My Antarctic Expedition – My attempt to save our planet (Part 1)

This is a part of my ?Antarctica Calling? series, a story capturing my journey to Antarctica as a part of 2041, in the toughest leadership course on the planet as I learnt how can we save the only planet we have.

Note: All images are personally clicked by me. For permission to share these images on your blog or posts, kindly comment below.

PRE EXPEDITION: REACHING USHUAIA

Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world. It is impossible to be any further south on this planet. As the thought of me reaching this city in the next few hours superseded everything else in my head, I glanced around. I stood at the domestic airport of Buenos Aires feeling at a loss. The vacant facility hosted only a handful of people in the wee hours of the morning. I handed my passport and ticket trying to make the officer understand my destination through sign language. I handed him my bags, all the time fearful he might not divert me to a wrong destination. He finally stamped my boarding pass with the right city and signaled me towards the departure site.

As I moved towards the plane, I felt unusual. Having traveled half the world in the last 2 days, I had been through several airports, this was unique in it?s a primitive fashion that reeked of being averse to comfort. The tube connecting the airport and the plane to Ushuaia had a strange feel to it. I felt like I was being pushed through a giant syringe flooding human beings into the small aircraft. The flight had a compact setting comparable to our DTC buses if only they had plush interiors and recliner seats. I clasped my seatbelt knowing these were the kind of aircraft they were actually designed for. Having been awake for over 20 hours, I dozed off trying to rest before the adventure started.

I was jolted awake from my slumber, as the seatbelt held me in position the DSLR and notebook in my lap jumped up till they almost touched the planes ceiling and landed into my hands. The plane behaved like a roller coaster weaving through the air like a needle sewing an old sweater. I hung on to my belongings convinced the pilot was having fun at my expense when I opened the window shutter to look at what was forcing the plane to initiate such aerial maneuvers.

That was when I first saw it, Ushuaia, the southernmost city of the world. I was finally at the edge of the world and was feeling as I had expected. I took a deep breath taking the opportunity to click the sight thanking whosoever had the sense to invent the seatbelt. The city looked like something out of a medieval painting. The sort of scenery we would expect to hang in the reception of a multibillion dollar company. The mountains were covered in glaciers that reflected sunlight off the ice looking as if someone had painstakingly worked to ensure it was beautiful to the last detail. Blue waves gently nudged the shore as the sun created a narrow trail of light onto the ocean.

A sharp descent started with the pilot announcing in his force English that we were about to land. I locked myself in position aware of the extremely small airstrip and the military style landing about to take place. Hardly had I prepared myself that I heard a loud sound accompanied by what can only be described as the seat kicking me in my rear. I had tightened the seatbelt as a preventive measure in this offbeat landing site and took deep breaths to counteract its effects.

As the plane taxied into place, I felt a sense of excitement and hurry. I had traveled 18511 Km through seven airports for this moment, I had to exit this aircraft and depart the airport. I had to get my baggage and go out in the city. I had been preparing for this for the past 2 months and could not wait to meet the man and the team who made this possible. It was the beginning of something great, something life changing, hopefully in a good way.

#ShreyakMahajan #TetraPakYouthAmbassador #LEADearthSHIP