Written by Rita Serra | Published July 8, 2026

What’s Actually Standing Between This Antarctica Cruise and Me

Sometime last year, I was scrolling TikTok as I do, and I came across a couple talking about their number-one goal before buying a home: an Antarctica cruise. I remember watching it and thinking, that’s actually an incredible goal. And then, almost immediately after: I could do that for my 50th birthday.

I didn’t do anything with that thought. I filed it away somewhere in the back of my head, let it sit there for months, thought about it occasionally, and did absolutely nothing about it.

Until now.

Here’s where things actually stand: I’m not working a regular full-time job right now, and saving $12,000 for a cruise on that kind of income isn’t impossible, but it’s not straightforward either. And $12,000 is just the starting price for the cruise itself, before flights, hotels, gear, or any of the other logistics that come with getting yourself to the bottom of the world.

I want to be standing on Antarctica on the actual day I turn 50. I’m not sure yet if that’s even logistically possible; that’s part of what I’m figuring out. But I have two and a half years, and I’m done letting this sit in the back of my head.

I’m telling you this before I tell you anything else about The Polar Plan, because I think it’s the most important part of the story, and it’s the part most people leave out.

Why Antarctica, Specifically

It didn’t start with a grand plan. It started with a TikTok video, but honestly it wasn’t the first time an Antarctica cruise had crossed my mind.

Over the last few years of traveling and living abroad, I’d watched countless creators take that cruise and come back changed. Every single one of them said the same thing: there is nothing else like it. I wanted to believe I could do it too, but the cost always stopped me before the thought could fully form. It felt like someone else’s dream. So I let it go.

Then I turned 47.

And I started doing the math on my life in a different way. In the last few years, I’ve visited countries I never thought I’d set foot in. I’ve built a life abroad that my former self wouldn’t have believed was possible. I’ve done things that once felt completely out of reach, and then I went and did them anyway.

So why not Antarctica?

There’s really only one barrier: the money. And I have 2.5 years to figure that out. That’s not nothing. That’s actually enough if I start now instead of waiting until it feels more realistic.

Not many people get to stand at the bottom of the world. It’s one of the most remote, extraordinary things a person can do. And somewhere between that TikTok video and turning 47, I decided that “not many people” doesn’t have to mean not me.

Now there’s a date attached to this goal. And that changes everything. Because once it’s tied to your 50th birthday, you can’t push it to next year. You can’t wait until the timing is better or the savings look nicer or the fear quiets down.

It’s your 50th birthday, or it isn’t.

Here’s The Honest Part

I’m not working full time right now. My income comes from freelance projects that show up inconsistently. Some months are solid, some months I’m doing the math on my rent twice. A few months ago I finished a website revamp for a client who had plans to keep me on long-term as her social media manager. I was counting on that income.

Once the website was done, she realized she couldn’t make it work financially, which I understood- I genuinely did, but the income I’d been building my next few months around disappeared overnight. That’s the part nobody warns you about with freelance work.

It’s not that the clients are bad. It’s that one phone call can quietly restructure your entire month. That’s not a complaint. It’s just the truth of how I’m currently making a living, and it’s the foundation this entire goal has to be built on top of.

My savings account for this trip, as of right now, is sitting at zero dollars toward this cruise. Not “a good start.” Zero. I’m not saying that for sympathy. I’m saying it because if you check back on this page in six months and the number has barely moved, I want you to already understand why, instead of wondering if I gave up.

On top of the money question, I’ve also been dealing with an ongoing situation with my landlord that has eaten up far more emotional and mental energy than I expected. Two days before I was set to leave for a trip, I ran into him, and through a translator, a miscommunication spiraled into something I couldn’t fix in the moment. What I said was misinterpreted. 

The translator didn’t correct it. And before I could explain, my landlord told me he wanted me out of the apartment by the end of June. I tried to clarify. It didn’t help. I’m still here for now, but I’m living in that particular kind of limbo where you don’t know if today is the day you get the final notice. It’s summer season, which means finding another place is nearly impossible and wildly expensive. 

So I’m waiting. Waiting for the season to change, waiting for clarity, and carrying that uncertainty around every single day while also trying to plan a trip to the bottom of the world. It’s not directly related to Antarctica. But it’s part of the actual bandwidth I have right now, and pretending it isn’t would make this whole series feel less honest.

And then there’s the one I almost didn’t write down: some days, I don’t have the motivation to work on any of this. Not the savings, not the planning, not even the excitement. I built a life out of figuring things out as I go, and most days that instinct still shows up. Some days it doesn’t, and I sit with a goal that scares me a little and just don’t feel like doing anything about it that day.

What The Math Actually Looks Like

I don’t think vague encouragement is useful here, so let me just lay out the real numbers.

The cruise itself can run anywhere from $12,000 and up, which typically covers the ship, meals, and some excursions. To have that saved with six months of breathing room before departure, I need to be putting away roughly $400 a month, starting now. On an inconsistent freelance income, that’s not a small ask. Some months it’ll mean putting away more to make up for the months I can’t.

I’m not pretending that math is comfortable. It isn’t. But it’s real, and it’s the number I’m actually working toward instead of a vague “someday I’ll save up for it.”

So Why Post This Now?

Because I think the version of this story where everything is already handled isn’t actually that interesting, and it isn’t true to how I’ve done anything in my life so far. I sent a $100 deposit to a person I’d never met, for an apartment I’d never seen in person, in a country I’d never visited. I didn’t have it figured out then either. I figured it out by going.

The difference this time is that I’m not waiting until I land somewhere to tell you about it. I’m starting the story here, at zero, with a number on a spreadsheet that feels a little too big and a deadline that doesn’t move no matter how I feel about it on a given Tuesday.

What I’m Actually Going to Do About It

I’m not pretending I have a perfect plan, but here’s what’s real: I’m tracking every dollar that goes toward this cruise on the page itself, so the number is never hidden or rounded up to sound better than it is.

I’m picking up freelance work where I can, even going back to tutoring English online. And I’m choosing, on the days motivation doesn’t show up, to do one small thing toward this anyway, even if that’s just transferring twenty dollars or looking up flight prices for five minutes.

I’ve also started putting together a gear list for the trip itself. Antarctica is not a packing-light situation, and the gear alone is a significant part of the overall cost. If you’re curious what’s already on my list, I’ve started an Amazon Gear List with the cold weather and travel gear I’m researching.

None of that is glamorous. All of it is real.

This Is The Starting Line

Two and a half years from now, I want to be standing on Antarctica. I have no idea yet exactly how I’m going to get there. But I know how I’ve gotten everywhere else, one decision at a time, even when I didn’t have it all figured out first.

The tracker on this page updates as things actually happen, not after I’ve cleaned the story up. This is where it starts.

If you want to watch this unfold in real time, the tracker is live on The Polar Plan page. Every dollar, every country, updated as it actually happens. Not after the fact. This is where it starts.