Round one!!

round one done!

I decided to fly through the night upto Santiago with the aim of retrieving my bags that had been reported to have been on a truck, in Punta, then back in Santiago, then on a plane ..... Flying up and actually eyeballing my kit was, what I thought was to be my only option and priority. Santiago was the last real location that we knew it had been.

I was prepared to even get my kit at Santiago (last known location) and drive it 2000miles back to Punta myself (that would have taken 36 hours, that is if it was there),  if it was on a truck driving down to Punta .... I would have got in a car and chased it. After all, this is two years training, a lifetime dream since the age of 5 and I have two charities that need me to get to the pole and back. There was no way that I was prepared to sit back and wait to see what happens and with the support of  Cystic fibrosis Trust, Teach Africa, old and new friends on Facebook supporting in every way possible I was not prepared to give up.

I was on the 2am flight, arrived after 5am and after a few bumping around to find the right office and person .... The wonderful and extremely helpful guy in LATAM international was a complete star. Using google translate, his great English and contacts within LATAM.... He was able to guide me up to the boss of all bosses. Like a rollercoaster ride the positives and negatives were plenty but finally I got the thumbs up as they, due to the urgent nature (this is a life dream and huge investment) just wanted me and my kit to be on a plane so that I can start my world record and life dream. Even now, as I write this, thinking of when the boss of all bosses looked me in the eyes and signalled the thumb up sign (he had to do it twice) .... I just broke down into tears... What a moment. I really can't thank all of those involved in this process who have supported through phone calls, tweets, emails, sharing... The support has been overwhelming... But together we did it.

So the kit has now arrived in Punta, and ALE are in the process of picking it up. All I can say, this is wayyyyyy too much drama for me and I hope things now settle and become straight forward. Of course the next hurdle/ game is the Antarctica weather Windows ... Already (luckily for me) the plane has already been delayed 2 days.... Weather permitting. this is because there is only an ice runway in Antarctica and beyond that no runways at all. Therefore a good eye, amazing pilot, blue sky, nil winds and good contrast are needed to land.  Below is a picture of the plane on the blue ice runway. It literally is ice ... And when you walk around on it it is like an ice rink..... A bumpy one...

Looking out: