Day 1 October 11th, 2011

Day 1

The first day of this amazing adventure started with a very early morning trek to Anchorage at 3am. My flight to Denver was at 730am. Thankfully I was an Alaska Airlines MVP, so I was able to upgrade cheaply to first class all the way.

Sadness has been plaguing me for a week. My friend Brittney pointed out that the deep sadness of missing my husband was proof of how much I loved him and that he was still my best friend that I couldn’t live without. Point well made.

 Deep, deep sadness of missing my wonderful husband and my whole family in general. Are we a normal family? A family so close, that a few months apart is gut wrenching? Yet it was the same wonderfully awesome husband who insisted that I could not pass up this adventure. Who was supportive and trusting enough to let me have this experience, to take this journey and not have regrets for not seizing this opportunity. Still- I was sad and homesickness was already setting in.

I took my seat in first class and was pleasantly surprised to be seated next to a Point Thomson friend, Dave the geologist. We made pleasant conversation for a bit before I was sound asleep for the entire flight.

I met the first person I would become friends with in the shuttle van from the airport. When the van pulled up to the curb, a rather ungentlemanly fellow Raytheon, butted in front of me at the stop, loaded his bags and took the front seat of an almost full van. The last seat left was in the 3^rd row. There was no way I was going to get back there with my backpack with no other door to get back there. I took one look at the situation and uttered my usual “Really? This isn’t going to work.” A gal quickly and correctly assessed the situation and promptly offered her door seat to me as she crawled back there. Super cool move. When we got to the hotel, I once again sincerely thanked her and we introduced ourselves. Cassa from Montana was my first Antarctica friend. She is a wanderlust, who loves working jobs that typically women don’t work. She loves to raise eyebrows. I liked her immediately.

The Red Lion hotel in Denver was very nice. Having so many heavy bags, I grabbed a luggage cart from bellhop, loaded it up and took it to my room. I didn’t have the energy or want to take the time to unload it, take it back downstairs, just to reverse the whole process in 2 days. So I left my bags on it and left it to sit in my room. Hey- there were still 3 others I saw in the lobby. I wasn’t feeling guilty.

Room service for dinner was excellent, after which I slept hard. Orientation shuttle was starting early the next morning.

How it All Began....

Jerry and I had been laid off from the Pt Thomson project since October 2010. In June of 2011, Jerry was Googling North Slope company’s websites to see if any of them had any job openings. He looked up NANA and noticed that not only did they have North Slope projects, but also an Antarctica program. He researched it for a bit and shared with me some of his findings.  We discussed it and decided we were going to try for jobs down there. He also came across another company operating logistically in Antarctica called Raytheon. Raytheon is a major player in government defense contract work; but they also had a Polar program in support of our National Science foundation.

So we took to updating our CV/resumes and applied for a few jobs with NANA and a few with Raytheon.  While NANA had housing admin positions available, Raytheon had air travel coordination positions open. After many pages of applications and endless faxing our job prospects were beginning.

A few days after, Raytheon contacted me with interest in phone inter viewing me for a Lead Passenger Services Rep position.  I had a great interview with them and an offer was made. Unfortunately the offer was for the alternate Lead position. Meaning if the current Lead was not able to go down or he had to leave during the season, then I could go down. In disappointment, I asked if there was a non-lead primary position open. Pete (the recruiter) said there was and he gave me the job#. When I looked it up, it was no longer listed on Raytheon’s open job board. Pete said he would get it opened again for me to officially apply for a primary position. When I applied for that, an offer of employment was again extended. I excitedly accepted the position hoping someone was still going to contact Jerry.

Days and weeks passed and no jobs came through for Jerry. It was now time to discuss whether I would be going without him or not. 4 months was a horribly long time to be away from him. Knowing the magnitude of this experience, he insisted I go. This was something he knew I could not pass up. A once in a lifetime opportunity that he did not want to stand in the way or instill any regrets in me if I declined the position. He is a saint of the highest rank. My angel of pure love and understanding.  Through the excitement, sadness was beginning to dwell in my heart.