17. Visit Antarctica

Although it's still a couple of months away, I had to share the progress that's been made towards one of the biggest and most challenging goals on my list!

Somewhere along the way, I decided that it would be an amazing life goal to see all 7 continents. I don't know how feasible this is but it's truly something I think of almost on a daily basis! Sharing this dream with my sister, I started to joke that she should come with me to Antarctica. I started to send her links via e-mail of different excursions and websites that hosted trips to this southernmost continent. As she started to check them out, she also started to find other good sites and possible trips. It was half-fun but half-serious also.

Then, when we had the opportunity to see each other in person, we had a conversation that went something like this:

"So those Antarctica trips look awesome, don't they? (nudge, nudge) We should really do it."

"I think we should really do it."

"No, I'm serious. You really want to do it?"

"Yes I'm serious. Let's do it!"

And since then, we have been committed. We gave ourselves some time to save up and plan and now the date is set for this December!

This past week has brought some huge strides in the planning of our trip. For starters, we are officially paid in full which is a huge accomplishment. We also reserved our hotels for the pre- and post- legs of the trip. Furthermore, we have city tours scheduled for both days of our quick jaunt in Buenos Aires on the way home. We purchased all of our air fare months ago so everything that needs to be booked or planned ahead of time is done!!

We also received a fun packet from Polar Cruises which is the provider we're going through for the adventure. It gave lots of information but my favorite was the checklist to keep track of what wildlife you see while on the trip. It listed everything from local fauna to region specific birds, different types of penguins, seals, and whales!

Another fun item they included was a fleece hat. Heidi and I both wore it around for a good chunk of time after receiving it :)

So while this item is far from being complete, I have been so giddy that I had to share some of the excitement. Don't worry...there will be a lot more posts about this goal to come!