Travel day! Normally not much to report, but once again we have a story to tell…

The flight to Dallas Fort Worth international went smoothly.  Got to have lunch in DFW, but no, not here:

Ater lunch we hopped onto our flight to Miami.   Got there in plenty of time only to discover that our 9:10 pm flight had been “delayed” until the next day.

This led to us once again having to sleep in the airport on the floor.  Here was Tim’s bed:

 

And of course Margaret had already gone to bed…

 

We ended up with a 10+ hour delay in Miami, causing us to miss an entire day in Buenos Aires.  Not ideal, and some hell will be raised later with the airline (flight was delayed to short staffing), but we’re on our way to Antarctica so we’ll do the best with what we have for now. 

Let’s recap what brought us to this point:

Someone decided years ago we might need to go to Antarctica someday.  That day came in 2019 when we booked our trip, scheduled for 2020.

2020 – pandemic hits, trip is a no-go

2021 – pandemic is still a concern in South America, so our trip is cancelled weeks before departure

2022 – rather than tell you to read last year’s blog we’ll give you the Reader’s Digest condensed version. 

  • We flew to Santiago, Chile and, after doing touristy stuff, headed to Valparaiso to hop onboard the Nansen and head south.
  • We did just that – headed south making several stops at ports in Chile, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
  • Experienced a category 1 hurricane BEFORE hitting the dreaded Drake Passage.
  • Headed across said passage to the bottom of the world.  Until six hours before our landing when we had to turn around due to a critical medical condition on board.
  • Disappointing to say we’d been in Antarctic waters but not on the continent, but the expedition company treated us well.  We saw SO much of Argentina we would never have been afforded the opportunity otherwise – tours in the Andes, dance performances representing both local customs and the muy caliente Argentinian tango, Tierra del Fuego National Park, and other unplanned events.  They also treated us better than what they were contractually bound to as they offered for us to come back next year “free”.  (using quotes because there were some costs involved on our end, but those were minor considering the “free” trip we were getting in return!)

 

We think you’re up to date now.  We’re headed to Antarctica again (fourth try, second physical attempt) and will be traveling until tomorrow.  First day (and night) was not fun by any stretch… but, as noted above, have another story to tell.

 

Buenos Noches!