Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who in 1912 led the first expedition to reach the South Pole, wrote:

“Glittering white, shining blue, jet black. In sunlight the country shines like a fairy tale. Summit to summit passed through by glaciers as wild as no other country on our globe. There is Antarctica.”

Forty thousand people each year visit the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth, and this year I am one of them. I confess that I am not drawn by Amundsen’s lofty sentiments, but by the possibility of communing with penguins! I don’t know when my penguin obsession developed as I cannot remember a time when I did not want to experience Antarctica.

This journey with Lindblad Expeditions will take me through Buenos Aires to Ushuaia in southern Argentina where I will board the National Geographic Explorer for the two-day crossing of the Drake Passage, the roughest body of water on earth. I will spend six days exploring the Antarctic Peninsula with my sister Shirley and two expedition leaders, nine naturalists and three photographic instructors – and about 100 other tourists – hiking, kayaking and learning about Antarctica.

I hope you will journey with me waaaaay down south. As always there will be an unsubscribe link in your email notification if my posts become too painful.