Why Antarctica?

Waking up on day one of a trip I'd been planning for two and a half years, only to learn I'd slept through a historic storm was not the start I expected. My husband described it over breakfast. Trees were down across the city, the power was out, and water had found its way into our hotel room. I had no memory of any of it. That's either the soundest I've ever slept or proof I was more exhausted than I realized, and honestly, it might have been both.

I didn't know it yet, but that storm would end up mattering later. Let me back up. The idea itself was old. I have been obsessed with Antarctica and penguins for as long as I can remember. The idea of going somewhere that remote, seeing penguins in their natural habitat, just living their life - and doing it all on a cruise ship - just sounded like heaven to me. Luxury and adventure, all on a boat. What more could I possibly want?

It was my husband who turned all of that from a fantasy into reality, though. One day, we were discussing what to do for my fiftieth birthday and he just said it. "We're going to Antarctica, aren't we."

And that's when the two and a half years of anticipation and planning excitement started.

That isn’t a typo, the Alvear Palace breakfast did indeedy start at 3:30am.

For the record, you don’t always have to book Antarctica that far in advance. But I love planning nearly as much as I do traveling, so for this trip, starting that far ahead was a huge part of the fun.

That included researching what cruise line to go with. We did our due diligence, looking at the market, but had been on many Seabourn cruises by that point, and were lucky enough to be on one with Robin West, who runs their entire Antarctica program as VP of Expedition Operations and Planning. He gave us two pieces of advice that shaped all of our planning after:

1 - Antarctica's weather and wildlife are unpredictable enough that some travelers get two or three days on land and never see much else, so build in more time in every location than feels necessary.

2 - Since penguins were my goal, I needed to consider more than just Antarctica. South Georgia is the real location for wildlife, and if we were doing this as a once in a lifetime, bucket list trip, don’t go for just Antarctica - add on South Georgia and the Falklands.

Those two points immediately narrowed the list of possible voyages for us down to a handful of options, and from there we quickly settled on Seabourn. The itinerary was perfect, the timing worked over the Christmas and New Years holiday, and as Robin had told us - we’d have the best shot at seeing lots of wildlife, plus penguin chickies.

We decided to spend a few days in Buenos Aires before Seabourn took over to take us to the bottom of the world, and I’m so glad we did! It has a European feel, much to Barcelona or Paris than anything I'd have ever guessed about South America. Argentinian pizza is a thing to be experienced, the tomatoes there are completely unmatched, and the tango! If this picture doesn’t speak for itself, I don’t know what does.

We loved the show, and the conversation - we somehow ended up seated at a shared table with two other couples, both also headed south. One of them turned out to be Honeymooners on our sailing, and became close friends and trivia partners over the following weeks.

La Ventana Tango

We spent a few nights in the Park Hyatt, then moved to the Alvear Palace for the last evening as arranged by Seabourn. That hotel was incredible, and one night there was not enough.

We had one final reminder of why Seabourn handles the charter from BA to Ushuaia. That storm I mentioned at the beginning? It had knocked out the local airport, so our flight to Ushuaia was rerouted to the international one, much further away from the city. Like everything else that happens in ‘expedition mode’ - it was just handled by Seabourn, we were brought to the proper airport and handed boarding passes without any extra effort needed on our part.

That phrase ‘expedition mode’ is a major one we would hear repeated over and over over the next three weeks. Flexibility was the name of the game, and the switch in airport was only the start.