Day 13 (13th Jan): Ushuaia / Buenos Aires in Antarctica and Argentina Travel log

This was a transfer day. The checkout from the ship is a lot smoother than the checkout from the hotel - we had to wake up at the hour of 7:45am, not 4:30am, and luggages were due to be ready for pickup at 10pm, not 8pm. So at least we weren’t rushed to shower the previous night. I was amused to observe last night that the expedition team also doubled as porters to collect our checked luggages from our staterooms.

The Ushuaia airport is small, so it only took an hour to drive from the dock and get through airport security. We were there by 8:30. But then we had to wait for the other people from our ship to show up and go through security before we could get on the flight, so it was a long wait by the gate. The flight itself got delayed by ½ hour, so we took off at 11am. It was a long wait at the gate. By today I felt the soreness in my throat had travelled down, so I was fighting something. So it was good to have a day that is inactive.

We landed at Buenos Aires at 2pm, and by 3pm were out at the arrival hall. We said our goodbyes to the other cruise passengers, and had to wait an extra couple of minutes because our driver went to the wrong (international) terminal. It was not a problem, and he took us to our third-leg hotel by 4pm. We were glad we arranged car service - as we drove off, we saw some fellow passengers still waiting in line for a taxi.

The hotel is significantly cheaper than the first hotel, and it showed. La Professeure said it looked like a converted hostel, which I agree. There’s a lot of space in the room, with hardwood floors, a giant bathroom, but not a lot of amenities, and is dimly lit. Clearly meant to be shared between 4-5 people. The location is very convenient though - walkable to downtown, most landmarks in the Retiro and Puerto Madero area, and is right next door to a shopping mall (which later made it easy to tell people where we are staying).

We went out to get pizza for dinner, and hit a convenience store for provisions (water, snacks, and cough drops), and finally uploaded our photos to the cloud, now that we have internet. Due to the early morning and my throat, I’ll turn in early and hope to feel better by tomorrow.

Flying over the Andes from Ushaia: