted to get out of this trip was answers to my questions and experiments related to motion sickness remedies. As we stand today: 

1. Stemetil Pills - Need to be able to take before feeling nauseous or they will come right back up.

2. Scopalamine Patches - works great and such but comes with major vision issues that are incompatible with photography so I'd need to factor in the half life or time to recover if using this. 

3. ReliefBand - Yay! No issues except that it needs charging and that "gap" would also need covering. Plus in rougher conditions I'm pretty sure I'd need to partner it with meds to be sure.