Most cruises hand you an itinerary months in advance, listing which port you'll be at, what time you'll be there, and which excursions you can book ahead of time. An expedition cruise isn’t anything like that. It can’t work like that.

Another early morning wakeup for our second day in Antarctica, and a zodiac ride to Danko Island. We watched thousands of Gentoo penguins running up and down their penguin highways, worn tracks in the snow that they refuse to move off of. Nesting protecting their eggs, backs turned against the wind with that particular penguin stubbornness that never really stops being funny.

Ask anyone who hasn't done an Antarctic crossing what the days on the Drake Passage are actually like, and you'll usually hear some version of restful. Sea days, nothing to do, maybe a book and a nap. That is not even close to what actually happens.

The trip down to the end of the world started with a 3am wakeup call, a sleepy bus ride to the airport, and a very early morning JetSmart charter flight out of Buenos Aires.