Sunday 26th January, The Excitement Begins, Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, then boarding Swan Hellenic Vega

We both awoke before our 4.20 am wake-up call repacked our gear, and headed to breakfast, where the other 150 Swan Hellenic guests from all over the world were also enjoying breakfast. Following breakfast, we were taken to the airport. Buenos Aries airport does things a little differently. As a group we joined the security line-up, about a 500metre line that snaked its way around the terminal. The line moved quite quickly so we weren’t too concerned. Once we were at the nominated gate and ready for our departure, staff just called us up in our groups for loading and asked us to line up in imaginary lines. Also, if they needed to find a passenger, they didn’t use the audio system they just got the person with the loudest voice to call out the person’s name, several times until that person heard and went to the desk. Our flight to Ushuaia was uneventful but particularly spectacular as we approached Ushuaia. Huge snow-capped mountains all around us and the winds buffeting the plane as we came in for landing made for an interesting time. Once we arrived, we were put onto several coaches and given a tour of the town. Ushuaia is a small town in a stunning location and of course has become famous for being the starting point for the Antarctic Cruise ships. We were then taken to our ship and completed boarding formalities, before going to the beautiful restaurant for a late lunch. Our ship is simply magnificent, quite luxurious and our cabins are spacious and beautifully appointed. Following lunch, we went for a short walk around the main part of Ushuaia before returning to the ship for dinner. Before dinner, we had an introduction talk in the Club lounge where the general staff and expedition team were introduced to us. This group was made up of 14 people from all over the world with expertise in different fields relating to Antarctica. These included zoology, geology, marine biology, scientific research, history, photography, environmental science etc. Many will also be driving the zodiacs which will take us to shore.  A lovely young Chinese couple were sitting adjacent to us, and we asked them where they were from (Shanghai) and they asked us where we were from. When we said Adelaide, they became very excited as they had both studied at the University of Adelaide to obtain their degrees. They had been in Adelaide for 4 years and had met there, returned to China to work had recently married. This trip was their Honeymoon. We returned to our rooms after dinner and we virtually fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.