Our Wanderers in Residence own Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere is headed to Antarctica with us this month on our Spirit of Shackleton tour. Gary, who will be featured on his very own tour – The Great Wide Everywhere – this May tells us the top five reasons he is headed to the bottom of the planet with G Adventures.
1) Penguins! I’ve seen penguins in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Galapagos Islands. I’ve seen penguins almost everywhere in the world you can see them in the wild…except the #1 place for penguins: Antarctica! I’ll be arriving in the middle of January when the penguin chicks should have hatched.
2) 7th Continent: I have visited North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. The only content I haven’t visited is Antarctica. Visiting would be a personal accomplishment and it is would be a real feather in my travel cap.
3) Photography: Antarctica is one of the most desolate places on Earth. The images I’ve seen of the deep blue colors in the ice, the penguins and the leopard seals are astounding. There are certain places that are a gold mine for photography, and I’m sure Antarctica will be one of them.
4) History: The Spirit of Shackleton tour won’t just be landing on Antarctica to see penguins and ice. We’ll be following the footsteps of Earnest Shackleton who’s famously saved the life of his crew. In addition to Antarctica, I’ll be visiting the grave of Shackleton, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island.
5) Remote Places: I have a thing for small, out of the way places. The Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island are the poster children for out of the way places. They are thousands of miles away from the nearest land masses and their populations are miniscule.
