One's Personal Encounter With Antarctica

This experienced traveler, who happens to be ninety-one years old, has traveled extensively throughout the world. Her last trip took her to Antarctica. Seeing Antarctica with her own two eyes was extremely important to her. This was the third time she'd visited the region, but the first time she'd actually seen Antarctica. She saw Antarctica from the air, and never touched the ground.

The plane flew over Antarctica for four hours and she witnessed glaciers, fjords and mountain passes. They even got as low as 300 feet above the land. A mountain range they passed was fog covered. Clear skies and sunny weather gave them perfect viewing opportunities. They traveled in mid march, which marks the end of Antarctica's summer. The air temperatures were sub-zero. They were treated to a lecture, and had their questions answered by a naturalist who was currently researching on Antarctica.

Our traveler really wanted to glimpse some penguins on this trip. She didn't see any on the flight, but her daughter did. The daughter was sitting at a different window. They took a ship to the Falkland Islands. These are off the coast of Argentina. She was finally able to see hundreds of Magellan penguins when she reached the East Island of the Falklands. She had to take a smaller boat there. Magellans stand the tallest of all penguin species.

They cruised from a South American city after having taken a sixteen hour flight from the US. A dip in the pool was the crew's invitation after visiting many South American ports of call. Ignoring the air temperatures of 35 degrees, the ninety-one year old took to the water. She got a certificate for having done so.

Rio was the flight destination from Santiago, which they'd toured after being driven there. That was after the ship had docked in Chile. The cruise, which was three weeks long, had ideal weather. All passengers saw the Southern Cross, a notoriously difficult to find constellation, in the clear night sky.

One big city and a major river were all this ninety-one year-old tourist had seen during her previous visit to South America. She got to go back to the jungle surrounding that river. The mass destruction of the bird habitat in that area troubled her. Her adventures have taken her to Africa where she went on Safari. A visit to Antarctica completed her 'collection? because she had already been to. Antarctica was conquered with a four hour flight.