Prepping for an extravagant trip was bound to make me feel guilty.

We are all equally deserving of peace, but lack equal opportunities for it. I have an aimless guilt about working towards mine that I feel powerless to address. In daily life, the expectation is to offer a seat or open a door to those less able bodied or over encumbered with children or life itself, but pay enough money and you can hide away in the JFK Delta One Lounge to forget about the chaos in the rest of the airport that the mother juggling her children and their luggage is currently enduring. Better yet, you can go to Antarctica and completely disconnect from life itself – a break many others cannot take, but none of us deserving of anything better or worse. While undeserving, I am looking forward to it.

Chance is a strange thing. In any case, I find myself giggling with excitement as I play with the lounge’s gratuitous luxurious distractions – like a massive massage chair, a nap room, a facial, shower, and loads of food – a hilarious pastime in preparation for a trip in honor of Shackleton’s Endurance crew own mysterious change that somehow managed to survive in one of the harshest environments on Earth. I’m definitely going to cry at his grave.

In reference to Jan 3 2026