Antarctica - Accessible Travel with Kristin

In this episode, Kristin, a seasoned international travel blogger who's been navigating the world from her wheelchair, shares her adventures across 20 countries and Antarctica! Kristin's journey is more than just travel; it's about budgeting, diligent research and finding ways to make travel more affordable, and most importantly, inspiring others to break boundaries, to explore, and to live without limits. From witnessing the endurance of Emperor Penguins to experiencing the midnight sun phenomenon, Kristin takes us on her adventures across 20 countries, four continents, and especially, the awe-inspiring Antarctica. 

Kristin shares practical advice on how she navigates hurdles, like her use of Google Maps for accessibility research and tips on finding accommodations that truly understand the meaning of accessibility.  We also discuss the beauty of the world, the importance of making it accessible, and the unexpected joys of traveling. Despite the higher costs and the occasional lack of accessible facilities, Kristin's stories remind us that the world is full of experiences just waiting to be had!

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Transcript

Kristen: 0:15

Hi, welcome to our podcast. We're next Travel with Kristin and Carol. I am Kristin and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. So, hi, today we're meeting with Kristin. Welcome, thank you very much, and the plan is we're going to, we're going to learn about Antarctica and also have you share about what it's like to travel in a wheelchair and some of the challenges and advice you may have for our listeners. So thank you for joining us today.

Kristen: 0:49

Thank you for having me how long have you been doing your travels? Because I just guess I'd start because you're a travel blogger, correct?

Kristin: 1:01

Yes, yep, so I started my travel blog last year. Before that, I was a mental health counselor for 11 years, but I've been disabled all of my life, but as a progressive disability, so I started using the wheelchair more often around 2017. Before that, I had limited mobility. I walked with a cane and, you know, I just kind of progressed as time went on. But it's related to muscular dystrophy. That's the type of disability that I have, so it affects not only my strength and walking and endurance, but also my breathing.

Kristin: 1:44

So if you hear anything, I am on a ventilator. But again, so it's always been something that I've dealt with most of my life as far as mobility issues. But it's gotten a little bit worse as time has gone on, and that's when I started my travel blog. I was not able to do my job as a mental health counselor anymore because of the progression of my disability. So I kind of pivoted into helping people in a new way and combined my love of travel with my desire to help others, and that's kind of how the blog was formed. That's wonderful.

Kristen: 2:23

How has the blog impacted? Do you touch those folks who also are in wheelchairs or have some disabilities? Or like, what is your audience typically formed of?

Kristin: 2:36

So most of my audience has mobility problems of some sort. Some have limited mobility, either due to, you know, a disability or a health condition. Some have had strokes and, you know, just have limited mobility because of that. I do have a lot of wheelchair users, because that's kind of where I am and so they connect to that. So, yeah, I've kind of got a little bit of a spectrum, but it's always related to mobility issues and some people identify with a ventilator used to, because I know for me for a while I never saw anyone else on a ventilator out and about, traveling and doing things, and so I kind of want to just to put a face to it to say, hey, not everyone on a ventilator is kind of restricted to their bed or to their home. I mean, there's certainly people that are in that position, but there's also a lot of people that go out and about and still do things on a ventilator.

Kristen: 3:37

Absolutely, and it's so great that you've inspired others, that you know that would love to travel and may not necessarily have the confidence or think that it's possible and that you're showing them. It's incredible.

Kristin: 3:50

Yeah, I find that for a lot of people it's those limiting beliefs of assuming that someplace is not accessible, right. So a lot of people stick to the big cities, because that's where most generally good accessibility exists, are in cities. But there are always, you know, into nature and to these lesser travel places, that maybe we just assume it's not possible, and so I really want to challenge those beliefs. And I'm not saying that it's possible for everyone, I'm just trying to get people in the habit of not just making that assumption outright without looking into more information.

Kristen: 4:31

Right, and so your blog will at least cover the places that you've experienced and, okay, we learned here. This is the part of town that I mean maybe doesn't have anything that's easy for you to use and where some cities are more progressive. And you know, I think California has a lot of laws around wheelchair access. So I don't know if you've traveled much in California versus other places and seen a difference yet. So have you been traveling? So I know we want to focus on Antarctica. That's very exciting, but where are some of the other places you've been so far?

Kristin: 5:04

So I've been to 20 different countries across four continents. So I've been to Iceland, Italy, Greece. I've been to France, Spain, let's see, across the United States. Of course I've been to Argentina and Chile, South America and then, of course, Antarctica. So I've been, you know, throughout my life through various different countries and, of course, always looking to expand that. But that's where I've been.

Kristen: 5:38

Kind of a taste of where I've been so far, Wow, that's great, just curious how do you fund that for folks that may want to do that but not sure how to even financially do that, and just logistically all of that? This is curious.

Kristin: 5:52

Yeah. So I did have a full-time job for 11 years as the mental health counselor. I was very financially responsible, kind of saving stuff away and traveling while I was working, so that definitely helped. Now that I've kind of transitioned to the blog, I always looked at where can I save money? Because accessible travel, unfortunately, is more expensive than traditional travel. It costs at least twice as much, often more than that. So I look at where can I get the most bang for my buck. Sometimes that's cruises, because that's more like an all-inclusive resort at sea that takes you to various destinations and it has guaranteed accessible cabins when you're able to book early enough to secure one of those. So I find that's a very affordable way to travel with.

Kristin: 6:47

Being the ads up, most are the excursions. Sometimes the cruise lines will offer accessible excursions, sometimes they don't, and so you have to look at private vendors, which that adds up. But I always look at connecting with maybe other people on my sailing and say, hey, I'm booking this tour, is anyone else in a similar position that'd like to join me and help share that cost? Or, you know, look at how can I use apps like Raffa-Tend to get cash back on purchases and things like that. So I'm always looking at when's the best time to travel. I often travel in the shoulder season, when it's cheaper versus peak season, and so there's a lot of little things that add up and make it more affordable, and so that's kind of where I'm at and really what I suggest to my readers as well.

Kristen: 7:45

Love your thinking. It is so creative and amazing because that's how, that's how any you know all should be like. What was the app that you said? Rakuten, rakuten, rakuten R? Is that R-A-K-U-T-E-N Rakuten? Yeah, oh, okay, got it. That one, okay, got it. And then how do you find other people to kind of connect and say like, is it now through your blog that you kind of put like, hey, I'm going here, would anyone like to join?

Kristin: 8:15

Yeah. So I just started offering small group tours. We're doing our first two next year, but that was one of my rationales behind that was because I know that accessible travel is expensive and so when you travel as a group it helps split that cost. The other thing that can be challenging for people is just the expert, like working planning that goes into accessible travel. So by me organizing a tour I can say, okay, I've done all the planning, all the research and this is what the opportunity is and if you would like to come, we can help split the cost to try to make it a little more affordable for people. So next year we're going to Peru and Machu Picchu and South African Safari as well.

Kristen: 9:07

Oh, okay, we need to talk more.

Kristin: 9:09

Those are some big ones.

Kristen: 9:10

Oh my goodness, wow, yeah, that sounds fun, and do you have people that you're going with or you're kind of about putting that out to?

Kristin: 9:19

So I offered that to all my readers and followers. I advertise that on my blog and on my social media. The Safari tour is almost fully booked, so we only have a very few limited spots for that and Peru. We have a couple spots on the top of that. I would say that's halfway booked. So you know there has been a lot of interest and I really asked my readers where do you want to go? Where have you found it difficult to plan and kind of, you know, do that. So I'm trying to do it not only to where I want to go, but where they want to go as well, so we can share those experiences. And, especially for next year, I really want to like again, again, to challenge those beliefs of what is possible in terms of accessibility. So I really picked two big bucket list destinations that people may have written off, thinking it's not possible.

Kristen: 10:14

Yeah, montipichu, I thought was really brutal hike for anyone I didn't know.

Kristin: 10:19

They had wheelchair accessible options, so there's a special company that uses adapted wheelchairs that have one wheel and then they have quarters, that kind of help guide that wheelchair and balance it on that one wheel. And what that one wheel does is it allows you to go over more rougher terrain and you know, like on mountains in Montipichu, and they have a limited accessible path while you're up there. But it's still an opportunity to experience and see it, and so I'm really excited about that.

Kristen: 10:50

That is amazing. Yeah, so what is your? One of your social channels, so, as people are listening so far and want to take a look to get you to sign up, or your blog website.

Kristin: 11:01

Yeah, so my blog is worldonwheelsblogcom and then I'm most active on Facebook right now, so if you just search World on Wheels blog, it'll come up and you can follow me there as well.

Kristen: 11:15

Oh, my goodness, this is great. That's what a great name they score on that URL. That's awesome. Thank you, absolutely. I know. Actually, one of my clients went to Antarctica and it had to take a ship across kind of a sea, I would call it, and it's either rocky or calm. And he went there and I know the penguins are huge there as well. When did you go? And I want to hear from start, like how that whole experience was.

Kristin: 11:45

Yeah, so I went in January of this year, so it was really recent. I did do a cruise. So there's a lot of, there's several ways you can go to Antarctica. One is like a land tour you fly there and kind of camp on Antarctica, which really is not accessible. So that was, you know, option one, rule off.

Kristin: 12:05

You can also do a next expedition cruise or smaller ships, but they do landings on Antarctica through the use of like little Zodiac boats. Again, those aren't necessarily the most accessible and they're really expensive. So for the cost of what I did on my cruise, it was like the cost of one person on the expedition ship. So you know, it was really looking at what was going to meet my accessibility needs and allow me to experience it. So I decided to do what they call a sail by cruise. So I went with Helen America, but other cruise lines offer similar itineraries and so they actually start in South America and then they cruise what you were referring to as Drake's Passage, and that can be verbal or calm as a lake. They have two nicknames for it the Drake Lake or the Drake Shake.

Kristen: 13:07

I did hear that the shake part.

Kristin: 13:09

Yeah, I was fairly lucky. I mean, it felt rocky when we were crossing it but the crew was like oh, this is nothing. You know, there are times when you have to like hold on for dear life kind of situation.

Kristin: 13:24

So, I was fairly lucky in that, but I was prepared. I had the sea bands, I had the you know the draming, all that just in case. But I would say it's so worth it because once you get in there. So we sailed the Antarctic Peninsula. So there's a piece of Antarctica that kind of branches up over the continent and that's where the sail by boats. That's as far as they can go. There are a lot of restrictions as far as how far south you can go without having like a special ice ship, you know, and for safety regulations and all that. But I would say that the peninsula was gorgeous.

Kristin: 14:05

We've sailed into a lot of little harbors and bays within the peninsula. I saw penguins every day. We saw humpback whales every day. We saw orca whales, which was really, really cool. That was my first time seeing orca in the wild. And then there's just mountains all around you. There's these huge icebergs, mountains and glaciers, and it's just a really kind of awe-inspiring experience because it's so quiet, like you could hear a pin drop. You know there's no noise pollution. The ship slows down and so, like, all you hear is a little bit of a sound of the ship, but other than that it's just total quiet.

Kristen: 14:47

So I'm looking at a map here so I see the Drake's Path Lodge, so it looks like it comes up kind of almost like South America, like the same kind of point there. Did you just kind of stay near that tip or did they go like farther down? You know how weird? Because it's just white. There's like no cities, no towns.

Kristin: 15:08

Yeah, so we only cross Drake's Passage and what you'll see, like we, my sailing started in Chile, in Santiago, chile, so we sailed down the coast of Chile into some of the fjords of Chile, like Lace Ali, we went to Ushuaia, which is the very tip of South America, and then we went down further from there, crossing the Drake's Passage, and we went to Deception Island, which is like a little island just above Antarctica, between those two, and then you get into the Antarctic Peninsula, so it's a very small kind of thin branch that comes off the top of Antarctica and that's where we stayed. It was in that peninsula.

Kristen: 16:03

Oh, I see that Deception Island. It's very interesting. It looks like there's protected land. That's neat. Wow, it's funny. I'm curious how much. When I look at the map, you know it's just all white and I'm like, how much is land versus ice in Antarctica?

Kristin: 16:22

So they have waterhub ice shelves that cover a lot of the land. So there's land underneath, there's these huge ice shelves that kind of go over the land and then protrude out into the ocean.

Kristin: 16:34

So it's when you're sailing there, you definitely see land, like we saw tons of mountains and they told us the mountains averaged about 10,000 feet high. So I mean, they're just, they were huge and you're on the ship and this like huge cruise ship looks like a little toy when you're comparing it to, like, the mountains and some of the glaciers. The glaciers are going to be very, very big. So, yeah, it was. It made you feel really, really tiny while you were there, for sure, wow 10,000 feet straight from sea level. Yeah.

Kristen: 17:12

Oh, my goodness.

Kristin: 17:13

A lot of the mountains are volcanoes, so there's potential for activity. We didn't see any eruptions or anything like that. But even I mentioned deception island before. That is actually the caldera of a volcano that once exploded. So they thought it was like a mountain, but it's actually the caldera of a volcano.

Kristen: 17:38

It's like there's water inside it like a sea or something goes in one side. Wow, and how? Of course, the obvious was the icebergs. How was that?

Kristin: 17:49

So the icebergs were huge. There were smaller pieces too and we were sailing by them and then they have what's called pancake ice, where ice is forming on the top of the water. We had to be very adaptable, because we would have a plan to go into one harbor, but if the ice was shifting and moving and depending on the location of the icebergs, it may only be safe enough to go so far in. So we had to be just very flexible with the route that we were taking. So we had kind of like a planned itinerary, a planned route, but you always have to adapt because it's a very ever-changing environment, wow.

Kristen: 18:36

Did you see any? I think it's daily right where there's swaths come off of the icebergs into the water.

Kristin: 18:45

Yeah, we did see one iceberg cave. It was on, so I was kind of like a laser coming down the mountain and then there was calving off of that and it was very, very loud. Like even if you weren't looking at it, you would just hear this roar of the ice falling and you kind of just directed your ice to it. It was really, really cool, Wow.

Kristen: 19:09

You could talk about global warming at all. Any education on the cruise.

Kristin: 19:12

They did. So one of the things that I really liked is our cruise ship had a scientist that actually lived and worked on Antarctica onboard our ship to talk about things like that, to talk about global warming and what some of the laws are there, how they regulate that and how they regulate environmental concerns. So that was. They had daily talks both at leading up to Antarctica and while we were in Antarctica, and so it was really interesting to learn from him. So global warming is a concern. Of course.

Kristin: 19:48

The ice shelves are melting and they're worried about how that's going to affect some of the wildlife, specifically the emperor penguin. So there are a lot of different types of penguins. There are four species that actually live in Antarctica, and the emperor penguin is only found in Antarctica, so they live more inland, and so there's a big concern. If it's ice is melting, how are you going to have your chicks, because they rely on the ice to build their nests. So inland as far as feeding and the shifting of the ice, can they get to the water to be able to feed on fish and survive and do things like that? They've had to adapt their research stations and they don't recover because of the melting ice and just how they build them and how they look at that.

Kristin: 20:44

So a lot of research is going on about the effects of climate change on Antarctica and let's have a big controversial topic for tourism there because they're like, okay, these cruise ships have an effect on the environment. Is it really a good idea to bring tourists down to Antarctica? One of the consensus from the scientist's point of view is that it is important because there are a lot of regulations that help control the effects of the ships on the continent. But if people aren't seeing it, if they're not experiencing the beauty and the wildness of Antarctica, then what's going to make them want to conserve it right and what's going to make them want to fight to protect it? So it's kind of a tough balance as far as how much tourism you allow there, but also you want to make people care about it as well.

Kristen: 21:44

I saw a documentary it was a while ago, but it was also a I don't remember where I was but also about the Emperor Penguins and about how the dads carry the eggs on their balance. It on their feet for months, right, something like that. Yeah, months, and they just kind of hunkered down. And it was quite remarkable about what the internet endure. You know too. So when you're talking about what they will endure, I'm like, well heck, how can they get any bigger? I feel like they're very resilient too, but still huge and I can imagine also with just the beauty of it.

Kristen: 22:30

Oh, I think that was the March of the Penguins. Is that it Probably? Maybe, that was it. That was a movie right.

Kristin: 22:36

Yeah, it was a movie.

Kristen: 22:37

Yeah, it was really good, but he was a documentary, I'm pretty sure, yeah, and I do remember the very end of it being really well done because it was. You know, you see the movie and it's cute, but then the end whole part was a real shocking, kind of like whoa, just like just to share what really is going on and how things were. I just, I just remember the ending being like wow, I can't remember specifically, but I think it was March of the Penguins.

Kristin: 23:04

Oh my gosh, these pictures.

Kristen: 23:05

I'm just thinking of the other, the pictures Like the icebergs I never really thought about that, you know, I just think Titanic and like they have to be masters that identify in the icebergs at this point.

Kristin: 23:18

Yeah, the pilots have special training to not only kind of see the icebergs and navigate that, but also predict where the wildlife is going as well. I mean, there were so many whales that came pretty close to the ship and they've got to be able to spot them and to kind of know what direction they're going and predict some of their behavior, because the last thing anyone wants to do is injure any of the wildlife down there. Oh, yes, of course.

Kristen: 23:46

Yeah, absolutely so. The whales, the orcas, the penguins and also the polar bears, right, I don't know if you saw any polar bears.

Kristin: 23:55

The polar bears are actually up north. So, yeah, they're more the northern hemisphere, up by the Arctic Ocean, and then the penguins are in the southern, but there were a lot of seals as well. So you have seals, you have penguins, you have whales and there's a lot of different types of species of each. So there's four species of penguin in Antarctica. There's several species of whales that you could see. We only saw two, but there were like two or three more that we could have seen. There was, I want to say, like five or six different species of seals. So it was and that's not even counting the type of birds that are down there. So there was really a little bit of wildlife for anyone, depending on what your interests were and what you're hoping to see. It was really interesting and really pretty.

Kristen: 24:49

And no trees, no flowers, no, none of them. Well, there was plenty of life.

Kristin: 24:53

They have algae, so there's like different trends of algae you'll see growing on some of the rocks, and so that was interesting. But yeah, you don't have trees. There were no trees down there. There were no flowers that I saw, but it was mostly the plant life was having an algae that builds up on the rocks.

Kristen: 25:14

Okay, and then the big obvious is the weather and the cold and it's very curious about what the typical temperatures were like. And Was it stormy? Was it blue skies? Does that vary?

Kristin: 25:27

Oh, yeah, and what's?

Kristen: 25:28

the best time of year to go if you want to avoid storms, if it's possible, oh so the thing about Antarctica is the weather is always unpredictable, no matter what season you're in.

Kristin: 25:38

So January is their summer season, because they're in the southern hemisphere. They almost never got dark because it was almost like the midnight sun that you went Experiencing, like you're away in the upper areas of that, that they have the same thing in Antarctica, so it may have gotten like a dusty at like midnight. Well, most of it was daylight, which was really cool. So when I was there, maybe average temperatures were like low to mid 30s, and so I'm not staying in New York. I'm used to cold winters. I'm used to, you know, unpleasant winters, and so we actually kept in touch with Family and some days it was warmer in an article than it was in upstate New York, so not much. It was like mid 20s in upstate New York, it was like low to mid 30s, and then I know, but it was still. You know, for people that are worried about the cold, if you live in the northern part of the United States, it really isn't going to be Much different than your winners. They actually may be warmer than some of your winters, even in the summer.

Kristen: 26:49

Oh, that's only this summer, in the winter. Yeah, I thought it was gonna be like sub zero, no, but maybe the winter is it.

Kristin: 26:55

Yes, it probably is, and Because they're probably they usually doesn't get much daylight in their winters either, again because of where they're located at the end of the earth, but it is a really cool experience. We did have snow, so it did kind of worry. The winds Varied, I wouldn't say was like a windstorm, but it added to the cold and how you felt. But again, if you dress in layers, if you, you know, wear proper winter clothing, I'm someone that's very sensitive to the cold, my muscles freeze up and become almost paralyzed. So it was something that I wanted to do, what I could step while I still could, and and I definitely got cold.

Kristin: 27:41

But I also spent a lot of time out on that because For me, there's so much stuff around you that you're seeing it's beautiful, you almost forget about the cold, and. But there's steps you can take, like I had a little battery operated hand warmer I would use. Or I had what they call a wheelchair cozy that kind of kept it's like a Sleeping bag for your legs to help keep them warm. So if you plan ahead it's, it's not horrible.

Kristen: 28:12

Okay, and what kind of activities do they have on the cruise ship other than, you know, psych scene?

Kristin: 28:17

So they had daily lectures, made two lectures a day because they had two different scientists on board, so they would always present a lecture either on the geology I'm not why life or what it was like to live on and articles on different aspects of like how we in our day is governed or world or whether anyone owns it. You know those types of Questions that we would all have. They talked a lot about the Shackleton expedition and like Only expeditions, of exploring Antarctica and the challenges they faced and kind of the history of exploring the continent, and so that was. Those were always wonderful and unique. They also had the daily normal cruise activities.

Kristin: 29:05

You had music, you had shows, you had trivia, you know in different classes and things like that. So it was a little bit of everything. You could relax if you wanted to. You could Find educational topics to learn more about the destination you were seeing. They tried to do a lot of cultural activities so that when we were closer to Argentina they had tangled dances Performed. They had dance lessons you could take on the ship. So there was a nice wide variety for everyone?

Kristen: 29:40

Did they have any Shore excursions at all?

Kristin: 29:44

So in South America, yes, and in order to know, because that's kind of the definition of a sail by cruise and you don't actually do any landing on the continent so I could see the continent. I got to enjoy the wildlife, but I never stepped foot or a wheel in my case on the actual pattern as so.

Kristen: 30:05

Is that normal, like that? No one sets foot on it. Or is it just the way that that you because? I feel, like I Listened to a podcast and he he was in like a tent On it and it was. He was actually doing a podcast. It was super loud because you could hear the penguin so going. Maybe that was the expedition cruise. Really got up on the boats to me after some time.

Kristin: 30:30

Yeah, the expedition ships will allow you to land on the continent. They take little zodiac like incredible rafts to take you from the ship to the continent and they'll do excursions like hikes and stuff like that. You still have to keep a certain distance from the penguins, just for you know. So you're not, they don't feel like you're her Asking them or anything. They want to protect that wildlife. But you do get more of a close experience on the expedition ships. But you also pay for that privilege and it's you know it's quite Expensive to do that.

Kristin: 31:05

Um some of the camping on the continent is like when you fly there and then you camp there, or so.

Kristen: 31:12

Yeah, and I remember penguins, what they're like two, two feet or even more three feet. They're pretty tall. Right, you always think I think birds, but they're tall.

Kristin: 31:22

It depends on the species. The gen two penguins are only about two feet tall. Then the adelie and the chin strap penguins um, maybe a little taller than them, but they're about the same size. The emperor penguins are the ones that are tall. They can get up to like four feet.

Kristen: 31:41

So that's just mind-boggling to think. Right, I didn't realize they were like half my size or or some more. I'm five feet, so it's like, oh, wow, they come across the. That that would be pretty spectacular. Yeah, okay, and so um. So, christin, you said you started in san tiego.

Kristin: 32:02

Is that where? Yep, yeah, we started in san tiego and we ended in Buenos Aires.

Kristen: 32:08

And how long was the cruise in total?

Kristin: 32:11

So the tenorary I chose was 22 days, but there are some other lines that do shorter cruises. I think Princess does a 16-day cruise, so you can. They're usually a minimum of about two weeks. How long? America does a little bit longer because they explore more South America.

Kristen: 32:34

And how long did it take to get through the Drake Shake Drake's passage to go from where you were to Antarctica?

Kristin: 32:44

That's about a day, maybe a day and a half. That's not bad, but you go through it twice. So you go through it once going to Antarctica, and then, as you're going back to South America, you go through it again. So each time it's about a day, maybe a day and a half, depending on the weather. So not horrible. I mean it would be a little more challenging if you're prone to motion sickness, but in my opinion it was totally worth it. Yeah.

Kristen: 33:12

I also my client who just went there in March or so, I'm sure he did the expedition, did hiking and he even did a plunge into the water. He was trying to hit all the different bodies of water in the world and that was one, so you can actually go in and they just pull you right back. I think you're harnessed and they pop you in and then they pull you out and it's like done, Got to check that box. But that's good to imagine. I don't remember how cold the water is.

Kristin: 33:45

Well, I'm sure it's freezing. So we did a mock cooler plunge. They had one of the pools on the open desks in the back of the ship that you kind of chose to dive in and dive out, and they gave you a little certificate for it. I didn't do it. That's a little too cold for me on a ventilator. That doesn't always go well with water.

Kristen: 34:07

But yeah, I was trying to watch. Were there a lot of takers.

Kristin: 34:12

Probably about 20. Ok.

Kristen: 34:15

And I just throw a bucket of water on top of you if I'm not sure Like a bucket challenge, but a lot colder and more wet. That's great and it's so funny. We talk about culture and are there any? Is there anyone that lives on there?

Kristin: 34:36

Like.

Kristen: 34:36

Americans, or try, like I know in Alaska there's Indians. But my guess is just the scientists would be my guess yes.

Kristin: 34:46

It's just the scientists, and they have to be very specific on what they're playing for, what type of research they're doing. Because there's been. So when Antarctica was first being explored, every country kind of wanted a piece of the pie. Right, and they tried to claim a piece of Antarctica and eventually what happened is they had the Antarctic Treaty which says, ok, no one actually owns Antarctica and we're all going to be very open with each other about what kind of research is going on, and they actually have the right to inspect any research station they want. Any country can do that for any other country, so that you can make sure that everyone's living up to what they're saying they're doing, and to make sure that all the rules of the treaty are being followed, and things like that. Oh, that's so interesting.

Kristen: 35:41

There's like a governing body for Antarctica.

Kristin: 35:45

So it's this Antarctic Treaty Council, and so several countries have ambassadors that sit on this board right and they make unanimous decisions outside board as far as what kind of regulations are going to go on in our head and laws or what kind of rules are going to be enforced and to really make it fair so that no one feels like one country is claiming it or has more of a right or a say than anyone else.

Kristen: 36:17

Very interesting how long ago I'm assuming that was a long time ago that that happened.

Kristin: 36:22

So I started in. I'm trying to remember what I told us on the ship. I think it really came into focus in the 1970s, when people were exploring and doing research on Antarctica during World War II. So there's been a presence there for a while.

Kristin: 36:45

But I think the treaty and some of the laws actually were forming in the 70s, especially the wildlife regulation, because there's a different organization that oversees the ocean around Antarctica in regards to regulate wailing, because that was a huge problem in the history of Antarctica, and so there's a lot of very strict regulations about whether anything like that can happen and if there are exceptions, what are the rules and things like that, because that ocean is something that they want to protect for the wildlife.

Kristin: 37:24

The penguins rely on that for fishing. So if there is overfishing and trying to collect those fish, you're taking away the food supply for the penguins or for the whales if you're collecting krill. So they're really highly regulatory so that it doesn't have a chain reaction to somehow adversely affect the wildlife.

Kristen: 37:46

That's great. It says the Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959 by 12 countries whose scientists had been active and around Antarctica. So, yeah, that's great. And who knew that? The land or that that versus the body of water, to separate things, it makes sense completely with the wildlife and protecting them? They can't, they don't have a voice. Yes, interesting. I just searched math. I'm on a national geographic, so instead of Google Maps, it shows it at the bottom underneath, but this shows it as the whole continent. It's almost looks like Maui or something, and it looks like it's really high in the middle, the mountain. It's very mountainous. That's probably the highest mountain in the middle.

Kristin: 38:39

Yeah, there are mountains and there is different elevations on the continent itself, as well as the surrounding areas like the peninsula, so it's not all flat Some people would believe. Yeah.

Kristen: 38:53

Yeah. Yeah, that's always kind of just the same. It's like this big iceberg. It's just kind of floating around, but it's definitely some land and I see, and it kind of looks like it shows where some parts maybe are only ice. Well, interesting that they're surrounded by so many volcanoes and that will definitely melt the ice caps Just a little bit, let's see. Oh yeah, and it says something here. The 30 different countries operate 80 research stations situated around the continent. I don't know if you saw the different research stations we passed by one.

Kristin: 39:33

I unfortunately didn't get a picture of it, but there is. I think it's the British station that's on the peninsula by where we passed, and they actually have a little gift shop and things for people that are doing landings. But yeah, there's a wide variety of stations and a lot of them communicate together and work together in some various capacities. So it was really interesting to learn kind of just what it was like living there, how they get around the continent, because you would think it's such a massive continent with all the ice and so how do they get around to do their research? So they have these special vehicles they're like trucks on tank trucks and stuff to go over the ice rather than sinking down. But they have to watch out for crevices in the ice because you could lose half a vehicle in some of these large crevices. So they'll always monitor how the ice is shifting, how many crevices are in, how to navigate around them.

Kristen: 40:40

OK, yeah, it's interesting. Instead of town names it's Davis Station, Casey Station, Concordia Station. It's very much inland so they must need those trucks to get there. The other ones probably all just get access by boat. That looks like Well. I'm also curious with the daylight, the regular days and the zero light, because I am Swedish and I know in Sweden in the winter time they only have a. They do have a few hours of sunlight. But I'm wondering in Antarctica are there pure dark days for a while?

Kristin: 41:14

And there are winters. Yeah, I mean I don't know if there's days where they never get sunlight and maybe like Sweden where you have like a twilight or you know like a certain amount each day, but I know in the summer, when I was there, there was hardly any darkness. It was more of a dusk and I would be really late and night early morning and then I would just be bright enough again. So they do have a similar situation as, like the northern parts of Sweden.

Kristen: 41:44

Yeah, did you find that your body had a hard time knowing when to get ready for bed and be sleepy and stuff, or?

Kristin: 41:51

It wasn't too bad, cause I was doing other things on the cruise ships and there weren't always windows or they'd have the drapes pulled over the windows so it took a little getting used to. But I was also in an inside cabin right, so I didn't have any windows to have to worry about the daylight interrupting my sleep or anything.

Kristen: 42:13

That's key. That's a smart move. Yeah, just close the door and go to bed.

Kristen: 42:20

So, that really helps. I can imagine and also just curious with I mean no one's going to the grocery store, I guess that the stations I couldn't imagine you know someone's job of delivering and bringing food and then going to the stations and I don't know if they even mentioned that, but so there's cargo ships that make deliveries every like month or two in the summer, but in the winter you're really cut off because of the weather and because of, you know, even more challenging conditions.

Kristin: 42:55

So they don't have a lot of fresh produce, you know. They don't have a lot of that kind of stuff. I think some of the research they're doing at some of the stations are like hydroponic gardens, in like a greenhouse type of situation. So it depends on the station, but they, you know, try to see can we grow something in a greenhouse or kind of help sustain ourselves. So they do get deliveries in the summer, but it's, you know, they're quite a ways apart and they can always be affected by weather too.

Kristen: 43:31

So and it's like we all talk about like money and things. It's like the. I'm curious yeah, You're not buying things except for just whatever's on a cruise ship, whatever the expeditions bring. There's no stores, there's nothing in Antarctica, it's just the stations.

Kristin: 43:49

It's just the stations, so you have to really become prepared. They do have like one of the scientists will be a medic or be trained in basic medical procedures so that if you do injure yourself or you know some kind of treatment you can get at your station. But if you have a serious, you know, like a heart attack, that's going to be more challenging to treat. So the scientists have to go through quite an extensive medical evaluation to make sure they're healthy enough to stay there and to live on the continent.

Kristen: 44:27

It's like going on the space station. I feel like, yeah, very so. Probably like free package food and just boil water to rehydrate it. Yeah, it's like that. Wow, that's it.

Kristin: 44:39

Well, the other interesting thing I learned is that you can actually not dispose of anything on the continent. That was one of the environmental regulations. So every piece of garbage you have to set aside and then ship off the continent. There's no dumping ground anymore. They used to have that and they realized that's, you know, not healthy for the continent. So now any kind of construction, like if you take down part of a station, that all has to get shipped off of Antarctica so that can be just expensive in and as a self. You know the fact that you can't have a waste station on the continent. You have to ship all that away.

Kristen: 45:24

Yeah, that's incredible. I went to South Korea last summer and tried finding trash cans on the street and then I couldn't. And then where my girlfriend. I stayed at her house and she just had this little you know like I don't know not even a foot high trash can and just kind of like it's just yeah, you're like shoving your clamshell in there. No, there's, probably can't buy clamshells, stuff out there.

Kristen: 45:49

Actually kind of it's awesome at the store, but it's definitely very different for sure. What would you say are your you know just experiences that were the peaks and highlights that you looked at like, wow, that was just amazing experience, beautiful. Like your you know, like pictures in your mind. What would you say are your top three to five that were just breathtaking. That, you know, really made the trip special for you.

Kristin: 46:16

So I think one would be seeing me or a cat, because that was my first time seeing them in the wild and just to see them and just how fast and smooth they were, it was just like, oh my goodness, I can't believe this, you know, kind of moment. I think the penguins would be another one, just because. So when you see them on icebergs floating by, right they're, they're waddling, they're very uncoordinated, they, you know, fall and whatever. But then you see them in the water and they're just swimming so fast that you can barely have your eyes recognized. They look like fish jumping, they just they don't even look like penguins.

Kristin: 46:56

And you finally catch one on film and you're like, oh yeah, that's a penguin, like so to see that contrast, because I feel like in many ways the penguins, my spirit animal, right, having mobility problems, and when I do walk I kind of waddle and you know very clumsy. So to be able to kind of connect and just see the differences and what they're able to do was really interesting, it's really beautiful. And then I would say the icebergs, because there is one iceberg, so the. I was on a larger ship but I had several ducks, right, I think there were like 14 different ducks on the ship and we sailed by one of the icebergs and on the top of the ducks you were even at the top of the iceberg right. So this iceberg is larger than the ship you're on and you're passing by and the ice is like at the level of your head and you're like holy cow. How is this possible?

Kristin: 48:04

So I think the whole experience and I love this about Mother Nature it just makes you feel so tiny, like you're just a tiny little speck on this earth compared to everything else in the grandeur that Mother Nature can do. So that whole feeling was just really memorable and really incredible.

Kristen: 48:29

That's so special. It's so we work so much during the day and life and you just get so caught up in like what my kids are doing, or what do I have on my plate for work? Or shoot, I got to go grocery shopping.

Kristen: 48:47

I got to pay billions just all of the things and then you get to step back and really appreciate really what's important and just kind of the beauty of what really there is out there. Sometimes it's nice to stop and actually experience that and remembering that. So thanks for sharing that's pretty neat. Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. So do you have anything before your next year's Peru and South Africa trips? Can?

Kristin: 49:16

we slide our trips. Clint, yeah, absolutely On Friday for Alaska, oh nice, more ice, yeah, more ice, more light years more wildlife, but it's summer again.

Kristen: 49:27

Okay, you're wise about that. Oh, that's cool. How much do you?

Kristin: 49:31

travel so it varies year by year. My goals are to at least do one international trip and one domestic trip a year, but that varies. Like last year was a very busy travel year just because I had a lot of stuff planned that kind of got delayed from the pandemic so I had a lot of catching up to do last year. So I took, I gotta say, five or six trips last year. Wow, this year is more scale back. I have Antarctica that I did, and then Alaska, but those are like my main trips this year and next year is gonna be busy because there's, of course, the two I mentioned, but I'll also be going to Norway and to Northern Ireland as well.

Kristen: 50:18

Mr, Such an inspiration for all of us, right, yes, and so typically we do these rapid fire questions but they're not really relevant. So there's no people living there, but Maybe the people that are living there I don't know if there's well, and I don't know if it was discussed like, what kind of religion are they in? Yeah, that's the typical me, I guess. What is a typical meal. I don't know if they. You know, I guess what it seems in my mind backpacking, you just kind of throw some hot water in something and there you go, and in other hand, I'm not sure what their typical meals are.

Kristin: 50:53

I mean, we had a lot to choose from.

Kristen: 50:57

On the cruise ship but I'm not sure.

Kristin: 51:00

I know they drink a lot of tea, but other than that I'm not sure of their typical meals.

Kristen: 51:06

Yeah, so in your research for our listeners or other people that have mobility issues, what resources have you found to be the most beneficial? I mean your blog, obviously, but are there other places that you go, maybe that you haven't researched yet, that you can share with the audience?

Kristin: 51:26

So I used to Google maps a lot, because one of the challenges that I've faced is that definitions of accessibility vary very greatly. So someone can say, yes, this restaurant is accessible if you can do the two steps that get inside. So, like those obviously don't go together if you're in a wheelchair. So what I use is Google maps. So I'll look on the company's website to see if they say, yes, we're accessible. But I'll use the street view on Google maps to look at the entrance or to look at the sidewalk around it to see what obstacles may or may not be there.

Kristen: 52:11

And where do you find that it's the most challenging? Is it the hotel you pick? Is it the restaurant or is it the tours? Where is it the trickiest?

Kristin: 52:20

I can be all of them. To be honest, the restaurants don't always have accessible bathrooms, so that's a huge issue for us is will there be a bathroom that I can use? I think I take for granted.

Kristen: 52:36

Oh my gosh, absolutely Like we've had to go to the restroom. It's not you know, yeah, yeah.

Kristin: 52:43

And hotels you can. Well, I would rest in an accessible room, but I've had times where I booked one and I showed up and they give me a hearing accessible room, not a mobility accessible room, where they'll just put me in a standard room, as they will say oh yeah, those are under construction, so we'll just give you this room and I'm like, well, that's a problem because my wheelchair won't fit through the door to get into the bathroom. There's no room for my wheelchair in the bathroom and so not alone getting into the shower. So I think that it's always a challenge of you know, are you going to get the services you requested and that you booked right? And so tours.

Kristin: 53:29

There are companies that specialize in accessible travel and I try to use them as much as I can because you know what you're getting when you book with that company. But the problem is their prices can be quite expensive. So if you're looking at sites like Vinegar for wheelchair accessible tours, they may say that the transportation is accessible, but they may mean you can store your wheelchair under the bus and climb up the steps in the bus. So you really have to do a lot of research of what does their definition of accessible mean, and will it fit your individual needs?

Kristen: 54:14

I can imagine that would be very challenging, especially when you've traveled and you're there and then there's not the options to. Yeah, that would be, and then, did you mention a website or a specific travel Started with a V? Did you mention one? The fighter?

Kristin: 54:31

offers tours, so I do look there, because they tend to be less expensive than like a private, accessible tour and sometimes I can make them work.

Kristin: 54:41

Sometimes I can't. So I look there to kind of get an idea of what's available and what the challenges may be, or companies that I can reach out to directly to see what they can do to accommodate me. But I think a lot of the challenge is that there are accessible companies out there, but they vary by country or by region, right, so there are companies that specialize in Europe or there's company that specialize in Asia travel, and so unless you know where to look and what companies to look for, it can be a little bit challenging to find them. So what I'm trying to do on my website is to put a resource page up there to list the companies that I personally use that I can attest to, that they're going to work with, and vary them by region so that if someone is taking a cruise to Europe and wants to find an accessible experience and they know that they can reach out to this company or to that company, or if either they're going somewhere else where the companies that are actually accommodate wheelchair users.

Kristen: 55:53

OK, yeah, and I see Biotour B-I-A-T-O-R. Is that the one Biotour? Ok, gotcha Worldonwheelsblogcom to find out more research as well. And then, do you travel by yourself a lot, kristen, or do you have a couple companions?

Kristin: 56:08

No, I'm actually not able to travel by myself because of my medical situation and my medical needs. I don't have a lot of strength to like lift luggage and that kind of thing, so I always travel with a friend or a family member or a companion of some sort.

Kristen: 56:25

OK.

Kristin: 56:25

And the other tricky thing about traveling independently is the airline rules. So a lot of airlines have a rule in place that if you cannot self-evacuate in the case of an emergency, that they require you to travel with someone that could assist you, because flight attendants are not allowed to help evacuate you. If you need that, all right.

Kristen: 56:47

Well, kristen, do you have any other questions or just no? I thank you so much. I know we're both Kristen, so, kristen, you have questions too. Yeah, kristen R, did you have any questions yet, exactly? But no, thank you so much.

Kristen: 57:03

I was really looking forward to this call because not only to learn about what you're doing travel, blogging we're picking a heck of a lot of barriers, my goodness to be able to really again limiting beliefs can really take anyone, whether they're able, able-bodied, not able whatever but to be able to pivot and I find people, jobs and so pivoting in your career and changing, I mean that in itself could be a podcast episode on my other just in terms of really going from the mental health which, honestly, is booming right now in a worse way, of course, but just that being able to help in that space and then just to pivot to your passion and realize that I'm just so impressed that you did that. I mean it's huge. It's huge. And to be able to explore the world, carol and I haven't yet. This is why we're doing this podcast. We want to, we've got kids still in high school, college, but I'm so honored to have you and to learn about how you're doing this and it's just very inspiring.

Kristin: 58:22

So thank you, thank you. Yeah, I try, I mean my goal and I think the thing I find most rewarding after doing the blog is helping people go through those dream bucketless destinations of theirs, because I know how that feels for me when I first did that and how incredibly on top of the world you feel right, and to be able to help someone be able to go somewhere that maybe they never thought were possible or they always wanted to go to and they just need more resources to help with that I just find that incredibly gratifying and it's why I started.

Kristen: 59:00

That's you. You're making the impossible absolutely possible by saying I'm possible. I don't know if I just made that up, it's just really amazing. I mean, you've inspired. I was very interested in Antarctica from my client who went there and I spent a little time talking to him, but just really great to hear. And Boi, chile and Argentina sound pretty cool too, but all of your trips sound amazing. So, yeah, thanks for doing what you're doing.

Kristin: 59:32

Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Kristen: 59:35

Wonderful.

Kristin: 59:36

Have a great rest of your day.

Kristen: 59:37

Ok, see you soon, thank you.

Kristin: 59:40

Bye.

Kristen: 59:40

Thank you. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app, and, if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at when Next Podcast. Thanks again, the WHINTLethon.