Antarctica Packing Record
I’ve now been to Antarctica twice, first with Nationwide Geographic Expeditions with my 8-year-old, and most lately with Adventures By Disney with my 12-year-old. I initially included this packing record in my second weblog put up, but it surely makes extra sense to make it a separate put up so I can broaden on a number of issues.
On the constitution flights to/from Ushuaia, every particular person can have one checked bag not more than 50 kilos (23kg) and one carry-on not more than 17.6 kilos (8kg). We introduced two Patagonia rolling duffels with further house, every of which was round 40 kilos, and two carry-on backpacks. I’m positive my backpack was over 30 kilos, but it surely was by no means weighed. It’s onerous to carry a laptop computer and digicam gear and be underneath 18 kilos. When you carry climbing poles, examine them! I noticed a number of individuals who had been despatched again to the check-in desks as a result of they had been making an attempt to take their steel-tipped poles by means of safety.
It’s usually 30-40F (0-5C) in Antarctica in the course of the summer season. I used to be in brief sleeves on the ship and my daughter was sometimes in a hoodie or sweatshirt, and on shore excursions we normally wished to shed layers after 20 minutes. We didn’t take something formal or good with us. The ultimate evening on the ship the captain and crew had been dressed up and all of us regarded like adventurers. Not an enormous deal.
Normally, assume waterproof and assume layers. You’ll be able to pack mild by bringing base layers for the highest and backside, waterproof pants, and a pair fleece/wool higher layers for beneath your expedition jacket. I’ve overpacked on each journeys. That is what I’ll pack once I return – no extra and no much less!
My optimum Antarctica packing record:
- Shorts, a t-shirt and a collared shirt for Buenos Aires (it was within the 90s)
- Two pairs denims
- Waterproof pants or waterproof ski pants. Mine had been water resistant and so they had been soaked after our closing Zodiac journey within the pouring rain. When you simply have skinny waterproof pants, possibly take sweat pants or one thing else to go underneath them.
- Heat, waterproof gloves. I additionally had medium-weight gloves that weren’t waterproof and so they had been nugatory.
- A heat beanie
- A gaiter
- Two long-sleeve merino wool t-shirts (Unbound Merino)
- Lengthy underwear
- A merino wool sweatshirt (Unbound Merino)
- A fleece
- Underwear
- Ten pairs merino wool socks
- A heat, waterproof jacket (for Tierra del Fuego Nationwide Park)
- Pajamas (there have been a number of pajama costume days on our ship)
- A swimsuit
- Strolling footwear
- Slippers (they had been the one footwear I wore on the ship)
- Climbing poles
- A dry bag (for my digicam on the Zodiacs)
- Sun shades
- Sunscreen. Adventures By Disney had sunscreen on board, so that is in all probability non-obligatory in the event you’re touring with them.
- Snacks – numerous M&Ms for cabin snacks and granola bars for journey days. We additionally introduced ginger chews.
- Energy banks for the journey days particularly
- Props. We introduced Santa hats. Others had Hawaiian shirts and penguin costumes. Convey one thing enjoyable for images!
- Plug adaptors. I repeatedly used each European and Argentinian adaptors – within the resort, on the ship and on the airport. There was nearly at all times a US outlet out there as properly.
- A digicam, though the iPhone can seize numerous scenes in addition to any digicam. I took my Canon 6D MII with a 24-105 lens, a 70-200 lens, and a 1.4 extender. My daughter used my lengthy lens on her Canon most of the time and I primarily shot with the 24-105 lens. FYI, I took 3,825 images in Antarctica. Over 2/3 of them had been with my iPhone.
- A laptop computer and an exterior onerous drive. I used down time on the ship to edit images.
- Regular toiletries. There’s lotion, shampoo and conditioner on most ships so that you don’t must carry these.
- Medicines. We didn’t want to make use of something from our medical/antibiotics kit. We went by means of 24 Dramamine tablets between the 2 of us, simply to forestall nausea when the boat was rocking just a little. We had extra critical nausea meds within the medical equipment if we would have liked them.
My daughter took related issues, however primarily wore leggings underneath her waterproof pants as an alternative of lengthy underwear. She wore flannel pajama bottoms numerous the time on board. She introduced extra sweatshirts, hoodies and sweaters than I did.
Issues we took to Antarctica however didn’t want:
- Books – we introduced three books and a Kindle and didn’t open any of them
- A Bluetooth speaker – we used it a pair occasions however might have gotten by with out it, and most cabins got here with audio system
- Flip-flops. My slippers had been adequate, even for the pool.
- Laundry cleaning soap – we lived in merino wool, which might simply go 7-10 days with out being washed
- A separate day pack – it’s simpler to go on shore and not using a backpack in any respect
- A sweater – the ship was at all times heat, and I had different layers for excursions
- A second digicam. My first journey I at all times took two digicam our bodies on shore to have the ability to seize every thing. With present telephone digicam high quality, that’s not needed.
- Climbing pants. Undecided what I used to be pondering.
Antarctica Packing Record – Your Flip
Have you ever been to Antarctica? Is there something I’m lacking in my record that you just discovered it worthwhile to pack?
