To Antarctica and back again in 24 hours

A lot can happen in a day. That’s especially true when you travel with Natural World Safaris, the UK-based outfitter that has launched the world’s most extravagant day trip with its One-Day Antarctica Adventure.

Available from November to January — when the Southern Continent gets 24 full hours of sunlight per day — the private-jet journey gives intrepid travellers a crash-course in polar exploration.

Priced from $US195,000 ($A258,400) for up to 12 passengers, the expedition begins in Cape Town with a private Gulfstream jet. After a 5.5-hour charter flight, guests will be dropped off at a temporary structure at the base of a large nunatak (a mountain peak or rock formation that is exposed above a glacier or ice sheet).

There, they will have approximately 8 hours of icy adventure ahead of them, visiting nearby grottos, exploring icy-blue glaciers, and trekking to an adorable colony of the continent’s indigenous Adélie penguins. Back at the lodge, a gourmet Champagne lunch prepared by a private chef awaits before jetting back to South Africa. The entire journey takes no more than 24 hours, offering even the busiest adventurer the opportunity to set foot on the great white desert.