What It's Like to Travel to Antarctica
Antarctica vs Arctic
If I had to pick only one to travel to, which one? The north or the south? Both places will still be incredible and both expeditions cost the same amount but here are some key consideration points:
Jun-Aug vs Nov-Feb
Arctic’s travel period is during the summer months of Northern hemisphere Jun-Aug whereas Antarctica’s travel period is during the summer months of the Southern hemisphere Nov-Feb
Penguins vs Polar Bears
You only get polar bears in the north and penguins in the south. Note: even if you do travel to the Arctic, there is no guarantee that you will see a polar bear whereas in Antarctica, penguins are EVERYWHERE!
Europe vs South America
Depending on where you want to travel prior or after your expedition, Europe is for Arctic and South America is for Antarctica
Frozen Desert vs Not-So-Desert-Like
Antarctica is just plain snow and land with nothing else besides penguins, seals and birds and maybe very few scientific centres. Arctic has more ‘live’ landscape with more plants and human settlements (from Greenland).
North Pole vs South Pole
If the priority is to tick off your bucket list of stepping on a ‘pole’, then North Pole it is! You can actually get to North Pole whereas it is impossible to get to South Pole.
Hiking vs Cruising
You are able to hike more when in Antarctica and do more activities whereas activities are quite limited in Arctic due to polar bear safety, so most of the time you might end up just hanging around in your cruise boat.
Since I put penguins as my highest priority, so no doubt that Antarctica was my #1 destination in my bucket list.
Our vessel - Ocean Nova
My room cabin sharing with another solo female traveller
Crossing the Drake Passage
First sight of Antarctica!
Getting to Antarctica …
“So how do you get to Antarctica?” - That’s the second question that I get asked a lot. Your expedition would have told you the port before booking the itinerary in. For my case (and most of the time), you will have to fly into Ushuaia which is the southern tip of South America.
Tip - Make sure to land at least a day earlier in case of flight cancellations/delays/luggage lost etc.
That is actually quite common…and the expedition won’t wait for you! So make sure to arrive ahead with plenty of time for any unexpected incidents.
All rooms in the ship are double rooms with two single beds. Since I am travelling by myself, they put me to share with another solo female traveller and luckily for my case, she was around the same age as me!
After all the necessary briefings, we were set off towards the Drake Passage - one of the most dangerous seas in the world.
Let me tell you, I really hated it…two days of unable to eat any food and throwing up, bedridden with drugged up state, it was a nightmare.
Note - There is a doctor on board so you can get some stronger doses of medicine if needed.
After 2 days of suffering, we finally caught our first sight of Antarctica, unfortunately it was a rainy and moody day but still it was already worth the suffering, maybe it was because we all finally said to ourselves ‘wow we are now here in Antarctica’. The reality of being in Antarctica was kicking in!
First landing on Antarctica!
Spotted a mother and baby seals just chilling
Chinstrap penguins
What do you see in Antarctica?
Aside from snow, glaciers, icebergs and mountains, penguins and seals of course!
Like MILLIONS of penguins is an understatement.
I heard their callings even from the ship before even knowing where their colonies are, and boy it did stink a bit as they just poop everywhere. But cmon, they are SUPER ADORABLE! How can I blame them or be disgusted by them?!
Now you know why I love penguins?!
Note: We get two landings/different locations per day, one in the morning and one after lunch.
How it works is that after breakfast, the crew will take you to a location via zodiac (like a version of speedboat) and then bring you back for lunch in the ship, which the ship will set off to the next location for the second landing after lunch.
Gentoo penguins
A marching line - we called it as the ‘penguin highway’
What to wear in Antarctica?
Even though Antarctica is THE South Pole, don’t forget that you are going when it’s their summer time, so when it is ‘hot’ in Antarctica. By ‘hot’, I mean like 0 degrees but if you get a sunny day, it might be around 10 degrees so layer accordingly.
What I strongly recommend is (and what I actually wore):
A day back pack - for you to put in jackets/outer layers if you are getting too hot, trust me the last thing is that you are sweating while hiking and you don’t want to carry your jacket while hiking.
Waterproof and windproof 2-1 jacket - what I mean is that the jacket has an outer shell and an inner fleece layer.
Water resistant lighter shell - this is used when you get sunny days but still need something a little bit more water proof for the hike.
Long sleeve top and thermals - this is what you will wear on the inside and will not take out all day.
Waterproof pants and thermals - this is what you will wear for the bottom half all day. If needed, you can possibly layer 2 sets of thermals to keep your legs warm but I don’t really think it’s necessary since you will be hiking lots.
Waterproof gloves - DUH…
Beanie - most beanies are not waterproof so I would bring along 2 sets so that one can dry in the room while you are using 1. This is crucial to protect the cold wind against your head to prevent cold. Remember that it can be very windy so get the right beanie that fits your head tight enough so that it wouldn’t fly off.
So surreal that I have been to the 7th continent of the world!
Finally some sunny days and the views are even more breathtaking …
The first few days of our expedition were quite gloomy and rainy, which I had no problem as the views were AMAZING.
BUT WOW when sunny days were upon us, it was NEXT LEVEL! No words could exactly mirror my feelings at the time.
Did you know that penguins have one mate for life? And there is no way to differentiate male and female aside when they are mating?
Soooo if something happens to the mate, the other half will be alone forever? That’s just sad but so touching. And also the male penguin will be on top of the female when they are mating but other that that, it is quite impossible for us humans to differentiate aside for the penguin species themselves. Maybe they have some sort of energy or smell that humans can’t detect. How interesting isn’t it?
Look at those beautiful icebergs!
Having a shot of whisky and vodka to warm up our bodies after the polar plunge!
Sunny weather = Opportunity to do a polar plunge!
What’s polar plunge you ask? Well it’s for crazy people who are crazy enough to jump into the polar seas (north or south) with just their swimsuits.
Funny enough, that sounds like me…
But it is not guaranteed that you can do it during your expedition. It depends on the weather of course. So when the weather turns sunny, it’s GO time!
So I changed into my swimsuit, walked to the lower deck, and towards the jumping board.
The crew strapped a safety rope around my waist just in case I drown…ok that’s reassuring (BUT SO NECESSARY! You know why in a short moment).
So I stood at the end of the board, looked out and down towards the blackness of the sea waters, it was like a real black hole on earth. Suddenly, I was like ‘WHY DID I DECIDE TO DO THIS?!’
But I had too much of a pride and was like ‘STUFF IT, I’m already here, just run and jump’. So I did.
Once my body hit the water, the first thing I thought of was that ‘IT’S SO DAMN SALTY!’ and then followed by ‘HOLY SHIT I DON’T WANT TO HIT ROCK BOTTOM even though the bottom is impossible to hit’. So I scrambled my way up but it was so cold so luckily the rope ACTUALLY HELPED!
It was a crazy experience but I was glad that I did it and got to live to tell the day.
And through the help of the crew to pull me up, I was quickly covered by towels and downed a shot of vodka, steam was coming out of my skin (like I just turned terminator) because it was THAT COLD IN THE WATER!
And then I got a cold after that…LOL! But it was worth it.
Having hot chocolate with Baileys in the morning - delicious and definitely needed!
Look at that vast amount of sea ice!
I thought maybe I can have a go at being a Wonder Woman!
Not every expedition is the same …
It is important to note and understand that every polar expedition (north and south) offer different itinerary and views depending on weather and environmental factors.
For my case, I was able to spot mother and baby seals, clear blue icebergs, incredible glaciers and sea ice for my particular trip, which you may or may not experienced.
Or you might experience something that I did not during my trip.
But one thing for sure is that we can definitely expect the best memory and experience. Aside from the horrible Drake Passage…
A beautiful sunset while we exit Antarctica
A trip of a lifetime
A trip to the seven continent of the world is ain’t cheap and there’s a good reason for that, to control the amount of people going to Antarctica at one time as well as matching with the cost of managing the complexity of the ship that need to be able to get through Drake Passage and frozen ice.
But it was worth the $$$.
My number #1 dream was to see Antarctica in person and I was so glad that I was able to achieve my dream while I am still able to. Even better, I got along with so many people on board and we had the best time of our lives. We laughed, we ate, we celebrated and we grew sick together, at the end of the trip, it was so sad to say our goodbyes but we tell ourselves that the memories shared together will last forever.
A few important things to note if you are considering going to Antarctica:
It is slightly cheaper to travel earlier in the season - for my case, I was the first group of the season.
Book a year in advance as places do get filled out FAST due to limited availability. I booked my trip with Expeditions Online which offered a better deal than the rest of the tour companies, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and also do ask for Stewart as he was extremely helpful and fast in response.
If you love snow, glaciers and icebergs, go early in the season, if you really want to see baby penguins, go mid season (Dec-Jan) but beware that there will be more poop…soooo more stinky smell…
Might be useful to also bring along hiking poles to hike through the insane amount of snow.
LASTLY, get to Antarctica as early as possible instead of leaving it to retirement - the reason is that IT IS NOT EASY HIKING AT ANTARCTICA. Half of the group are retirees (which was obvious since they have the money) and they did find it quite challenging to hike around and wished they had better strength.
