I’ve been traveling vicariously again this past week. Of course, I really do that almost all the time when I’m working on the next issue of Global Traveler, reading about wonderful places I haven’t yet visited but hope to soon. While the writing may be more polished in those articles, I confess to usually feeling a stronger connection to reports of travels from those near and dear to me. Knowing them well, I get caught up in their reactions to new places and experiences more than I tend to with a stranger’s; and I’m happy for the chances they have to see the world.

My sister Ann has kept our family entertained with her Facebook missives on her cruise in South American and Antarctica waters. She started in Buenos Aires on her Holland America cruise, enjoying the city, its nightlife and tango demonstrations. Christmas was spent in the Falkland Islands. She visited a penguin rookery, delighted with the mamas and papas nurturing their young (usually two babies per family). She observed it was a lot like watching toddlers learning to walk: lots of falling over and chatter.

Currently, the ship is in the midst of four days cruising through the ice bergs and around the islands of the Antarctic coastline. The first day they approached Elephant Island, where Ernest Shackleton and his crew survived for four months awaiting rescue after being shipwrecked there in 1915. They also viewed Esmeralda Station, the Argentinian research site which has hundreds of gentoo penguins as neighbors, and Palmer Station, the American research station. About 15 of the 40 people who work at Palmer came aboard the ship to share their experiences living and working at the bottom of the world. In between attending presentations like those, Ann spends all her time during the long days of the austral summer watching “100s of penguins swimming around the ship” and taking in the incredible formations of ice in the glaciers and bergs nearby. I think she captures the feeling all of us experience as we try to film the world abroad: “Even if I had a better camera, I don’t think it would be possible to capture the wonder and the beauty of this place.”

Okay, I’m convinced. Add Antarctica to my bucket list!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor