Monday 26 May 2014

The BIG Change

There are days when everything is culminating, like a well written detective story. Usually a changeover day is enough to deal with in its own right, we’d like to make sure our departing guests have a safe ongoing journey while at the same time we have to spend some thought to the logistics that have to be managed with the arriving group a few hours later. It feels like wiping the blackboard clean for a new formula.
This time, we don’t just wipe the board clean, we dismount the whole blackboard and throw away the chalk: Today was the introduction of the brand-new “operating system” for the whole ship, called Fidelio. Basically everything that runs on electronics here got merged into this vital piece of soft- and hardware. It’s a bit like a brain transplant while the patient is playing a game of chess. No wonder we all were very excited to see the transition at work, after weeks of having parts of the ship looking like the NORAD command centre. (Or rather the CHAOS computer club, as nobody was wearing uniform…)
And what can we say: Job well done, smooth opening, check-in worked like a charm, the new machines spat out the new cruise cards for the new system. Phew!
And now to the main thing, the upcoming expedition. What an excitement - we are going to go around Iceland now! FRAM has never done this before, so everybody is very much on his/her toes, wondering what the next ten days will bring. Many familiar faces arrive throughout the afternoon, the new destination lures many loyal fans of FRAM back on board.

Already during the welcoming speech the new arrivals seem eager to explore the new places with us. And after the necessary procedures like check-in, jacket distribution and safety instruction we cast the lines under a rather grey sky, heading into the Icelandic evening, while Captain HÃ¥rvik welcomes the new group.