2022 Antarctica: The Trip Home (12/20-22/2022)

Tuesday, December 20, 2022
By 8:00, everyone was transferred off the Ocean Diamond, whether to the airport or to Luggage Storage in Ushuaia. We chose to go to the airport to try to get an earlier flight than our 15:55 flight to Buenos Aires via El Calafate. No such luck.

The International Airport of Ushuaia, Malvinas, Argentina

Billboard on the way to the airport

Lupinus sp/Lupines are introduced and popular in Ushuaia

Lupinus polyphyllus/Large-leafed Lupines

Looks like Rumex acetosella/Sheep's Sorrel

Unidentified red plume grass

Unidentified yellow flower

Rumex longifolius/Northern Dock

Hypochaeris arenaria/Cat's Ear maybe

Pink version of common yarrow

Although we had received our boarding passes, we had to rejoin the line to check in our luggage (according to the airline they were too heavy to carry on the plane) after 13:00. We had lunch and bought a couple sandwiches for dinner later, because who knows if airport restaurants are open after 21:00?

Our 15:55 Aerolineas Argentinas flight stopped in El Calafate for an hour before we continued to AEP Buenos Aires, the Jorge Newbury Airport. After a long wait for luggage, we exited to purchase tickets for the bus shuttle to EZE Buenos Aires, the Ministro Pistarini International Airport or Ezeiza Airport. The shuttle left at 22:00, and although the average trip from one airport to the other lasts one hour and 20 minutes, this trip took not much more than one hour including a stop at the downtown Madero Terminal.

Plenty of places were open for dinner after 23:00 at the EZE airport, including a McDonald's. We just purchased a drink and had our sandwiches, before calling the hotel shuttle from Posada de las Águilas.

Posada de las Águilas hotel room

Part of the hotel room bathroom that
included a toilet and bidet

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

We chose the barely toasted ham and cheese sandwich
for our breakfast at the hotel, rather than sweet pastries

The Posada de las Águilas/Eagle Inn and Pluma Cafe

The hotel shuttle van took four passengers and the driver,
we left at 9:00

At the EZE Buenos Aires airport, we checked in for the 12:10 flight to MIA/Miami. Although we arrived on time nine hours later at 19:25 local time, we missed our 21:06 connection to PHL/Philadelphia. Passport control was handling crowds from several international arrivals and having to go through security again took more time.

We were able to be rebooked on a flight leaving at 22:00, which was delayed since 17:30! That flight left 20 minutes late as it was held for late-arriving connecting passengers, because if those passengers could not leave today, they might end up stuck in Miami for days due to winter storms.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Arrived in PHL about 1:48. My suitcase had arrived earlier on our original flight from Miami but Kent's suitcase arrived with us. We called Uber for a 2:00 pickup, and were back home by 2:30. We came home to below freezing temperatures!

If we could have been beamed by Scotty directly to and from Philadelphia to Ushuaia, the trip would have been nothing but fantastic!