Aixecar-se a les 4 de la matinada per agafar un vol a les 7:35 no és una gran experiència. Però quan l'avió és només el primer de tres, és encara més dur. Si un d'ells té gairebé 12 hores de vol, ja estàs avorrit el dia anterior. Però aquest era el començament de la meva volta al món, així que hi havia motiu per estar content i animat. La ruta d'anada: Barcelona - Londres - Tòquio - Guam. Va durar pràcticament un dia en temps real i un dia i mig en temps local. El primer vol era un que ja tenia controlat, només per anar escalfant: 2 hores de vol, ràpid i fàcil. Però llavors, després de 4 hores a l'aeroport de Heathrow, la següent etapa havia de durar mig dia. Se'm presentava com una muntanya, però va ser com deixar-se emportar pel corrent d'un riu. Vaig mirar 3.5 pel·lícules (afortunadament ja havia vist l'última). Totes elles força merdoses, ni tant sols me'n recordo dels títols, però Justin Timberlake i l'actor que fa de Marshall a How I met your mother, sortien a dues d'elles. Vaig jugar a Texas Hold'em NL contra 9 màquines i vaig guanyar. Bon entrenament per quan torni a la meva partida de pòquer mensual. I també vaig dormir a estones. En d'altres el meu cervell estava en un estat de semi-consciència, passant en un instant de pensaments preocupats sobre la feina que havia de fer a l'emoció per l'aventura que estava començant. Finalment, vam aterrar a l'aeroport de Narita a Tòquio. Vaig ser a Japó durant no més d'una hora i la meitat d'aquest temps va ser dins de l'últim avió, però va ser suficient per sentir una atracció molt forta per aquest país; l'hauré de visitar algun dia. I sense més, ja volàvem cap a Guam. Uns quants mesos abans, no n'havia sentit a parlar mai, i no vaig tenir l'ocasió de veure'n gran cosa perquè en un dia i mig, que vaig passar lluitant per superar un jet lag de 8 hores, ja ens dirigíem a la base naval americana on ens esperava el vaixell, Marcus G. Langseth. Simplement dir-vos que Guam és com qualsevol altra illa tropical amb una economia basada en el turisme. Com Hawai'i però menys famosa. I probablement amb més bases militars però també menys famoses que Pearl Harbor.
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Waking up at 4am in the morning to catch a flight at 7:35am is not a nice experience. But when the plane you are taking is only the first of three, it gets even harder. If one of them is almost 12 hours long, you are already bored the day before. But still this was the beginning of my trip around the world so there was reason to be happy and excited. The outbound route: Barcelona – London – Tokyo – Guam. It took almost a day of real time and a day and a half in local time. The first flight was something I had already done, just to warm up: 2 hours flight, quick and easy. But then, after 4 hours at Heathrow airport, the next step was going to last for half a day. It looked like a mountain, but it was just like letting yourself go in a river flow. I watched 3.5 movies (fortunately I had already seen the last one). All of them kind of crappy, I don't even remember the titles, but Justin Timberlake and the actor playing Marshall in How I met your mother, were in two of them. I played Texas Hold'em NL against 9 computer players and won. Good training for when I get back to my regular monthly poker game. And then I also slept at times. At other times my brain was in a state of semi-consciousness, changing from worried thoughts about work I had to do to excitement for the adventure ahead in a split second. Finally, we landed in Tokyo Narita airport. I “was” in Japan for barely an hour and half of it was spent already inside the plane, but it was enough to feel a very strong attraction for this country; I must visit it some day. And we were off to Guam. A few months ago, I had never heard about it, and I really didn't get to see much of it because in one day and a half, that I spent fighting a jet lag of 8 hours, we were heading to the US naval base where the ship, Marcus G. Langseth, was waiting for us. Let me just say that Guam is just like any other tropical island with a tourism-based economy. Say like Hawaii, but less famous. And probably with more military compounds and bases, but also less famous than Pearl Harbor.
El viatge continua a
lifeonshatsky.blogspot.com. Aquest és el blog de les dues campanyes oceanogràfiques que s'han dut a terme per estudiar el Shatsky Rise en una col·laboració de les universitats de Columbia, Texas A&M i Yale.
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Waking up at 4am in the morning to catch a flight at 7:35am is not a nice experience. But when the plane you are taking is only the first of three, it gets even harder. If one of them is almost 12 hours long, you are already bored the day before. But still this was the beginning of my trip around the world so there was reason to be happy and excited. The outbound route: Barcelona – London – Tokyo – Guam. It took almost a day of real time and a day and a half in local time. The first flight was something I had already done, just to warm up: 2 hours flight, quick and easy. But then, after 4 hours at Heathrow airport, the next step was going to last for half a day. It looked like a mountain, but it was just like letting yourself go in a river flow. I watched 3.5 movies (fortunately I had already seen the last one). All of them kind of crappy, I don't even remember the titles, but Justin Timberlake and the actor playing Marshall in How I met your mother, were in two of them. I played Texas Hold'em NL against 9 computer players and won. Good training for when I get back to my regular monthly poker game. And then I also slept at times. At other times my brain was in a state of semi-consciousness, changing from worried thoughts about work I had to do to excitement for the adventure ahead in a split second. Finally, we landed in Tokyo Narita airport. I “was” in Japan for barely an hour and half of it was spent already inside the plane, but it was enough to feel a very strong attraction for this country; I must visit it some day. And we were off to Guam. A few months ago, I had never heard about it, and I really didn't get to see much of it because in one day and a half, that I spent fighting a jet lag of 8 hours, we were heading to the US naval base where the ship, Marcus G. Langseth, was waiting for us. Let me just say that Guam is just like any other tropical island with a tourism-based economy. Say like Hawaii, but less famous. And probably with more military compounds and bases, but also less famous than Pearl Harbor.
The trip continues at
lifeonshatsky.blogspot.com. This is the blog for the two oceanographic surveys carried out to study the Shatsky Rise in a collaboration of Columbia, Texas A&M and Yale universities.
