To my great surprise and delight, I was able to book a trip to Antarctica on the last day they were booking visitors for the year–the slots had all filled up but there was one cancellation. I had just spent a few months traveling through South America and had seen amazing sights, many of which I’ll be writing about in this site, and after exploring Chile, I took a chance to see if I could possibly go to Antarctica…

There was one slot left. And it was the Christmas season, and so, why not get the best gift in the world?

Of course I took it!

And it was a trip beyond my wildest dreams. 

Many people consider Antarctica as the ultimate bucket list destination and I totally agree. Everything I saw took my breath away.

Now, penguins are among my favorite animals in the world. I love all birds, as you’ll see in my photos on later posts about South America, but there is something special about penguins that makes me really happy. These guys are just adorable. Maybe because I watched a lot penguin movies when I was a child. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way, because everyone around me on the ship that departed from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina took a ton of photos.

My camera was in overdrive on this trip. But I got a humpback whale and a seal in motion, and was incredibly happy about it. I joined a small cruise, and I’m glad I chose that rather than the bigger one, because it allowed me more time on land.

The seas got rough many times, especially around the Drake Passage between the peninsula of Antarctica and the Drake Passage, and even I, as an experienced traveller, felt a little dizzy once in a while, but these feelings passed quickly, probably because I was so excited to see everything. And to be fair, once we had passed the Drake Passage the waters got smooth and calm.

It gets really, really cold, so make sure you stock up on the righ