This is a belated start to posting from our 2014 campaign…

I left the US on 11/1, the day after Halloween.  My itinerary took me to Dallas, then Los Angeles, then Sydney (Australia), and finally to Christchurch, New Zealand.  Here’s my giant (double decker!) plane for the 15 hour flight from LA to Sydney…

… and here we are dropping into the well-manicured city of Christchurch, NZ, about 33 hours after leaving Cleveland…  Note the proliferation of hedges!

The next day, we got our “Extreme Cold Weather Gear” at the US Antarctic Program’s “Clothing Distribution Center”.

Here are a few of us trying on all the gear, which comes in two orange bags per person…

Here’s my kit, before I changed out the boots and pants for a slightly different type.  The “Big Red” parka, a “Little Red” (uninsulated) wind jacket (not shown), some insulated pants, and super-warm boots… plus a bunch of warm long underwear (tops and bottoms), a fleece jacket, warm socks, and various gloves, hats and a neck warmer.  Enough to stay warm, even down there (we hope!).

Next up… our flight to Antarctica, which was one day later… but that’s another post!