Welcome back readers to our pre flight entertainment:
With packing going on late into the night on Thursday and a million items on the floor (from spark plugs to jars of Vegemite and of course our dog – though he was most definitely not getting a lift in my warm sleeping bag) we were beginning to panic that it would never all fit into our limited luggage and that somehow we would get to Siberia and have only thongs and a t-shirt because the dog ate the rest. But alas after much shoving, cussing and some sore fingers we managed to fit two sleeping bags, 2 ice fishing suits, heaps of freeze dried meals and sleeping bag liners into a somewhat small duffel bag. Talk about putting all your eggs in a basket, well at least there will be some warm baggage handlers if it does get lost! Our own personal bags did go rather smoothly and we managed to fit everything in with space to spare, however not without one slightly humourous story:
We had bought a tent just after Christmas from the quality stock at Ray’s Outdoors – where cold is determined by the taste of a beer and not by the seconds in which boiling water freezes. However we assumed that with super warm sleeping bags and mats that a tent would be nothing other than stopping snow getting up in yo grillz. So we grabbed the least expensive one there and with an arrogant air of YOLO purchased it. But luckily some weeks later, we had a bright idea of actually testing the tent out before taking it on a treacherous trip with bears/wolves etc and to our surprise we didn’t actually fit inside. If you could imagine a Chiko roll protruding out of the package and apply that to Patrick in the tent then you have a good idea of what happened. Lets just say it would have been “cosy”. So we’ve left that at home and are now hoping to buy one in Helsinki.
We managed to have an uneventful and rather unstressful drive to the airport, and thanks to the very kind lady from QANTAS secured some incredibly spacious exit row seats much to the envy of the passengers behind us! Her initial sassiness was quickly overcome.
Well the boarding call has just been made for our flight to Singapore and then to Helsinki so our trip is well on its way. With that in mind we would like to thank everyone for their support so far and we are very grateful for all the donations made.
Once again enjoy the warmth and next stop Helsinki!
Guy and Patrick
Selfies on the plane!
Tsardines in a Can 