The Traveling Widower

Author: Richb

  • The World is Really Big….Who Knew?

    December 5th, 2025

    After my marathon flights back from Antarctica, I intend to do more research on available flights for all of my future trips. I thought it was a bit strange to fly down to Santiago Chile via Los Angeles, a nice short hop from Sacramento, and then return via Atlanta – a seemingly endless 5 hours flight across the country. Yeah, I know I live in a non-hub city, but it just did not seem logical to book a cross country flight when return flights can wind up in Houston, Dallas and LA, leaving a much shorter hop by home. Leg cramps on an airplane are just not a lot of fun. I’d like to avoid that again. Or remember to take one of my pickle juice shots along (they really do work).

    As of a few days ago, I had three trips in 2026, and three in 2027 which require travel plans. (Baja and Iceland are fully booked). And most of them are long distance:

    Kodiak Island – multiple stops to get there (Seattle->Anchorage->Kodiak). Plus, I want to get there early and stay in Anchorage for a few days.

    Patagonia – Back to the tip of South America, returning through Ushuaia again.

    Baja (Loreto) – I wound up staying overnight in Phoenix the last time. I’ll probably do the same, and get there the day before. I can also go through Los Angeles. Meh. Not my favorite place, but it’s a very short flight back to Sacramento from there. Less time on a plane is always better.

    Churchill, Manitoba – not that far but hard to get there. Ever been to Winnipeg? Not me. That’s where we start before taking a charter flight to Churchill. Never been on my bucket list. 

    Iceland (2027) – I have airline credits with Icelandic Air, and made the flight reservations on my own for the 2026 trip. I can probably do that one on my own again since I’d be getting a free flight. You still have to go from Sacramento to either Seattle or Portland to get to Rejkavik, but there are no other choices. 

    Madagascar – I have no clue, but that’s going to be a really long haul, worse than South America. And if I extend over to Africa, it will really get complicated. I need either the Transporter or a Time Machine. Or a lot of martini’s on the flight.

    And now that I’ve been home from Antarctica for a few days, boredom has set in, and I’ve started booking more trips. I have a severe case of happy feet:

    Panama Canal/Costa Rica (March 2026) – this one starts in Panama City and ends in San Jose, Costa Rica. Good luck with that. But it’s just three months away, so I need to get my act together on that.

    Falklands/South Georgia Island (2027) – back to good ole Ushuaia, Argentina, which is rapidly becoming my home away from home. Maybe I should buy a condo there. Or a cell in the heated section of the prison.

    The Panama/Costa Rica trip is first up, so I started looking at flights before calling the Lindblad travel agency. First thing – take a look at the globe to find the shortest path to some of these places. Yikes – it is amazing how far away most of these places are from Sacramento. If it were a hub, it would be simpler, but almost every flight requires at least one inconvenient stop. And depending on the airline you select, you have to count on a transfer in either Atlanta, Dallas, or Houston 

    When you look at a global map, the distance between all these airports makes you realize why it takes so long to get to all the fun destinations I’ve been visiting. And also why it pays to be selective on how you get there. The yellow line for example, illustrates flights from Sacramento -> Atlanta, and then on to Santiago Chile. A simple switch to Los Angeles eliminates a 5 hour flight between SMF and Atlanta. The red line is for my most recent booking – Sacramento -> Houston -> Panama City. The alternative of Atlanta adds miles on both the domestic and international flights. 

    Well, that was fun. I enjoy playing with Google Earth. The visitor center on the Google main campus used to have a room, where you had a giant screen of Google Earth and Google Moon, and you could search on anything. It was a popular display for employees and visitors. It is still one of my favorite applications from my former employer. 

    It is always better to be prepared before calling travel agents. Sometimes I think they look for the most complicated flights, with minimal time in between segments. I had two hours in Atlanta between my Santiago flight, and the one to Sacramento. I lucked out – it was early in the morning, so customs was not packed. Or maybe they figured out how to be more efficient. Nah. 

    I have a bit of time now before I have to book flights for upcoming flights. Kodiak Island is next, followed by Patagonia. This give me lots of time to figure out the best routes. And to buy more of those little pickle juice shots No more high altitude cramps please. 

  • Antarctic Wrap-up

    December 1st, 2025

    ”Hey it’s good to be back home again”
    “Sometimes, this old house, feels like a long lost friend”
    ”Yes and hey it’s good to be back home again”
    John Denver, Back Home Again

    I finally made it home after 19 hours of flight-time collectively on three separate flights starting in Ushuaia Argentina, to Santiago Chile, to Atlanta and then finally to Sacramento. Phew. I put in a couple of miles of walking though airport terminals, waited in security and customs lines multiple times, had some pretty good meals (1st class on international flights), and managed a few solid hours of sleep for a change. It’s now Monday, and I’m pretty much back to my boring life – it’s weird being alone again after sharing this incredible experience with 130 people, many of whom knew me by name (and not just because we wore name tags). But, it’s still nice to be home, and I’m looking forward to light meals, no alcohol, and working out daily. And I already go my chipped tooth repaired! My dentist said the Lindblad physician did a great job with the temporary fix.

    With all the idle time on airplanes and airport lounges, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on this trip, resulting in the last post on this trip – how sad. Nothing to write about for a while. 

    Overall rating – Superb/Beyond Belief/Best Ever 

    We had the cruise finale meeting the last evening at sea, where the Lindblad captain said that this had been an extraordinary trip, even from his lengthy experience in the Antarctic. We went further south, beyond the Antarctic Circle, than cruise ships normally go, and went through thick ice fields to an uncharted bay, filled with moving masses of ice…and managed to send out Zodiacs for 2 hour exploration rides through the ice, and even let the kayaks out to play (but closer to the ship), all the while the captain and bridge crew had to keep moving the Resolution to dodge icebergs (phew..quite the run-on sentence). That one day was an extraordinary experience.

    Pretty much every stop we made was a step beyond anything I’ve seen or done before. We visited four separate penguin colonies, each filled with hundreds or thousands of these amazing little critters. Just watching them waddling around, swimming and porpoising in the ocean, or stealing rocks from their neighbors nests, was a sight to behold. The scenery around each site was beyond belief. I want to come back and see the penguin chicks some day, and definitely want to see the larger penguins (King) in the South Georgia Islands. Maybe 2027 (already looking into a cruise there).

    Every outing was different, and they were not all focused on penguins. We explored an old, abandoned British research station (Station W) on the Detaille Island – it’s been maintained as a self-service museum of sorts, in pristine condition, still filled with old cans of food, games, clothing, radio equipment. And a really disgusting looking bathroom (just a wood plank with a hole in it – and the researchers had to clean it out). I forgot how many men stayed there – about 16 I think. They must have been good friends. It was an interesting stop, and we all hiked up a hill for some great views of the surrounding coastline and glaciers. 

    I’ve already described our ‘stable shore ice’ outing – that was incredible. And like most of our time in the Antarctic, there were penguins and seals flopping around. It always paid to have your phone or a camera handy since wildlife just seemed to pop up on the ice out of nowhere. Catching those images was pure luck – which I never seem to have. I did get to try out ship hauling – who knew that this was a potential career for me.

    Another stop I have not written about was Crystal Bay(not sure about the name) – this was scheduled as a Zodiac/Kayak opportunity and once again, we lucked out with perfect weather. Blue skies, little if any wind, and a perfectly flat sea. There was not much wildlife to see, other than a couple of humpback whales (fluke shot below), but cruising through the icebergs was fun – lots of interesting shapes making for good photo opportunities.

    All NatGeo/Lindblad cruises allow 24/7 access to the bridge – I’ve checked with some of the other expedition type cruise companies, and from what I can tell, you have to get permission. The bridge on the Resolution was amazing – high tech, lots of room for guests to wander around, plus there was a large observation area in front, which looked down the very unique bow of the ship. The captain gave a 2 hour presentation on the design of the ship – it is an absolutely amazing ship. The bridge though was special – you could stand behind the pilot’s “Captain Kirk” chair, and get the same view they had of the navigation and camera view screens arrayed in front, and watch as they manipulated the thrusters and engine pods with what looked like game controls. It was a tech geeks dream to watch as they maneuvered through narrow gaps in the ice flows. 

    I am truly blessed to be immune to wave motion on ships – so many of the passengers had to deal with motion sickness during the Drake Passage (both directions). I slept like a baby. The ship’s physician was extremely busy those days. For me, I kind of enjoyed the passage – there was a lot to see – Humpback and Orca whales, and flocks of sea birds. I spent a lot of time out on the observation decks during out passage to Anatactica, attempting to photograph the different Albatross and Petrels swooping around the ship. The passage back to Ushuaia was rougher, but still not too bad. The forecast was bad for the next group going out – we lucked out.

    Overall, with our bonus day for getting there early, we spent almost 6 days wandering around Antarctica, covering a large area. The ship’s path in map below, when expanded (not able to do that in the blog) looks like someone just scrawled blind-folded on the map.

    I have so many photos to curate from this trip…and a lot of videos of ocean waves, floating ice, and stumbling penguins. I might eventually do a ‘best of’ and/or a slide show, and post them. Everyone loves penguins. Plus, I get to learn something new.

    I enjoyed sharing my trip on this blog. I hope you found this interesting. Comments are always welcome.