If you ever get the chance to take a trip to Antarctica, TAKE IT. We flew a special Qantas charter flight to Antarctica in the summer of 2013 (January 27). Prior to the trip I was a bit blasé about going, but Paul was very excited. Well, let me tell you, it was bloody amazing.
The twelve hour flight began ex Perth domestic airport (no passport or customs required because you end up getting off the flight in the same country you started).
The first four hours is just like a normal flight. You get fed, you get watered, you watch a movie, you have a nap and then all of a sudden the captain comes on the intercom and says “if you look outside the window now you’ll see your first iceberg” and then all of a sudden the entire 747-400 came alive.
From that moment on, there was four hours of flying over the coastline of Antarctica seeing the different formations and taking amazing photos. The energy in the plane was electric. A real buzz for everybody, no matter what seat you had. On our flight we were lucky enough to be in Business, so the whole trip was very up market and fun. The people in economy were excited too. Everybody shares window space and at the halfway mark they get you to swap seats. We even got a peek into the cockpit.
On the way home you’re usually lucky enough to see an awesome sunset. They feed you again (because apparently no human can go more than four hours without a meal when flying), you watch another movie, you have another nap if you can sleep after all of the excitement.
* * * * * bucket list. Do it!
The charter flights are run by Antarctica sight seeing tours. Look them up online. They only do the flights across Australia’s summer time.
w: antarcticaflights.com.au