As the bird flies, Cherskiy doesn’t seem that far away from Western Washington. A quick flight over Alaska would probably have me there within 8 hours or so. Oh well…

In about 12 hours from now I’ll be boarding a plane that will take me to NY, then to Moscow, off to Yakutsk, and finally landing in Cherskiy on Friday. Looking at a globe, it seems like I’ll transit over 75% of the planet, which I have to admit is kind of cool in its own right. This whole adventure is something that I’ve known about for months, so the fact that it’s finally coming to fruition is both exciting and nerve-wracking. With most traveling I’ve done, it never seems real until I’m on the (1st) plane. And as I write now, traveling to Siberia still seems like a whimsical journey, something that somebody else would be doing… but here I go.