We had booked the trip of a lifetime with Quark Expeditions, we were going to Antartica. Charissa has had sea sickness before, so we opted to take the fly and cruise option to avoid the crossing over the roughest sea in the world, the Drake Passage. We were extremely excited for the trip and to add the 7th continent to our travel log.
We had made our way down to Punta Arenas a few days before the cruise, we learned there isn’t a lot to do down there. We explored the city the first morning and saw the museum with some cool replicas of the ships that Magellan, Darwin and Shackleton took to explore the world, definitely recommended.
However come Friday we were kinda bored, so excited to get underway. We checked in with Quark at Hotel Dreams, we received our boots and expedition parka, and I had to shave off 3 kilos of stuff to hit the flight weight limit. At 6 that evening we had our briefings, they informed us about safety procedures and minimising impact once we arrived on Antarctica. They capped it off with our flight plan, we were leaving early, 4:30 in the morning the next day. So we had dinner with the group and met up with some interesting people before final packing and attempt to get some sleep.
At 3 am were trudged down the hill to the hotel, surprised to see how many bars were still open in town, we later learned there had been protests in the main square overnight. After a droopy eyed breakfast we got into our gear and joined our group on the bus to the airport.
The whole procedure involved waiting in line, load the bus, ride to the airport, unload bus checking our bag, going through security and making our way to gate 1. We were going to become intimately familiar with this process. Once we reached gate 1 we sat down to wait, not long though we were quickly informed our flight was cancelled due to fog on the runway. Now we took the procedure in reverse, exit from gate 1, pickup our bags, load bus, bus ride, unload bus, meet in meeting room for next steps. We were informed that we would wait for the next weather report at 2, in the meantime people could return to their room. Quark was nice enough to allow us to use the spa, so Charissa and I got some sleep in loungers around the pool. At 2 the briefing had good news, we had another flight plan. Hotel lobby, bus ride, bags, security, wait. But this time we were loaded onto the plane took off and we were on our way, Yay, no lost time on our way to Antarctica! Well about an hour in, the plane banked, and continued to bank for way too long, we had turned around, the fog had returned. So then off the plane, bags, bus ride, next steps. The new update had us postponed to 7 the next morning, and Quark had gotten us a room at the Hotel Dreams, which was a relief for us.
Day 2, the 7am update was more fog, next briefing at 9, which delayed it some more. They arranged some tours for the morning, but they were to the sights we already saw, so more lounging by the pool for us. The 2 pm briefing had a potential opening around 4, we were on standby no leaving the hotel. The waiting game was starting to get painful and by this point it was clear we lost 1 of 4 days in Antarctica. At 4 we had another flight plan, hotel lobby, bus ride, bags, security, and wait. This time a longer wait before seeing the window close again. Bags, bus ride, next steps. Dinner at the hotel that night, with the same food options as the previous 4 meals, another flight plan was presented, this time with lots of celebration, I thought the one group of girls were jinxing our chances.
At 5am on day 3, no trip to the airport as the fog had not cleared overnight. Now it was clear only 2 days of the 4 in Antarctica would still happen, most still wanted to go, I was secretly hoping for a cancel at this point.. At 9 we were called quickly down, lobby, bus ride, bags, security, and wait. At this point I had been following the weather myself pretty closely, and the chances were pretty low, I think it was mostly theatre to show that they tried all they could to get us there, but we appreciated the effort. At the airport we waited until at 11 it was clear there would be no window. At this point Quark decided they would cancel the trip.
I had already been in contact with my travel agent, and she was already talking to quark about rebooking options. So after a few hours of finagling our future itinerary we were able to join a cruise at the end of the month from Ushuaia. Quark was able to rebook us at no additional charge, so it worked out pretty well for us. We will be risking the tough crossing and hoping we don’t get too sick. So our Antarctica trip was not cancelled but merely arrested.
So these days of excitement and let down, shortened sleep, and forced social interactions had worn us down. In the end if was just an unpleasant experience, the hotel itself was actually really nice, but Charissa and I jokingly now refer to it as the Hotel of Broken Dreams. Because we were one of the lucky few who were flexible enough to rebook. We really feel bad for some of the people we met, this was the trip of a lifetime for them, they had saved and planned sometimes for years, and their short time from work did not result in a cool trip to Antarctica, but rather just some tense waiting in Punta Arenas for a few days, and whatever they could scrounge up afterwards. We even met two couples who were taking this off their bucket list after having multiple trips cancelled. It was hard to hear the stories.
So if you are reading this and thinking of taking the flight, I would recommend against it. Quark was great every step of the way, and in no way was our experience their fault, but the weather just did not cooperate. The risks while explained before booking, were hard to imagine the chance of a cancelled flight versus the cruises which are nearly guaranteed to go despite the weather. The fear of rough seas and seasickness was very tangible in our minds so the flight won out. But now we will take the cruise, to see if the crossing was as bad as anticipated.
