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Published: November 18th 2022
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Having been to the six major continents there is only one more to add. Antarctica!!! A year ago I saw a great deal on Trip A Deal to join a trip on the Norwegian shipping line, Hurtigruten, to Antarctica at half the price usually charged. Fletcher and I couldn't resist. Now we are on the voyage south, having left Adelaide yesterday for the long, four stage plane trip to Argentina to start our journey. We were up at 3-30am and left home about 4. I had prebooked our car into the long-term car park at the Adelaide airport so we did not have to rely on taxis. At the airport the QR code didn't work but we had a contact number and were soon let in and parked. The check-in and security was made simpler with Fletcher's gold Frequent Flyer card giving us premium access and we were soon on our way to Sydney, our first stop.There the transfer between terminals and the security scan took longer but we were soon in the Qantas Club lounge.
The next three legs were again helped by having access to airport lounges. We flew first to Auckland , for a two hour stopover
and then onto Santiago. We were flying with LATAM, a Chilean line made up of an amalgamation of LAN and others. Quite comfortable and pleasant bilingual staff. The 10 hour flight to Chile on our Boeing 787, was mainly in darkness as they are able to tint the windows so the natural sunlight disappears. In Santiago we spent a pleasant couple of hours in their very sumptuous lounge before boarding the flight to Buenos Aires. Along the way we were trying to spot others who may be in the same group and when we assembled in the airport we had picked quite a few.
We were met by a representative from Hurtigruten who took us to a waiting bus to transport us into the city. We were at three different hotels. We had been told we were staying at the Sofitel Recoletta. The first stop was the Hilton, which is in Puerto Madero, the old port of BA and a great area filled with restaurants and lovely old warehouse buildings. After dropping off part of our group we then headed for the Sofitel, but our guide then checked and told us we were actually booked into the Hilton. So
we did the round trip, dropping everyone else off before returning to the Hilton. We were quite happy about it though, as the area is more central and more attractive.
Once settled in our 6th floor room we then headed out for something to eat. It was about 9pm then and the restaurants were just starting to fill up. many couples, families and tourists were strolling along the river near the striking bridge designed by a renowned Spanish architect. We decided on an Italian place, Italica, after checking out a few eateries. Fletcher had a beef schnitzel while I settled for gnocchi. Both were good and huge serves which is the norm here.Washed down with an Argentinian Rose, we spent a pleasant hour or so people watching in the balmy night air.
It had been a long day but it was great to be travelling again. The couples we chatted to from our group all seem very friendly so it augurs well for the next two weeks of the trip.
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