One of the biggest questions we get is how did you travel to Antarctica? So I wanted to show you the full itinerary from London (our home) to Antarctica. Plus, it takes me to the beginning of this journey, so I think it’s a good way to start this story.😁😁😁😁
So I booked a direct flight from London to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are indirect flight options connecting to other cities on the way to Buenos Aires, but even a direct flight would take around 14 hours, so we decided to limit the travel time with a direct flight.
Also, when we traveled, if we tested positive we wouldn’t be able to board the ship to Antarctica, so we decided to limit contact with people and thought that waiting at the transit airport probably wasn’t the best idea. for this trip.
Oh yeah, I booked a direct British Airways flight to Buenos Aires on January 2nd, but the flight was actually canceled by British Airways and the booking was moved to New Year’s Day instead.
In fact, I had originally booked the trip for January 2nd as I had planned to cure my New Year’s Eve hangover on New Year’s Day, but thanks to the decision to quarantine before the trip, I actually had nothing to do on New Year’s Eve. I could not do it. anyway.
To be honest, I already started quarantining before Christmas. We have been planning this trip for years and in fact had already postponed it a few times so now that we have confirmed our plans we wanted to do our best not to test positive .
Oh, and I had also planned to arrive in Argentina a few days early and explore the cities there before boarding the ship to Antarctica, but due to the isolation, I didn’t explore those cities. I completely forgot about that. Even before our trip.
Anyway, fast forward – we arrived in Buenos Aires at dawn and went to our hotel – the Alvear Palace Hotel.
Thankfully, I was allowed to check in, even though I’m usually too early to check in, and I quickly fell asleep for the next nine hours without skipping a beat.
The rest of our time in Buenos Aires was pretty cold. Evening drinks at the downstairs bar.
Dinner of Argentinian steak and Malbec at Fervor, a wonderful restaurant next door, was told by the hotel concierge that it was well enjoyed by the Belgian Prince earlier in the week. bottom.
There was one exception. So there is a weight limit of 15 kg per suitcase on local flights in Argentina (33 lbs if you’re unfamiliar with kilograms). It can be extended to 23kg or 50lbs, but you will have to pay extra for that.
However, only one suitcase arrived in Argentina, both weighing at least 30 kg.
I forgot to mention that if your suitcase exceeds 23kg, it must be shipped by freighter. This means that it will arrive a few days after arriving at its destination.
So we decided that we should buy an extra suitcase and split our luggage between the old and new suitcases. I had to withdraw some cash to buy a new suitcase.
It turns out that withdrawing cash is not easy in Argentina. That’s a story for another day, but after hours of trying I was able to withdraw £7/$10 from the cash machine but the cost is £7/$10 fee for withdrawal. So withdrawing £7 actually costs £14 in total.
So another option was presented. It is to send cash by Western Union money transfer. Rates are actually good. Then the exchange will give you twice his amount in local currency.
However, I needed a local phone number to make Western Union money transfers. So we went out looking for a local sim car, but we needed cash to get one, so the cycle of constantly looking for new ones continued.
In the end, thanks to the previous £7, we finally got a SIM card, but we had to activate it. It’s a complete dance that you have to take a picture of yourself with.
In the end, my SIM card became unusable, so I walked around the city looking for my suitcase and ended up at a cell phone shop. Since the SIM card is active, there was no point in expecting it to be usable for Western Union money transfers at any time of the day.
It’s a totally silly dance and this is how we really spent most of our day in Buenos Aires. Moral of the story – Arrive in Buenos Aires with cash.
No, not pounds. Not very helpful. The euro is slightly better, but the US dollar matters. Bring your dollars. When you change your cash, you get twice the aforementioned incredible he exchange rate. So literally twice as much as if you paid with a card.
The next leg of the trip was a flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, which served as the inspiration for the name of Ibiza’s most famous club. Again, in Ushuaia, I decided to be very low key and stick to hotels (aside from staying in town to buy seasickness pills).
For dinner and drinks we went to our hotel, the Wyndham Garden Ushuaia Hotel Del Gràcia.
Then, from Ushuaia, you must cross the world’s most powerful sea convergence and the world’s most dangerous voyage, the Drake’s Passage. This includes the Pacific, Atlantic and Southern Oceans, where waves can be up to 12 meters / 40 feet high. And that’s before winds of up to 50 knots blow. (I’m not actually sure what that means, but I’ve been told there are a lot of them).
Or you can go through a fairly mild crossing, but it’s all completely weather dependent.
For that crossing, and the main reason we came to Argentina in the first place, we boarded the Albatros Expeditions Ocean Victory ship.
Ocean Victory is a brand new luxury liner that completely disappoints your expectations of going to Antarctica. When I started planning my trip many years ago, I knew I had to travel on a hardcore expedition ship with limited facilities.
I didn’t expect a ship with a spa, gym, pool, great dining room, gorgeous social areas and beautiful bedrooms. The moment I found out about Ocean Victory, it was easy to say yes.
We’ll show you what it’s like in the next episode, but yes, that’s how we ended up in Antarctica.
After finishing the Drakes Passage, the next stop is Antarctica. Your cruise ship will become your home for any number of days you choose to spend there, giving you plenty of opportunities to get off the boat and go cruising or travel. On land to meet Antarctic locals.
See you in the next post for all of that.
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