Pondering the "trip of a lifetime"

A lot of people have asked me how did I even decide to go to Antarctica? So here's the background to my Antarctic trip:
12th February 2017 is my friend Denise's 60th birthday.  Denise has always loved to travel. When she was a child she decided she wanted to visit every country in the world. As she grew up she realized that this was not practical, so her subsequent resolution was that she would at least visit every continent. In the first 59 years of her life she did pretty well at this, visiting South America on a cruise, going on safari in Africa, taking vacations in Australia and China, and traveling extensively in both Europe and North America. But the 7th and most remote continent, Antarctica, was still missing from her list. As Denise had recently sold her Mother's house and now had the funds to afford it, her thoughts turned towards the vacation of a lifetime for her 60th birthday. 
I'm not as extensive a traveler as Denise.  Yes, I've done the whole European tour bit, and I've covered a fair amount of Canada and the US. I like the idea of travel, but I'm also quite keen on my own comfort and safety.  Much as I'd love an African safari I'm not willing to undertake the risks of traveling to areas of the world that I consider dangerous, not to mention the fact that I'm not interested in "roughing it" at my age.  That said, I've always had a fascination with really remote places.  So when Denise tabled the idea of my accompanying her on a vacation to Antarctica I was enthusiastic, despite the cost.

So how does one visit Antarctica? Well unless you're Ranulph Fiennes or a member of a scientific research team, pretty much the only way to visit is on a cruise ship.  
Tourism companies are required by the International Antarctic Treaty Organization (IATO) to have a permit to visit Antarctica. Large cruise vessels are banned from operating in Antarctic waters, and the maximum number of people that are allowed to go ashore at one time is 100. This means that the companies that offer trips to Antarctica operate very small cruise ships (200 guests or less).

After agreeing to go with Denise I did a bit of research on the various companies that operated Antarctic cruises. Suprisingly they differ quite a bit in terms of the type of traveler they are aimed at.  At one end of the range are the "cheap and cheerful" (although even these are relatively expensive) type ships, usually converted research vessels, where you share a room with 4 bunk beds. These are probably aimed at the younger traveler with less money who doesn't mind "roughing it". Then there are the National Geographic type cruises for the people who are really into an enriched educational experience, and so on.  After much investigation Denise and I plumped for Silversea, an up-market cruise company that specialized in smaller cruises to less mainstream destinations.
We booked a year in advance, and I must admit that after paying my deposit I had one of those "OMG what have I done" moments.  It's quite a monumental undertaking to commit to a trip of this nature, or at least it seemed that way to me.

One of the things that attracted us to Silversea in the first place was that there was a lot of support offered up front for the apprehensive traveler. Silversea offer a package, from certain North American airports (including Montreal), that includes flights to Buenos Aires, an overnight stay in a hotel, airport/hotel transfers, and a flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia with a bus from Ushuaia aiport direct to the ship.  Despite being forced to watch 100s of episodes of "Dora the Explorer" when my daughter was a toddler, I am unable to speak a word of Spanish, so this kind of door to door hand-holding was very attractive to me.  The company also provide a set sail guide with advice on what clothing and equipment to pack, and provide options to rent boots, waterproof trousers, walking poles, etc. This is very useful, as a lot of the equipment and clothing needed for an Antarctic trip is heavy, and baggage weight allowances on internal Argentinian flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia can be quite restrictive.

For any North American contemplating an Antarctic cruise sailing from South America (there are some that sail from New Zealand) be aware that there is a "reciprocity" fee required for North Americans entering Argentina. A form must be completed, and the payment made ahead of time. A print out of the completed transaction will be required before you are allowed to board the flight to Argentina.  The fee does not apply to UK citizens. I must admit that I found it a bit strange that Canadians (who must be one of the least offensive nationalities out there) have to pay this fee, but UK citizens like Denise do not, despite Argentina's long term disagreement with the UK over the Falkland Islands.

For those of you who followed my blog during my Hawaiian cruise last October you can probably guess by the length and nature of this post, that on this trip I'll be making more detailed entries than the kind of "we did this today" posts I made on my Hawaiian vacation.  If you don't want this level of detail just watch my Facebook page for some one-liners and photos instead. (Assuming Facebook doesn't lock me out of my account again like it did when I tried to log in from Hawaii!).

So here I am, all ready (I hope) to set out on my "trip of a lifetime". Wish me luck!