Journal Entry

Delays

Welcome from the Amsterdam International Airport! Due to some lengthy flight delays leaving the Buffalo International Airport I missed meeting up with my researcher, Mike Loranty, on my connection flight in JFK by just a few minutes, but the good people at Delta Airlines put me on a later flight with the hope that I would meet up with Mike again in Amsterdam. Turns out that I missed that connection as well. I'll be spending the day in the airport, but will be arriving in Berlin later today. I'll take advantage of the 7 hours I have in the airport here in Amsterdam and the free WiFi access to map out a tram, train, bus route from Berlin to Potsdam, Germany where we will be attending the International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) before heading to Russia.

Amsterdam AirportBe flexible and make the best use of your time when delayed

PolarTREC Webinar

During my delay in Buffalo I was able to catch one of our PolarTREC teachers live webinar from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland! What a cool experience, Anne Schoeffler hosted a live presentation on what she has been studying so far in her field research. She is studying the influence of climate change on plant-pollinator interactions and plant reproduction. The webinar allows anyone to log in and ask questions and we will be doing the same from Siberia. So stay tuned for updates on when our Polar Connect webinar will take place. In the meantime if you are interested in learning more about what Anne is studying in Greenland check out her blog here.

Comments

Fri, 06/17/2016 - 08:06

Dan

On one business trip I spent eight hours in the Philadelphia airport after just missing my (first class seat) flight to San Francisco. Fortunately I spent it in the US Air Club....so it wasn't really a pain, more like a dull throb. Free beer and cheese makes everything better! In any event its great people watching in airports! Safe travels, Stan! Im hoping the rest of the trip goes smooth! Im looking forward to following you on the rest of this great adventure!

Sat, 06/18/2016 - 02:08

Stanley Skotnicki

Joe, Ronnie, Zeb - I'm trying out this method to reply to a comment on one of my recent journals. Is this all you would need? I have a weak signal for viewing and accessing the actual PolarTREC site. 

Part of Travel

Yes Dan I have to agree that the airport is always an entertaining place to people watch. Delays as we all know are a consistent part of traveling, it's what you do to make the best of the situation. In this case I was very impressed with Amsterdam airports sustainable and renewable energy methods. My favorite was the use of making green spaces on the roof tops of certain terminals that are open to the public as additional lounge areas. They also had multiple revolving doors that encourage you to take an extra couple rounds as it converts energy. This made me think of every kid who loves to make themselves dizzy as they zip around those doors. Thanks for following.

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Sat, 06/18/2016 - 05:23

Stanley Skotnicki

Yes Dan I have to agree that the airport is always an entertaining place to people watch. Delays as we all know are a consistent part of traveling, it's what you do to make the best of the situation. In this case I was very impressed with Amsterdam airports sustainable and renewable energy methods. My favorite was the use of making green spaces on the roof tops of certain terminals that are open to the public as additional lounge areas. They also had multiple revolving doors that encourage you to take an extra couple rounds as it converts energy. This made me think of every kid who loves to make themselves dizzy as they zip around those doors. Thanks for following.

Mon, 06/20/2016 - 08:41

Bill

Homeroom did great this AM. AM announcements went off without any glitches, tried to facetime at 0900 before kids went to lote finals. thought you might still be in europe 1500 their time. Will try later with the 18 hour differential. Stay safe, homeroom says good luck.

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 05:39

Stanley Skotnicki

Thanks Bill - I didn't see any notification on my phone that you tried to FaceTime. I'll make sure I have my phone on these next couple days in Germany and hope that I can catch you. We have a pretty good WiFi connection here so it should work okay. Anyway, hello to my homeroom. I will miss that group of students for sure.

Sat, 06/18/2016 - 06:46

Janet Warburton

Hi Stan.
Sorry to hear about the delay but you are right no flexibility as the key! I think this will be the start of many lessons for you as you head East to Russia!

As for your replying to comments in the journals, they should be going to your PolarTREC email address. You can reply directly to the comments through email and never even have to go online to the website! If you have questions, we can send you more information via email.

Safe travels and I hope you are in Germany now :)

Janet