I got my gear yesterday and the order to catch the 5:45AM shuttle in order to be on the 8AM plane. I got everything packed and was in bed by 10PM, but my brain woke me up every hour or so to check that I hadn't overslept. I hate my brain sometimes!
At 3:30AM, my cell phone (which I was using as my alarm clock) started beeping to let me know the battery was almost dead. By the time I dug the charger out of my suitcase and plugged it in, I was WIDE AWAKE! Fortunately, that gave me plenty of time to get ready and I was out of the hotel 10 minutes before the shuttle bus was due. As you'd expect, the shuttle bus was late.
I got to the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center), put on my gear and rushed over to the waiting area, where I sat for a while. They showed us a couple of videos (procedures to follow on the military plane and basic rules for Antarctica), then after another 10 minute wait, we grabbed our gear and got onto the bus! The bus slowly made its way through a couple of gates to the airfield, drove up to our plane, slowly turned around ... and then returned us to the waiting area. The weather was too bad for the 8AM flight. They're waiting until 10AM, at which point we'll either take off or be stuck in Christchurch for another day.
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