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FJORDS
IN MY FUTURE---AND PAST
My
friend Jean has volunteered to travel with me on several
equally remote trips. When
I brought up the idea of Patagonia, once more she didn't
hesitate.
Wisely,
she supplied the name of a reputable travel company.
Lost World Adventures of Atlanta had planned her
successful trip to South America several years ago. I
contacted Andrew at LWA and told him my priority agenda:
navigating the Chilean fjords and exploring Tierra del Fuego
and Torres del Paine National Parks.
It
was only after I told Andrew I wanted to sail through the
Chilean fjords that I realized I seem to have an obsession
with these frigid bodies of water. I
recalled that within the space of just one calendar year,
from March 2005 to March 2006 after this trip, I would have
completed THREE trips to explore fjords in faraway corners
of the world: New Zealand's Doubtful Sound in March 2005,
Norway's fjords in August 2005, and now the fjords of Chile
which would take place in February/March 2006.
Even
more surprising to me is the fact that I actually succeeded
in flying to all three destinations courtesy of FREE
frequent flyer tickets via United Airlines.
Given the notorious difficulty of snagging even one
frequent flyer ticket when you want to fly, I still can't
believe this achievement. One other fact astonishes me. When
I checked in for my free frequent flyer return flight via
Lufthansa from Santiago to Sao Paulo, Brazil, the ticket
attendant unexpectedly upgraded me to a first class seat
---and actually gave me additional frequent flyer points!
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