6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: antarctica

Showing posts with label antarctica. Show all posts

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Antarctica: I'm Going Back On The Ice!

My first trip to Antarctica New Year's 2023

Well.. The title breaks it down well, I hit the ice the first time in 2022, to celebrate New Year's in Antarctica. Continent number 7, New Year's on all 7 continents, and I hit the Human Flag on all 7 continents. This blog was as you may have noticed never written with the intention to hit all 7. But life changed a lot, that's covered in the prior articles, so lets get to the return trip I just booked! I am living in Argentina. When I moved down here it was my goal and dream to visit all the places that are nearby that normally would have been a long international flight from the USA. I have already been making my way around Argentina, I have a short trip to Brazil planned in March, and I am hoping to visit Easter Island in Chile early next year. A lot of places I love, are now a lot closer, and of course, one of them is Antarctica.

Since I wrote my first article on How To Go To Antarctica in September 2011, not much has changed. There's a few more fly options, but they certainly aren't cheap. However, the item I wrote last on the list of that fateful article, "If you live in Argentina".... I live in Argentina. I mentioned Ushuaia, and how if you are present cruises can be 75% cheaper when they are unsold. I personally witnessed that the first time I went to Antarctica... A bed in a triple share for $3,000... I had paid around $12,000 for a window suite with some dude I never met sleeping in the bunk adjacent to mine. He was a retired Australian military guy, I was a firefighter, we enjoyed the cruise, and camped separate nights so at least one night it didn't have the hostel vibes. I loved the experience of traveling solo, I met great people, and I set foot on the continent, it was by no means a budget trip, but I never wanted to do it that way again.

So cut to Argentina, I moved here in April, I had been looking at Antarctica deals since April, but just casually, I figured when the season got closer I'd start throwing out some lines... Right about the end of August, I contacted every company that goes there, there's not many. Including the first company I cruised with, Oceanwide. I told them who I was, I lived in Argentina, it would not be my first time there, I am self employed and can be in Ushuaia on 1 days notice for the right cruise. Within a week, the insanity of the offers was blowing my mind, the sailing trips in particular were cheaper than some of my domestic vacations in the USA. But I wasn't going alone this time, my girlfriend down here is joining, and lets just say her sea legs are not as ready for a small boat as mine (I love you if you are reading this baby!), so we opted for something similar to Antarctica Part 1.

The fly and cruise deals were even good. These deals that when I searched in 2022 were $20,000+ were now $7,000 or so. The same cruise I had taken in 2022, was 20% cheaper, I had to go back to the states at the end of November and we are planning a New Year's trip to Asia, so even though now I had my pick of the litter, I had to narrow it down a bit. I didn't want to go straight from Antarctica to USA, or straight from the ice to Asia. So then one day I got an email from Freestyle Adventure travels. They gave the usual hello email and asked for what I was looking for specifically. I did the camping and mountaineering last time. So this time was going to be more humble, hiking, snow shoeing, maybe kayak. It was all based on if the deal was good or not. They sent me an email with 5 or 6 cruises, all were amazing deals, all were extremely cheap, or at least Antarctica cheap. One of the options was $6,000 for the two of us in a window cabin. So half price of what I paid 4 years ago! I was going to book it, but then they sent me an email for the same cruise, two weeks earlier, with a balcony suite, for $8,000 each. To put this in perspective, the same suite in 2022 would have been somewhere around $30,000... Each! Plus the dates were much better for my USA trip.

Not only was I sold, but I was a bit panicked! I researched everyone involved to make sure it wasn't a scam, how could it be almost what I paid 4 years ago now for two people in a balcony suite!? I hit all the forums, tripadvisor, google, etc. I even called the banks involved. Which ended up not being necessary because I paid in the end with credit card, those points are going to cover the New Year's Hotel in Tokyo! This trip also includes a night in a luxury resort in Ushuaia, and all the snow gear needed, which we need a bit because Buenos Aires winters aren't that bad. Last time I paid for all that upfront.

By the way, I absolutely loved the first trip, and Oceanwide, but it was New Year's, the peak week/peak day of the peak season, and I booked it over a year in advance. This was the art of the last minute deal. So we are booked. I paid for the cruise 50 days before departure. I had a funny call with the girl asking if things could get even cheaper...

Me: "I don't know, things always happen, someone can get in a car accident, and break a leg, and they can't go."

Her: "It's so expensive they usually break their leg a few months before."

Anyway, $16,000 is certainly not cheap. But for all things Antarctica, its a great deal. Enough about the booking... I'm super excited to go back. It was a dream that I thought would never happen, and now I'm going for the 2nd time. I feel blessed beyond belief, and I am looking forward to sharing it with someone this time. We are ready to sail the drake lake, or the drake shake. We are ready to see the glaciers, say hi to the penguins, maybe the mighty whales, we are ready to kayak, hike, or snow shoe... I can't wait to breathe the crisp cold air, and to see the iceberg blue shades that I swear I have seen nowhere else in this world... Antarctica captured my heart the first time, it showed me the bottom of the world in a way I'll never forget. And now, I get to go back to the ice. I can't wait.

See you soon....

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Tuesday, November 14, 2023

New Year's In Antarctica 2023

So this blog since I began in it in 2010ish, has been 6 of the 7 continents, truth be told, I never thought I'd make it to Antarctica. Continent number 7. But life changed. I made some good investments in both myself and in financial decisions, and I decided that even though the trip was going to cost me over $10,000, it was time to do it. That being said, this blog is 6 of the 7 Continents for the budget traveler, nothing about $10,000 says budget travel, however I will note the trip can be done for under $6,000, I saw it with my own eyes. But for me, not only was it a dream to visit all 7 continents, it was a dream to spend my favorite holiday, New Year's Eve on all 7, so the $4000 option was gone. I will quickly note the budget tips if you wanna skip the rest of the story:

Antarctica on a budget

Some of this will echo what I already wrote many years ago here, and by the way confession time, that's a pic of a glacier in Alaska because at the time besides not having money for Antarctica, I didn't have money for stock photos either.

-Get a job on a ship or base, you can work on science bases, all types of work are needed, the hard thing here from my research is that the contracts are generally 6 months, same for the ships, with many people doing longer. But I saw first hand when you go with a good company they will actually let the staff make landings too when appropriate space is available. If you wanna go down a YouTube rabbit hole check out the many awesome YouTubers who make videos on life on an Antarctica station.

-Go at the very beginning or very end of the season, early November or late March will be significantly cheaper than Dec/Jan.

-Last minute deals in Ushuaia, here I personally saw two cruises for under $4,000 (shared room of 3 or 4). But if you can't be in Ushuaia I followed Antarctica facebook groups for 2 years and constantly saw crazy deals like this pop up. Obviously do the research that the vendors are legit.

-And of course you probably realize if you have done research already, shared rooms is going to be the way to go. I traveled solo so I shared my room with a stranger, but I met people who make A LOT more money than I do sharing rooms with friends or family. A lot of grown adults sharing a room with their mom or dad for the first time in 20 years. Having your own room, is financially the most difficult thing you can do, but if you can afford it, by all means :)

My New Year's In Antarctica

My new Year's In Antarctica for 2022/2023, probably starts more in 2020. During the Covid pandemic I worked some ungodly hours at my job, so I suddenly towards the end of the year had the financial possibility to do new years in Antarctica. A lot of people put a lot of thought into which tour company to use, since I was hell bent on traveling during New Year, did NOT have enough money for the longer options with South Georgia and the Falklands, and wanted to do camping I was left with only two options. I chose the MV Hondius Ship with Oceanwide Expeditions. An amazing ship, and an amazing company. I spent years reading reviews on both so much that when the actual time came to book I didn't do much more research into the companies, but did make sure I was covered as far as cancellation policies, and I fully insured the trip with travel insurance, something I never did prior to Covid. Most cruises these days, especially for Antarctica will require it anyway. The cheapest room was $8,000 for a quad share. I opted for a double share window view (I regretted the window later) for $12,000.

HUMAN FLAG ANTARCTICA

I had reserved the room about 9 months before. Due to travel pessimism, I didn't book my flights to Argentina until August for December. I booked PHX to Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires to Ushuaia on separate reservations to save money. This is highly recommend by most Antarctica Travelers, but remember to leave sufficient layover time, I left 12 hours, if your flight is delated or bags are lost, your original airline is not obligated to get them or you to Ushuaia with Aerolineas. However, saving over $1,000 I took that risk.

Next was time for Antarctica gear and wardrobe, this is all whole separate Article here, but to sum it up I spent probably around $300 on winter gear I needed since I lived in the desert. I got super lucky with finding used mountaineering boots online for $150 or so, if you need official mountaineering boots they are very expensive, many people on the trip brought the wrong boots.

Final preparation was the standard before trip things to do, what was not standard was my nerves! This trip had been planned so long and cancelled twice, so a lot was on the line, it was my goal to get down there to continent number 7, touch the actual continent, and spend new years there. Just seeing Antarctica wasn't going to be enough, touching the continent wouldn't be either, and until it was January 1st at midnight, the trip was never going to be complete. I arrived in Ushuaia 3 days before, which I recommend to give leeway in case things happen. Ushuaia is an amazing place! I wrote about it here.

Waking up in the morning and seeing my ship had arrived

December 23rd, 2022.... I didn't sleep well but woke up more excited than I had been the whole year, and plenty of energy. It was finally time to embark on the MV Hondius, which my Airbnb had a view of the night before when she arrived. I had breakfast and coffee with one of the passengers I met on social media, we set our expectations and shared stories of our struggles with the cancelations. On line to board the ship I met a couple who lived two miles from me in Arizona, and knew my co-worker, always reminded of what a small world it is.

Check in time....

Dining hall, no soup served on severe Drake days!

This room would be my home for the next two weeks. My roommate was a retired Australian military guy, we made a good combo since we both had experience sleeping in dorm type situations with my firefighter background. We also agreed to camp different nights so we would each have the room solo one night. The bed is tiny as you can see, but it was comfortable. The window was definitely not necessary as the other view points in the ship were much better, my room you can sort of see has a rail walk way view as well as the background. Also foolishly unbeknownst to me after researching the trip for 10 years I failed to realize that as I was traveling at the peak of summer, the sun would not be setting at all while I was down there. Sleeping at night with the sun on was interesting.

The infamous Drake Passage was infamous 2 of the 4 days at sea. One day I would say half of the 200 passengers didn't show up for lunch and/or dinner. I did ok with just over the counter meds and ginger gum but had the sea sick patch just incase. I actually still drank wine every night on the drake, may have been stupid, but no nights were spent hovering over the toilet bowl. Going to bed was actually a dream, it was like being rocked to sleep in a crib or your mother's arms. But when you got up to pee you quickly were reminded that the floor is moving! And showering must be done with one arm, one arm washes, the other arm balances. That aside....

Many of us had asked our guide if we would be making a continental landing verses just islands, this is all based on conditions, but I imagine most operators know we want to touch the continent, so luck of the southern ocean when day one was coming it was going to be a continental landing!

LANDINGS:

What can be said about when your foot finally touches the continent? Peace, tranquility, some relief for me after two cancellations of the cruise! I guess but most of all enthusiasm, a rush of adrenaline, you finally have reached continent 7. Just nothing like it! Each day was packed with things to do, usually one group was on zodiacs or kayaks while the other was on the continent, and of course we would switch. EVERYONE spends equal time on the continent unless they needed a break.

First landing on Brown Bluff!

We saw over 50,000 penguins, yes 50,000!
Mountaineering is legit! Not for the faint at heart, one group had to turn back, so know your limits.
Camping was great, it was a big part of me choosing this company besides New Year's, but be aware, you are there during the summer season, the sun doesn't really set, and most companies don't use tents anymore, so you are pretty much lying in a very warm blanket in the sun... It's not that cold, but with the light I definitely didn't sleep too well! Nevertheless glad I did it.
Scotch on the Rocks with a 1000 year plus old ice cube! I don't know why, I read this in a blog, and had to do it. Now you are reading it in my blog and have to do it! When you are on the Zodiacs and not moving, it's ok to scoop up a piece of ice for that cocktail later! Kept mine in my pocket and when we got back, gave it a quick rinse and it was time for the best Scotch ever!
Whales, seals! You will see them EVERYWHERE!
New Year's actually tuned out to be a blast. Originally I envisioned myself standing alone on a cold deck, with a champagne or wine in hand under the dark night sky... Nothing could have been further from the truth! My ship was oddly young, probably because the holidays, average age was 40, and we had plenty of hard core university students or about that age that didn't back down to party on New Years. This is by no means the reason to come to Antarctica, but it was a blast to be outside with friends, drinking, dancing listening to music, all while surrounded by whales constantly jumping out of the water as if they were partying with us, and of course the 360 panorama of one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
How cold is Antarctica? Well depends on the person really, I was there in the heart of summer and almost every time on the deck I would not wear a coat, this doesn't mean it's safe to go down with minimal wear of course! During mountaineering I thought my feet were gonna freeze off when my boots started getting wet, but don't be too afraid of deck life being confined inside all day, it was quite nice on the deck every day I was down there.
And of course, if you can extend the trip, you are already (probably) in Argentina, why not stay awhile? My Argentina reports here.

A trip like no other, it's hard to describe it simply because everyone will ask, "How was Antarctica?", it's a peaceful and common question, they certainly want a short answer, rather than this blog link or a YouTube link, but how do you describe it... The simplest way is by saying after visiting 60 plus countries and now this my final of the 7 continents there is simply nothing like it. I headed to continent number 7 with great hopes and expectations and it fulfilled all of them to the max. I couldn't have dreamed of a better trip. I also went down there, thinking it was the first but also last time.... But alas.... after experiencing the landscape, the smells (good and bad with those penguins!), the taste of the ice, the feeling of isolation in it's beauty, the sensation of being on the final continent... It was something that maybe one time wasn't enough. I went on New Year's the most expensive time to go... If I were to go at the beginning or the end of the season, it's a third of the price... SO.... Maybe we will see each other again. But for now I'm eternally grateful for everything Antarctica gave me.

ENJOY MY VIDEO OF THIS TRIP HERE:

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Monday, April 10, 2023

What I Packed For Antarctica and Argentina

Antarctica 2023 New Year's Trip! What an epic and unforgettable journey to the 7th Continent! Here's my list and a video of EVERYTHING I packed, hope this helps!

I actually somehow was able to fit the mountaineering boots I'm holding into the large bag, so that's how I showed up at the airport more or less.

Note: I did Laundry twice on board (approximaltely $75), and I also packed for Argentina Summer

Antarctica Flag, this was a best seller for making friends on board
All necessary paper documents, including Buqebus boarding passes for Uruguay day trips
Fleece sweater
2 pairs of thermal pants
1 pair of snow pants
Pair of main gloves + back up pair in case I lost the main gloves
Glove liners
Winter hat + back up hat
Red Parka
Scarf
Waterproof bag for day bag
Waterproof gear for cell phone
Head gear since I had long hair at the time
Swimwear for the polar plunge
1 outer thermal layer
3 T shirts
1 pair of gym shorts
Packing cubes
As much socks and underwear as I could fit, I imagine at least 7 and 7
2 watches
Sea sick medicine
iPad for entertainment on days at sea
2 books for entertainment which I left behind
2 dress shirts for Argentina, which did well on board the Hondius as well
2 Pairs of jeans that could pass for day or night time
1 pair of shorts packed, one pair worn for the flight
1 cannon power shot with extra batteries and charger
1 selfie stick (didn't really use)
1 cheap tripod (came in great use on the polar plunge day)
1 underwater GoPro camera
All appropriate chargers
Prescription Sunglasses (2)
Regular glasses
Contact lenses
Covid test just in case
Money belt
Binoculars
Toiletries in the TSA bag
Thin Dress shoes which I stuffed socks into
Mountaineering boots
Muck boots for landing were provided by the ship, and that seems to be the standard from most companies I researched

Day bag (should have brought a larger one), mountaineering boots, and large backpack

Only thing I would have changed is my day bag shown above on the left. It was too small to fit snow shoes, or if it is small make sure you have something secure to clip them on, if you are doing high climbs you do not want to be the guy to drop a snow shoe on the continent.

Bonus tip, all my outerwear had zip pockets, I do recommend this to protect the environment and not lose your stuff. It's icy, and tripping can occur. Do a test before you leave of how you will carry everything in what pocket, what will go in your bag, etc. So all in all a very epic trip! I hope this article helps you! Items mentioned if you want to buy: I do make a small commission from Amazon. Thank you!