On January 13 I was among 12 travelers to embark on a truly unique, one-day adventure to Antarctica called The Greatest Day by White Desert, a South African luxury tour operator. We departed Cape Town on a wide-body Airbus A330 for a five-hour journey to Wolf Fang Runway, an ice runway deep inside the Antarctic Circle, where the sun never sets during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer season. Accompanying us on the flight were 24 other travelers participating in week-long tours, including some venturing to the South Pole, along with several scientists staying longer on the White Continent.

This trip was extra-special for me because I set foot on my seventh continent. Although Antarctica is technically not a country, I counted it as visiting my 100th country. We landed in the middle of the “night” to ensure the temperature was cold enough for the plane to land safely on ice. But with the sun brightly shining all the time and zero wind, the below-freezing (20° F) temperature did not feel terribly cold.

Since our group had only three hours on the ground, we disembarked first and were taken immediately to our first adventure: exploring massive ice caverns by descending into a nondescript hole in the ice with the help of ropes and a harness. Then we were taken by a sled to our second adventure, an opportunity to rappel down a 200-foot glacier. The hard part was the hike back up, which required ice crampons I used for the first time. Finally, we celebrated in the ice bar, a large structure made entirely of ice. Fitting for the location, the bartender used 10,000-year-old ice cubes for an extra-refreshing cocktail!

Alas, our short stay was over, and we boarded the same aircraft (which kept one engine running to prevent icing) with another group of 24 travelers headed home after spending their week in Antarctica. It’s efficient of White Desert to offer the daytrip option, since the large aircraft was already making the round-trip for the week-long tours. The main difference was the price; while the week-long tours started at $75,000 per person, our daytrip was a relatively reasonable $16,500. Considering most visitors to Antarctica arrive by boat and visit only the coastline, it was a most worthwhile experience to be one of the few to venture deep into the White Continent.

— Eric Chiang, Globility Board member and guest blogger