A lot has happened since our last post. Covid terrified us at first and it did slow us down. Gradually, we’ve learned to live with it and learned how to manage our risk as we went about our lives. Volunteer work, geocaching, and buying a new home has kept us busy. All the while, travels that we scheduled and paid for in 2019 (and postponed in 2020) were in the backs of our minds. We traveled to Bend to meet our new granddaughter and see her mom and dad. A geocaching road trip to Utah in the fall of 2020 allowed us to finish a person “cache” goal. This past November, we made an anniversary trip to Hawaii a year later then originally planned.

Those travels helped us prepare for the trip we embark on today. We are headed to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and points in between. The trip starts with a long day of flights to Buenos Aires and on to Ushuaia, Argentina. We’ll embark on the Sea Spirit on Sunday for the trip south.

Travel today is all about managing Covid risks for us and those we come in contact with. In order to take this trip, we’ve been in a self imposed isolation for two weeks, had to have a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to our arrival in Argentina, be fully vaccinated (and boosted), and show no signs of Covid. We have custom made N95 equivalent masks and have seats by ourselves on the flights. The tour/cruise company will test us on arrival in Ushuaia and during the cruise. It’s a small boat, with only 170 passengers and crew, and everyone is required to be vaccinated and tested. This is about the best we can do to manage risk and still travel. The alternative is to cancel the trip, stay home, and do nothing. As a cousin said when he traveled to Malta “it’s bad everywhere, what’s the difference?”

Stay tuned, we’ll be putting up some electronic “postcards” here as frequently as we can.

PS – Many thanks to Laurel and Eric for the cartoon. Please visit their outstanding blog at https://ravenandchickadee.com/