South America Archives - ETB Travel Photography

Day Four – On the Way to Antarctica – Hiking Martial Glacier by Morning…Cruising the Beagle Channel by Night

As we began our breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant, an older lady passed by our table and asked, “Are you my roommates”? Puzzled, we quizzically looked up at her in silence. To which she added, “well are you on the boat?” We responded, “Yes, but we have our own room.” She replied, “Oh well, I haven’t met my roommates. Strange people are interesting.” Nicole and I weren’t exactly sure how to take that comment…were we strange? or interesting? and what made her think we signed up for a triple berth? Hmmm…I have promptly pegged her for the token, annoying shipmate…we shall see. Continue reading “Day Four – On the Way to Antarctica – Hiking Martial Glacier by Morning…Cruising the Beagle Channel by Night” →

Day Two – On the Way to Antarctica…Second Stop – Ushuaia

Traveling to Ushuaia

5:30 am came too early, especially after never really falling asleep. We had an easy taxi ride to the airport (our cab driver loved Zorro), a long wait at the check in counter, a quick walk through lax security, a goofy experience at the cafe, and a full flight to Ushuaia (with an interim stop in Trelew). Continue reading “Day Two – On the Way to Antarctica…Second Stop – Ushuaia” →

18 Hour Layover in Buenos Aires

Traveling to Buenos Aires

Our trip started with our plane delayed two hours which was a slight bummer as we ‘have much time to spend in Buenos Aires on our way to Antarctica anyway! The good news is, my awesome friend Nicole upgraded me to business class for our overnight flight, and the seats fully reclined! The business class seating area on a 777 is more complicated than a car. There is a glove box and the tray table comes out from the arm rest and from the seat back in front of us and connects together. Lots of other gadgets as well.

Our flight attendant was amazing. It’s been a long time since someone on AA was so nice. I was ready to tip her! The jet lag took affect when we landed. I had read about an entry tax but it sounded like we could pay it through a simple process at immigration…not so! We got booted out of the line and sent to a computer. After filling out the entire form and selecting the “add to shopping cart” button, the form promptly disappeared. Then our user names were taken. After back-paging through several screens, we retrieved our sign in page; however, we didn’t have a form according to the computer, so we got to reenter all of our information again! This time we made sure to click the “pay” button further down the screen versus the “add to cart” button. The good news is, it was so frustrating, we will not forget that we have paid the $160 entry tax for ten years! Continue reading “18 Hour Layover in Buenos Aires” →