It is fascinating to think that, as we travel through life, each chapter of our journey may already be preparing us for something we cannot yet imagine. And that, while we live each day, we are unknowingly being guided toward encounters and experiences that seem completely improbable.
That is how Antarctica entered my life.
I come from a low-income family in Brazil. For most of my life, I never had much beyond what was necessary to get by. Traveling was not part of my reality. It was a door that was closed, locked, and, in my mind, practically impossible to open.
Everything turned upside down after my husband came into my life.
Besides being an incredible husband, he is the CEO of a well-known company in the travel industry. Because of the opportunities his work provides, we have had the chance to discover different parts of the world. Little by little, things that once seemed impossible became part of our reality.
During one of these adventures, we had already been driving for almost two months from Santiago, Chile, toward Tierra del Fuego, the famous “End of the World”: Ushuaia.
They were incredible days, driving through landscapes that would have been worth the trip on their own. I highly recommend the experience.
But something interesting was happening to me.
Ushuaia was our final destination, and throughout the journey we kept encountering travelers making their way there in every possible way: by car, plane, motorcycle, on foot, and even by bicycle.
That created enormous expectations in me.
For days and nights, I imagined what it would finally be like to reach the “End of the World.”
And then we arrived.
To my surprise, Ushuaia was a city full of souvenir shops, expensive restaurants, a famous sign for taking photos… and, to me, that was basically it.
Don’t get me wrong, I know everyone has a different experience. 
But at that moment, I felt frustrated as a traveler. I was looking for something unforgettable, and I had built up such enormous expectations around that place.
And it was precisely that frustration that awakened a sense of restlessness in me.
What else could Ushuaia offer me?
Today, I think perhaps that is exactly what our dreams and desires are meant to do: make us restless when what we find still doesn’t match what we are searching for.
One afternoon, while walking back home, I started noticing that almost every travel agency had some kind of advertisement for Antarctica.
I had seen those advertisements before.
But Antarctica felt so far removed from my reality that they had never really caught my attention as a potential customer.
This time, however, my restlessness about Ushuaia was stronger.
So I thought:
“Why not find out what this journey is really about?”
I walked into an agency.
After hearing the whole explanation about the experience, what made it different, and everything involved in traveling to Antarctica, something inside me completely changed.
This was much more than tourism.
I wanted to go.
Until I heard the price.
My world came crashing down.
My soul went straight to heaven.
And I died.
What? Impossible!
That is how I walked out of the agency.
But that seed had already been planted.
And it didn’t die.
I fought for it, insisted, searched for possibilities, and tried to find a way to make it to Antarctica.
And, through one of those miracles that sometimes appear when you really, really want something and refuse to give up, we made it happen.
A cabin on a luxury ship, with everything included.
And that is how what would become, until then, the most inexplicable experience of my life began.
But that part of the story…
will have to wait for the next post.
I’m looking forward to seeing yours next adventures!