travel « blog.eliduke.com

October 11, 2008

Pit Stop in Christchurch

It’s so surreal to be back here; it almost feels like home: the airport, the YMCA, Dux de Lux, Whittaker’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Slab, Lisa’s Hummus, Cathedral Square, the Botanic Gardens… I could go on forever. I’ve only been here for about 6 hours and already I feel like I never left. How does that happen? How does my mind and body remember something so vividly? I have a feeling that this sensation won’t be going away any time soon.

We arrived around 11am this morning and we’ve got the rest of the day to relax and let some of the stress out. I unpacked a bit at the YMCA, took a shower, and then got sushi with 2 deployment buddies. From there we stopped by New World to get a few groceries and I ran into Evan (you know, from before), and he and I walked back to the Botanic Gardens and had a picnic by the river (hummus, avocado, and tomato sandwiches; apples; tangelos).

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll all shuttle back to the CDC (clothing distribution center) to be outfitted with our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear. The rest of that day is ours as we see fit (maybe we’ll hit up Sumner Beach), and then, if all goes as planned, we’ll be shipped off to the ice the following morning (the 13th).

It’s a short stay here in CHC, I’m gonna do everything I can to appreciate the stars while I still have them.

1 comment

October 4, 2008

Antarctica: Part Deux

I have very vivid memories of last year’s journey to Antarctica (the actual travel from Seattle to McMurdo), and a big part of that was seeing veteran ice-folk reuniting with old friends. It seemed so strange and foreign to me because I was on my way down for the first time and everything about the experience was new. Imagine living in a world where some of your closest friends live in Antarctica.

Well, here I am, a year later and hours away from reliving that experience from the other side of the coin. This year I’ll be one of the veterans, I’ll be the one telling the fingies [newbies], “Yeah, I was a DA last year,” and they’ll be the ones thinking, “Man, what was it like last year? What would it be like to come back for a 2nd season?”

It will be surreal for a few days, just like it was last year, but within a matter of weeks I’ll have settled into a routine and things will seem totally normal: just another summer in Antarctica.

5 comments

February 21, 2008

out of the office reply

it’s been 3 days since we got off the ice. shane got here last night, and we’re finally getting our shit together and getting the hell out of dodge (christchurch). our plan for the next 6 days involves hitching, hiking, camping, beaching, and whatever else comes our way. we’ll be working our way down the eastern coast of the south island from christchurch to dunedin, with our final destination back up in wanaka (26 march – 3 march).

after that we’ll drop shane off at the airport, and then meredith and i will check out the north end of south island for another 2 weeks before heading to australia for 1 week. after sydney and the surrounding area, we’ll fly back to seattle for 2 days (23 march – 25 march) before leaving again for a month in thailand (26 march – 25 april). after that, i’ll be back in seattle for another week before heading to denver to record with the legendary beep beeps for a month. from there i’ll hitch home to indiana for about 2 weeks and then hitch back to seattle by the 1st of july.

needless to say, i’ll be pretty damn busy for the next 3 months, and i won’t be blogging or flickring very much (or at all). so, the best way to know what i’m doing RIGHT NOW is with twitter. check it out!

twitter.com/elisfanclub

~~or, you can give me a call on my new cell phone. incoming txt and calls are completely free for me, so txt me or ring me up anytime and i’d be happy to chat.~~

~~64 21 134 3039~~

~~66 86 013 4188~~

the first 2 numbers are the NZ or Thai country code, the next 2 are my area code, and the following 7 are my local number. i’m not an expert on making international calls, so your guess is as good as mine as far what you need to do on your end.

I’M BACK IN THE STATES!! so now i have a new “local” US number (bookis’ old number from utah), so feel free to call or text all you like. i’m still getting the hang of the “slide”, so if i hang up on you just call back.

801 953 7114

5 comments

blog.eliduke.com

Category: travel