South American and Antarctic Adventure! Volume II: Zaandam Cruise, Part XVIII: Recap

I don't even know where to begin! 

We were gone for 33 days and we had ONE issue: HAL packing up our room and throwing away my notes. That's it! How crazy is that? Four people traveling with a Special Needs child and we only had ONE issue! *High Five*

I want to thank my parents for coming along with us and for helping with Theo. My dad was the "baby sherpa" and carried Theo's stroller countless times (including up and down steep stairs at Machu Picchu!) and my mom constantly volunteered to watch Theo so Josh and I could attend shows and lectures. Thank you so much!

I also want to shout out to my travel agent, Kathleen Taylor (Kathleen.Taylor@alluretravel.com). She has planned TWO amazing trips for us so far and I would use her again in a heartbeat! If you need a travel agent PLEASE contact her!

Considering the circumstances, we had an amazing trip! We went to Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Lake Titicaca, Patagonia, the Chilean Fjords, the Beagle Channel, Glacier Alley, Torres del Paine, Cape Horn, the Antarctic Peninsula, the “End of the World,” saw the King penguins, and Iguazu Falls all because HAL (and our guides in Peru) were willing to accommodate us. And I am beyond grateful for that.

I can't say enough great things about the crew of the HAL Zaandam. From our cruise director Bruce, to our wait staff at the Dinning Room, to Herry (our room attendant), the bartenders in the Crows Nest, and everyone else! They are all simply amazing and did such a great job!

Overall it was the trip of a lifetime! I can't believe we went to Antarctica!

[Thanks mom for helping me collect all the pins for this trip!]

So where to next?! What can top the Antarctic? Shall we try the Arctic?!

I already found a couple of cruises! Who's in?!

South American and Antarctic Adventure! Volume II: Zaandam Cruise, Part XVII: Iguazu Falls

January 7th:

Right after we finished giving Theo his morning medication and breakfast he threw up. Not only did he throw up his medications and formula, but his NG tube too! UGH! Here we go!

I got out a new tube (they should be replaced once a month anyways), added some lube, got my stethoscope out, and started shoving the tube up Theo’s nose. He screamed and screamed, but we got the tube in the right spot and that’s all that matters. We decided to wait a few hours to feed him again, so I packed up his medications and extra formula in his bag before we headed out for the day.

We knew that this day would be a LONG one, but I was very excited to see the largest waterfall system in the WORLD!

We were picked up from the ship terminal by our tour guide who took us to the airport were we caught our flight to Iguazu, Argentina.

Once we landed we were greeted by three more tour guides who ushered us onto another bus. While on the bus they told us about the Falls and that they would be dividing us into two tour groups: fast walkers and slow walkers. We said we wanted to be in the fast group (we can move very quickly once Theo is in his stroller), but they put us in the slow group anyways. 

Once we got to the National Park, we took a train to the Devils Throat stop.

[Coati are very common throughout the park. They are pretty smart too. If they hear a wrapper they will come running because they know food is near!]

We then walked along a raised pathway, over water and through the jungle until we reached the Devils Throat.

[Once we started to see the mist we knew we were close!]

After getting soaked at the Devils Throat, we made our way back to the train where we joined the fast walker group (Yep! We are total rebels!). 

We then took the train to the Upper Circuit Trail.

There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE! It was so beautiful! 

At the end of the Upper Circuit Trail we saw a Toucan and a family of monkeys! 

[Toucan]

We then walked over to the Gran Melia Hotel where we enjoyed the view of the falls and had dinner.

After dinner we headed back to the airport to catch our 9:30 PM flight back to Buenos Aires. At 9:30 PM we were told the flight would depart at 10:00 PM, due to the bad weather. At about 11:00 PM we were told that the flight may be canceled and we were moved out of the boarding area. We were later informed that the flight was canceled. Great. So, what now?

Our tour guide, Maria, was on the phone immediately trying to find answers for us. She also told us to find a hotel because we would likely be staying the night in Iguazu. 

No one in my family had a phone that worked in Argentina, we didn't have any local cash, and we didn't speak the language. How were we supposed to find a hotel?! 

Finally at 2:00 AM we were told that HAL had set up a hotel for us and that taxis would be arriving shortly. Before we headed to the hotel, Maria gave us our boarding passes for our flights on January 8th at 4:40 PM (good thing I had brought enough formula and medication for Theo). We headed to the hotel and when we arrived the night shift manager told us that he had no idea we were coming. We told him there was a large group of us from HAL coming. He was overwhelmed. We finally got our rooms at about 3:00 AM and all went to bed.

January 8th:

The next morning we headed to the lobby at 9:30 AM to find other members of our group and Maria there. We were told conflicting stories about what HAL's plans were for us. Some people heard that HAL wasn't going to help us get home if we missed our flights out of Buenos Aires, others heard we were not allowed back on the ship to get our luggage (it would be packed for us), others heard we would be allowed back on the ship to pack and even said they were told they could stay the night on the ship. Did HAL care about us? We had no idea. It was so confusing and frustrating.

If we had to be stuck somewhere at least it was at the gorgeous Panoramic Grand Hotel on the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay! 

We made the most of the situation by eating a delicious breakfast, sitting out by the pool, and going on a walk of the city (mainly to buy some diapers for Theo).

[View of Brazil from the Panoramic Grand Hotel]

That afternoon we were picked up from the hotel and taken back to the airport where we caught our flight back to Buenos Aires. Shortly after take off the plane started to descend! What was going on? Were we going back to Iguazu?! NOPE!

The Captain got on the loud speaker and informed us that they would be doing a flyby of the Iguazu Falls!

It was so incredible to see the Falls from the air! What a cool experience!

When we finally made it back to Buenos Aires, we were told that we had 15 minutes to get to our room, pack our bags, and get back to the terminal to catch our taxi to the airport for our 11:59 PM flight to Miami.

We all ran to our room where we found our room attendants. They told us that our bags had been packed and were with Guest Services. We ran to Guest Services where we found a huge line! My dad then noticed that our luggage was in the Atrium on the 3rd floor. We ran down there and started going through our luggage to make sure everything was there. We spent the next twenty minutes unpacking our bags in the atrium and reorganizing them since everything was just thrown in them and we had to pack our carry-on luggage differently than our bags that would be checked at the airport. We would have been off the ship a lot faster if we could have packed them ourselves in our state room. We also discovered there were a few things missing, and that's when a nice lady from Guest Services arrived. She gave my mom her jewelry (which was in their safe) and then she gave me a bag with my Kindle and my husbands wedding ring. It was then that I noticed that my notes were missing. I had been keeping a journal over the last month to document our vacation and those notes along with the daily "When and Where," all the maps we had received from our excursions, the maps of Antarctica that I had drawn our route on and taken notes on from our days in Antarctica, our certificates from crossing the Drake Passage, and other documents were all missing. These documents were all organized by date, were clipped together with a large black clip, and sitting on my nightstand. I tore our bags apart looking for my documents and when I realized they were not in our luggage I started crying. That is when I was approached by Guest Services who gave me their card.

I understand that HAL needed to get our things out of our room, but they had no right to throw anything away. I'm devastated. I write a blog (obviously) and I take notes during my travels so that I don't have to remember everything. 

I wanted to include information on my blog about how to travel with a Special Needs child and which excursions are Special Needs and/or child friendly. I wanted to encourage other parents that with Special Needs children that you can continue to travel and do what you love, you just need to do the research and find a way to do it. I've already had people send me messages on Facebook and Instagram (as I was able to post a few times while on the trip) asking me what cruise line we used and how Theo did on the trip. I've been telling all of them that I will update my blog with more details when I got home.

I knew there was no way I was going to remember everything since we left on our vacation on December 7th and that's why I took notes. Who ever packed our bags essentially threw away my travel journal. Everything was in there! My notes, maps, drawings, picture descriptions, notes from the EXC Team Talks (I attended all but one of them), our travel itinerary (including flight information), etc. The notes did not look like trash and I don't know why they were thrown out!

I cried all the way to the airport (I'm sure some of that had to do with the lack of sleep), but luckily we had a smooth flight home and had no other issues.