About

The packing

Packing for Antarctica can be daunting and the term paralysis by analysis comes to mind more than once when describing how we handled it. You can read reviews and watch videos but when it all comes down to it, no two trips are alike. For clothing, we focused on three things and let the rest of it take care of itself. We knew we’d be in Buenos Aires for three separate days where it would be in the high 80’s and low 90’s so we started with a couple of hiking outfits. We knew we’d need layers including thermals, outerwear, and something for hands and heads, so we packed like we were going skiing for 4 days. The last thing we packed for was the evening. We wanted to have at least a couple of nice outfits that we could mix and match a little bit to get more looks, knowing we were only wearing them for 4-5 hours at a time. Having a couple of laundry rooms aboard helped us stretch what we packed out even more, and we would have really needed it had the worst case scenario happened. We purposely split our clothes between each others checked bag, and then packed two days worth of everything we’d need in our carry-on. We’d been burned before on bags not making it, and it would be especially bad on this trip because there was almost no way bags would be able to catch up to us. This made our carry-ons a little heavy and bulky, but a good lightweight dry bag to compress your clothes down into goes a long way. It also makes for a good laundry bag during the trip, it was especially useful for the return trip since our expedition jackets still had a slight fishy smell to them.

The Viking Expedition Gear

Speaking of the jackets, these jackets don’t really get discussed a ton on blogs or videos other than they are nice. It’s a little hard to pack for warmth around “nice”. Well take it from us, they are very warm. They are Helly Hansen brand and come with a puffy inner layer that many people wore just by itself on the milder days. We are on polar opposites of the too hot/too cold conversation and we both got by just fine with these jackets and one thermal layer. The waterproof pants were another story, they’ll keep you dry but are lighter weight than your average ski pants. We regularly went with multiple layers underneath them on the colder days. The boots will keep your feet warm and dry, but they have zero arch support. There’s plenty of room in them to bring your own insoles.

Odss and ends

Gloves - We packed our ski gear for this trip, and for the most part it held up well. The big water resistant ski gloves will serve the purpose, but they’ll be completely soaked on days where the seas are a little rougher. The drying closet will take care of these, but you might want to have another lighter pair as a backup or if you’ve got something that’s more water resistant.
The Sun - Polarized sunglasses were a must for this trip, they also offered the added benefit of being able to better track whales and penguins when they were underwater but closer to the surface. Sunscreen is provided aboard so we didn’t have to worry about bringing any.
Waterproof backpack - We bought a waterproof backpack with a roll-top closure on it after seeing it in action on a previous trip and this was a great choice. The ride ashore always has the chance to soak everything in the boat, so having the cameras stowed in the backpack is a good idea. Because of the prevalence of avian flu, you are prohibited from putting anything on the ground except your boots. This means everything has to stay up and on you at all times.
Camera Lens - Our highest power camera lens on this trip was a 100-300mm lens and there were times that we really wished we had something bigger. We met a number of people that brought bigger ones, and even one person who rented one online for the trip. The crew will enforce a 15 ft. buffer between people and wildlife, but sometimes it’ll be even larger due to the landscape. We had a couple of instances as well where we were shooting pictures from a zodiac, the special ops boat, or even the cruise ship itself and could barely make out what we were seeing on land.