Antarctica,
Argentina,
& Chile

Tango Club Carlos Gardel in Buenos Aires. We had dinner there before the show and loved every minute. It cost much less than the one our hotel concierge recommended. The Radisson staff helped us find it.

In Buenos Aires we couldn’t have been more pleased with the Sheraton Park Tower. The location was close to Recoletto , Florida Ave shopping, and the waterfront restaraunts. Nearby was Dora , our favorite restaurant in Buenos Aires for steak and seafood. Find out what to do in Buenos Aires on the web.

Almost everyone on our adventure was well prepared. Radisson gave us our red parkas and the water/wind proof properties were very appreciated. Although we had good weather, most weeks the Zodiac landings are in waves and are wet and rough. We had read in several places to have waterproof pants that fit over our knee high rubber boots. We were well prepared. They also provided us with a back pack to wear on shore but plastic bags were necessary to hold cameras in the back packs while landing. We have friends who tell of waves going completely over the zodiacs. We did some our shopping at Articconnection.com and were pleased. You can check on the weather also on the site also.

We loved the ship. Hats off to Abercormbie and Kent, the owners and to Radisson Seven Seas, who hosted the adventure!

We highly recommend the Professional Education Society, 231-B Flamingo Rd, Mill Valley, CA 94941, phone 415-435-3596 who put together to trip package and Continuing Medical Education program. We had spoken with Nancy McCray who owns the company many times over the years trying to get us on a trip and we were disappointed she didn’t get to make the trip. We hope to travel with her in the future. Special thanks to Frank Pien MD of Honolulu who lectured often in infectious disease and travel medicine. We were advised by the Center for Disease Control to take prophylaxis for malaria and we took Larium as we often do in nonresistant areas. We never saw a mosquito in all of South America. Don’t forget that your weekly Larium has to be started one week before the trip.

Exchange rates were very favorable to the dollar. We ate in great restaurants for what we thought was a steal!

The Sheraton Iguazu is the very best choice as it is at the foot of all of the walkways and the only hotel in the park at present ( a Hilton is being built ). If you are just making a side trip from Buenos Aires, leave most of your luggage at your BA hotel. You will need rain gear to see the falls (pants too)! Visit the Argentine Government site on the web.

The Falklands always are windy and you will appreciate wind proof clothes on most days. Visit the government site on the web. Do visit a farm and if possible take a Rover trip to see Emperor Penguins. You won’t go deep enough into Antarctica to see them.

In Ushuaia, take time to see the National Park of Terre del Fuego. You may find Magellan Penguins if you are lucky. You can charter vessels to take you to out islands or the Beagle Channel or Strait of Magellan. Learn what is happening at their official website.

In Santiago, definitely eat at coco Loco and at Isla Negra! The travel guides were wrong. Dining in Santiago is world class! I like to take a lot of thin white coat hangers as you never get enough in your stateroom. I just leave them on the ship when we leave. I like to take some battery-powered stick on lights for the inside of closets, the inside of your room safe, and the inside of the bathroom (the light switch is on the outside so you awaken your spouse when you turn on the light at night). Take a small flashlight or head light for emergencies and for looking under the bed. I take at least a dozen plastic clothes pins and a good string for a clothes line (you usually have a clothes line in the shower already). The thin white coat hangers are useful for drying clothes also. You can not take a clothes iron on a cruise ship; they X-ray the luggage and it will be confiscated. Irons are available in the launderette. Take some stickers or pictures and double sided tape to decorate your cabin door. Stateroom cabin walls are metal covered with vinyl. Some really strong magnets are great for hanging papers, clothes to dry, daily activity schedules, and if strong enough for anchoring clothes lines. You always get a terri robe so you don't need to bring one. You will have a combination room safe. The cruise ship lends you a beach towel to take if you go to a beach. Take good sun screen and insect repellant and pack them in plastic boxes or Nalgene bottles. Take extra glasses and sun glasses. A copy of your vision prescription has been a Godsend to travelers on several of our trips and could come in handy in some ports such as Hong Kong where glasses are inexpensive. There is a large lending library of books and DVD's on all cruise ships we use. I like to have my insulated travel mug. I rip a lot of videos to my computer with Handbrake to view on my iPad. You move videos on & off of your iPad through iTunes. In much of the developing world you bring your own toilet paper with you to public toilets so we carry a lot of small packs of tissues. On most cruise ship shore excursions you can leave your backpack on the bus when you get off to visit sites. Susan carries her own dual voltage curling iron. You might swap photos with other travelers by using an SD card or usb stick so carry a few cheap ones. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID.

Be sure and take some bandaids. Carry medication for a common cold, for gastroenteritis, for cuts & scrapes. Carry several types of antibiotics. I like to have some Augmentin, Cipro, cephazolin, and some doxycycline. Take some handkerchiefs When visiting malaria prevalent areas we choose to take mefloquin but some people have bad dreams on it. We have learned to get medical evaluation of infectious diseases in the area the disease it was acquired as so very many local physicians and pharmacists know exactly what is prevalent in that area and it's treatment. I would rather have invasive or surgical care back in first world countries. Know what your health insurance will cover over seas. Sea sickness medication would be a good idea as would cough drops, ear drops, eye drops.

I mostly took digital photos using a circular polarizer. These have more affect the farther you are from the equator and it’s best to take important shots with the polarizer in several different positions. There is frequent cloud cover and you need all the contrast you can get. I used a Nikon D70 and really appreciated my Sigma 70-300 lens and used at full zoom a lot. I did take some wide angle film shots with my Nikon D70 and 20mm lens but wished I had used a lens hood. Contrary to my experience on tropical adventures, I had little trouble with fogging and it was only on the outer lens surface, never internal. I carry a small piece of travel towel tied around my camera strap for this and learned from kayak trips that this works best. A Wolverine or similar portable hard drive (or a laptop) to download compact flash cards is worth it’s weight in gold.

We found 220 volts only, both in South America and on the Explorer II. Since all of my battery chargers, etc can use 220 volts, I just use an adapter on the plug of a regular power strip and plug in the chargers as usual. Worked great!

We take only appliances that will run on either voltage and since we are from the US we use small plastic adapters that turn the 220v plugs to 110v. I carry a couple splitter cubes. We have seen people have power strips confiscated on cruise ships so don't take them. Some plugs only work when the stateroom lights are on or a room key card is in a slot in the room. The Nautica and Holland America ships have a shaver 110/220v plug in the bathroom. You don't need to take a voltage converter. Be sure and bring battery chargers for any appliance that needs one. Most modern chargers will run on both 110v & 220v but check before you come.

We have special travel socks and underwear such as those by Exofficio or Magellan that we can wash out daily and need very few pairs. These usually dry within a half day if washed in the room, thoroughly rung out, rolled up inside of towels, and hung up to dry in the stateroom. These dry more quickly inside than outside on the veranda. We also have travel shirts and pants (long & short versions of each) that dry this quickly when hand washed in the room. We carry a small Nalgene bottle (from REI) of concentrated washing detergent for this and I pack this Nalgene Bottle inside a waterproof box or Nalgene water bottle to avoid the consequences of a leak in route. We have culled the clothes we take over the years to be those with the most wrinkle resistance and to dry the quickest. In many parts of the world, we really appreciate the secure zipping pockets of our travel clothes (safari type clothing). Don't forget your hat for sun protection. The more years we travel the more we find we can take less and less clothes with us on our trips.

We like suitcases that will compress enough to keep under the bed so they don't take up room in the stateroom. We often carry a thin gym bag in case we buy items that will require another suitcase on the way home. On every cruise we take there are passengers whose luggage did not arrive on the airline and they are stuck without their luggage. We put a couple changes of clothing in our carry on luggage and we almost always go a day or two early so any tardy luggage has a chance to catch up with us. On the flight to catch our cruise I label each luggage item with our final destination for the flight (hotel name) because luggage could get mixed up on the shuttle from the airport (this has happened). When flying through remote third world airports we often choose to pack our clothes in plastic bags inside our suitcases as we have had our clothes soaked with rain or covered in dust in the past. Susan & I mix our clothes in each other's suitcases in case only one suitcase doesn't make the airline flight. I use Nalgene water bottles and plastic waterproof boxes to pack my fragile or liquid items.

We have found that having a couple hundred dollars each in one and 5 dollar bills (or euros in parts of the world) opens up so many possibilities to get us good service, pay porters, and buy trinkets. We find out immediately upon entering a country how to tip and who. The US dollar is still king. We split up our credit and debit cards so if we are robbed we can continue our trips. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID. I have records of credit card numbers and the international phone number for the card. We know which ones have foreign transaction fees. Before we leave on our trip we call the credit card company and let them know which days we will be in each country so they will allow the transactions. We still have cards frozen by the banks when we withdraw large amounts out of the country or make large purchases. This problem is easy to resolve by logging in to the card's web page and checking messages. Keep up with your plane tickets and any vouchers you carry with you. In Europe and Japan in particular be sure your credit cards have been upgraded to Smart Cards that carry the computer chip.

We love our travel agent Dianne Blackburn at Gateway Travel in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She usually follows our progress when we fly and has even called ahead and rebooked flights when she knows we won't make connections. We call her from all over the world. We have used her for over 20 years and feel she consistently gets us the best deals. Susan takes whatever deals she can find to her and Dianne tries to get a better deal. Even when we book a cruise etc we make sure Dianne gets credit with the Cruise Line.