Today I was a lot more prepared, it was like yesterday was a dry run. I woke up around 4 am and I went to the lobby to see if we had any updates on our flight information. My new friend Mike, he is a plumber at McMurdo, was already down in the lobby ready to go, though our shuttle would not be there for another 1.5 hours.
I returned to my room, took a nice long hot shower, water is very limited on McMurdo and it is important to conserve water, called my parents, boyfriend and texted my brother a Happy Anniversary! I snacked on some “freshies” that I bought the night before, including a kiwi. I felt the need to eat a Kiwi in the land of Kiwis (nickname for New Zealanders). I finished packing my bags and headed down to the lobby.
Shuttles were based on our last name, I was in the van for S-Z. I loaded all my stuff and finished getting settled. We went to the United States Antarctic Program building, where all our Extreme Cold Weather gear was stored from two days ago. Our new mission was to organize our bags. We could check as many bags as we wanted, the catch being it had to weigh 85 pounds or less all together. We were also allowed any number of carry-ons, as long as they fit into a specific box’s space, but their weight did not matter. I had to move 3 pounds to my carry on. It was equivalent to a zip-locked bag full of hot cocoa mix. I and my carry-on together weighed 152.5 pounds, subtracting my weight from that it is about 40 pounds between the gear I need to wear on the plane and the items in my carry on.
Bridget Ward Boarding Terminal
We boarded the C-17, it was the biggest plane I have ever seen! Everyone on the Air Force crew was so nice and they even took my picture for me. I definitely have never been on a plane like this, the 44 other passengers and I sat in jump seats along the sides of the plane huge cargo boxes filled the middle and back. I don’t know what was in the container across from me, but it weighed 7900 pounds, I am glad it was heavily chained down.
Bridget Bording C-17 Christchurch
The pilot let us into the cabin to ask questions and take pictures. It was an amazing view, the main body of the plane has very few windows and you would need to climb up to see out of most of them.
Bridget Ward in C-17 Cockpit
The flight was pretty comfortable, it was kind of cold but we have so much gear on it was warm enough. We did hit some turbulence. We were served a bagged lunch, actually, it was way more than a lunch it had to full sandwiches and chips, along with a lot of other snacks. There was a bathroom on the plane. It looked like a normal plane bathroom, except I had to take my gear off in there to go. It was very tight quarters.
We are allowed to get up and walk around whenever we wish. There was a man laying on the floor between two cargo boxes sleeping. There is no entertainment unless you brought your own along with noise-canceling headphones. The plane is very loud, sounds like an air compressor along with the buzz of electronics. We were all advised to put in our earplugs.
About an hour left to go and everyone is looking out the two-door windows. It is so bright even from so high above! Do not look too long or you will see spots, we needed to put on our sunglasses to protect our eyes. If we look west out of the plane it is land, look east and it is sea! The first picture below is of land the second of the sea, can you tell the difference?
View out of the west side of the plane
View out of the East side of the plane
We finally landed! It was a pretty smooth landing. It was really strange though because there are no windows you can never tell when you are about to land. So, I just sat there patiently waiting. We deboarded the plane. It was a beautiful day in McMurdo, the sun was shining and it was so warm 19 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bridget Ward Landed on Ross Ice Shelf
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