Need help and advice in how I can get to Antarctica with my soon toi be 7 year old.
My daughter who is 6 at present is quite desperate to go to Antarctica and I think it would be an amazing experience so we have been putting our pennies away!
I would like to know though, how and with whom could I go with to make this experience possible. Obviously I realise that it will be a very expensive trip but if we could keep the price down as much as possible that would be an incredible bonus!
Basically, any help, tips, advice would be gratefully received!!!
Thank you in advance!
Reply to this Hello Ornella, this would be a wonderful experience for both of you, but Antarctica can be frightfully expensive.
Recently, a thread in the forum discussed the question of Antarctica at length:
Antarctica Cruise
You may find some useful suggestions there.
Reply to this Thank you Shane! I had a quick look! There seems to be a lot of good advice. Prices seem to vary from $1 500 to $25 000. I was sort of thining along the $3 000 mark each.
Also wondered, which tours would take kids as I believe that not everyone takes kids.
Reply to this I have not researched into taking children, but it might be that the more upmarket and expensive a journey, the less likely they are to take children. It is possible to get something for around the $3,000 mark, but that usually comes as a result of a last minute booking - I have a colleague who was able to do this a couple of years ago with Quark Expeditions. Prices dropped to that level during the financial crisis, but they have increased quite a lot recently.
[Edited: 2011 May 22 00:21 - The Travel Camel:11053 ]
Reply to this Thank you! I think I need to start doing a bit more research, also I heard that some tour groups would not take small children because of insurance problems, I hadn't thought of that and need to check on this!
Inadvertently having travelled to the other 6 continents (never planned out to do so, just happened), we turned to looking at Antarctica, as you would and now we soooo want to go. I, obviously, realise it will be the most expensive trip we will ever go on but it is such a unique experience and all the blogs I've read sound amazing! (except for some days on the Drakes passage!!!)
I've come close twice, once I nearly got a job there and more recently I sailed as part of an expedition that was going to the Antarctic but I did the Canaries to Rio leg, somewhat warmer and fulfilling another ambition of mine, that the first time I crossed the Equator was going to be by sea!
So, I feel it's our time to get to that beautiful continent!!!
Reply to this Working in Antarctica would be an amazing experience, and think it might be the best (and most economical way) to see the white continent.
The blogs on Antarctica do sound amazing and it is a trip I must do in my lifetime, but keep delaying it due to the price. For the amount of money a cruise down there will cost, it can be utilised to travel to other destinations for much longer periods. Eventually I will just need to do it, hopefully it will be within five years, but we shall see.
Please post the result of your research as am sure that others with young children will be interested in your findings.
Reply to this I will definitely do that, although my research will be put on hold for the next month as my daughter's paternal grandmother has come over and they have only seen each other once before three years ago!!!
So big emotions going on!
But I must research the whole trip properly and I will post anything I find out, of course!!!!
Thanks for the support, btw.
Reply to this In 1990, I worked in Antarctica for 5 months. It was a wonderful experience.
I can provide tips on securing employment down there but those jobs are difficult to obtain. Highly competitive.
[Edited: 2011 May 23 04:45 - D MJ Binkley:42569 ]
Reply to this Any tips would be welcome! It is a bit easier for Australians and New Zealanders - we both have large bases for our populations sizes and in Australia's case, only Australian citizens can apply as they are government jobs.
[Edited: 2011 May 24 23:41 - The Travel Camel:11053 ]
Reply to this As much as I would like to get a job there, I think in my present situation it would be fairly impossible BUT I would love to hear the tips as I'm sure many others would too!!!
And I would love to hear about your experienses there too!!
Thank you!
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