Here are a bunch of my thoughts on prepping for Antarctica. This mostly pertains to my experience travelling to the South Pole in support of the 2017-2018 ARA commissioning and calibration activities. I was  at the South Pole for about a month, and accumulated about of week of time in MCM due to flight delays.

Attire and Clothing Distribution Center (CDC)

• When you go for clothing distribution, don’t take your long johns with you, but do take your thick wool socks. Try on your ECW boots with your thick wool socks on so you know they fit right.
• Trade the wind pants for Carhartts. Just ask. The people at the CDC are really nice, and they won’t give you as much trouble as it looks like they will. They really just want to help.
• Lots of people will tell you to trade the Bunny boots for Baffin’s (or another type of boot). Whether that’s a good idea depends on you and your work. The bunny boots are super warm—we did lots of outside work, and people with Baffin’s were always complaining of cold feet, while Bunny Boot folks never did. The Baffin’s are lighter, taller, and buckle up (no strings). I’m also told they are more “natural” for walking—the Bunny’s really suck for walking long distances.
• Get the fit of your clothing right while you’re at the CDC. It’s embarrassing sometimes to sit there and have to go back and forth repeatedly to get something to fit right (especially if you’re a bigger person). But your life depends on this stuff. Just keep at it, they really do have stuff for people of every size there.
• Bring a pair of good, waterproof hiking boots. I made the mistake of only having my ECW boots and tennis shoes (along with shower shoes and slippers). The thing is, if you want to go on a 5-10 minute walk somewhere—and you have to do that a lot at Pole and McMurdo—tennis shoes are too light and ECW boots are too heavy.
• Bring a good medium weight sweater/jacket, or keep the little red they give you. It’s really nice to have medium weight outer wear while you’re there.
• Bring a spare pair of backup eyeware. My primary eyeware is contact. I brought two pairs of backup glasses. This was a good idea. I scratched my “primary” backup glasses my first week at pole, and was glad to have a “backup” backup pair of glasses.

Packing

• Most people have four bags: (1) backpack, (2) suitcase/big personal duffle, (3) orange bag from CDC, (4) orange bag from CDC. My advice:
  • For CHC->MCM
    • The backpack as a carry on
    • One orange bag as boomerang bag
    • Other orange bag for excess ECW
    • Suitcase stays as suitcase
  • For MCM -> NPX and NPX -> MCM
    • The backpack as carry on
    • One orange bag as carry on
    • Other orange bag for excess ECW
    • Suitcase stays as suitcase
  • For MCM -> CHC
    • The backpack as carry on
    • One orange bag as carry on (stuff backpack inside this if they get fussy about having only one carry on)
    • Other orange bag for ECW
    • Suitcase stays suitcase
• For your trip from CHC to MCM, pack a boomerang bag with (at least) two changes of clothes. Some people will tell you to not pack a boomerang. I disagree. I’d say you should carry a backpack (with your laptop and stuff in it) and then also one of the orange bags with your change of clothes and stuff.
• Once they take your bag dragged bag, you might not see it for a week. We got stuck at NPX waiting for a flight, and I was without my checked luggage for 6 days.
• For your trip from NPX to MCM, pack a really heavy carry on. I packed three days change of clothes, but then got stuck in NPX (without my bag!) for six days. I was very thankful I had my heavy carry on, even though it was a pain.
• Bring a good, sealing water bottle. You can also buy one when you arrive in Antarctica.
• Always always always pack your tennis shoes in your carry on. You do not want to be stranded in MCM for days and days with only bunny boots as footwear.

Logistics

• Do laundry in CHC. You’ll have been travelling for two days, and then you have two days to sit and wait in CHC. Don’t go to pole with four days of dirty laundry in tow. Do laundry in CHC.
• You will be given an opportunity to store bags of personal belonging at the CDC on the day of your clothing issue. So, if you want to camp in a tent around NZ when you get back from the ice, you can store that at the CDC.
• In MCM, do bag drag in two trips. Don’t try to haul all your luggage to 140 (the transport building) in one go, you’ll be miserable.
• They will squawk a lot about “one bag carry-on limits” in the paperwork and on the screens. Ignore them, >50% of folks bring two carry-ons, and no one will bat an eye.
• Before you leave for transport or for bag drag, check the computer monitors outside the galley in Building 155. Check this monitor (or the TV in your room) frequently for updates. You can also check the McMurdo intranet.
• They will make a big deal about the computer screening. Pay attention and do what they ask—it’s good for your computer. That said, if your computer fails the screening, they don’t check when you want to connect to the internet, so it doesn’t really matter.
• The military flights are really loud, and they will give you ear plugs to help. Some people have some success with ear plugs + noise cancelling headphones. In any case, you should bring something to read (like a kindle or book) because talking is totally out of the option, and music might be also. Some people watch a movie with subtitles on, but that’s personal taste I think.

Living and Working at Pole

• The NPX and MCM don't really have wifi. So if you have a mac, you really want to make sure not to forget your ethernet -> USB/thunderbolt adapter.
• You’ll be working at the ICL a lot, which is about a 2km walk (part of the return trip is uphill) from the South Pole Station. So be prepared to do some walking, as you’ll probably walk this twice a day (because you usually walk back to station for lunch). If you don’t want to walk that much, you might consider bringing lunch with you to the ICL everyday.
• The ICL has an outhouse and not a bathroom. No running water either. So pack water and be prepared.
• MCM sells tissues, but there aren’t many lying around. Pole as lots of tissues lying around everywhere.
• Pole has hand warmers available everywhere in great quantities—don’t buy or pack them. MCM has them in the “outdoor supply” closet in 155.
• Antarctica, and pole specifically, is really really dry. Assume you’ll go through ~1 chap stick once every week or two.
• The pole store (Pole Mart) is really well outfitted with basic necessities. You can buy cold meds, pain relievers, q-tips, eye glass repair kits, etc. I was surprised how much I could buy there. Don’t count on them having your favorite moisturizer or soap though—they only stock one kind of deodorizer per gender, for example.
• I highly recommend taking the Diamox they will offer you. At worst, it doesn’t help. Some people get the dry mouth side effect really bad, if so, talk to the physicians.
• Expect to wear your ECW every time you go outside. MCM is ~25-30F, and pole is hardly ever warmer than -15 or -10 F. The windchills frequently push down to -40F or -50F, even in condition 3. Folks that had been to MCM and were first time at pole didn’t realize that to go outside for any extended period of time, you really do have to be dressed fully (wool socks, carharts, balaclava, goggles, big red).
• Working at pole is really tough (considerably harder than in MCM). You are at >10,200 ft elevation, and you have no time whatsoever to acclimatize. The atmosphere is just thinner—there is just less oxygen, and you have to deal with it. Expect climbing stairs, lifting heavy boxes, etc. to wind you faster and to be more tired even after you’ve caught your breath. When you walk outside you’re wearing all your ECW, remember that you’re essentially mountain climbing with a 30 lb extra weight at 10,000ft elevation. It’s just harder. Take your first two or three days easy—that’s going to be frustrating. Invariably your flight will have been delayed and you will be behind schedule. But you will regret hurting yourself otherwise.

Food

• In MCM, some of the hot food is available 24/7, namely pizza and waffles. You can also always make a deli sandwich, get cereal, chips, and ice-cream along with juices.
• In NPX, hot food is only available during meal times, but definitely use the left-over fridge and microwave if you need food during an off-time. Also, in the bar area in the galley, there is usually chips (like goldfish, pretzels, and lays) in addition to a breadbox and peanut-butter jelly supplies.

Last Words

• Especially at pole, just sit down and say hi and start talking. Pole is extremely communal. People will think it’s weird if you don’t say hi in the hallway. People generally welcome a new conversation or new friend, so don’t be shy in this regard.
• Lots of people around you might be on their 10^th trip to pole. They are fountains of wisdom. Much of the lifesaving advice I got (like packing tennis shoes in my carry on) I only got because I had chatted with more experienced travelers. So don't be shy. It's everyone's first time to Antarctica at some point, and the "veterans" are usually thrilled to be talking to a new person.