For those who have grown bored with the standard vacations to warm and luxurious locations, Wilderness Travel’s unique trip for 2016 takes clients on an adventurous expedition to Antarctica. Since its launch in 1978, Wilderness Travel has been running one-of-a-kind trips that take vacationers to unusual locales. For 2016, the company is honoring the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s triumphant rescue after his ship, the Endurance, became trapped in ice. Shackleton managed to get his entire crew to safety, and miraculously not a single man was lost.
Of course, clients of Wilderness Travel’s expedition to the South Pole will benefit from many more creature comforts than Shackleton and his men did. With ticket prices starting at just under $15,000 per person, vacationers can expect a little pampering.
However, the focal point of the trip is not the luxury accommodations, but the sites of scientific and historic significance that the ship will be visiting. Wilderness Travel hopes to make it to Elephant Island, weather permitting, and the entire trip should be punctuated with wildlife sightings, including detours near penguin rookeries. Wilderness Travel has made sure to hire a wealth of experts as members of the crew. Most notably, Tim Jarvis, a polar explorer who has reenacted Shackleton’s journey before, will be on board.
“This is a really special experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will literally be offered only once,” says Barbara Banks, director of marketing and new trip development for Wilderness Travel. “We have gathered such extraordinary experts to share the history of exploration, the natural history and their own expeditions all unfolding against the otherworldly landscape of Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Plus, guests will have the chance to truly become explorers themselves.”
