December 5, 2024 - Thursday - Disembarkation Day

December 5, 2024 – Thursday                       Day 71 of this journey 

Disembarkation Day and Transfer to Buenos Aires 

It had snowed overnight so the mountains surrounding Ushuaia have that beautiful softness of new snow

Good Morning

Lots of expedition ships at dock. The season has begun.

In the distance - the Andes

This will be a day of hurry up and wait and everything will seem like it is taking forever. We must be out of our room by 8:00 am. Viking has a system of dividing all departing passengers into groups depending on flight times or other travel arrangements. We were in Group Tan 2. 

At about 9:45 am, our group was called. Everyone was waiting in the Living Room on Deck 5. We trooped down to Deck 1 and scanned our identity cards one final time. We boarded the bus labeled with the Tan 2 placard and were driven about ½ mile to the “hospitality lounge”. It was a local bar, but at least had lots of windows. But when we got there pretty much every seat in the house was occupied.

A happy thing happened. A woodworker pushing his cart, stopped outside the building. I bought our 2nd souvenir of the trip. A small penguin with different kinds of wood and bone inserts. It was better quality work than I had seen the entire trip. 

Gradually, as earlier groups left to go to the airport, the seating was better. They did have snacks and coffee, so we got a bite to eat. We are scheduled to leave for the airport at 11:45 am for a 2:30 pm flight. The flight time is almost 4 hours between Ushuaia and Buenos Aires. We have no idea if the flight includes any food. 

Not surprisingly, there were delays in flights, so things got pushed back. Not to worry, it is a charter flight, so they aren’t going to leave without us. We are one of the later groups to go, but when our turn comes, we are pleased to at least be moving. 

It is a short ride to the airport. We were given our boarding passes once we were enroute to the airport. We are in Row 30. At least we are close to the bathroom. It is a standard 3 on each side seat schematic. An added bonus for us is that we don’t have to share with a third person. We’ve got three seats. A friend stopped by and said the seating at the front of the plane was solid, but in the back half, seating was more scattered. 

Views of the Andes and Ushuaia during take-off were great. Once in a while, there were breaks in the clouds and I could see the coast of Argentina. And it turned out that there was food on the flight. A can of champagne and a nut mixture. Champagne in a can? And it wasn’t all that cold, but actually tasted fairly good. A little later they brought sandwiches around. We shared one of the sandwiches and saved the other one for later.

Looking down on Ushuaia

 

Snack Time

The coast of Argentina

Approaching Buenos Aires

It was rather a madhouse in the luggage claim area, but we found all of our luggage, then found the group that would be overnighting at the Hilton. It is usually about 45 minutes from the international airport to the Hilton, but traffic was bad so it took closer to an hour and a half. 

We finally got checked in and then spoke to the Viking Rep at the hotel about transportation back to the airport the next day. We were pleased to learn that our pick-up time is 6:00 pm, so we have time to do a little exploring. The room is very nice. 

We shared the 2^nd sandwich, then headed down to the bar. Ran into a couple of other Viking people at the bar, sat and chatted with them for a while and had a vodka on ice. Very nice bartenders. 

Time for bed.