On the night of October 3, 2015 –  TotalAdventure boarded  LAN’s 787 Dreamliner from Miami to Santiago. It was the start of a two week journey,  with the main focus on the Adventure Travel World Summit in Puerto Varas Chile.

The trip covered a huge range – from the snowy Andes to the steamy Amazon.

After clearing customs in Santiago, TotalAdventure boarded a 90 minute flight to Puerto Montt, which was near Puerto Varas.

It was a cold misty day – especially for someone who had just flown from the 95 degree heat of Miami.

TotalAdventure warmed up with a  piping hot bowl of Parihuela – a fresh spicy seafood stew. For TotalAdventure’s Chilean adventures – CLICK HERE !

ArcticTropic is now planning 2015 journeys. Three trips are shown here. The first , in February is to Southeastern Australia. The longest flight will be from San Francisco to Sydney – about 15 hours. In March – off to the Polar Regions of Iceland. September – Puerto Varas in Chilean Patagonia for the ATTA Summit. Several other ventures are in planning stage.

On short notice ArcticTropic contacted fellow ATTA member Tour Mongolia with a request for all the above adventures in Mongolia. Within 48 hours we had an agreed upon plan (all by email) – we were in good hands from the time we were picked up at the Ulanbataar Train Station until being dropped at the airport nearly a week later.

Special Thanks to Tseegii, our excellent guide who taught us all about where we were and who we met – throughout our journey.  She took care of all arrangements ,an of course,speaks perfect English and attempted to teach us some Mongolian.

Here is our diver Chimed – who drove our late model Japanese four wheel drive vehicle over hundreds of kilometers of dirt and sand roads that are not even on the maps. In years past he drove cars from Germany to Mongolia on a regular basis. He is also a skilled horseman and excellent chef.

Here I am pictured with Tour Mongolia owner Bagnaa, after he treated us to a delicious dinner at Mongol Restaurant on our final evening in Mongolia.

Tour Mongolia will soon offer trips directly through ArcticTropic.

Expeditions for the rest of the year are in the advance planning stages. Above is the flight pattern for June-July.

The flight pattern for October -November, above.

At 1;55 PM we take an 11 hour flight from Istanbul to Newark, followed by a connecting flight to Miami. Perhaps some good aerial shots of Eastern Europe and Newfoundland will be possible. Final Istanbul posts will come later this week. Also this week, ArcticTropic will welcome its’ first new members that we met at the ATTA Conference in Luzern two weeks ago.

After the ATTA convention in Lucerne, ArcticTropic flew from Zurich to Belgrade via Vienna .

Over Alpine Austria.

On the Dash 8 from Vienna to Belgrade. An extremely hard landing !

On a dark rainy night, it was great to have an excellent Serbian meal for a little more than the cost of a cup of coffee in Switzerland.

The scenery is incredible.

We then climbed up a 15 meter ice wall in a crevas. My first time !

Rappelling down is easy;

The Engelberg Glacier never melts. Today’s temperature was in the 20s F ( -5 C) while in the valleys below it was in the 60s.

This evening ArcticTropic departs from Miami for Zurich to participate in the Adventure Travel World Summit in Lucerne. At the end of next week, we move on to Belgrade, Serbia ,exploring Serbia, then Bulgaria and finally arriving in Istanbul ,Turkey. There will be daily updates.

This week ArcticTropic will be attending the Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler, British Columbia. The Summit is the most important event of the year for the adventure travel marketplace. It’s almost sold out – there may be a couple of spots left – check the site.

The schedule is very busy – seminars running from 8 in the morning until 7 at night – not surprising, since adventure travel is the fastest growing segment of the market.

The seminar is not all work and no play – each evening there are major dinner events- and on Saturday the 6th many outdoor adventure activities are planned. I will be climbing the Blackcomb Glacier. At this time of the year the glacier is not as snowy as the pictures on the link – however the snow is already starting.

My journey from Miami is a long one – including the longest flight in the Continental United States on American Airlines from MIA to SeaTac- 6 and a half hours, followed by a 45 minute puddle jumper ride up to Vancouver. After a day of exploration in Vancouver, I’ll head up the road to Whistler. My years in the tropics have led to the disappearance of winter clothes, so I’ll have to resupply in Vancouver ( though Miami has its’ share of ski shops).

Daily reports will begin on Tuesday.