Dream Trip, Step One: Antarctica
Gene Pembroke, picture yourself here: Our Dream Trip Contest winner, an aspiring photographer, is headed to Antarctica!
Photo: G.A.P. Adventures
Now that Wendy's announced the winner of Conde Nast Traveler's Dream Trip Contest, I'm here to tell you how Gene Pembroke and his girlfriend will be spending their $20,000 on the travel experience of a lifetime. Gene's first request? To see Antarctica.
Twenty thousand dollars might seem like a huge chunk of change to spend in just a few weeks (it's certainly more than any of my trips have ever cost!). But Antarctica is a singular, and singularly expensive, destination. So our mission was to get the couple there and back in style, while also leaving enough money for them to make several other stops in South America. How did we do it?
Our first call was to Chris Dunham of Quark Expeditions, an expert in all things polar. Since Gene is a pretty adventurous guy, Chris suggested an itinerary on the Shokalsky, a smaller, more rugged ship that allows passengers to kayak and camp overnight on the Antarctic ice. Gene loved that idea, but alas, its $15,000 price tag left precious little for Patagonia, Buenos Aires, Rio...well, you get the idea.
So then we called G.A.P. Adventures, an adventure outfitter that was named to Conde Nast Traveler's Green List last year. Because of that recognition, we knew that its trips would be done in an environmentally and socially sensitive way.
G.A.P. found a more economical -- albeit less adventurous -- Antarctic cruise for Gene and Arlene: its 10-day Antarctica Classic, leaving January 4, 2008. Total cost? A hair over $12,000 (no special rates here -- Conde Nast Traveler never accepts reduced rates or freebies for our writers, nor for our contest winners).
Once we knew Gene's long-delayed dream to see the southernmost continent would be realized, it was time to plan the rest of his trip around the cruise. Stay tuned for my next post about the Dream Trip in a couple of weeks.
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Note from Wendy:
There's been a change of plan re: Gene's Antarctic cruise! You can read about it here:
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/perrinpost/2007/12/no-sunken-ship.html
Posted by: WendyPerrin | December 05, 2007 at 01:09 PM