100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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Angie and I went to see the Atlanta Premiere of "Antarctica --A year on Ice"


At this point, I have only seen the movie once. I will need to see it multiple times.

It was not disappointing. It was very familiar, of course. Anthony Powell did a nice job of getting some of the right people in the film rather than the usual camera frame grabbers that appear in Antarctica documentaries. I was pleased to see my best friend from the ice (Dave Voorhees) in several shots including on the summit of Mt Terror. We have been discussing the film via email. I also worked with "Josh" the mechanic. He has the ITASE patch on his shoulder in one shot. I have one of those patches as well for my part regarding the International Trans-Antarctica Scientific Expedition. Most of the other folks in the film I was familiar with as well. Anthony did a great job showing what life is like, and of course, I would have had my slant on things. For example, I would have expanded on the "rebirth" one feels when they get to NZ coming off the ice. He talks only about it during the credits. Almost all of the shots (besides his mesmerizing time lapses) were extraordinary familiar to me although I only saw one shot from inside the Mac Town electronics shop. New views of matter such as the walk between my sleep and the shop, or inside our shop truck, pisten (sic) bully. etc. were moving for me. Although I did not winter-over I saw the T3 syndrome in others and a little in myself.

The film really took me back there. Thumbs up!


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100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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