Day 01
Thursday, February 12
Posted from SOI World HQ
The journey begins! 
Today, after months of planning and anticipation, excited expedition participants from all around the world start their journey south to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today, a large group of expeditioners will converge in Toronto while others are traveling in all directions to Buenos Aires.
Our expedition team will be arriving to the Argentine capital in various stages before continuing south to Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego – the southernmost city in the world! After spending a couple days in Ushuaia, the team will board our expedition vessel on February 16th and set sail!
As groups of our team gather at airports around the world, people have begun to share their stories and passions about what has drawn them to Antarctica. We look forward to co-creating an experience that may change us forever!
Expedition students and educators are a truly international group. Participants are coming from Canada, Japan, the USA, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, Bhutan, UK, Australia, Sweden, Argentina, and Germany.
Two of our expeditioners are from the northernmost civilian community in North America – Grise Fiord, Nunavut! Terry Noah and Jason Pijamini were in Ottawa for a couple days and had the opportunity to meet with Nunavut’s Member of Parliament and newly appointed Minister of Health, the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq. Terry and Jason presented Minister Aglukkaq with a Students on Ice jacket and were given a tour of Parliament Hill and attended Question Period. Minister Aglukkaq wished them a great trip and will meet with the boys upon their return.
For our students, this journey began months or even years ago. The stories of how everyone has come to be a part of this expedition are as diverse as they are fascinating and inspiring. Some students have been doing endless fundraising. Some have won contests. Some have been selected and sponsored to participate through various international programs. It is great to finally put faces to names after so many months of preparation. It is fascinating to see how dreams can and do come to fruition.
Students Terry Noah and Jason Pijamini with the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health
Terry and Jason speak with Minister Aglukkaq in her office on Parliament Hill
We invite families to contact the Students on Ice office with any questions they may have regarding flight schedules and itineraries.
So here we go . . . So much lies ahead! Adventure and discovery await! We look forward to sharing our journey south with each of you.
Mid-Afternoon Update
Before departing for Buenos Aires, Geoff and the team at the Toronto Airport were interviewed by CBC The National reporter Ioanna Roumeliotis. Students had the opportunity to share their stories and excitement for the journey ahead!
Geoff speaks with CBC The National reporter Ioanna Roumeliotis in the Toronto Airport
CBC The National reporter Ioanna Roumeliotis speaks with students
Students and staff wait in the Toronto Airport
Students and Staff talk while waiting in the LAN Airlines check-in line
Students
Terry Noah and Jason Pijamini fill out forms in the Toronto Airport
Students wait in the LAN Airlines check-in line
Students on Ice would like to send out a special thank you to LAN Airlines for their excellent service provided to our team! Students and staff at the Toronto Airport were presented with T-shirts and other gifts by LAN staff.
Thank you LAN Airlines!
Journal Entry by Jodie King, Student Participant
So here I sit, at the airport in Toronto. No one is at the LAN desk yet, and no one from Students on Ice around so far. You have to pay for the internet, so that’s a no-go since I’m broke and don’t care that much. Drove here this morning from North Bay since the whole flying thing didn’t really work out as planned!
I’m excited to get going because I don’t really think the whole scope of what I’m about to do has sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will as soon as I start to see others and get on the plane. I hope I packed all the right stuff. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about being cold. It’s weird going to such a strange new place; hard to anticipate what it will be like, so just pack what they tell you and trust it’s all the right stuff. I do wish Eric could have been here with me, but at the same time, it’s a thrill to not know anyone and sort of start all brand new.
Well, I guess I’ll conserve some battery for now. Not sure when I will actually get a plug, and when I might need the computer. Hopefully others get here soon so I’m not too bored by myself.
Alright, made it to the gate! Only after several hours of standing at the check-in booth right inside the front doors of the airport. There was some issues with me and couple others reservations, so it took us a lot longer than everyone else to get through. No problems at the customs or anything though, phew! We met Geoff and the other Students on Ice staff, they are great! I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better over the next few weeks. Chelsea was one of the first people here, so that was cool!
Now we are just chilling at the gate, probably boarding in about an hour. We stop in New York briefly to switch planes, then to Santiago, Buenos Aires and Ushuaia. I’m excited to see Buenos Aries tomorrow, which will be an experience. Plus it’s like 30 degrees there!! Weird!
We have arrived in New York! It was a very hot, slightly bumpy but we made it. A few screaming children and a mediocre muffin made it so much fun! We have a few hours to wait before heading down to Santiago, Chile. Hopefully the meal is good and then I’ll take a big batch of gravol and drift off until we arrive.
Jodie King
Journal Entry by Jason Copeland, Humber College Lakeshore Campus
Toronto
1st Day of Awakening
It is 5am, there is a knock at my door. Reluctantly I peel myself out of bed and search the floor for my pants. Tired and weak from a night of retching (The hotel food was suspect) in the bathroom, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I broke the seal of darkness around me. The light crept in from the hallway, an ever-widening highway with a single man at the end. So marked the beginning of this journey.
The man’s name was Alex, he was one of the two camera men I would be working with on this journey. I wished I had slept, wished the phone had stopped ringing and wished that I had chosen the soup for lunch at the restaurant the previous day. Later I would appreciate it.
The day was hard and long but passed quickly in its monotony. 6am and six hours later the bags were tagged and loaded. Geoff had arrived and given his introductory speech (an excellent speaker one might add, always has been.) and the 45 of us gathered amidst a sea of cameras set off to board our vessel.
My first seven plane flights awaited.
The first landing was rough I’m told but with no previous experience to compare it to I remained blissfully unaware of any dangers that may have been present.
It was dark outside when we came and dark outside when we left. The hour or so at JFK was spent socializing, it’s no use not knowing people in this world. If you are going to influence them you need to be able to connect with them, and that’s exactly what I did.
Connecting flight Santiago de Chile.
Now Boarding.
We rose above New York, the city blazed an angry red in the blackness beneath us. A great pulsing scar across a flattened landscape, an expanding wound infected with society. It was this I sought to escape. It is all too easy to hide the world from your eyes when you surround yourself in concrete walls. Only those who seek to soar to new heights ever really notice the extent of our influence on the world. I had thought I’d known before but at this moment I knew then I had been a fool.
It was a long flight. Hours? Maybe twelve. My muscles began to seize and harden within the confines of my seat. They pressed against my bones, the creaking inside me reminiscent of old stories of men and ships trapped in ice. Ice that would strain and swallow them pressing their crews into history and greatness. My body stood now upon this same precipice, I dared not move for fear of losing my chance to follow these legends and one day succeed them.
The plane slept but I could not. Too eager was I to live in this moment of greatness. My life was behind me, the shell of my cocoon lay broken, no longer hiding this world from me, and this plane, the wings that carried me away from it all.
Back to top >>
Go to tomorrow's post
