For those jet-setters who've ticked off a healthy slew of bucket list destinations, we applaud you. It is quite the accomplishment to have been almost everywhere. Still, we just added a new destination to our own list and we think you may want in. You see, for the first time in 33 years, commercial trips from New Zealand to Antarctica have, once again, become a possibility.
There's a reason they ended in the first place, however; a tourist flight crashed in 1979 and proved fatal for all aboard. It's been long enough for airplanes and navigation and all sorts of other technology to improve and so, this upcoming February, sightseeing flights to the polar cap will once again become a normal departure from NZ. The day trip will see a chartered Qantas Boeing 747 take off from Auckland and travel due south to fly over the ice mass.
The jumbo jet will offer two different classes of service, with the premium cabin specially called Ice Class. Flights are around 12 hours total, inclusive of four hours spent just flying over Antarctica's most scenic bits.
Prices start at around $1,325 USD for Economy and just over $7,700 for Business. For a "sightseeing" day trip it is expensive, but far less so than hopping a 10-day cruise that barely makes landfall. Just imagine the amount of photos and Facebook brags!
[Photo: Sarafina]
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