Travel Photos from 2014

Somehow 2014 turned into a year of travel: visiting all seven contents, 59 flights on commercial, private and military planes, thousands of frequent flier miles and tens of thousands of photos taken.  

It doesn't look like 2015 will end up being such a busy travel year, but should be interesting in its own right.

Here is a quick highlight of just a few of my favorite photos from each continent this year. 

Map made at travellerspoint.com

North America: 

Ice caves in the Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska.

Looking down on Higgins Avenue, Missoula, Montana

Asia:

Dhow boats on Dubai Creek in an older section of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building dominates the night in Dubai.

 Oceania:

One of the few shots I got in Christchurch, New Zealand.

A shadow of Christchurch's new city skyline.

 South America

Kid's play frisbee with us, while struggling to hold onto the snacks we gave him, in the Santa Cruz Valley of Peru.

Morning at Tongariki, Easter Island, Chile.

Africa:

A Martial Eagle enjoys it's evening meal in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

The most intense eyes I've ever seen.

Zazoo from the Lion King.

Harold the Hippo.  He's always in his pond so the safari guides go there when they are having a slow wildlife  day.

Europe:

Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

Fishing in Istanbul's Bosphorus River.

Of course I had to see Big Ben during my day in London.

Antarctica:

Adelie Penguin rookery at Cape Royds in McMurdo Sound.

A young Weddell Seal pup

Looking toward the Royal Society Range while flying into the Dry Valleys Region of Antarctica.

Southbound C-17

I guess it is time to break the blog post silence with a short post about my flight down to Antarctica this year.

Christchuch, New Zealand is our jumping off point to fly to McMurdo.

After the earthquake, downtown Christchurch is being rebuilt and there are art installations everywhere.

I've wanted to fly on the C-17 since I started working in Antarctica.  My first flight down was on the Airbus 319 leased from the Australian Antarctic Division and used to transport people to McMurdo during the first month or so of the summer season.  Despite having a nice airline seat to sit in and a good view the whole time I was bummed that I didn't get to ride on the C-17.

The C-17 landing in McMurdo in April 2013.

The inside of the C-17

The Airbus 319.

The LC-130 Hercules

Inside of the C-17

The cockpit of the C-17

Looking down into the C-17 from the cockpit. 

On my next few trips between McMurdo and Christchurch I was on the LC-130 Hercules, which is louder, less comfortable and takes 3 hours longer than the other two planes.  But this year I finally got to ride down on the C-17!

Weddell Seals just outside of McMurdo Station.