Punta Arenas, Chile was the place we stayed on our way to Antarctica.

And if I am being fair to Punta Arenas, that probably made it a little difficult for us to fully appreciate everything Chile had to offer. When Antarctica is sitting on your agenda, it is hard for anything else to compete for your attention.

We had chosen an expedition that departed from Punta Arenas and, more importantly, allowed us to fly over the Drake Passage instead of sailing through it. Considering the Drake Passage has a reputation for being one of the roughest stretches of water in the world, this seemed like an excellent decision.

Why spend two days potentially being tossed around on a ship when you can just fly over it?

Easy choice.

The luggage challenge, though, actually started before we ever left home.

For the flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island, we knew we were limited to 35 pounds of luggage, so while packing at home we had to make sure everything we planned to bring for our two-week trip fit within that limit.

Thirty-five pounds.

For two weeks.

Including Antarctica.

That was not easy.

Every piece of clothing suddenly became a decision. Did we really need it? Could something else be worn twice? Was there any chance we could wear the heavier items instead of packing them?

By the time we left home, we had weighed and reweighed our bags enough times that we were pretty confident we had it right.

But apparently our home scale was not the final authority.

Once we arrived in Punta Arenas, they weighed the bags again for the flight to King George Island.

And they were not just glancing at them and deciding they looked close enough.

They actually put those bags on the scale.

So after all that careful packing at home, there was still that little moment of suspense in Chile while we waited to see whether our bags officially passed the test.

Thankfully, we had planned for it.

But trying to pack for two weeks, including Antarctica, into 35 pounds was definitely one of the first challenges of the trip.

Before heading even farther south, we spent two nights in Punta Arenas, giving us just enough time to get a small taste of Chilean Patagonia.

We definitely did not have enough time to explore the area as much as we would have liked. Punta Arenas is surrounded by incredible landscapes, wildlife, and history, and with only a couple of days—and Antarctica looming just ahead—we barely scratched the surface.

Still, we really enjoyed being there.

There was something about the city that already felt like the beginning of the Antarctic adventure. Sitting along the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas has that remote, windswept feeling that makes you realize just how far south you have traveled.

We walked along the waterfront, explored what we could, ate some local Patagonian food, and spent some time collecting sea glass along the shore.

But as our departure got closer, our attention shifted almost completely to what was coming next.

The night before our flight to King George Island, everyone in our expedition gathered at the hotel as a group. We went over the plan for the next morning, talked through what to expect, and received our parkas and duck boots.

That was when it really started to feel real.

The next morning, those carefully weighed bags, our new parkas, our duck boots, and all of us would be heading to the airport for the flight south.

Looking back, I wish we had given Punta Arenas more time of its own. It was difficult to completely take in Chile when our minds were already several hundred miles farther south, thinking about Antarctica.

But Punta Arenas still left an impression on us.

We would absolutely love to go back someday, this time with Punta Arenas and Chile as the destination rather than simply the starting point.

Because on this trip, Punta Arenas was where the anticipation really began.

We had made it to the edge of South America.

Our bags had passed the 35-pound test.

Our parkas were ready.

And next stop: Antarctica.