Views of vast landscapes while flying over Argentina. (Rachel Short-Miller)Views of vast landscapes while flying over Montana and Wyoming. (Rachel Short-Miller)
To get to Antarctica requires a lot of travel. As the crow flies, it’s a little under 10,000 miles from Missoula, Montana. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and looking back, I wish we would have spent more time exploring some of the miles in between. If we hadn’t been hemmed in by two weeks notice and Christmas travel plans we definitely would have spent more time in Argentina. I mean, when is the next time we will travel all the way to the end of the world?
The Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. (Rachel Short-Miller)Reserva Ecologica Constanera Sur, complete with lagoons, marshlands and forest, just outside of Buenos Aires. (Rachel Short-Miller)
Regardless, I’m thankful for the time we did get and this blerb is to honor the pre and post trips. Our trip took us from Missoula, Montana to Denver, Colorado and on to Houston, Texas. From Houston, we had an overnight flight to Buenos Aires and that is where our trip really began. We landed at 10 AM and cleared customs by 11. After a 30 minute taxi ride, we arrived at our air b and b for the night located in downtown San Telmo neighborhood. From there, after dropping off our stuff, we took out on foot. We walked a total of 10 miles in the span of 8 hours and visited many places. The first main highlight was the Recoleta Cemetery, second stop was the lagoon and the final sight was Plaza del Mayo. After a full day of exploring we slept hard and awoke in time to connect with our flight to Ushuaia. This is where Ponant met us with a sign at the airport and took care of everything from there on out.
The town of Ushuaia. (Rachel Short-Miller)View from the Arakur Ushuaia Resort & Spa in Usuaia, Argentina. (Rachel Short-Miller)
We landed in Ushuaia around 7 pm and loaded into large tour buses that took us to our hotel for the night. The Arakur Ushuia is a very nice hotel on top of the hill, overlooking the entire town. We had dinner and then took a 20 minute shuttle down into town to explore. The town of Ushuaia seemed very eclectic but very fun. We didn’t get to explore much as it was a Monday night around 9 pm and everything was closed. The next morning, we checked out and loaded into those large tour buses and spent a half day touring parts of Tierra del Fuego National Park, a great addition if you are going to be in Ushuaia. After lunch, we boarded our ship and disembarked around 8 pm that night.
Tierra del Fuego National Park. (Rachel Short-Miller)
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
