When I first envisioned visiting all seven continents by the time I was thirty-five, Antarctica was at the top of a few lists: Hardest to get to, hardest to afford, hardest to explain, and most likely to kill me. There are any number of reasons why this would be the most-complicated trip I would ever take. For years, I applied with Raytheon, a company that handles most of the contract work for Antarctic bases, and applied for every technical job they had. It wasn’t meant to be, and I never even got a return phone call. Eventually I resolved to get there on my own, and somehow along the way I’ve found a travel friend who will go with me. I never thought it would be possible, let alone to experience it with a friend, I live a very charmed life and this is no exception!
We leave in late November, flying out shortly before Thanksgiving. I’ll miss both Thanksgiving itself, and my mother’s birthday before we get back… but if I had to pick a reason for missing these types of events with family I hope traversing the globe (and heading for one of its most-remote regions) is a good enough one. We’re taking pretty much the maximum time either of us could get away from work at a time and flying down to Ushuaia, Argentina.
We arrive in Ushuaia a day ahead of the cruise to account for flight problems, and then we embark the day after Thanksgiving. From there on, it’s all sightseeing and taking pictures. I hope my camera will work, but I’m hoping to look more into cold weather gear for it as we head more towards November. I feel so unprepared! During the trip we have two nights of camping, and at first I envisioned bringing a tent and read stories online about having to dig our own snow caves… … but now I’m not so sure just how the adventure will look. I’ll be e-mailing the group soon to figure out if I need to bring camping equipment, or if that is provided, or if they really are going to send me off with a shovel and say “see you tomorrow!”. I’m up for any of those options, really… I have no idea what’s wrong with me!
After the boat trip and camping (12 days total) we are coming back through Peru, stopping in the Amazon for a few days in the jungle and time to explore the river and hike trails. I’m not exactly sure how to pack for one of the coldest climates in the world, followed immediately by one of the warmest and most-humid… but I’ll figure it out. I’m even considering shipping luggage to meet me in the middle or to avoid packing it back the whole way. I’m going to have to look into the logistics on that one! We had hoped to see Buenos Ares, and I think unfortunately an elongated stay in Ushuaia (my request!) to ride “The Train at the End of the World” and explore will cost us that opportunity… but maybe it just means we come back depending on how much we like what we see! From the website, there are even more spiders than in Africa and I’m not sure how much Jen will be up for… haha!
I’ll wrap this up, but here is a link to the itinerary we’ve selected. It’s not exactly the “bottom of the world”, but it’s on the continent and that’s what counts! If you want to actually see the South Pole, the price nearly quadruples, so I’ll be very glad to do this one:
