The Antarctic Dream

I boarded the "Antarctic Dream" a little apprehensively. It's both exciting and daunting to be going on this journey. I think it's fair to appreciate that I'm going somewhere very inhospitable - Antarctica is the coldest, driest, highest and windiest place in the world. This is not an everyday journey and I am headed somewhere really special.

The Antarctic Dream:

They boarded us around 16h30. Over the next hour or so 70 others arrived, depending on when their shuttle bus arrived. I sat at an empty table and it wasn't too long before a couple of ladies traveling on their own joined me. It turned out that one of them, Jemma, was my new roommate.

They showed us to our rooms - simple but nice and clean with our very own porthole!

Then we had some time to settle in before we had the mandatory evacuation drill. In light of the recent Italian ship disaster, this was very much appreciated. It was good to know what the alarm sounded like, which lifeboat I was supposed to go to and to try on my life jacket ahead of time since straps are much better adjusted when not in a panic!

It was only after we'd settled back in to the dining area for a glass of champagne (nice touch!) and a welcome from the staff that we actually started to sail away from Ushuaia. Wow...next stop Antarctica!