Oh the Places I'll Go

I don’t have a bucket list,  per se , I’ve just been trying to see as much of the world as is possible while I am still able to travel.    However, the Galapagos Islands is one of those places that is a must-see for any world traveler, and maybe even for those who have more limited ambitions.    While exploring the Canadian Arctic on the  Silversea Endeavour  last summer, Scott and I met some people who had been to the Galapagos and recommended it highly.    One man in particular, said that we should book a two-week expedition on Silversea.    The more we considered the possibilities, the more enthusiastic we became.    Before disembarking the  Endeavour,  we booked a Galapagos expedition on the sister ship,  Silversea Origin.     The  Origin  was built specifically for use in the Galapagos and was put into service in 2020.    Throughout the year, it sails two itineraries in the...

 Scott and I recently returned from an expedition to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.  Throughout, we found ourselves remembering our previous expedition to the other pole, Antarctica.  Several friends have indicated they wanted to read about our Arctic trip, which caused me to realize that I hadn’t written about the expedition we took to Antarctica in December, 2018.  So, this blog reports on both of those trips. Antarctica Expedition Map Greenland and Canadian Arctic Expedition Map Both of our polar expeditions were on small ice-rated expedition ships that carried between 150 and 200 passengers.  We booked our Antarctica expedition through Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) which sailed on a Quark ship, the Ocean Diamond.  It was an older ship, serviceable, but definitely not luxurious.   Quark's Ocean Diamond The trip north was on a new luxury expedition ship, built during the Covid pandemic by Crystal Cruises.  When that company went bankr...