I am now safely at home and well rested. The trip home was long, but
mostly unevently, with no missed flights or lost baggage. I flew out
of McMurdo on a New Zealand Hercules, a much smaller and slower
aircraft than the C-17 which we all flew in on. It was originally
scheduled to leave at 9am on Thursday morning, but due to delays in
the plane's arrival on Wednesday night, it was rescheduled for 1pm. By
the time lunch hour came around, it was delayed again until 2pm. We
ended up sitting around for 3 hours at the airport, and finally got
off the ground at about 4:30pm. The plane was nearly empty, with only
9 passengers and no cargo. I had been told the flight would be 8
hours, but due to favourable tail winds they were predicting 6 and
half, although it ended up being 7. Customs and gear return went
smoothly, and I was in bed by 1am. My flight out of Christchurch was
at 2pm on Saturday, so I had a couple of hours after hotel check-out
to wander around town. The flights back to LA were smooth, and I
managed to sleep a few hours. Due to the late booking of my flights, I
ended up with a 9 hour layover in LA, and I decided to spend it
visiting museums. I rented a car (I asked for a compact car, and was
given a Mustang — bank error in my favour!), immediately
stumbled upon KCRW,
arguably one of the world's best indie stations, and headed for the Getty Center. It
was fantastic — a photographer's dream — and I really
enjoyed my time there. I had been hoping to visit the Magritte exhibit
a the LA County Museum of Art, but time proved to be a bit short, and
I decided seeing both would be spreading myself too thin. My flight
out of LA was at 8pm, and I was home by midnight. The BLAST team
continues to do well, and it sounds like we may launch as soon as next
week.
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