Probably the two most sought after goals for people who travel are 1. To visit 100 countries and therefore become members of the Century Club, definitely an exclusive group, and 2. To travel to all seven continents. Well, I finally hit my seventh continent this past year.
Left Los Angeles with my first stop at DFW in Dallas. Got on my flight to Buenos Aires, but after taxing out to take off, had to taxi back for a security check on a passenger. One hour chopped off my connecting time.
Nice flight to Buenos Aires, but the radar is out at the airport. We finally land, but another hour lost on my connection time. Finally get through customs and rush over to my domestic flight – I think I’m going to miss it. Fortunately the flight to Ushuaia is late so everything turns out OK. I’m now in what is considered the southern most city in the world. How cool.
I spend the next two days in Ushuaia resting up from my flights and enjoying the local culture, especially the cappuccinos and crepes with dulce de leche sauce (a caramel sauce which I couldn’t seem to get enough of).
It’s now time to board my boat. I find it sitting at the dock next to two giant cruise ships, the kind that hold you and 3,000 of your best friends. Not for me. My first thoughts upon seeing my boat – I’m going where in that??? OK, I gotta be nuts. But once I board, meet the crew and my fellow passengers, check out my cabin and the facilities on the boat, including the sauna, I begin to enjoy myself and settle into a nice routine.
The trip across the drake is more like “Drake Lake”,and not anything like the stories I’ve heard about.
Land fall at last (actually it’s only been two days since we left Ushuaia). I’m now at my seventh continent – a major travel milestone to check off my bucket list. Antarctica is a beautiful country, blue skies, glaciers everywhere, seals, penguins, birds, whales, life everywhere.
One of our stops is Deception Island, which is rumored to have hot springs just off the shore which they say warms the water enough to swim in – Not during my trip. The water must have been around 3 degrees C but I made myself a promise that I would go swimming in Antarctic – if swimming is what you call I did. Walk into the water, freeze, walk a little farther thinking it will get better (huh?) and finally say, the heck with it and dive in. It’s cold! Underwater for a minute, a couple of strokes, and that’s swimming in Antarctica. It was actually warmer out of the water than in it. Now it’s time to head back to the boat for a nice long sauna to warm up my frozen body. All in all, a great day.
The next several days are spent visiting different places around the Antarctic Peninsula. Lots of zodiac trips, icebergs (check your white balance on your camera is you can, or shoot RAW) and of course the adorable penguins.
Two other memorable parts of the trip – crossing the Antarctic Circle 66°34′S 0°0′E. Wow. One of the great parallels on world maps. We had a party on board as we crossed the circle – a few people even showed up in shorts and Hawaiian shirts. Definitely a nice addition to my travel goals.
Another memorable part of the trip (I think) was our stop at Vernadsky Station, the Ukrainian research station on the Antarctic Peninsula. We met some of the scientists, got a nice tour of their facility, and they even make their own vodka there using glacier ice for water. While speaking with one of the scientists (Igor – I mean what else?) I mentioned that I had Ukrainian ancestors – we immediately became best buds. Five vodka shots later I think I found my way back to our zodiac. Fun!
We finally headed back to Ushuaia after a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating trip. The trip back was uneventful, no major seas, a great trip back across the Drake.
Many people asked why I did this trip and why I chose the boat I did. I wanted a Russian boat with a Russian trip (the year before I took the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia, a trip of over 10,000 km and loved every minute of it), I wanted a small boat (we had 48 passengers), and I wanted to cross the Antarctic Circle. Done, done, and done.
Next stop, Chile and EcoCamp - an amazing place to stay (one of my favorites). More to come in my next blog.
In closing, I’d just like to thank everyone at Adventure Life for creating a trip of a lifetime. Now all they need to do is get me to 100 countries and I’ll take them all out to dinner. Thank you.
PS. Right now I’m on another trip with them – I’m writing this while sitting on a lovely boat (Sun Boat 3) cruising the Nile. Thank you Mary, Jen, Lynessa, and the great staff at AL.
Adventure Life is always an excellent choice when planning complicated, extreme, or exotic vacations or expeditions. They provide friendly professional services and advice and are enthusiastic and encouraging in helping us to prepare and thoroughly enjoy our trip. They handle all the details which greatly reduces the stress of planning a difficult trip. I'm very impressed with Adventure Life and definitely recommend them to friends and family.
Scott Trochim
2 days ago
The response from Adventure Life to my first inquiry was prompt and promising. I worked with Jamie Broeckel, Trip Planner, via text, email, and phone calls- always extremely responsive and thorough with information and explaining the process to arrange a private tour for me to Malaysia Borneo. Within about week, the booking was complete and I made decisions because of Jamie's great customer service , friendly manner, and overall competence on behalf of the company's travel expertise. Now I have an itinerary, additional Trip Planner Assistants, several links for vital information for traveling to Maylasia, etc. Still many details for Sept. trip, but now the heavy lifting is done and I can enjoy the rest of the anticipation and research!! Thanks Jamie- you are amazing!!!!
Susan Campo
4 days ago
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
5 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.