A retired Pennsylvania couple has been traveling the world together. They’ve been to all seven continents finally visiting their 7th one last Fall.
Ed Russo, from our sister station WHP in Harrisburg, sat down with them and has more on their journey.
“I was born in Hawaii, we lived in West Coast, East Coast, Stuttgart, Germany”
For Pat and Leigh McBride, traveling is in their blood.
“We both just have that love of adventure and being able to leave our homes and see what the rest of the world is about.”
They’ve been to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and as of last Fall, the one place that’s uninhabitable to man Antarctica!
It took the couple planes, trains, and automobiles getting there. Argentina was one memorable stop for them along the way.
“We’re just hiking around and we came down to this lagoon which was so beautiful”
“And we sit down there and we get settled and they leave us alone we sat down in our little chairs by the water and all of a sudden out of the bush comes a guy playing the guitar, serenading us.”
It was the McBride’s 40th wedding anniversary they both say this photo represents the most romantic moment of their lives. What a way to start a trip!
The last leg of their journey to the frozen continent would be across the notoriously rough Drake Passage a body of water between the Southern tip of South America and Antarctica.
“All the stories I’ve heard about Drake Passage over the years I was definitely nervous about what the sea conditions would be like”
Fortunately their ride across was smooth. And then. They were there the last and frozen frontier.
“The pristine magnificence was indescribable. It was just breathtaking everywhere you looked it was such a feast for the eyes it was amazing.”
“There’s such a harshness to the environment but it was so pristine.”
A pristine harshness. The penguins they ran into were quite welcoming.
“There’s a part of me that was wondering if they were just walking up to me because I had these, I looked like another penguin because I had these flapping gloves.”
Many of the animals there are friendly because the land lacks people and natural predators.
“The snow and the ice all has this blue to it that pictures don’t do justice.”
“It’s just fascinating. It’s like blue like electric blue up-lighting.”
Another wonderful aspect to the trip wasn’t so much the scenery, but the diverse group of people they met.
“On this cruise there were Brits, Canadians, people from South Africa, South American countries.”
It’s amazing what can unite people across the globe and in the case here a journey through the only place on earth that is so harsh, man cannot live.
