Fulfilling an Arctic dream

(First of two parts)

The incredibly-high temperature in Manila has driven me to finally write about my recent journey to the Arctic Circle – hoping I would find some relief from this unbearable heat by thinking about this cold, cold place and putting down my thoughts in writing.

But first, you may ask: "Why go to the Arctic Circle?" Actually, it wasn’t hot yet when I went there two months ago – and so a lot of people were asking me that question. But now, I’m sure everyone would want to go there to escape the intolerable Manila heat.

Answering the question – Why go to the Arctic Circle? – would require us to go back to the time I was 12 years old (a long time ago indeed) when my favorite pastime was poring over maps (yeah, I was a nerdy kid). But then, I had this fascination to go to Antarctica and I would constantly daydream about joining an expedition to that far and cold place at the very bottom of the earth. I imagined it to be a place uninhabited – full of ice, snow and mystery.

Even then, however, I knew this was a mere childhood fantasy never to be fulfilled. Eventually, I got on with my life, entered adulthood and in the process flushed out my Antarctic dream.

This fascination for the seventh continent returned recently when I began planning early this year for my trip to the US. Since I had to go to America anyway to rework my immigration papers, I decided it’s about time I visited other US destinations outside of boring Los Angeles.

I was going to travel with US-based relatives and so they were making suggestions on where to go on this side trip. When somebody suggested Alaska, I didn’t remember jumping up and down with excitement.

But Alaska is a big place – they reasoned out. In fact, it is the biggest state in the US in terms of land area. Way up on the northeastern part of America, it stretches all the way up to the Arctic Circle – and beyond.

Hold it! Did somebody say Arctic Circle? It may be on the exact opposite end of my dream destination that is Antarctica, but going to the Arctic Circle is the next possible alternative to fulfilling my childhood fantasy. Instead of going all the way down, I’m going all the way up and that’s good enough for me. (I love going to extreme ends.)

Somebody was then tasked to do a research on the farthest point we could possibly reach – the one place closest to North Pole, which is actually on water (unlike the South Pole in Antarctica, which stands on a mass of land perpetually covered with ice and snow).

When the research came out, I was told that we could fly to the Alaskan town of Barrow, which is already the farthest north we could go within the US territory. Barrow is way above the Arctic Circle – with Barrow Point jutting out into the Arctic Ocean. Cool – I told myself. (I should have said Cold because we were going there in winter.) Make the arrangements – I asked my relatives in the US, while I purchased a PAL ticket to LA at the Travel Pros of Cris Aquino.

After advancing so many columns for this paper and saying goodbye to my salary on Startalk (no work, no pay), I left on the evening of Palm Sunday. At the Mabuhay Lounge, I exchanged pleasantries with my good friend, Lyn Tanael, one of the nicest ground stewardesses of Philippine Airlines. Later, I also bumped into Jaya, who was also going on a holiday.

When it was about almost boarding time, my cell phone rang and it was Cristy Fermin calling. She wanted to know what I was doing at the airport and from my end I wanted to find out how she knew I was there. Looking around, I immediately spotted Jude Estrada, who obviously tipped Cristy off about my departure. We had a good laugh over that one and I bade her goodbye. Then, I hopped over to the table where Sen. Loi Estrada was having a bowl of lugao and said hello. She and the brood were on their way to San Francisco. On my way out, I also bumped into Beaver and Jackie (Estrada) Lopez and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and wife Precy with their very good-looking kids.

Then I was off to LA. After flying for 12 1/2 hours non-stop, we finally touched down at the LAX, was met by family and brought to Glendale where I always stay in the West Coast.

While I unpacked my bags, I realized I only had enough time to distribute my pasalubong of hopia, pili and ensaymada and sleep for three hours (I didn’t sleep during the flight) before embarking on another lengthy trip – this time to Alaska, with Juneau as our first stop.

If there is something you must know about going to Alaska (especially during winter), you cannot travel light. While there, you have to dress up in layers. In my case, I had to wear a T-shirt, a woolen sweater, a jacket and a trench coat with a hood. From waist down, I had to put on a pair of long johns to keep my legs from freezing.

Wearing layers of clothes can be so punishing especially if you have to get on a plane nine times (you have to take off most of them for security purposes), which was what we did on this Alaskan tour.

But the worst part is the air pressure that is murder on your eardrums. Somewhere along the trip, I thought I had gone deaf because I had already checked out of the airport, checked into the hotel, unpacked my suitcase and I still couldn’t hear clearly what my companions were telling me. (But oh, it was so convenient when it was time to settle the bills and I couldn’t hear a darn thing when they were collecting my share).

All the hassles of traveling, however, immediately disappeared as soon as we got to Juneau where I saw those magnificent Alaskan glaciers in Mendenhall. Practically deserted at way past 4 in the afternoon, with wind chills that almost burned the skin on my exposed face, the freezing weather warmed quickly when from behind me, I heard a girl’s voice ask, "Aren’t you from GMA 7?"

Trust the Filipino to be anywhere in any part of the world — even in freezing Alaska.

(In the concluding portion on Thursday: More Filipinos in the Arctic Circle.)