Pole to Pole

Reminds me of an old joke.

A man is at a train station. He goes up to the ticket window and says ‘Can I have a return ticket please?’ The clerk replies ‘Of course, sir. Where to?’ ‘Back here of course!’

Now I have got that out of the way, I have a travel dream that may never be realised, but it’s to complete my set of continents. If we take the old fashioned 6 continents as the basis, which I do, I have been to all but two. Asia, America, Australasia, Europe have all been ticked off. I may have touched down in Africa when travelling with my parents when my Dad worked for the Diplomatic Wireless Service but I haven’t been there as an adult. At some point I am intending to go to Morocco because that is the nearest African country. The other continent is Antarctica and it is here that my round trip ticket would take me.

In 2007 we took our daughters to Lapland to visit Father Christmas and we received certificates to confirm that we had been to the North Pole! So as well as completing the set of continents I would be completing the two Poles. I am aware that for some people the idea of a trip to Antarctica is unacceptable. I know it is environmentally damaging to some extent however closely controlled the process is. I know it is a trip that should never be part of a regular tourist trail. The heart wants what the heart wants and my heart wants a trip to Antarctica.