66°33′ South

Fifteen years ago, to celebrate turning 50, I took myself on an expedition cruise through the Southern Ocean with stops in The Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the continent of Antarctica. It was so stunningly beautiful that I decided to return when I retired.

I booked this trip almost two years ago and paid in full in order to get a hefty discount. I’m travelling with Quark Expeditions again (great service and a returning client discount!) but I do feel a bit traitorous given that Quark is now an American company (it was Canadian in 2010.) My defense is that two years ago when I booked, the US was being run by a kindly old man not a crazy old one…too late for a refund by the time the boycotts began.

This little fellow above is a an Antarctic Fur Seal – spotted on South Georgia Island on my 2010 expedition. This time around I’ll be heading due south across the notorious Drake Passage and even further south (in attempt) to cross the Antarctic Circle at, you guessed it, 66°33′ south latitude. Nerd alert: 66°33′50.8″ to be precise.

My loyalty points cache is close to being empty but I managed to snag a business class seat direct to Buenos Aires (with a stop in Sao Palo.) I booked a fully refundable business ticket almost a year ago to ensure the seat I wanted and then kept eye on sales. About five months ago I switched, at no cost, to business “lite” seat and got partial points and cash refund. In the end I paid $76.23 CAD and 141,300 Aeroplan points for ticket that retails for $7,286 CAD at time of departure.

Just for the record, there is no way in hell that I would use my own hard earned cash for this kind of thing.

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