How to plan a trip to antarctica
Tips to book BUDGET Antarctica
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can you really use the word Antarctica
and budget in the same sentence
I sure how I'm gonna do it a lot as
videos so let's redefine our idea of
budget justice once
I travel a lot and since I'm self-funded
I am always looking for the cheapest
possible way to do something so this is
the cheapest possible way to do an
article
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to set your expectations straight know
this if you were to book an article
regularly you would be looking at
spending on average between fifteen to
twenty-five thousand dollars per person
and that's just the cruiser expedition
in itself I'm gonna talk about all the
other costs associated with this trip
later on but yeah there you go fifteen
to twenty five thousand dollars so what
does that are to count on a budget look
like we're talking about four and a half
to five thousand dollars bottom line so
let's take that number let it sink in
and get comfortable with it because that
is the absolute cheapest I found and the
number you'll have to keep in mind if
you want to visit the highest and driest
continent
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okay so now that we're friends with
$5,000 here's the big catch you have to
be flexible and be able to go last
minute I always say that flexibility is
the key to budget travel and it's
absolutely essential for Antartica the
way it works is in the weeks leading up
to departures the operators will sell
any unsold cabins at a fraction of the
original cost now I use the venture
travel and they're gonna be linked in
the description below
and they basically broker these deals
because what you used to have to do is
you used to have to go into the port
cities either Austria Argentina or Punta
Arenas and kind of wait around for two
to three weeks until a suitable deal
came by well now adventure travel what
they've done is they've kind of digit
digitalized digitized made it easier by
making it available via email so you can
be anywhere in the world and book your
last-minute trip to Antarctica you'll
just obviously have to make sure you get
to the port city in time for departure
now the next important thing to know
here is that you will have to be
tenacious there aren't many of these
deals and they tend to go really quickly
there are more towards the end of the
season which will be about end of March
beginning of April and these are also
gonna be the more budget-friendly ones
the height of season is January but yet
there were quite a few that when I
received the email I enquired about them
almost immediately and basically they
were already on not basically just they
were gone now what'll happen next is
once you've picked your deal you'll have
to obviously pay for the excursion and
you'll have to fill in all the relevant
paperwork from the operator we booked
ours about two weeks in advance of the
actual departure date so we had plenty
of time to make your way from Puerto
Madryn Argentina down to port and Palace
that we're was nope
Punta Arenas that's where it was now
there'll be tons of different options to
choose from when you start getting these
deals so here are a few things to
consider when making your decision there
are different classes of ships operating
these tours and they range from basic
research vessels to luxury
the last-minute option on luxury ships
we're usually no less than nine to ten
thousand dollars per person but you
obviously get what you pay for and
usually a much bigger and nicer room the
lowest price options are gonna be the
research vessels but these will be
shared
triple or twin cabins sure you wanna be
we actually got a private room when on
one of the top decks have a seating area
just because it happens to be available
so sometimes you get super lucky the
size of the ships will also make a
difference to the excursion and that's
what she said it's important to note
that in Antarctica there are only a
hundred people allowed at a landing site
at any time there are ships that have a
hundred passengers or less which means
that everyone will be able to go on the
excursion at the same time but there are
larger ships with up to 200 passengers
and obviously it'll have to be split so
you have to wait your turn before you
can go for me personally it was really
important to get as much time as
possible exploring and going on
expeditions so I really wanted to make
sure I picked a ship that had less than
100 passengers a personal observation
was that some of the cheapest options
are Chinese charters that allow up to 10
international passengers they were
usually more than 100 passengers in
total up to 200 but the expedition staff
conduct the tours in English and Chinese
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what other costs are you gonna have to
consider on top of that $5,000 here is
what's not included obviously getting
yourself to the port of departure and
back home that means you'll have to buy
flights from your home base to either
Argentina or Chile and if you're doing
this last-minute that was flight are
probably not going to be very cheap so
the best thing to do here is if at all
possible already be in the area and be
flexible on your travel dates the way we
were if that is an option for you it
might be worth looking into some
flexible tickets and as with most
cruises food is included however
alcoholic beverages are not so you'll
have to pay for those some of the ships
offer Wi-Fi but that can also come at an
additional cost tips are also not
included and should be calculated at
about 10 to 20 dollars per person per
day and the person in your party not
people on the ship first staff that
would be a lot and on some of the other
options that I saw activities were
actually charged extra now on our cruise
all the excursions were included but I
did see and that some of the other ships
charge an additional fee for these and
they have to be booked in advance these
are things like kayaking or overnight
camping and I've seen the price range
for example for kayaking from an
additional three hundred dollars to a
thousand dollars per person so yeah it
all sounds pretty daunting when we start
adding this up right five thousand
dollars just to go on the expedition
plus your flights to get there plus tips
plus activities plus drinks plus Wi-Fi
we're talking ten days in Antarctica can
most likely run you about ten thousand
dollars per person
as the cheapest possible option and I
completely understand that this isn't
everyone's budget personally I sold my
house that's right I'm now homeless and
I used part of those funds I knew they
were gonna go for an article and so part
of that house sale was used for me to be
able to do this and if you're stingy
traveler like me it can still hurt
paying that large sum but in retrospect
I will say that it was absolutely worth
worthless worth it the entire experience
was priceless the moments we get to
spend with the wildlife just it made it
worth every penny and more
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and if you have the flexibility to go
last-minute you're still paying half of
what it would normally cost to book in
advance so I hope this was helpful and
if I've missed anything or if you guys
have any questions leave me a comment
below feel free to check out some of the
resources that I offer my fellow
adventurers like you in the description
as well and yeah until next time forget
to one another get to our planet and
keep adventuring
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