Adventure Begins at 3am

That's correct my friends.  Yours truly was up before the sun showering and generally preparing for adventure.  Or as much adventure as a day full of airports and trains can provide.

My first two flights, from Chicago to Minneapolis and Minneapolis to Winnipeg, were pretty uneventful (read as, I slept the whole way), but my passage through the customs line in Winnipeg was nerve wracking.  The conversation between the customs official (CO) and me (M) went something like this...

CO: Why are you coming to Canada?

M: Vacation (which is what I was told to say be Earthwatch).

CO: No.

M: Pleasure?

CO: No!

M: Personal Business??

CO: No! Where are you going?

M: Churchill, Manitoba.

CO: Nobody comes here on vacation in the winter.  What exactly will you be doing?

After about another three minutes of interrogation, I was able to convince her that my purposes were neither illegal nor inherently nefarious, and I was able to enter the country.  I just want to help take ice samples and count polar bears.  Maybe she found the Orca on my school sweatshirt intimidating?  Who knows?

My flight on the Canadian airline CalmAir was just that. I landed in Thompson, Manitoba about three hours before the train station opened.  I had a delightfully chatty cabby who dropped me off at the mall, where I ate dinner and bought something to watch on the train, and picked me up later to take me to the train station.  Everyone in Thompson was very polite and helpful. I was obviously not a local.  Pulling three rolling bags through the mall generally signals that you are from out of town. People in the mall would ask me where I was headed and then look generally concerned when I said Churchill.  Apparently, even Canadians think Churchill is a ridiculously cold place to go. This could be a sign.

When traveling, do you ever have those moments of epiphany?  Everything about what you're doing and where you're going comes into crystal clear focus, and you think to yourself...WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!?! When a large beaded Canadian you from a town where a warm day is in the negative teens, says that Churchill is too cold, you know you're in for it.

Panic-attack aside, I wrote this on the train.  We were about a couple hours away from Churchill.  The train was comfy and nearly empty. I met some other Earthwatch fellows and volunteers, and everyone seems very nice (we'll see if that holds up after 10 days in the tundra).  I also made a friend from France, Lody, he truly is going to Churchill on vacation. He's come to see the Northern Lights.