DAY THREE (Feb 18)

Okay, so many of you have been bugging us for photos, and they start today! So sharpen up your eyeballs and get ready!

We take off from Buenos Aires around 11:00AM and soon we make a stop in a small town called Telew, Argentina.  Most of the passengers on the plane depart and a few board.  So with a half full plane, something you rarely see anymore, we take off again and land in Ushuaia, Argentina.  Also known as “Tierra del Fuego” (“Land of Fire”) and in an area known as “Patagonia”, this town (city?) is nicknamed, “Fin del Mundo” (“End of the World”)

(Etymology:  The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón, which was used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native tribes of the region, whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed that the people he called the Patagons were Tehuelches, who tended to be taller than Europeans of the time.  This might explain some phenomenon we encountered on our trip to Machu Picchu several years ago)

Our luggage nowhere in sight, we have another uneventful flight to Tierra del Fuego.  We check on a whim, but our luggage did not make the plane.  So off we go to our hotel in Ushuaia.  This is a quaint little city, the southernmost in the world.  It is cool and a crisp 35 degrees Fahrenheit here even though it is summer in this part of the world.  Sure glad I bought a sweatshirt in Miami, knowing the chances of having luggage upon arrival was slim to none.

The views out of the Commercial Airliner windows were Stunning!

It is now day 3, our flight to Buenos Aires using up one night and we have nothing to do but check out this little city built on a hill that once used to be a penal colony.  Contact with the airlines still assures us that we will get our luggage soon.  We hope so because we are in day 3 with the same clothes on.  We acquired some underwear and sweatshirts in Miami just in case and we are at least glad for that.  We now have a day and a half before we need to turn that luggage in to the ship for our Expedition even further south.

Ushuaia turns out to be quite the bustling place with a circuit of one way streets lined with restaurants, stores and shops that open around 10 AM and close from 1 to 4 PM for siesta and open again until around 8 PM.  We spy some Patagonian Adventure Gear Stores and make note of their locations in case we need them. We even find a “Hard Rock Café” in Ushuaia of all places! We stop in and have a drink just because when are you ever going to be in a Hard Rock Café in Ushuaia?  So the end of Day 3 comes and we find ourselves having dinner in a fabulous lamb restaurant. The chef tells me he cooks 10-12 full animals each DAY! And he cooks them on a revolving smoker/cooker and what you order is a ‘chunk’ of lamb and that is what you get! Lamb, skin and any offal that happens to come along with it. Not being a fan of offal, (I believe that whomever named it ‘Offal’, knew what he was doing!) but the lamb was perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection!

After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel and ended up getting lost at night (It was after 11 PM so it was dark) and wandered this way and that until we eventually found our hotel. Never felt worried at all for our safety. Passed many people and everybody greeted everybody as friends!  We have another chat with the airlines in an unfruitful attempt to acquire our lost luggage.   So we turn in for a night’s rest in a hotel bed.

DAY TWO (Feb 17)

Boarded a mid morning flight and landed in Miami, let’s go get our bags and figure out what to do with them for 5 hours.  What?  Where are they?  All the other passengers have got their bags and here we are standing at the carousel and there are no bags left, let alone OUR bags!  This nightmare is getting worse.  Off to baggage claim to figure this out.  Our luggage is still in Atlanta?  It was supposed to follow us this morning!  We have to go to South America this afternoon!  How do we get our bags there?  So many questions, so much stress!  Not to worry, we’re told, our bags will be shipped!  All we can do is get on the next flight and let the airlines do their job!  Well, at least we don’t have to roll our huge bags around with us for the next 5 hours!  Our lost luggage claim filed (This moment will become more important later) and we’re off to check out Miami for a few hours.  So as a wise friend taught us, “Stay Calm and Get Yourself a Drink!

Grabbed a fun lunch at Chili’s II and kicked back for a few hours, not much else to do.  Not enough time for a proper visit.  We go back in the airport and go through security and check in to our flight to Buenos Aires, only 24 hours later than our original booking.  Sure glad we planned to visit South America for a few days before our Expedition Ship departs!

We board the flight scheduled to leave at 6:00PM, after finding out that our luggage is still in Atlanta, unsure of our luggage whereabouts and we have an eventless flight south. I think we both even managed to get a few hours sleep!  We arrive in Buenos Aires around 7:00AM local time and have a few hours this time to get on our flight to Ushuaia.  Our luggage has not arrived but we knew in Miami that it would not be on the plane.  So we get on a transit bus to go across the airport to our next flight to Ushuaia.  The good news is that our original schedule had us traveling across Buenos Aires to a totally different airport for our flight south to Ushuaia.  Now we travel out of EZE (same airport) to Ushuaia and only have to travel across the airport on an internal bus.

Who wants to go to Antarctica with me? Any takers? No? Too bad, I’ll have to take my wife and leave the rest of you behind!!! If you haven’t “Followed” my blog yet, do it now! You’ll see some superb photos, I hope! Go on and ‘follow’ it now! See you all soon! I’ll be incommunicado for the next several weeks!

DAY ONE (Saturday, Feb 16)

Okay, here we are again, heading for the airport for a new adventure.  We’ve spent the last 6 months acquiring just the right items to take us south.  Far South.  So far south that no one lives there.  Well, no towns or cities anyway.  Yes, you guessed it, we’re off to visit Antarctica.  Not a typo, Antarctica.  That place at the ‘bottom’ of the world.  Why?  Good question.  Because.  Because we can.  And because we love to see things with our own eyes that can only be imagined otherwise.

So it’s off to the airport with huge bags full of warm fluffy clothing and hand warmers.  Lots of hand warmers.  Foot warmers too.  Oh, and Body Warmers.  Lots of Warmers, so many that we had to pay attention where we packed them so no one piece of luggage is too heavy.

Waterproof gloves, Fleece lined pants.  Sweaters.  Double lined jackets and hats.  So many unique and special items that we have spent such a long time finding.  This trip will be our most special yet!

And my cameras, you may ask.  What am I bringing?  Well the answer is all of it.  Every last lens and camera body.  Wait, all that won’t fit in my camera bag/carry on.  Hmmm, have to leave something behind.  Ok so I want wide angle and telephoto but can’t fit it all in.  What to do, what to do.  Time to go shopping and find something new.  What’s that, we plan to kayak?  That’s going to be an issue with the big equipment.  Can’t kayak with an EOS 5D and 400mm lens.   Hmmm, what’s this on Amazon, a point and shoot that zooms from 20mm to 1365mm?  No, that kind of thing doesn’t exist.  But wait, here it is, right there on that page.  Okay, I’ll try it, what do I have to lose?  And it’s made by Canon, can’t be bad!

Wait, Elee needs a new camera also?  Ok, find her one.  Here’s the perfect camera for her!  Place the order.  Gotta love Amazon Prime!  New stuff arrives in a day or two, from clothing to cameras.  Okay, cameras packed and ready to go.  All fits in my carry on too!  Don’t forget the waterproof housing for kayaking!  Got it.

Here’s the shuttle to take us to the airport.  Right on time.  A welcome change from our Cuba trip.  Arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare.  Check our bags in.  What?  There’s a delay?  Not to worry, delays happen all the time.  What do you mean, we’ll miss our connection in Atlanta?  There was only 45 minutes for our first connection and we’re delayed 35 minutes?  Oh man, our first problem and we haven’t even boarded the first plane!  What’s that, the airline will take care of everything.  Not sure we like the sound of that, when has an airline ‘taken care of everything’?  Oh well, it will be what it will be.  Let’s get on the plane and get going!

Eventless first flight, except we left 35 minutes late.  But as we approach Atlanta, we hear that we are arriving on time!  WhooWee, the pilot ‘stepped on the gas’!  We’ll be fine after all.  So we disembark and head for our connection, only a few minutes late from the original schedule.  We waste no time getting to our connection.  Wait, what’s that?  The gate door is closed?  But we’re here on time!  There’s still 20 minutes before the plane leaves!  What’s that, the plane is full?  How can that be, we have tickets?  Our seats were sold?  We weren’t scheduled to make it on time?  But how can we get to Buenos Aires?  We have another connection from there!  Oh this is bad.  Very bad!  What do we do now?  There are no flights to Buenos Aires tonight?  So what do you suggest we do?  Go to Customer Service, they will take care of you.  Hmmm, this is not good, not good…

We walk across the terminal to find Customer Service.  Oh there it is, over there.  So what happens now?  You’ll put us on the first flight in the morning to Miami?  We don’t want to go to Miami, we want to go to Buenos Aires and then to Ushuaia, Argentina.  How does that happen?  The earliest flight to Buenos Aires is via Miami?  Okay, I guess.  But what do we do tonight?  You’ll give us Hotel Vouchers?  I guess we have no choice.  But what about our luggage, we need to get those.  Our luggage is in the system?  It will follow us in the morning?  This is not sounding like the best idea.  But our luggage is big.  Maybe the airline is right, after all they do this sort of thing all the time.  We need to pick up our luggage in Miami and check it in to the flight to Buenos Aires because that is the first International Leg of the trip.  Okay, I guess we can do that.  But my toiletries are in my bag.  You have complimentary toiletry kits for us?  But we have only the clothes on our backs.  Oh well, I guess this won’t be the first time I wear the same clothes two days in a row.  You’ll pay for a restaurant meal also?  Okay, we’ll let you do that.

So, carry-ons intact, toiletry bags and Hotel Voucher in hand, we head out of the airport on foot because we’re told the Hotel is actually IN the airport.  Oh there it is, right over there.  We check in to the Hotel and see a steak house on the way.  Well, if the airline is buying, I guess I’ll let them buy me a good steak!  We find ourselves checked in, room is nice, and we walk over to the restaurant and get seated around 10 o’clock at night.  They are still serving so let’s order food!

We’re seated in the restaurant and there is a party atmosphere around us.  Couples dressed in tuxedos and formal gowns and lots of what looks like Mardi Gras Beads.  Hmmm, an interesting mix of costumes but mostly formal wear with beads.  It turns out after talking with some of them (Elee and I are far from shy when we’re curious and we approach strangers and ask lots of questions!), there is a High School from New Orleans whose Alumni is from Atlanta (this reason we never got an answer to) and every year they throw a ‘Fundraiser/Party’ and celebrate!  And tonight’s the night!

A good meal in us and a couple glasses of wine and back to the Hotel for a night’s sleep.  We have a mid morning flight to Miami and then have a 5 hour layover before we board a flight to Buenos Aires.  24 hours into the trip and we haven’t traveled south at all.  We might have just driven cross country for the heck of it!

Okay, some of you have heard rumors regarding this. In the next week (or two) you will see the rules and prizes for our first annual Blog Contest! Basically, in a nutshell, for example, what you need to do, but only if you want to, if you like corny jokes it will help, but seriously, you can win a framed piece of art from DonP! (Some restrictions apply, but you can read all about them as the rules come out and this story progresses.

All we are saying for now is the contestants will include (and be limited to) those who “Follow” this Blog! You will need to either “Follow” or “Email Follow” the Blog. (Hint, hint hint, if you “Email Follow”, you will get more entries and have a better chance of winning!) Please trust us to know that your email address will never be “Spammed” by us! This is important to know! We will only use your email for notification of prize winnings and other important stuff. Never will we share your addresses with anyone nor advertise to you with junk!

So if you can trust us to this point, tell your friends about us and hopefully enjoy the perks of hearing about our adventures! So, for now, if you haven’t already, go to the bottom of any page in our Blog and “Follow” us! More details and “Rules” to come soon!

To recap, you must be logged as a “Follower” to win. And there will be random winners (Many can win!). But if you aren’t in the Followers list, you don’t have a “Shot in Hell”, so to speak! Oh, and to make if fair, follow me on FaceBook and that is how the winners will be chosen! Planned algorithms will be used. Make sure you answer when asked a question!

So here we are in Ushuaia with only the clothes on our backs. Sounds like a journey worthy of a much younger person! Why would anyone come to a place known as “The End of the World” with only the clothes on their backs? Well, because the Airlines can’t seem to perform simple tasks like send our luggage! We have purchased a few pairs of underwear and sweatshirts in Miami because we have been forewarned of a delay in our luggage since the Airline messed up our flights and wouldn’t put us on our original flight to Argentina.

We land uneventfully with only our carry on luggage, which, thankfully has all my camera gear intact. The views coming into Ushuaia are a tease for what we are to experience down here at the End of the World. Stunningly beautiful, especially for being shot out the window of a commercial airliner.