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WOW! If I were 20 years younger, I'd love to go on a trip like that. I love cold, snow and ice; it would be a dream trip for sure.
My boyfriend has been to Antarctica, but it was long before we met. He would love to return. Makes me wonder whether we could handle such a trip now. Next summer we will be on a cruise to Norway and Iceland. That may be the closest we get to icy mountains in the future.
Thanks for sharing the video, charlygal.
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As I was watching, I was thinking, Hmmm, I don't really have this huge desire to do a lot of traveling in retirement, especially tourist-type traveling (the if-it's-Tuesday-it-must-be-Belgium type of traveling) ... but this kind of tour looks amazing because it is so far (literally and figuratively) from anything I've ever done.
Did a quick search and saw tours for close to $20,000 and up. So maybe if my retirement funds do well ...
As I was watching, I was thinking, Hmmm, I don't really have this huge desire to do a lot of traveling in retirement, especially tourist-type traveling (the if-it's-Tuesday-it-must-be-Belgium type of traveling) ... but this kind of tour looks amazing because it is so far (literally and figuratively) from anything I've ever done.
Did a quick search and saw tours for close to $20,000 and up. So maybe if my retirement funds do well ...
The $20k is for cruises on "luxury" lines. I've seen similar expedition trips around $7k. If you can give up having caviar and champagne while on the ice shelf, you can still have an enjoyable trip and save some money.
The $20k is for cruises on "luxury" lines. I've seen similar expedition trips around $7k. If you can give up having caviar and champagne while on the ice shelf, you can still have an enjoyable trip and save some money.
Really, $7k? Wow, that would be affordable as a once-in-a-lifetime splurge.
As I was watching the video I was trying to guess how much it would cost ... I had a minimum of $10k in my head. So I wasn't totally shocked when I googled.
The $20k is for cruises on "luxury" lines. I've seen similar expedition trips around $7k. If you can give up having caviar and champagne while on the ice shelf, you can still have an enjoyable trip and save some money.
They offer a few different Antartica cruises. Here's one that's 12 days. Includes the zodiak tours and hiking on the glaciers. It's listed in GBP but you can convert to USD.
We did a trip to the Antarctic peninsula a decade+ ago...
~ 10 days on the old MV Discovery, a Brit ship that was actually the old 'Love Boat' ship, and while not a modern cruise ship, it was a v powerful, solid ship that did many Antarctica trips.
Haven't studied all of the current offerings, but all will be time consuming, not cheap and a bit arduous, in our experience: most depart from Ushuaia, Argentina, (aka Fin Del Mundo), which is a couple of long flights to get 'there'.
Then, chug out the Beagle Channel and south to 'cruise' across the serious Drake Passage to the Antarctic peninsula.
We had a 'reasonable' crossing both ways, eg waves not more than ~20 feet, but the previous crossing reported 60+ ft waves and confinement to one's room/sea sick, some ship damage, etc. It is a serious azz area of ocean...
Our ship was spartan/old fashioned, and lightly populated with ~350 passengers, full crew, a dozen lecturers/Antarctic experts, an Ice Captain, et al.
Beyond 'ships', the experience was excellent and the sights/sites both from the ship/water and the on land Zodiac trips were remarkable. The scale is almost beyond words.
If anyone has done an AK cruise with the usual Glacier Bay day, think of that as Little League baseball vs the Majors; the Antarctic peninsula is that extraordinary.
The trip process, expense and ~2+ week trip is not for everyone obviously, but if one can do it, then do it!
Late October through Feb is 'Summer' there and the time to go.
My 50Cts...
GL, mD
A friend went to Antarctica and he commented that when you see a colony of penguins there is a stench that is unforgettable. They enjoyed the trip otherwise.
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