WorldTravelReynolds

Friends, after almost a year of radio silence on the international travel front, we are baaaack — and holy penguins, do I have a story for you.

We are officially en route to Antarctica. Yes, THAT Antarctica. The frozen end-of-the-earth one. Sixteen nights on an expedition ship heading to the bottom of the bottom of the planet. We booked this insanity TWO YEARS AGO, right after we got off the World Cruise! Time flies when you’re waiting to voluntarily freeze your face off, apparently.

The journey started, as all great adventures do, with a red-eye soul-crusher: a 9-hour overnight flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Santiago, Chile. (We live in Dunedin, Florida, so tack on another flight and you’ve got yourself a very long 24-hour day.) Red-eyes are the worst, but they’re also the only way to not lose an entire day, so we sucked it up and prayed for sleep.

Landed in Santiago, stumbled into the gorgeous Mandarin Oriental, and basically hibernated until 3 p.m. Once we re-joined the living, we rewarded ourselves with the best hamburger I’ve eaten in years and then murdered a plate of pastries that should honestly be illegal. Chile, you’re already spoiling us.

Next morning: back to the airport for the charter flight that makes this whole trip real. We boarded in 80 °F Santiago summer, sipping coffee in T-shirts. Four hours later we stepped off the plane in Puerto Williams (the southernmost town on the planet, basically) into 39 °F and a wind that slapped the tropical right out of us. Welcome to the freezer, ya’ll!

Fun fact: they say this is the WARMEST it’s going to get for the next two weeks. Send help (and hand-warmers).

The flight itself? Absolute bucket-list material. Only about 50 of us on board, so Chuck and I scored an entire three-seat row to ourselves . They greeted us with fancy chocolates and bottled water, then served a legit Chilean lunch mid-flight. They offered Pisco Sours; we politely declined because we still remember the hangover from our round-the-world trip. Some memories you don’t need to relive.

But the views… oh my gosh. Flying low over the Chilean fjords and the jagged teeth of Patagonia is something my iPhone camera roll will never forgive me for. Every single photo has an airplane engine in the corner because, well, window seat life. I don’t care. You can crop out the engine; you can’t crop out the feeling of staring at mountains and glaciers that look Photoshopped by God Himself.

So here we are, Day 1 in the books, already layered up like over-stuffed burritos, sipping hot coffee in the southernmost town on Earth, waiting for tomorrow’s ship embarkation. Antarctica doesn’t even know what’s coming: two slightly crazy Floridians armed with 47 jackets and zero chill (literally). HA HA!

After we de-iced our eyelashes in Puerto Williams, we took a quick 10-minute bus ride to the pier and finally laid eyes on our floating home: the Silversea Cloud. She’s a dainty little thing—only 270 passengers max, 212 crew—so basically a 1:1 human-to-spoiler ratio. For this sailing we have about 240 guests, and rumor has it roughly 60% are from one (non-American) country, so Silversea brought extra interpreters along. I’m already practicing my “excuse me’s” in three new languages just to be polite when someone runs me over on the way to the elevator. (NOT!)

We were welcomed aboard like royalty, handed over to our butler (yes, an actual butler) and room attendant who have already informed us that nightly chocolate delivery is non-negotiable. Twist my arm.

The ship also carries 25 expedition rockstars—naturalists, historians, geologists, ecologists, marine biologists… basically a walking PhD party. So many “-gists” I’m calling them the Gistapo (too soon?).

Small ship = mandatory for weaving through ice and making Zodiac landings, so for this up close and personal expedition, we’ll take the cozy over the mega-cruise vibe any day.

One last thing before I face-plant into my pillow: here’s the ridiculous itinerary we’re about to live:

• Santiago → Puerto Williams (done!)
• New Island & West Point Island, Falklands
• Port Stanley, Falklands
• South Georgia for a few jaw-dropping days (penguins! whales! Shackleton vibes!)
• Antarctic Sound & Antarctic Peninsula (the big frozen show for a few more days)
• Wrap up with an overnight on King George Island, then a glorious “I survived” flight back to Santiago.

Sixteen nights. Six or Seven landings in the Falklands/Antarctica zone. Approximately 4,000 layers of clothing.

I’ll tell you about our penguin attire tomorrow!

Night one chocolates have been consumed. Alarm is set for 7:00 a.m. because there’s so much to learn before we can be introduced to penguins! Lots of mandatory seminars.

Catch you tomorrow—assuming my fingers still work after deck time.

May God bless you always!

Chuck and Lea Ann