Ariel Waldman

a couple of years ago, and that's expected just to grow.

So the tourism of Antarctica is rapidly, rapidly increasing.

And so that's kind of the current state of tourism.

If you want to pay like a hundred grand, you can fly in and actually land on the continent itself and camp out there in these small camps that are packed up each year so that they're not leaving a footprint behind.

What else you got?

The other options to go to Antarctica, and I think this one's the more accessible one, is all of these Antarctic stations by these different countries, they need support staff.

They need electricians.

They need IT people.

They need plumbers.

They need people to wash the dishes.

And so a lot of people go to Antarctica because they look at the job openings for these Antarctic programs and they apply and they get the job.

And that actually, to me, it's way better than

Being a tourist because, you know, you get to actually be involved in supporting science.

You get to have a community there.

You get to experience a part of Antarctica that very few people do, unlike the tourism sort of tours.

And right now is when the U.S.

Antarctic program and other ones are advertising those jobs.

And so I would 100% try that out and see if you get an interview from it because they need all sorts of people involved.

If you're wanting to contribute to science and you have something to offer, and in my case, it was like being a microscopist, start talking to the researchers who regularly go down to Antarctica.

Tell them that you're a fan of what they're working on and that maybe you want to talk to them about, you know, if they could use help in a certain science area or a certain communication area.