Category: travel

787 lands at Troll

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In other aircraft news, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has become the first 787 and the largest plane ever to land at the Troll Research Station in Antarctica.

This flight came from Cape Town and was carrying supplies and scientific equipment for the Norwegian Polar Institute Base there. And as I write, the aircraft above has just left SA airspace on its way back up to Oslo.

Cape Town is the easiest airport to use for trips to Troll, it being “just” 4350km straight down across the Southern Ocean to the ice runway there, and at this time of year, there are regular flights heading out there from a plethora of different nations. Russia and Iceland being two of the more recent ones I have spotted.

There’s a really good article on FlightRadar24 about how Troll operates here.

And a reminder that you shouldn’t visit Antarctica.
And a further reminder that you can’t afford to anyway.

This place looks nice…

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I live in Cape Town in South Africa. I’ve lived here for almost 20 years. It has it all. I love the food, the culture and the nature.

And I don’t know how much Facebook ads cost, but I feel that this repetitive effort by Dutch airline KLM is a somewhat unnecessary expense on their part.

Book my ticket to Cape Town? On your airline, that’s going to have to be via Amsterdam.

No chance. You might be ok with wasting loads of money, but I’m not.

Idyllic

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Feeling very chilled out in the sticks. Yesterday evening was rough – I was not well – but I’m fighting back after a good night’s sleep and an additional nap this lunchtime.

Bit overcast this morning…

…but the muted yellows of the Klein Karoo scrub and the fresh greens of the local farmland really don’t need the full sun to make them pop.

And the mildly ethereal white horse finishes the view from the wood-fired hot tub nicely there.

Hoping for some clearer skies for a bit of night time ‘togging later, but that’s assuming I can find the energy to put up my tripod*.

* not a euphemism

All going well then

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I might not work in a lab at the moment, but you can never quite get rid of the microbiologist in me.

Not only did I do this test from a specimen that I took from my own good self…

I also predicted the result. Correctly, nogal.

Look, I’m anything but surprised.

Given the information that I am getting from the school after last week’s trip, this is a clear case of Tour Pox. I could use the old English term: “There’s a bit of it going around”, because there is, but that won’t help anyone who has got it.

We’re going away for a long weekend, starting this afternoon, and I’m gutted that I’m not going to able to do all the stuff that I was planning on doing, but while nothing will get rid of this any time soon, a change of scenery, some fresh air and a lot relaxation – and staying away from other people! – is surely the best way to pass the time while I’ve got it.

And it’s nowhere near as bad as that episode a couple of years ago. Thank heavens.