The Long Journey Home - Icebergs and Penguins - 13
Final thoughts and helpful tips
February 19-22, 2026 - The Long Journey Home
I slept poorly. For one thing, the ship was rocking quite a bit and making a lot of noise. For another, my back has been stiff for the past few days. The mattress is very springy, probably to cushion the motion of the waves. For a good two weeks, my back didn’t seem to mind, but now it’s apparently looking forward to the bed at home. In any case, by 2 a.m. I didn’t feel like tossing and turning anymore, so I spent an hour editing photos. Shortly before 7 a.m., I finally got up.
At 11:30 a.m., the ship’s photographer and videographer will present their work. There’s a 75-minute film and/or a photo documentary of about 500 photos available for purchase. Afterward, there’s one last lunch in the full-service restaurant, and now I’ll need to take care of my luggage. It has to be packed and left outside the door tonight.
At 6 p.m., the expedition team gives a more or less humorous recap of the trip. The “last time” theme continues right after that with dinner in the full-service restaurant. While the weather has been rather dull over the last few days, blue skies are actually appearing now. It won’t be enough for a beautiful sunset. But at least we might still get a nice late-summer day tomorrow before heading back to Germany’s dreary weather.
As usual, I wake up just before the alarm goes off. We’re still a short distance from Puerto Montt [↗] [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Montt ], but the ship docks while I’m having breakfast. The boarding passes for the flight to Santiago are brought on board, and I can pick mine up at the reception desk along with my passport and luggage tags for the suitcases. At 8:30 a.m., after 4,853 nautical miles (8,987 km), I disembark.
Since the flights don’t leave until early afternoon, we’re taking a bus tour for now. Our carry-on luggage is searched for food, we identify our bags lined up at the pier, and load them onto the buses. The weather isn’t exactly on our side, but at least it’s not raining.
The first stop is in Puerto Varas [↗]. We have 30 minutes, walk to a closed church and back. A pretty pointless stop. We continue on to Frutillar [↗], and slowly the sky clears up. Frutillar, named after the fields of wild strawberries that the first German settlers found here, lies on a lake with a spectacular view of the Osorno volcano. Too bad he only shows himself once we’re already back on the bus. Frutillar is a small tourist town that takes great pride in its German heritage.
Considering that the alternative would have been to spend another four hours at the airport, the tour was okay. But nothing more than that.
At the airport, we attach the luggage tags to our bags, and I join the seemingly endless line for check-in. Right now, there are only Hapag Lloyd passengers here, but since they’re very strict about baggage allowances, chaos breaks out. It feels like every other person has to repack or at least head to an unoccupied counter to check the weight of their suitcases. Good thing I’m flying long-haul business class. That gives me two 23-kg bags even on this economy flight.
By the time I’m in my hotel room in Santiago, it’s already 6 p.m. again. This time we’re staying at the Intercontinental. It’s more my style compared to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, like many modern business hotels here, it’s quite far from downtown. I know Santiago [↗] pretty well and have already written about it on my blog. There isn’t really much to explore on foot in this area. So I just head to the large shopping center at the base of the Costanera Tower [↗].
I’m not really that hungry after all the feasting over the last three weeks. I haven’t even eaten the sandwich from the snack box we received this morning. So I grab a few empanadas and call it a day.
Somehow, I remembered Chile as being better organized. Or is it just the local agency?
It started yesterday morning when the big search for boarding passes began on the ship because they weren’t sorted. I’ve already reported on the chaos at check-in. The transport from the airport to the hotel went okay, even if not everyone could fit their suitcases on the same bus.
Then came the “highlight” this morning. At 8:30 a.m., three buses were supposed to take the passengers to the airports for the flights to Paris and Frankfurt. There were indeed three buses there, except one was for a completely different tour group. The next chaos followed at the airport. There were people from the agency there, but they didn’t know which booking class could check in where.
Well, somehow everything worked out, but I’ve always found the Chileans to be well-organized. I would have been better off organizing the return trip on my own.
After check-in, the next surprise. My old pesos can only be exchanged if the equivalent value is 100 USD. Well, fine, then not. So I buy two more T-shirts, and the rest is coming home with me. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to use them again someday.
Immigration and security take forever, but at least the new LATAM Lounge is very well done. I’m even allowed in with my Premium Economy ticket, which I got for the flight to São Paulo (the flight doesn’t have a Business class).
The flight to São Paulo is uneventful, although the A320 could use a little loving care. The front restroom is closed due to a malfunction, and a few plastic covers - on the seats, for example - are missing. We actually arrive in São Paulo 20 minutes ahead of schedule. But it doesn’t do us any good. We’re standing on the tarmac, and neither the stairs nor the buses are ready. But we have plenty of time before our flight to Frankfurt anyway.
Since we’re coming from the tarmac, we have to go through security again. I then head to the lounge, which I know well. They now have a bank as a sponsor, and the fact that it serves as a Star Alliance lounge isn’t visible until you reach the entrance. I have a good hour until the next boarding. Plenty of time for a caipirinha and some small talk with fellow travelers who are also here. However, many others are booked on flights with Air France, KLM, Iberia, and other airlines.
Then something rare happens: boarding for the Lufthansa flight starts earlier than announced. Takeoff is also on time, and after another uneventful flight, we even land in Frankfurt more than half an hour earlier than planned. That’s nice, but baggage claim is typical for Frankfurt. After “10 more minutes” comes “5 more minutes” comes “please wait.” It then takes a good hour before the baggage carousel starts moving. At least my luggage arrives relatively quickly.
In Germany, winter is coming to an end. There are still a few patches of snow, but it’s about 10 degrees and it’s raining more or less constantly. The shuttle to the parking lot arrives quickly, and the drive back is uneventful, aside from the annoying rain. By 2:00 p.m., I’m finally home.
