Chapter 359 Above the Ice Sea

Chapter 359 Above the Ice Sea

Chapter 359 Above the Ice Sea
After a meal full of vegetables and fruits, Jack, Wade and others went to the tourist hotel in District 5 of Aurora City to check in.

But they were obviously people who could not sit still, and soon the group dispersed and wandered around this artificial giant in groups of three or five.

Wade and Jack and a few others came to the hemispherical observation deck at the top of Area 5.

They saw that on another platform next door, which was Area 3 of Aurora City, there were more than a dozen black cables arranged in the center. These cables extended from the top of Area 3 upward to an altitude of ten thousand meters.

Wade sat on a bench in the observation deck with a cup of hot cocoa, looking up at the sky: "Is that another city in the sky?"

Jack, who was standing by, took a closer look and said, "Huh? Something is coming down..."

"Really? Is it an elevator?"

I saw an elevator cabin descending at a constant speed from the Aurora-Sky City, and soon it reached the top of Area 3.

Unlike what many people imagine, tourists to Aurora City do not come from yachts or planes, but come down from the city in the sky.

The reason for adopting this method is mainly to ensure safety.

A large portion of the supplies for Aurora City are also transported by airships.

Unmanned cargo airships have strong risk resistance even when facing the Roaring West Winds. Even if something happens, only the airship and cargo will be lost, and the personnel will not be in any harm.

After all, in today's Asian Union, people are often more valuable.

Passenger airships, however, do not follow the usual path. Passenger airships operating in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean often do not fly in the low-altitude troposphere, but choose to fly in the stratosphere, and will not even descend around Antarctica.

This is also why tourists come down from the Sky City.

Because the passenger airship only needs to take tourists to the professional airport area of ​​the Sky City and let them take the elevator down to Aurora City, there is no need to consider the risk of landing on the Antarctic ice field.

Wade and others looked at several observation platforms around them, and together with the tourists they met along the way, they estimated that there were at least a few hundred tourists from the Asian Union, which made them a little surprised at Aurora City's ability to accommodate tourists.

But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that it is no big deal. After all, the Asian Federation's technological level is at the forefront of the world. Many things that they think are impossible may be just a piece of cake in the eyes of the Asian Federation.

In fact, the current maximum number of tourists that Aurora City can receive is 500 people per day.

There are professional travel companies in the Asian Union that undertake this. Generally, the all-inclusive ticket price for a seven-day tour for one person is about 7000 yuan, which includes round-trip airship tickets, accommodation fees, entertainment project fees, etc., but does not include food and beverage expenses.

This fee is neither high nor cheap. It is roughly equivalent to one and a half months' salary for an average person in the Asian Union.

For some high-income groups, there is no pressure.

For example, the middle-level managers and technical personnel of Hailufeng Group have a starting monthly income of 1.5 yuan.

In fact, due to the increase in various holidays in the Asian Union, it is easy to piece together a week of continuous holidays within a month by adjusting the holidays, which has greatly promoted the development of tourism industries in various places.

However, starting this year, some popular tourist areas have stopped implementing free travel and have instead adopted a reservation system. The number of tourists each tourist area can receive each day has been capped in advance.

For example, the current daily limit for Aurora City is 500 people. This limit is a relatively appropriate limit for tourist reception based on the current resources of Aurora City and after analysis and research by professional organizations.

Otherwise, like some of Seris' previous tourist attractions, it will be crowded during holidays and crowded everywhere, which will greatly affect tourists' mood for travel.

This is also an important reason why the appointment system was introduced.

Now the Asian Community has passed the stage of pursuing rapid economic growth and has turned to the stage of pursuing happiness and environmental protection.

Many tourist areas have gradually adopted a reservation system to avoid too many tourists crowding together.

For example, the Great Wall tourism project in Seris used to have only a few scenic spots, but now there are more than 20 scenic spots. All the scenic spots along the Great Wall from the northeast to the northwest have been developed one after another.

The Badaling Great Wall, which was very popular in the past, now requires a reservation system. Tourists who want to visit the Badaling Great Wall tourist area often need to make reservations several months in advance. It is better to go to Great Wall tourist areas in other regions.

Anyway, the various tourist areas of the Great Wall are now well developed.

Especially with the comprehensive promotion of Asian community integration, tourists from Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia have also flocked to various tourist attractions in Seris.

The same situation is that tourists from Seris are pouring into Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

The reservation system in various tourist areas is intended to avoid a large influx of tourists in a short period of time, making it difficult for the limited local service resources to meet the needs of all tourists.

Similar to the guest room resources of hotels and B&Bs, these are not resources that can be quickly increased in a short period of time.

Moreover, the reservation system can equalize the demand for service resources between the peak and off-seasons, allowing tourist areas to cope with passenger flow more calmly and providing tourists with a better experience.

This is what Aurora City is doing now.

If the limit is not set at 500 tourists per day, but the restriction is lifted, if the number of tourists suddenly reaches one or two thousand one day, the tourism service resources of Aurora City District 5 and Aurora - Sky City may not be able to support it.

This policy only accepts 500 tourists every day, which does not mean 500 tourists are allowed to enter the country every day. As long as the tourists who stay in the hotel do not leave for one day, their numbers will be counted within the daily quota.

Therefore, although Jack, Wade and others saw many tourists, they did not feel crowded.

While they were chatting, an elevator cabin was slowly pulled up from the top of Area 3, carrying the tourists who were leaving today.

At this time, a passenger airship was floating on the airport berth of Aurora - Sky City. This airship used helium as the airbag filling gas and could transport 200 passengers at a time.

However, since it is a high-altitude dedicated model, the maximum passenger capacity of this airship is only 125 people at a time. But its service is very good. It can provide each passenger with an independent room, as well as a high-altitude cruise viewing room, restaurant, bathroom, chess and card room, gym, cinema, medical room, etc.

This is also a huge advantage of airships compared to airplanes.

Although the payload of the airship will decrease as the flight altitude increases, the airship can be equipped with a large space for activities inside through the use of ultra-light special materials.

This is something that is difficult to do with an airplane.

After all, the flight principles of the two are different, and the aircraft size and engine power, the air resistance of the earth's atmosphere, the body material, etc. are closely related.

Large aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus, and COMAC do not want to launch larger-capacity aircraft, but they really cannot do it.

Even for COMAC, which can easily purchase all kinds of new materials, the largest passenger aircraft they have currently designed can only accommodate a maximum of 1200 passengers.

If the currently common 2000-ton transport airship is converted into a passenger airship, it can transport at least 4000 people and 500 tons of cargo, and its internal activity space is more than ten times that of an airplane.

Therefore, if we pursue timeliness, airplanes are the first choice.

If you are not concerned about timeliness and simply seek comfort during the voyage, then taking an airship is a very good choice.

For example, many travel companies in the Asian Union now use airships as a means of transportation for their tourism projects in various Pacific islands, Antarctica and other regions. For some islands that do not even have airports, airships can not only transport tourists, but also provide them with accommodation, catering and other common services.

Although the Blue Whale Airship Company has not made a big splash in the civil aviation field, it has become a mainstream choice on remote tourist routes.

Currently, there are 47 helium passenger airships in operation for tourism purposes throughout the Asian Union.

Among them, three are in Antarctica.

Spent half an hour at the top observation deck.

Jack and his companions, who were tired of the ice and snow, also walked towards the Sunshine Garden in Area 5, intending to bask in the sun there.

the other side.

After eating and drinking their fill, Lao Qin, Avi and Wu Tiehan walked towards the cable car station arm in arm. They planned to take the cable car into the heart of Antarctica.

The two sides passed each other on the road.

The scientists from the Australian scientific expedition team want to bask in the sun.

Tourists from Seres want to go to the heart of Antarctica.

Following the instructions of the AI ​​tour guide on the tourist's mobile phone, Jack came to an indoor sunny garden with an area of ​​approximately 5000 square meters.

There are various flowers, plants and trees here, as well as a small artificial beach and ocean. Some tropical plants are also planted on the beach, such as coconut trees, pandanus trees, sugar palms, etc.

"Huh..." Stepping on the beach, feeling the scorching heat of the sun, Jack greedily breathed in the hot air and whistled loudly:
"Comfortable…"

"Jack, you're here!" Several scientific expedition team members who arrived earlier were already lying on the beach or applying sunscreen.

"Trudy, did you bring sunscreen? Lend it to me..." Jack Fly asked, rubbing his hands.

The middle-aged white man who was applying sunscreen casually tossed the bottle over and said, "I didn't bring this here. I bought it from the vending machine next to it."

Jack took the sunscreen and sat on the beach. "They sell this kind of stuff here? Seris is really thoughtful."

"Jack, do you want some ice cream?" Wade was already standing next to a vending machine not far away, holding a vanilla ice cream.

"No, I don't want to eat anything cold right now." Jack replied as he took off his T-shirt and applied sunscreen to his upper body.

Not a moment.

There were more than a dozen members of the Australian scientific expedition team lying on the beach. They all gathered here without any prior arrangement. It was obvious that living in the ice and snow for more than half a year made them long for the sun even more.

Lying on the hot beach, they felt a lot more relaxed and their mood improved immediately.

In fact, people who live in an icy and snowy environment for a long time are indeed prone to depression. This is also an environmental factor that makes people in Northern Europe more prone to depression.

at the same time.

Lao Qin and the other two have arrived at the cable car station.

They once again put on their thick cold-proof coats and the emergency backpacks specially provided for tourists.

After all, this cable car route is 150 kilometers long. If any accident occurs along the way, tourists can still use the things in the emergency backpack to survive for two or three days.

When they got on the cable car cabin, besides the three of them, there was also a Seres who was not from the same group as them.

"Started..."

The cable car shook slightly, then began to move rapidly towards the white interior of Antarctica.

The average height of the cable car is about 100 meters from the ice surface.

Although it is autumn in Antarctica, the temperature on the ice field is already very low. Everyone is still wearing sunglasses, mainly because the white ice surface will reflect sunlight, causing snow blindness.

Avi, who was holding the tourist's phone, put his sunglasses on his forehead and looked at the AI ​​tour guide's introduction: "Lao Qin, are we going down later?"

"Of course, otherwise why would we come to Antarctica?" Lao Qin exhaled white mist.

Avi pointed to the three stations on the holographic map and asked, "Which station are you going to?"

Lao Qin thought for a moment and said, "The first stop is near the Australian Casey Station. There shouldn't be anything interesting there. Let's go to the last stop!"

"There are ice sculptures at the first stop!" Wu Tiehan's face was already red from the cold, and he quickly pulled up his hood.

"Haha, those ice sculptures were just made casually by scientific researchers. What's so good about them?"

Wu Tiehan shook his feet and exhaled white mist: "What fun activities are there at the terminal?"

Avi looked at the introduction and said, "There are snowmobiles, igloos, and treasure hunts."

"Treasure hunting?" Wu Tiehan looked bewildered: "This is all white, what treasure can there be?"

"Then you're wrong." Avi explained with his phone, "Meteorites can be found on the Antarctic ice sheet due to the low temperature and freezing."

"Meteorite? Is it true?" Wu Tiehan's eyes sparkled. "I heard that meteorites are quite valuable."

"Haha, forget it, kid." Avi smiled and shook his head. "There are special clauses. Even if you find a meteorite on the Antarctic ice sheet, you have to hand it over to Aurora City for research for a period of time before it is mailed to you as a souvenir. If it is a meteorite with special research value, the government will not return it to you, but give you 500 yuan and a banner."

"Damn! This is such a scam!" Wu Tiehan's interest suddenly dropped.

Lao Qin said calmly, "What are you thinking? This project is originally led by the government, and it must give priority to scientific research. Tourism is just a byproduct."

"That's true..." Wu Tiehan nodded.

While a few people were chatting, the cable car had unknowingly passed the first station.

There were quite a few tourists at the first site, and there were also a dozen staff members from the Seres Antarctic Expedition Team working there.

Looking down from the cable car, there are indeed some bizarre ice sculptures on the ice field below. Many tourists are also carving ice sculptures with tools in their hands, adding a trace of human presence to this restricted area.

However, it is estimated that this trace will soon be erased by the snowstorm this winter.

(End of this chapter)