Yikes - our alarm clock went off at 5:00 am. At 5:45 am Andrea arrived with a driver, to take us to the Buenos Aires domestic airport for the 7:15 -11:30 am flight to Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city. Since we left the hotel without eating, we enjoyed the ever popular medialunas (croissants) and coffee, served on the plane. When the plane parked at the gate area, we noticed a group of soldiers by the plane next to ours. We just missed President Cristina Kirchner arriving in Ushuaia for a computer assembly plant opening. (They need jobs down here, as the economy has tanked in recent years.) After picking up our luggage we were greeted by the very friendly and personable Augustine, one of the great bi-lingual guides from the Canal tour company in Ushuaia. Augustine drove us the short distance to the Hosteria Linares. The Linares is a quaint guest house, with very basic small rooms. It's up on a hill, above one end of the downtown area. The Linares has a very nice common sitting area / library. From the picture window is a great view of the town, the Beagle Channel and ice covered mountains. We were on our own the rest of the day to explore downtown Ushuaia. It was cool and windy, around 45°F. We walked down Maipu, the street by the channel. We had a nice lunch at Ramos Generales - El Almacen. It's a 100 year old general store, operated as a cafe, coffee house and bakery by a French couple. After lunch we walked to the pier, where a ship was being prepared for an Antarctic cruise. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering into various shops on San Martin. Ushuaia has grown to a population of over 60,000, with a decent downtown. Since we already had enough beef for a week, dinner was salads, chicken entrees and wine at the very popular Tanta Nina, at the other end of town. Each night in Ushuaia, Canal sent an email to the Linares with our pick up time for the next day.
Adventure Life has been an extraordinary travel resource for us over the years and today was no exception. Our River Cruise booking was handled by Jess (who has been our personal trip planner for several years) the same day as our inquiry. Suggestions were given for cabin choice and pre-trip options (that were not shown on the cruise line's website) like airport transfers and prepaid gratuities. Trip insurance recommendations followed and we were assigned a travel co-ordinator till the end of the tour. All we have to do is show up! Great service from friendly folks.
APtravelwell
1 day ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
1 day ago
Although there was a lot of paper work, I received help and guidance when I needed it.
Donna Kirby
2 days ago
Our travel was flawless! The rider pickup (airport, hotel, ship) was seamless. Jane's recommendation for Emerald Cruise Sakara was everything I wanted but the experience was soooo much more. Adventure Life took care of each and every detail and this was the easiest of all my travels.
Anne Petty
3 days ago
Follow up was effective any questions were answered in a timely manner