Well, here I am sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Buenos Aires. It is hard to believe that I am actually leaving today. I am excited--even more excited now that I am actually on my way. This time next week, we should actually be arriving in Antarctica, but there is a lot to look forward to between now and then. Tomorrow, I'll be meeting up with almost all of the rest of the AkzoNobel team. Carlos, our colleague from Buenos Aires, has arranged for some sightseeing while we are in his city. Then, we will travel on to Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina to meet up with the rest of the expedition team. I hope to be able to post some entries from Argentina. If not, keep up with the team blog at www.missionantarctica.com between March 16 and March 27.

Gear

I didn't realize that I had purchased so much BLACK until I laid it all out last night. My doctor called in my prescription for the seasickness patches today, so I am really down to the last couple of items. I still need a back up battery for my camera, some little padlocks for my luggage, handwarmers, etc. In many ways, it is better that I only have 1 more weekend before we leave--I don't need more time to come up with things I may use on the trip. In the picture, you'll see Pix the Penguin and Chilly Willie the Polar Bear. They'll be coming along with me, courtesy of my girls' school classrooms. Pix will be representing my kindergartner's class, and Chilly is coming as an ambassador from my 3rd-grader's class. I have a little journal for each class, and I hope to be able to record my thoughts in a way that 5 to 10 year olds can really understand.

Final Packet

The team has just received its final packet from 2041, the company leading the expedition. The final packet includes the expedition manual, as well as a final checklist, a summary of all the information we previously received and emergency contact information. I have to say the trip is becoming more and more REAL!

I went through the gear list again last night, and I am down to the final purchases--most of which I could probably make do without (other than seasickness medicine--I am not normally prone to seasickness, but I want to be prepared for the dreaded Drake Passage). I think tonight I will try to pack all of my gear into my duffel to make sure that it all fits.

I've also started trying to prepare home for me being gone for 19 nights--I made a sheet for each day with notes for my girls, my sitter and my husband of all of the things that usually just happen when I am at home. I am quite sure that they will all manage just fine while I am gone but the control freak in me is worried about the details.

After I get all my gear organized tonight or tomorrow night, I'll be back with the pictures of the gear that I promised earlier.

Not exactly Antarctica

Well, it wasn't exactly Antarctica but Atlanta, GA got something it rarely gets yesterday--a little snow. We got about an inch and a half of accumulation at our house yesterday--it was wet, heavy snow, but my girls had a blast. Good news: my boots kept my toes warm and dry! A lot of the snow has already melted, and things will be back to normal in a couple of days. We are expecting almost 70 degrees F (20 degrees C) by Friday.

Dutch television

As I've mentioned before, the team gathered in The Netherlands in mid-January to meet each other and to take the first steps on this journey. I was (as I think most of us were) expecting a week of presentations and meetings with slides and facts about AkzoNobel and the program. While we did have a little of that, what a different and exciting week it was. I should have known when the first day shaped up to be a bit of an "Amazing Race" type day--we were hurried out of the headquarters building to a meeting an eco-friendly water cooling district and told to meet back at the train station at a certain hour. When we met back at the train station, we were divided into pairs and given very little information about the afternoon--different meetings for each pair to give each pair a glimpse at how people in Deventer were implementing sustainable measures in their lives. 2 of the groups (mine included) were pulled aside and notified that we would be interviewed by a local Dutch television station at our meetings--and all with only 2 minutes of media guidelines. Well, here we are a month after this visit, and I have finally seen the interview--if only I could understand it, about 90% of the story was in Dutch, but my clips as well as the clips of my teammate Lloyd are in English, and I don't think we did half-bad. The point of all this is that the week in Deventer certainly did a good job of driving home a theme to expect the unexpected. We had a really nice week--getting to know each other, getting to know more about ourselves and getting prepared for this expedition. We all left at the end of the week ready to go--seeing the video brought it all back--I'm ready to go again! 2 weeks from today!!!

The planning continues

Over the weekend, I exchanged my hiking boots (the pair I originally bought were too small, I decided) and started breaking in the new pair (no serious hikes--only shopping in East Cobb). My almost-9 year old was quick to give her thoughts on the boots--"very fashionable" in a somewhat sarcastic voice. I responded that my hope was/is that they will help keep my toes warm and dry in Antarctica. I also picked up my moisturizer (lots of it), sunscreen (SPF 50), lip protection and a Flip (www.theflip.com -- lightweight, supposedly easy to use and not too hard on the wallet). I think I am close to having completed my gear purchases--I'll go through them one more time this week, since we only have 2 weekends left before the departure date!

The Beginning of the Journey

I guess I should go back to the beginning of this journey, which actually started many months ago when one of last year's Leadership on the Edge participants made a presentation to a meeting I was in about his trip to Antarctica. I remember thinking what an incredible opportunity something like this would be, but I never thought I'd be in the position to participate. I was wonderfully surprised when the head of our department here in the US called to ask me if I would mind being nominated and then even more bowled over when he called again a while later to tell me I had been selected--I am so honored! I have to say that it is funny to gauge people's reactions--some are excited for me (and would love to join in on the expedition) and some look at me like this is the craziest thing they have ever heard--how in the world could being selected to go to Antarctica be an honor? I wouldn't exchange it for many things though--I am looking forward to the trip of a lifetime, a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn more about myself, my team, my company and our world.

This weekend, I've got to sort through my gear and make sure I'm not missing anything--more about that (with pictures) to follow.