Yes, you read that right. This Christmas, while everyone else visits relatives or heads off on a relaxing vacation, my brother, grandfather, and I will be headed to the South Pole. I’m fairly neutral about the trip, but this is an opportunity too good to pass up. I mean, how often is one offered a free trip to the South Pole? (Grandparents are footing the rather large bill.)
The trip is being done through Quark Expeditions and will be from Dec. 27th though Jan. 6th. We will be taking the Classic Antartica tour. On the way down/back we will be making 1-3 day stops in Rio and Buenos Aires as well as a 1 night stopover in Ushuaia.
My questions to you all are:
Have any dopers been to Antarctica, for pleasure or otherwise?
If so, what was your experience like?
Recommendations for things to do/places to stay while in Rio, BA, and Ushuaia.
We will be in (I believe) Rio for Christmas day. Will be city be dead, normal, or going crazy?
Any other useful information such as things to pack etc… would be greatly appreciated.
Allow me to clarify. This is a cruise that departs out of Ushuaia and tours around the Antarctic peninsula. There will be chances to get off the boat and walk around, but we wont actually be travelling to the pole itself.
As I understand it it will actually be quite warm (by Antarctic standards) while we’re there. Winter here is summer there etc…
And you’re “fairly neutral” about it? Man, you should be jumping out of your skin with anticipation. I’d kill to do go down there. I’d even winter down there for six months if it was the only way I could do it - and I’m not even a snow person!
My boss several years ago took a sabbatical to lead an expedition to Antarctica. Like you, they only went to the coast. A whole bunch of them were going to be locked together on a ship for long periods of time, so when he left we gave him a going-away party with an ice cream cake.
As a gift, we gave him a VHS tape they could watch over and over on boring nights.
If you find any meteorites (which you have more than a passing chance of doing - they stand out pretty well against the white background) please, for the love of god, turn them over to scientists somewhere! (I’m assuming you aren’t one.) There’s so much valuable info locked in those suckers. Even if it sits for a while before being examined, its worth it to give it to someone who can properly study it, IMHO.
That being said . . . I’m jealous!! You lucky dog!! Please, please, take pictures and post them!
I’ve been to Antarctica, and on a Quark cruise to boot. (Not the same as yours, though; mine was the Ross Sea cruise, starting and ending in Australia.)
Umm. Advice? Don’t buy the heaviest, thickest clothing you can find. What you want is layers. Lots of them. The individual layers can be relatively thin. I typically found that 3 or 4 layers of pants, for example, were plenty: long underwear; ordinary tracksuit pants; ordinary jeans; overtrousers. For footwear I had two or three layers of socks and ordinary rubber boots. No problems.
Beyond that … Antarctica may just be the most beautiful place in the world. If I can ever afford to go back, I’ll do it like a shot.
Weird memory: zipping around in the Ross Sea in a zodiac raft. I dangled my hand in the water … and it felt warm! Because the water temperature was higher than the air.
Most unforgettable moment: the first day we saw icebergs. By mid-morning we were surrounded by them. I could almost die happy, remembering that.
You’re “fairly neutral” about this trip? Well give me the ticket! And I’ll trade you a ticket for a vacation in beautiful Iowa, which, hopefully, will be more interesting to you. :rolleyes:
My parents went in January, through ElderHostel. They went to Buenos Aires (side trip to Tierra del Fuego) and took an icebreaker to the peninsula. Then it was Zodiaks to various landing areas.
They said the sun was actually pretty warm, given that you’re clamboring in and out of the Zodiaks. Be careful to protect your camera from moisture from since temperature changes would cause condensation (sealed zip-loc bag). They were able to wade and some folks did swim, but that was brisk!
Their photos are spectacular–pretty much everything is a photo opportunity and they must have taken 800-1000 pictures on a 13-day trip.