I have been thinking a lot about the concept of play lately. This reminded me of a quote my bartending instructor left me with:
“Everything that we are is revealed by how we play.”
This quote has become more true for me as I have grown older. I used to play by closing my eyes and imagining a new and bizarre world. I now play by actually traveling to and experiencing a new and bizarre world. It is this kind of play that I now use to understand myself.
Tomorrow I will leave the United States and head to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina. The journey will consist of five legs of flights and almost 7,000 miles (11,265 km).
That will be the easy part. :-)
Once I get to Ushuaia, I will need to use my very limited Spanish speaking skills to weasel myself onto a boat (most likely a research vessel). If that happens, I will then take the three day voyage through the Drake Passage, the roughest waterway in the world, and head south.
If I manage to make all of that happen, I will land on Antarctica, the last continent on my list, sometime around New Years day.
Or at least that is the “plan”. This will likely end up being the hardest life list item thus far.
Regardless of whether I make it to the frozen south, I am certain I am in for an adventure! I’ll post updates via my facebook. Wish me luck!
Cheers all and enjoy the holidays!
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P.S. I want to preempt a few comments. Yes, I know I could just take a cruise ship to Antarctica. The problem is they don’t always let you off the ship. If I don’t touch the continent, I don’t count it as checking off the list item.
I am also aware that you can pay ~$10,000 and have someone with a private boat take you on the adventure. This is outside of my budget and even if it wasn’t, I feel like it would take a lot of the fun out of it.
P.P.S. Photo is from a trip I took to Alaska. I don’t think they have trees in Antarctica :-p Hopefully, I will find out.
P.P.P.S If you haven’t seen my TEDx Talk, check it out!
