WE SLEPT OUTSIDE IN ANTARCTICA! (camping in the snow)

504.

We are Kara and Nate. We've been traveling full time for over four years. And after reaching our goal of visiting 100 countries we we travel to the bottom of the world to step foot on our seventh continent of Antarctica. We've spent the last week cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula. Leaving the ship each day to explore this incredible place. But each night retreating back to the safety of our warm ship. Tonight we are going to be giving up our big fluffy, comfy white warm bed and our warm room that we've had set to 25 degrees every single day for a bivvy bag placed on the snowy Antarctic ground where we're going to be spending the night in below freezing temperatures.

Where's taking my pants off.

I mean the opportunity to be camping out out there.

Let's go.

I feel like a kid today.

We are about to disembark the ship and we will not be back until tomorrow.

One of us is a lot more excited about this than the other. Oh, I think this is going to be the best night of our life.

No turning back now.

I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to camp somewhere this beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful place I've ever been. And I get to spend the night sleeping here under the Antarctic sky. Breathing in the fresh air and the stench of sill poop. But it's all in the adventure.

How does this spot look?

Home for the night.

Home sweet home.

I can't believe we're doing this.

First step, we have to make ourselves a flat spot to sleep tonight.

Hey.

Hey.

Just clear my spot. Thanks for making it work.

I take it. Nice.

Let's test the size.

I think it's great.

Look good me.

Okay, so tonight we're sleeping in a thing called divvies. Which neither one of us have ever slept in before. It's pretty much like a windproof waterproof cocoon or kind of like if a. If a sleeping bag and a rain jacket had a baby. This is our home for the night. Not a tent. Alright, step one, lay down the tarp. And they've also given us these.

Is this green turquoise.

Turquoise bags. Inside there is a. What do they call these? Sleep sack. Which is basically like a pillowcase for your body. Maybe. Pillowcase, sleeping bag. And last but not least, your sleeping pad so you don't have to sleep directly on top of the snow.

I didn't even know we got one of those.

We're camping in luxury tonight.

Didn't think I'd be doing this tonight. This is a little invention. I didn't know existed. We got catch air in it. Theoretically, that should pump up your. Wow.

So much better than those inflatable beds. You know, talking about those. Those couches that they make look so easy to blow up on the commercials. And then when you try it in real life, you're just running around in circles, like, in it.

Oh, that's not very tight.

Okay, that's good.

Oh, that is a hefty sleeping bag. Rated down to 15 below. And I think it's gonna get just below freezing tonight. We should stay plenty. Sleeping paddle, sleeping bag. Sleeping sack goes inside of the sleeping bag for a little extra warmth and cleanliness. And now all of this goes inside.

Of the bivvy bag, which looks quite a bit smaller. Oh, yeah, look at that. And that is home for the night. Pretty cozy.

I'm really impressed with your skills, Nate. You ready to do mine now?

If you're willing to do this with me, I will gladly set up your bench.

Our camp is officially complete.

Next up, probably the most interesting bathroom tour we've ever done. Or I might need to see a toilet tour. Starting with the door lock. Whenever you go use the bathroom, you put the shovel down. And when you're done, you put the shovel back up. And then people don't walk in on you. Hopefully we don't have to go in the middle of the night. It's quite the hike to get there.

These are the toilets. It's actually pretty amazing that we have toilets in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica. And they're actually pretty fancy. So I haven't used one yet, But I've been told that this is how you do it.

Lift the seat.

I don't know.

What's the secret to this.

Look, there are so many people just right there that can totally see me.

I don't think we had the location of the toilet in mind when we all picked our spot.

How do we get this open?

I don't know.

All right.

Should we go ask?

Yeah, I gotta go all the way back up there now. This is hilarious. As if this wasn't funny enough, we can't even figure out how to open it.

I have a really dumb question. How do you open the toilet? Oh, you gotta force it. You just gotta really, like. I mean, you just need to grow some muscles. That's what it is. Round two.

Success. Okay, Kara, you may continue your toilet tour.

Okay, like I was saying, you open the lid. Very important. Next step is you open the can. Step three, you sit on the potty and you use it. I didn't really think that through. And then after you're done, you put the toilet paper in the trash can. And then in order to flush. No.

Step four is you pump water into it like this.

And then you use this button to flush. And then somebody has the really terrible job of taking the toilet back to the ship tomorrow. You set this thing and that about wraps it up. You just enjoy the most beautiful view from a toilet you've ever seen. I don't have to use the restroom, but I kind of want to. Just for the experience.

You and, and all your friends watching you.

Will you stand in front of me so nobody sees?

Later. Later. Wait for it to get dark.

Yeah, let's wait till it gets dark. That's a good idea.

Also, as you're making your way back from the bathroom, you have to watch out for these giant holes for two reasons. Number one, you could break an ankle. And number two, the holes are created by seal poop. So the seals poop on the snow and then it melts. Melts a big hole like, like this. And they get bigger. There's. There's another one. This one. That one's like, like two feet deep maybe. So gotta watch out for those.

So it turns out that we are not camping alone tonight. We have been joined by 1, 2, 3, 4 huge weddle seals. And this one lonely penguin is just passed out on top of this rock.

That was a huge chunk of ice falling off of that glacier literally 500 meters from our tent.

Do you want one of those saints to cuddle up next to you tonight?

Not really.

Can you imagine waking up and he's just like flopping beside you?

That's pretty incredible. Yeah. Are you happy I talked you into it? Yeah. To be fair, I didn't have to do too much convincing.

This is nuts.

This is nuts. So I. I just feel like there's no way we are going to be able to do this place justice with the camera. But we're gonna try. This is gonna feel a little strange, but just take a second to enjoy.

I don't think it gets any better.

Even though this goes against all of my natural instincts, sleeping bags are supposed to work better if you're only in your thermals. So even though we're in the middle of Antarctica in the summer snow, we're stripping down.

We're stripping down to our long.

It's so cold. There are so many layers.

It's very tight. Yeah.

Sliding into the ocean. This is crazy. All right. It is 10:20. We have a 5am Wake up call. So this Is us for the next six and a half hours.

I think the coolest part about this might be the sounds that we're falling asleep to. We can hear birds chirping. The glacial ice is cracking. The waves are hitting the rocks. And every once in a while, we can hear the whales out in the distance. Spouty. It is so, so magical.

See you in the morning.

504. We did. It. Feels much colder out here now.

Good morning.

Morning, magic. Sleep good?

Yeah.

Okay. Goodbye.

It's cold.

But it's cold out here. It's so pretty.

Getting out of the sleeping bag has.

Definitely been the worst part.

How you doing?

I'm good.

Our rescue boat has arrived.

Did it this bad as you thought.

It was gonna be?

No, it's great.

I was never warm, but I was never cold.

I never got cold. I felt great. I was just wrapped in my cocoon all night long.

I tossed and turned a little bit, but the only time I actually woke up was at 2:30 when I looked at my watch because it was snowing on my face. I got sleeping with my face exposed.

And I was like, what's happening?

And I was like, oh, my gosh.

How funny is that? But then I just pulled my bivvy up over my head and went back to sleep.

I could just hear it from my little cocoon, the snow hitting us. And I was so happy that I woke up and came got to just like experience it.

I was never mad when I woke up because it was just a reminder of what we were doing. That was the best and unforgettable night.

Thank you.

I'm so nervous.

I can't stop smiling. We're in two very different camps here.

Camps. Get it.

I'm really just wasting.

That was just ice in the eyeball.

I was like throwing rocks at somebody. Feel like some snow should be packed on the side to. To weigh it down. That's either gonna be a good idea or my back's gonna be wet tonight.

I'm thinking maybe don't put snow on mine. I don't want to be wet.

I think the bivvy should have laid down. Not first.

Now regretting putting snow on top of the snow.

First rule to surviving in the Arctic. If you sweat, you die. Read that in a book somewhere.

So dramatic.

I think this one's the ladies. Okay. This feels so weird. Go on, just do it. Nobody cares.

This feels so weird. Okay, don't record me.

Really turn on.

I'm always going to be looking the side of the glacier.

Okay.

Nothing to see here. Turn around.

Can you see my butt?

Just keep your arm right there. And I can't.

I did not want to have to do this in the middle of the night.

Car had a much better view.