Tuesday December 22, 2015
The Adventure… that almost didn’t happen!
I have been preparing for this sailing trip to Antarctica on
the Bark Europa for almost a year. Gathering
knowledge, gear, visa, airline tickets, building excitement (and perhaps a
little anxiety! What the heck am I
doing?!?!?), the day finally arrived.
Cindy and her brother picked me up early Friday morning,
December 19. Final good byes to Hal and
the critters and we were off. We had a
very pleasant and uneventful drive to Seatac.
Had a nice lunch at a restaurant close to the airport then they dropped
me off. Cindy and Tony were going to spend
the day in Seattle before returning to Ocean Shores. I was starting my epic journey.
My flight was to Houston then to Santiago, Chile with the
final leg to Punta Arenas. Only a 37
minute layover in Houston. I was
concerned about that, but made the connection without difficulty. In Santiago we would have a 12 (looooong)
hour layover. Then the adventure began.
After several delays we were finally on our way to
Santiago. We had been en route to
Santiago for two hours when an announcement over the PA system informed us that
we were returning to Houston (?!!?!?!?).
No explanation given. Oh my. Then we were informed that our next flight
out would be the next day at 12:30 to arrive at about 1am…uuuummmmm our flight
to Punta Arenas was leaving at 10pm… suddenly the 12 hour layover was not going
to be nearly enough!
When we arrived (back) in Houston there was a customer
service counter set up. Lots of unhappy
folks needed to be given vouchers for a hotel room and food and told that there
were no other options to get to Santiago any earlier. Many people were missing their cruise ships
or hiking trips. I had planned ahead and
had an extra 1 ½ days to get there.
Until I found out that the soonest I could get a flight to Punta Arenas
was at 10:30 pm on Dec 23 (arrive 1am on Dec 24) and the Bark Europa leaves at
5pm on Dec 22!!! The representative was very nice trying
different ways to get me to PA, but no avail.
Others were trying to find alternate routes to meet their cruise ships
or their hiking buddies at a different location. Many people were in tears.
I held it together.
Had to get there… this trip has been in the planning for way too
long! Checked into a hotel and stayed up
making calls to the trip insurance company (very patient and helpful, but not
able to get me any closer to PA), checking alternative transportation (bus? Car
rental? Charter a plane?) on the internet but no luck. Finally took a (much needed) shower and a
short (but also much needed) nap. Then back
to Houston. Turns out there was a strike
in Chile… not sure if just airlines or other areas, but we allowed to fly to
Santiago, while the other flights were canceled.
After many more delays, were we (finally) flying to
Santiago. We arrived about 2am and went
straight to the ticket counter to wait until they opened at 4:30 to try to book
other (earlier) flights. No go. The strike had ended a couple of hours
earlier (hoorah!!) and I thought they would have scheduled more flights… silly
me! Off to find out about bus… 3000 KM…
would take almost 3 days. No good. Not able to rent a car one way. (besides, could not drive it in time…), the
taxi drivers kept asking me if I needed a ride and I finally said yes, to Punta
Arenas! They just laughed, BUT that was
the first of the turning point! One of
the drivers, Jose, took it upon himself to try to help me. In my poor Spanish and his moderate English
we worked through all the possibilities.
He was finally able to get me on as first stand by for a flight
at 10:30 that night (the 21nd).
And then we went off to a municipal airport to see if there was a
charter available. No. Helicopter?
No. Back to the airport. He spoke to the representative at the ticket
counter some more, showed them my travel documents for the ship and the date of
sailing, etc. Got them to call one of
his friends that is a manager… well, it worked!! I had a boarding pass for that night! Woo Hoo!
So Jose took me to a hotel for the day (for another much needed shower and
rest) then picked me up that night and took me back to the airport for the
final flight to Punta Arenas, due to arrive at 1:45 am on Dec 22!!
I would NOT miss the boat!!
THANK YOU Jose and all the other powers that be! Some major perseverance, determination, Jose’s
help and some darned good luck, got me to where I needed to be! Ya-hoo!
At the airport I met a couple of other ladies heading down
to the Bark Europa! One had been stuck
on Easter Island for FOUR days and finally got out on a military plane! Hope she writes about her adventures! The other one had troubles similar to mine.
Enough other passengers are having difficulty, so the
Captain of the Europa may delay departure.
Sure hope everybody makes it!!
Wow! We will all be sharing those
stories, I am sure!
Arrived at my lodging about 3am. Carmen got me settled, spent some time
sending out emails to let folks know that I was safe and in PA. Took a shower and had a good sleep. After a light breakfast I wandered around
town along the water. Some really nice
statues, painted buildings and pretty houses.
Cool, cloudy, a little rain. Saw
a veterinary clinic and stopped in to say hi!
Had a nice lunch then finally returned to the hostal to write up the
accounts of the last few days. Taxi will
pick me up in an hour to take me to the Bark Europa! Now, let’s really let the adventure begin!
Stories about life on board will appear regularly in the logbook on the
website www.barkeuropa.com. "Follow the ship” online will tell you exactly
where the Europa is sailing. Website www.windyty.com will give you some information
on the expected weather circumstances.
Want more stories? Like the
Facebook page.
I won’t be able to post any more of the trip. We won’t have internet access. I will write as we travel and post in January
when I return home.
So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
