This past December, I traveled to Ushuaia Argentina, literally the very bottom of the world, and embarked on a 10-day expedition to Antarctica. This was no ordinary cruise to one of the most magnificent places on Earth. This was a luxury scientific vessel carrying VIP cargo organized by FUTURE of SPACE. The Space2Sea: Voyage of Legends was born from a conversation between my good friend, Daniel Fox, and his newfound friend, Sir William Shatner. This trip brought together a VIP list of Great Explorers and Scientific minds like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Celine Cousteau, astronauts Charlie Duke and Mark Kelly, and others. 260 guests in total who were drawn to this trip by their love of Star Trek, Space, Penguins, or wild adventure in a one-of-a-kind opportunity. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it exceeded anything I could have imagined.

For 10 days, we traveled the waters of Antarctica spending our daytime hours exploring out on zodiac boats or a few land excursions. We saw incredible landscapes and several varieties of penguins and whales. The only humans in sight waved to us from their science station that is only inhabited during the summer. Our evenings, although the sun never completely sets this time of year, were filled with a series of TedX-style presentations, panel discussions, and documentary films—each hosted by one of our special guests.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was during the late afternoon when all of the guests would gather to hear a message from Sir Bill about his thoughts for the day. What he had seen or how it made him feel. It was a joy to experience this 93-year-old man who attended every activity and presentation. He even recited ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas to all of us on Christmas Eve as he had for many years before with his family. Pure magic.

So, how did I get there?  My role at Klean Kanteen is to support nonprofit organizations that work hard to protect our planet via conservation efforts, education, and advocacy for clean water and the protection of our natural resources. Klean also sponsors events like the Space2Sea: Voyage of Legends that bring people together to learn from each other and create impactful change in the world. For this event, Klean provided beautiful, custom, insulated bottles to every guest. The bottles were delivered pre-voyage with a letter in the form of a “message in the bottle” from the organizers about how much they value efforts to protect our planet including the use of reusable bottles to reduce their environmental footprint. The design was created by artist Stephen Wiltshire who is known for his ability to see a landscape once and recreate it by memory. I was able to meet Stephen that week and thank him for his amazing design.