Executive Travel, K. K., Inc.

It was November, springtime Down-under! The parks sported blooming jacaranda trees crowned with glorious blue, lacy-looking blossoms. A bronze plaque at the park entrance urged visitors to "Please walk on the grass," for this was a park to be enjoyed totally, not just viewed from designated sidewalks. I strolled past the Opera House and through Circular Quay, soaking up the joy of this wonderful city called Sydney.

At 3:30am the following day, I stood in front of The Regent Sydney, shivering, as I tried to flag a taxi to the airport for my 6:00am departure to Antarctica. Always in search of a new tourist destination, I felt that this would surely be the most exotic one yet! I'd booked the flight in June, and had been anxiously awaiting this day for the past four months.

The fare for the flight was dependent upon the seat location. Assuming this was a once in a lifetime experience, I had taken out the gold card and charged a business class seat that guaranteed a window half the trip and the aisle for the other. Promotional information and a folder presented the facts and one had to "read in" any exciting features and sense of adventure.

Our 747-400 flight originated in Sydney, with a stop in Melbourne to board the rest of the passengers. The flight is billed as "The world's longest domestic flight" because we do not actually land on Antarctica; we are airborne for about 11 1/2 hours from the time the flight departs Melbourne, until it lands again back in Melbourne. Three hours out of Melbourne a special safety video was shown. In case of an emergency landing, Polar Suits would be distributed -- you were to put on all clothing you have with you, then don the life jacket, wrap a blanket around yourself, and then put on the Polar Suit. I may have gotten this a bit out of order -- it was not the usual safety video! I got a bit confused.

Any doubts one might have had were soon dissipated. The weekly Antarctic Qantas charter flight was fully booked, with 350 guests plus innumerable staff and seven Antarctic specialists. There were not just "experts" on the subject of Antarctica, but all had spent at least one winter on the continent. Sid Kirkby, for example, wintered 1955, 1957, 1959 through 61 and did Antarctic coastal exploration in the 60's. Now that was what "expert" meant. Don and Maggie McKintire, who built and then spent a year "together alone" in the Gadget Hut, were aboard to give us comments on their personal stay. They videoed the year and edited it to an hour-long documentary which was shown as a part of our inflight entertainment between our leaving the Antarctic shores and arrival some three hours later in Melbourne. Maggie had warned us that she cried a lot on the video, and that was certainly true. We could understand why as she related the world of loneliness and the extreme difficulties such as trying to melt ice for desperately needed water in the mid-winter.