“The power of three’s”

Buenos Aires – 4 March 2023 (Early)

Let’s just say the start of the vacation has been a bit of a whirlwind.

Flights were choc-a-block full, which means cramped spaces. The couple from the USA which shared my row on the way to Istanbul was very friendly and probably felt the same enthausiam for South-Africa, which I feel for the polar areas. It’s weird how the world works, I live in SA and have never visited the Kruger Park – having seen the big five accross other parks before I was in high school.

Boarding in Istanbul was a different story – the lady ‘gatekeeping’ the boarding area – pre-boarding.. was extremely rude. Some people were pulled out of the line and subject to extreme scrutiny – me with my ‘african’ passport and two chinese ladies also en-route to Antarctica. Third degree – much looking up of information on screens – I think she actually checked the internet if my cruise was ‘real’ and I have not dreamed up the documentation. She actually took photographs of ALL my documentation and wrote furiously in a notebook, as if to keep some form of proof that should Argentina decide to not allow me into the country – she (and Turkish Airlines) can say that they did their checks and could not find anything specific that would get me deported.

She looked severely unhappy when she eventually found nothing to not allow us on the plane. She shoved my papers in my hands and said – go.. you can go! We still don’t know what exactly that was all about – the chinese passengers were also allowed to continue their journey – much to her disgust.

Only standing in line at Immigration in Buenos Aires did I realize she did not return my printed out AirBnB confirmation.You need to provide proof of address for your first night in Argentina as part of immigration clearance. I had to look it up on the app – the very reason I print that kind of info for easy reference in these situations – which I find by default to be extremely stressful, even when I have everything on hand.

I informed the AirBnB host that I will only arrive between 1 and 2 am the morning of the 3rd of March and they confirmed that check-in at that time will not be an issue. When I arrived at the building someone from inside let me in. However, despite various attempts to connect with the hosts via the App and W/app number provided I was forced to contact AirBnB support. I was sitting on the steps in front of the apartment door from 1:55 until around 5am. At just over 4am AirBnB support contacted me and said they tried to contact the host and if they do not respond and check-in is not completed within 30 minutes, they will process a refund and cancell the booking – which unfortunately is exactly what happened.

It is 21 minutes after 9pm and I have yet to have had any feedback from the hosts as to what exactly went wrong this morning.

Luckily it is literally accross the road from the hotel that Swan Hellenic booked us in for tonight and I could check my luggage into storage and wait it out… or that was the plan untill the Swan Hellenic representative explained my predicament to the hotel reception and they informed me that my room is actually availalbe immediately and they will send up my luggage shortly. Awesome! I was super thankful. Unfortunately today this splendour is wasted on me.

While attempting to charge my powerbank the charger cable snapped. There is a single USB outlet and it is placed in such a way that it is hard to access without contorting the charger. Luckily I ‘lost’ the use of a lightning charger on a previous journey and realised the relief I felt having a backup. I had to smile as just as I was packing I thought… do you really need TWO of these cables.. and apparently the answer is still a resounding YES.

After a warm shower I slept a while and then went out to grab something to eat from a nearby supermarket. I had a picnic in a park and watched the children (big and small) and their various pets – mostly dogs – play in the park about two blocks from the hotel.

The picnic had some repurcussions of the food poisoning variety… intense but short-lived. Slight nausea and severe fatigue persists.

Hopefully my stroke of bad luck has run it’s three-strike course and tomorrow is a new day.

The allowed checked luggage item is in front of the door -ready for collection.

Breakfast and final arrangements – collection of boarding passes and health declaration forms is from 4am tomorrow – departure to airport at 5am and check-in at airport scheduled for 5:45 for 7:45 departure to Ushuaia. Arrival at Ushuaia airport approximately 11:25.

Boarding of SH Vega will take place some time between 11:25 and departure at 18:00. At this time there will be a familiar face on board – Expedition Leader (and fellow South African) Brandon -Yay!!!

I have some shopping to do at Ushuaia – hopefully the schedule will allow for that – previous occasions have allowed some time in town prior to boarding – fingers crossed.

For now I’m going to see if I can get this uploaded and then get some more sleep before an early start tomorrow and another cramped flight – mercifully only approximately 4 hours in duration.

And then… The Drake!