Antarctica - January 17, 2019

Calaf1

Greatly looking forward to this trip. I'm retired, traveling solo, arriving in Buenos Aires 2 days early. Any other early arrivals interested in meeting up in advance? Maybe for dinner or sightseeing?

Bill C

We did this trip including the extra days in BA in January 2013. I have no doubt that you will have a wonderful adventure. As far as restaurants during your time in BA, our favoirite was The Argentine Experience. Great fun with people from around the world in an informal "class" on Malbec wines, absolutely perfect steak and a contest while creating the most creative empanada! I see they are still well rated on TripAdvisor and suggest early reservations if you want to go. Also, not all areas of BA are as safe as others for tourists, so be sure to take a cab only from the hotel (not the street) and have the restaurant call for a return cab.

Calaf1

Thank you, Bill. Your recommendations and information are most helpful.

OntCA

Hi Calaf,

I am going on this trip. I am also retired and traveling solo. I will be arriving one day before the tour starts. I am so looking forward to this trip. Looking forward to meeting you on this trip.

Mary

Calaf1

Hi Mary, it's good to hear from another traveler on this trip. I look forward to making your acquaintance.

Atlanta Dave

Libby and I will also be joining you on this trip and arriving in BA a day early. We are still considering options for the first day and later free day as what to do. We like to focus on seeing nature more (hiking and such) but part of the challenge is the "partial free days" of arrival and both day one and two of the tour limiting flexibility of taking full day tours.

NancyJB

I will be on the trip, too. Another solo traveler. Is anyone going to bring trekking poles?

Calaf1

Hello NancyJB, I look forward to making your acquaintance on our upcoming adventure. I've read through all of the posts that I could find on this forum concerning trekking poles. The opinions vary from "they're absolutely necessary" to "absolutely not" and in-between. After much consideration I decided that I would not bring trekking poles.

British

A guide loaned me a trekking pole for muddy and wet conditions on the downhill trek on our recent Patagonia tour. More importantly, he showed me how to use it properly as many don’t know how. Each time I encounter people using trekking poles on a Tauck tour, I keep well away from them, having been almost tripped the first time when the person had no care about what their pole was doing behind them. Another used their pole to point at something without warning and almost blinded me. I have seen the same carelessness since. Just be careful using poles and being in the vicinity of them.

NancyJB

Thanks for the info on trekking poles. Think I’ll pass on them, too. Was concerned about them flailing around while getting in & out of the zodiac.

DJG

Atlanta Dave wrote:

Libby and I will also be joining you on this trip and arriving in BA a day early. We are still considering options for the first day and later free day as what to do. We like to focus on seeing nature more (hiking and such) but part of the challenge is the "partial free days" of arrival and both day one and two of the tour limiting flexibility of taking full day tours.

Hi Atlanta Dave, My husband Jim and I, who are from Atlanta, will be on this trip. We are flying to Buenos Aires the night of January 15 on Delta. We look forward to meeting you!

MinnesotaBonny

Hello all. I will be also traveling solo and will be arriving a day early. Looking forward to meeting you and starting on this adventure. I thank you for the information about the trekking poles. I will be flying out of Atlanta on the 15th. Looks like there will be a few of us on the same flight. 1 week and counting.
Bonny H.

Atlanta Dave

Hiking sticks - As one who uses them a lot with groups (I lead up a senior hiking group in Atl) they can be a great help IF you have been using them and are comfortable with them. If you haven't been using them, I wouldn't bother bringing two for just this because it does take a little practice to use them well. From a Zodiac perspective, the trick would be to collapse them all the way and you can put them in or tie them to a small back pack (Yes, they may stick out the top). There may be a benefit of having at least one as a walking stick (One doesn't seem to have a learning curve) and there are also sticks that have camera mounts built into the top of the handle (Make sure you get one that fits your type of camera) that can give you a mono-pod which helps take steadier pictures when zooming - though not as good as a tripod (which is even more to carry).

Atlanta Dave

DJG - Look forward to meeting you and finding out what part of town you are from. We took a trip years ago and meet a couple just 2 miles from us and we still get together a couple times a year and talk about trips we are taking. MinnesotaBonny - You have a Gopher grad here and raise in Anoka.