Please join me on the longest trip of my life! This epic journey will cover over 22,000 miles and explore the islands of the Antarctic and the Antarctic Peninsula, then continue to South Georgia Island, onto the Falkland Islands, and back to Santiago, Chile. From there we travel westward to Easter Island about 2300 miles west of Santiago, far out into the Pacific Ocean, and then finally one month after starting the trip, I will return home to Ames, Iowa.

What follows is an tentative itinerary, maps, and various links for cities, islands, hotels, the ship I am on, as well as various other travel related information. Once the journey begins I will attempt to give blog updates when I can, depending on how reliable and expensive the satellite internet connection on the ship proves to be. If I am able I will include some photos along the way, of a smaller size to help you see what I am seeing. The web is filled with information, stories, and photos of all the places I am visiting, by just "Googling" a place such as Deception Island, you can see where and what it is. If you have a burning question and know my email address you can send it to me, and I will check as I have time, and most likely respond here in this blog.


The photo on the masthead, obviously is not mine (not yet anyway)! It was taken on the island of South Georgia, which is about a thousand miles south east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. We will spend three days in South Georgia capturing images like the one above, which shows thousands of King Penguins. These were the stars of the popular movie, "March of the Penguins," which you may have seen. Share and enjoy the expedition with me, when you are able.


There is more of this blog that will show when you scroll to the bottom of your screen, so when there click OLDER POSTS, or find the "blog archive" section to the right of the postings and click on the topic you wish to see.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Flying Into Santiago...

Arriving in Santiago…

Our overnight flight of more than eight hours to Santiago was long! For me anyway, sleep was not very successful.
I was excited to see the sun beginning to rise over the Andes Mountains as we flew southward along the western shore of Chile, making our way to Santiago.

The sun began to rise about 3:45 AM and continued to glow in reds and yellows behind the mountain, and the longer I waited the more dramatic it became. I took photos every few minutes and the one shown here with the wing of the plane in the foreground was my favorite. It was taken about five minutes before we landed.

After getting our bags and going through Chilean customs we boarded buses and went to our hotel, the Santiago Grand Hyatt. It was indeed Grand and lovely in every way, with lovely rooms and lots of staff on the inside and outside of the hotel all dressed impeccably in black suits and putting forth much effort to please us. Even the guy who was sweeping up seed pods from the trees was wearing a black suit, white shirt, and tie, taking the perception of gardener to a new and higher level!
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