November 13
Today is the last day on board the Viking Polaris, and for all intents and purposes the final day of the adventure. We were up and on our way to the World Cafe a little after 7 am when the first story for the day took place. Today I was all casual for coffee in my Miami (Oh) sweatshirt and pants. As we rounded the corner to the stairs I saw an older couple and immediately the gentleman called out, "MIAMI!" I turned, smiled and replied what I always say, "That's the REAL Miami - Miami of Ohio!" The wife smiled and said, "Oh we know - we are a "Miami Merger" (meaning they both went to school there and married a fellow Miamian). We are the class of '78!" This really surprised me, and I asked Kim afterwards, "Am I wrong or did they look at least ten years OLDER than me, not two years younger?" For sure she replied.
The second cool thing came moments later. We got our coffee, sat down and I opened our email. Now, today is the last day of our cruise/adventure. And the first email I saw (on the right below) came from the best travel agent in the world, Nancy Nelson, reminding me it was time to register for my Christmas Markets River Cruise with Viking. For two years running I've planned to take my niece Khloe as a graduation gift on this itinerary and it's been cancelled. But we are going to make it this year! We leave on December 9th and return on the 21st. No sooner does one adventure end, then it is time to ramp up for the next! WHOOOOO HOOOOO.
We were back in our stateroom by 8 am, just in time to change into "lighter" outerwear - since it was a balmy 45 degrees outside - and join the "viewing party" as everyone gathered on the bow to see Cape Horn. This is the last piece of land before you reach Antarctica. We were told that if you used your binoculars you could see the lighthouse where the keeper and his daughter had displayed the Chilean flag and would be waving to us. The top is what we saw, the bottom two are close ups of what you'd have seen through binoculars.
In another "oh that's cool" moment of the trip......I am Facebook Friends with the local CBS-4 Weekend anchor, Karli Barnett. She's been a very interested observer of our trips dating back to last July when we sailed the Great Lakes with Viking, to Alaska with Holland America, and then when we traveled to Hawaii with Collette Travels. Karli hosts a weekly chat every Saturday evening for about a half hour with friends & followers and it's become "a thing" for me to update her on where we are. And she's often commented about our trips, my photos and videos on air. Tonight when I told her we were winding up the trip she commented for several minutes about the photos she'd seen of our trip and how amazing they were :)
One last photo op as we returned to civilization.....saw houses, cars, and even a town late in the afternoon, what's that all about? LOL. It was just great, and we so appreciate everyone following along on our epic adventure!
Tomorrow morning we disembark from the Viking Polaris and will begin the nearly 24-hour process of getting back home to Fort Lauderdale. We transfer from the ship to the Ushuaia airport at 9 am and our flight back to Buenos Aires departs a little after 11:30 am. We arrive at the international airport a little after 3 pm and will then wait until 9:30 pm before boarding the final flight direct to Miami International with a scheduled landing at 5:00 am on Tuesday morning. No rest for the weary however as we will be at the Florida Live Arena later that evening for a home game for our Florida Panthers!
You and Kim are as amazing as your trips. I think the CBS-4 Anchor should promote your blog. It's so fun to travel with you and I'm looking forward to that Christmas Market cruise! Thanks for all the effort you put into the photos and description, Mark. It's much appreciated!
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