#myRTW: Antarctica with Linguist on the Move

The interview series #myRTW coincides with our hash-tag of the same name which is featured on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Our aim with the series is simple: to show off the world’s amazing destinations that long-term travelers have enjoyed on the road!

In each entry of this series, participating RTW travelers highlight one experience or destination they consider a favorite from their trip and share what they loved about it.

Today’s #myRTW interview features Melissa from Linguist on the Move.  Her long-term trip lasted 13 months from December 2013 to January 2015 and visited 31 countries on all seven continents. For Melissa, the experience she considers a favorite was visiting Antarctica in January 2014.

In Melissa’s words…
What Are We Doing in Antarctica?

“After a couple hours wandering around (read: slipping on) the ice and snow on our own, Kate and I met back up and had a seat on a perfect, untouched patch of white fluff. We looked out over what has been dubbed “Iceberg Alley” for obvious reasons and said to ourselves, “what are we doing in Antarctica???”.

It’s the one place that always stood out whenever I would tell people I was doing all seven continents in one year, and for good reason: it’s the one continent so remote and at times so inhospitable that very few people ever get to see it. It was on my list, but I had always thought it would be the grand finale. So naturally, I had insanely high expectations of the place. The reason it stood out as the highlight of my RTW trip is because all twelve days of the excursion easily surpassed every expectation I had. Whether it was spotting our first iceberg after two and a half days of seeing nothing but water and birds on our way through the Drake Passage, or the thousands of penguins greeting us at Aitcho Island: every moment took my breath away.

Making Sure to Have a Landing

One of the regulations in place to preserve the natural beauty of Antarctica stipulates that a ship carrying more than 100 passengers may not allow anyone onto land. My friend Kate, who accompanied me on the trip, had done her research beforehand and found us a small ship so that we were sure to have a landing, if not several. After all, we thought, what’s the point of going all the way to the seventh continent if we can’t get off the ship and stretch our legs?

Despite – or maybe even because of – its small size, life on the ship would prove a highlight for me throughout the trip. Nearly everyone, including the staff, had their own unique story and the same adventurous spirit that drove Kate and me to book the trip. Every meal was unimaginably delicious, a feat that still makes me wonder, since at no point after leaving Ushuaia at the tip of Argentina did we have anywhere to restock on food. The top deck of the Akademik Ioffe even had a plunge pool filled with icy Antarctic waters, a sauna to warm us back up afterwards, and a hot tub where we often sat and enjoyed the view while sipping drinks delivered from the bar downstairs.

A Place So Natural, Raw and Devoid of Humans

But nothing would match the mysterious beauty of the Antarctic continent. There are no words to describe the calm and awe of being in a place so natural, raw and devoid of fellow human beings. We were giddy at every new sighting – icebergs and mountains towering up from the sea to the sky, penguins adorably waddling and belly-tobogganing (a sight accompanied by the awful smell of their excrement, which strangely bothered not a single one of us) and the fur, weddell, crabeater and leopard seals, all of which share a common love of napping and smiling for tourists.

To give an example of just how powerful the icy continent is, staff members well versed and experienced with Antarctic excursions treated ours like it was their first as well. They were constantly telling us how the excitement and wonder never leaves them, regardless of how many times they’ve been. On day 9, as I was sitting peacefully in my kayak in Wilhelmina Bay (appropriately dubbed “Whale-mina Bay”), one of the excursion leaders with at least ten trips under his belt was virtually in tears after a humpback whale approached the zodiac he was steering and camped out within arm’s reach of the passengers on board the boat.

An Experience I’ll Never Forget

The ship, the people, the wildlife and the sense of adventure were so overwhelming, it was almost exhausting. It was an experience I’ll never forget and one I can only hope to repeat someday.

For more on my twelve days in Antarctica: http://linguistonthemove.com/category/antarctica/”

Check out more great photos and stories from Linguist on the Move on social media at the following links:

Join in! Are you a traveler who has been on a RTW adventure, has an amazing experience or destination to share, and would like to participate in this series? Email us at [email protected] to receive the prompt for the post!

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The post #myRTW: Antarctica with Linguist on the Move appeared first on Living the Dream.

Jeremy is the primary author of