It's going to be a long wait!

Vaccine rollout is ongoing.  Things are starting to seem like this situation might end one day.  I'm still glad we are aiming for a 2022 trip though.  But it seems so far away right now.  

Not too much to report.  I bought some rubber boots!  Purple!  The tour requires rubber boots and they have loaners on the boat but with limited selection in the lower and higher sizes. 

BOOTS FOR ZODIAC LANDINGS:
- Complimentary used waterproof boots will be supplied in the following sizes:
- USA size 4 - 16
- EURO size 35 - 49
Please be advised that there are limited numbers of the smallest and largest sizes.

Amy and I wear the same size.  I remember when Val and I were on our Galapagos tour, they had loaner flippers.  The only pair left for me was a size 10 so everyone went up one size so I could have the smallest pair.  So we all wore the wrong size by one.  Will I take the boots with me?  Maybe.  They are a lot to pack.  But did I mention they are purple! Here's a very bad photo. Where they barely look purple.  More a mauve tone but still, purple! 

And of course, a bird book!  Always need a fresh bird book.  There's a whole page on penguins! 

And since Amazon was sending that, I also got the Antarctic Lonely Planet Guide.  Amy got one for Argentina. 

Bird Book

Guide Book

Penguins! 

There is some chatter about some friends of ours, Rob and Dwayne, meeting us in Buenos Aires before or after the cruise.  Again, it's a long way off so who knows.  But Rob suggested we start taking Spanish lessons.  Since I am already paying a million dollars for this trip, I thought I would go with the free route first.  Welcome back to Duolingo!  They put me right back at the level I left at when I started Spanish lessons for a previous trip.  Ecuador?  Costa Rica?  Who knows but it was a while ago. Anyway, I am doing all right. 

I do need dinero!  How did you know?

Welcome back to level 'intro' 

We paid our deposit so we are going on this trip or some other G Adventure trip now.  Deposit is non-refundable but we can transfer it to a different trip if necessary. So far, I don't see that happening but we have a year and a half to go!  

We're committed now (with an escape option)

Once I mostly convinced myself and sort of convinced Amy that this trip is a good idea...  Good? Hmm, let's go with viable.  Once I sort of convinced myself, and quasi convinced Amy this trip is almost doable, if we squinted and didn't look directly at it, I called G Adventures to get more details.  

First up, the cheapy price is for a shared quad room.  Those beds are already sold.  But there are still beds available in the triple room.  Well, you know telling consumers that something crazy expensive is a limited commodity, that just makes it more desirable! WE HAVE TO BOOK IMMEDIATELY!  

Much back and forth with Amy, calls to G Adventure info line.  So, the scoop.  There are two triple rooms.  Two beds are booked.  They only book one gender per room (no I did not ask how they determine gender, because I don't care).  There are four potential beds left for female passengers.  Brain calculating, calculatng...  Ackk!  That means if one man books a triple room bed, there will only be one female spot left!  WE HAVE TO BOOK IMMEDIATELY!!  

Ok, that picture is not enticing enough.  Time for a picture that shows why we want to go: 

Another call to G Adventure.  There is a $1000 deposit.  If we cancel the cruise before 120 days previous to launch, we don't get a refund but we can transfer the deposit to any other G adventure trip (they have lots of trips!). My nice CCR said we could put a 72 hour hold on our triple room beds.  We did that.  

The hold got us to the next call centre rep.  Who knew more than the first one.  For January/February, we only have to put $1 deposit.  $999 more due on March 1.  Same info about cancelling and transferring deposit up to 120 days.   We both had some outstanding stuff to deal with before we could really lock in but this gave us lots of time to sort ourselves out.   So, I have them all of our info, passport, credit card numbers, you know the please steal my identity info.  They took our $2.  So, we are committed!  A little bit! 

Amy was still not 100% sure.  Then she and some friends of ours went to a pub one night recently.  They were talking about the trip. And some guy at the next table overheard them and joined the conversation.  He is a marine biologist who used to work on that cruise.  He said how amazing it is and how it will be the best trip of our lives and all of the beautiful scenery and animals we will see.  He totally sold Amy on it and now she is even more sure than I am.  And I'm SURE!  

So there you go, we are doing this.  

Here is the link to the cruise info: 

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica

And here is the map: it is fun to say Uruguay! 

Is this going to happen?

So, perhaps planning for this trip  is just part of pandemic dreaming.   I can't go on my usual winter trip in 2021 so I might as well dream big! I need something to look forward to.  The day the first vaccine was approved by Health Canada, I googled Antarctic cruises.  

To go way back, I once went to a presentation about cruises by my mom's travel agent (like 10 years ago) and one of the presenters was G Adventures and I always remembered that they impressed me compared to the other cruises offered.  Anyway, that plus my desire to go to the bottom of the earth, plus a bit o' extra savings lead me here.  

I have been bugging my mom for years to see if she would come with me.  Let's face it, I don't have many friends with Antarctic cruise level disposable income.  And I thought my mom would enjoy it.  But alas, no, she did not want to come. So, I put it out of my mind.  I don't have Antarctic cruise level disposable income either. 

But once you start looking...  and dreaming...  and pestering your friend Amy, well you kind of go into 'how can I justify this' mode.  

Let's consider the ways we can justify... 

Pandemic:  Cruise isn't until late 2022 so we should all be vaccinated by then, right?  

Money:  I guess I will have two years worth of travel money since I'm not going anywhere is 2021.  Plus, I seem to have extra money from not even leaving the house for most of 2020.  

More money:  Who needs to retire at 65?  Slackers, that's who.  

More excuses:  I want to go and I want to go while I can still get in and out of a Zodiac.  And who am I going to leave my money to?  My cat, she doesn't' even like me.  She gets nothing! 

One more:  penguins!!!!  

Anyway, this might be happening.  More later.