Road Test

We are out of town for what is likely to be the last time before the trip and I wanted to do one last check of all the electronic gizmos and connections, etc. It all seems to be in order. I am beginning to really despise internet connection fees.

Christmas Eve

It has been another busy and enjoyable holiday season... we are indeed lucky to have made so many wonderful acquaintances over the years. We truly have enjoyed the time we have been able to spend together, either in person or via other means. We always look forward to the next time we are able share a few moments. Hopefully it will always be soon!

Merry Christmas to All!

Non-Diplomatic Immunity

We have already begun the sequence of shots that are required for this trip. If you are planning a journey that will require immunizations, it is best to get going on them no less than six months prior to your departure so that any that require boosters can be accommodated.

Your personal physician may be able to provide you with what you will need or, at least, should be able to make a referral. Travel agents can also steer you in the right direction. There also are specialty clinics that can give you the most up to date information on what you will need based on your itinerary.

For our trip, Susan and I got, or are getting: Hepatitis A & B with boosters, Tetanus, Typhoid and we will take Malaria tablets enroute. The boys already have had the Hepatitis shots as part of their routine physical exams. The Typhoid immunity is available in capsule form and we opted for that method.

After this is all done, there is only one other kind of shot I plan on getting for a while...

The Thanksgiving Trip

Well, we made it!! There and back. As always, New York is a great place to visit.

Previously I wondered (somewhat sarcastically) if we might encounter any delays during this trip... I was very surprised.

It took no longer getting through security in Atlanta than it takes to undress, disassemble everything and get it all put back together again. There was NO line. The flight to LGA arrived early. Security leaving LGA was a bit longer… I would estimate their line to have been 20 to 40 minutes. I say “estimate” because we did not go through it. Susan showed her work ID and we went through the employee line.

Leaving LaGuardia yesterday afternoon, we did have to do one turnaround on the taxiway, but the delay was only about thirty minutes, if that. The flight crew never did specifically say why, but there was rain and fog in Atlanta at the time. That was pretty much the entirety of the delay we encountered… thirty minutes… during the busiest travel period of the year.

Like I said, I was surprised... but I wasn't baffled by it. I can’t help but think that the underlying reason for our relatively delay-free trip was the general absence of severe weather. The timing of our trip (a mid-day departure) was also a factor, although we had no way of knowing it in advance. We learned from speaking with the TSA people in Atlanta that the security wait time was significantly longer in the hours prior to our arrival at the checkpoint. They also allowed that they expected that the wait time would increase again later in the day. Although I have not looked up any data pertaining to it, I think it is also quite possible that more folks than usual chose to drive (or chose not to fly) to their holiday destinations this year.

One thing that I will remain certain did NOT have anything to do with it was the “addition” of the holiday "express lanes” in the sky through military use airspace. If you're curious why I used quotation marks in the previous sentence, check out this recent entry from Don Brown's blog.

*****

Everything we wanted to do got done, EXCEPT for a certain play that we had tickets to see. It was (and still is) among the two dozen or so Broadway productions that have been cancelled for the duration until an agreement is reached between the theater owners & producers and the stagehands. Such is life.

One of the great things about New York is that there is certainly enough to do that we were easily able to replace the missed show with something else. Among the many things we did get to do were: watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, see The Radio City Christmas show, eat dirty water hot dogs, go to Inflation Eve, visit the American Museum of Natural History, walk, ride the subway, eat hot dogs, eat pizza, go to Toys R Us, eat at Carmine’s, go to Nintendo World, eat, shop at Macy’s, go to FAO Schwartz, walk, see the decorated windows along Fifth Avenue and at Macy’s, do the Canal Street shops, walk, and eat. Got to do some drinkin’, too.

Here are some photos (click to see full size). If you want to see more than you hoped for, go to TheTravelPages:

View from the Queensborough Bridge

It DOES keep going...

Kermit from the room

The American Museum of Natural History

There's nothing like a dirty water dog.

Busy Sidewalks-- a video. See if you can spot the Naked Cowboy. Hint: He's the center of attention.

Unlike in Germany, Links Here Are on the Right

In the past few days, I have created and published a website for the primary purpose of posting pictures. (How's that for alliteration?) The site has far less commentary than this blog and way more pictures. I have added pictures from several of our previous travels and, as much as connectivity allows, will be adding a ton to it as we progress on our journey next summer. As with this blog, no sign-in is required... just click and view.

It is listed in the "Links I Like" column to the right and it is called TheTravelPages. You can open it by clicking on its title over there or by clicking right here.

Write to Somebody

The FAA is in sorry shape. You should write to your U. S. Representative and Senators and urge them to fix it. I do not know, however, to whom you should write to urge the fixing of the sorry shape our Congress is in.

Ahhh... Good Ol' JFK

There’s plenty in the news these days about this storied, world-class airport… and, since it deals primarily with the horrendous delays being experienced there, most of it is not good.

I don’t have much in the way of memories of it when it was called Idlewild Airport, but I can clearly remember when its name was changed to the present form. I have passed through JFK on many occasions, mostly during my “Go to Europe as Often as I Can” phase. As I recall from those earlier trips, it was a given that you would depart from Kennedy Airport if you were traveling to Europe from the United States… much like if you traveled domestically in the eastern US, you would almost certainly go through Atlanta.

As a matter of fact, it became somewhat onerous to have to use Kennedy airport. This was compounded by the fact that nearly all flights (at least the ones available to me) from within the US connecting to European destinations arrived in New York at the smaller, and non-overseas gateway, LaGuardia Airport. That meant that you not only had to change airplanes, but you also had to change airports. I have traveled between LGA and JFK via nearly all the modes of transportation that were available at the time… taxi, bus, limo and helicopter. It was fun and interesting… the first three or four times.

Then came deregulation and very shortly thereafter, you could choose from other cities for your European departure point. Most of the major airlines went to the hub and spoke system after deregulation and virtually all of them wound up with at least one international departure from their respective hubs. Some of them still have one international departure from their hub. Like many others, I pounced on the opportunity to get to Europe and back without traveling on or above the Van Wyck Expressway. Among the airports from which I launched transatlantic travels were Atlanta, Miami, Dulles, Newark and Chicago.

The change was refreshing to say the least. It seemed heavenly to be able to get off a domestic flight and board an international flight with your only change in transportation from your arrival gate to your departure gate being a mobile lounge or a driverless train or a moving sidewalk or your feet. After some time and several trips, however, the novelty wore off sufficiently enough to allow the consideration of other factors when deciding upon a departure gateway. I’m speaking of highly important considerations such as the fact that foreign airlines charged about the same airfare as the US carriers did but they didn’t charge for drinks.

For the most part, those foreign carriers operated out of Kennedy Airport. So… for at least a few trips interspersed in that timeframe, it was back to good ol’ JFK. It wasn’t at all bad… in fact it was almost like getting together with an old friend. Many things about it were the same, but some things had changed, too. There were more available flights to Kennedy than before, cutting LGA out of the loop, which was very appealing. Getting from one terminal to the other wasn’t all that bad either. There were busses and short-haul cabs for that. There were also your feet.

Coming back to the US through Kennedy was not noticeably different than it was before, though. I have always found the New Yorkers to be cordial at the very least and very friendly more often than not. To this day, Kennedy Airport remains the only place I have returned to from Europe and been told, “Welcome home.” It has been at least eighteen years since I have been to Europe through JFK. We will not be going through there on this upcoming journey and, from what I see in the news, it’s probably just as well. It seems that there is a move afoot, through massive over-scheduling, to make passing through Kennedy Airport an onerous experience again.

A Milestone

It was on this date in 1994 that Susan and I made the transition from married couple without kids to parenthood. Today, our first born became...

a teenager!!

May God bless him and help all the rest of us! Happy birthday, Lachlan!

The Bottom Line

I have been asked on a few occasions, “How much does a trip like this cost?”

Not surprisingly, that same question was among the first that I asked our travel agent when we first contacted her. I did have a ballpark figure in mind before I asked it and I had based that figure on a combination of the upper limit of what I felt we could spend and my own swag as to what the cost of such a trip might be. My guess was pretty close.

To ask what a trip like this costs is somewhat akin to asking, “How much are a pair of sneakers?” I’d have to say, “It depends… are we talking about Keds or Reeboks?” Same principle applies here.

The trip we are planning could easily cost less if we chose to make it so. As it is with nearly anything else, it can certainly be done for a whole lot more, too. It all depends on a wide variety of factors, not the least of which involves class of travel, class of hotel and the extent to which you want to utilize guided tours, and which kind. We are looking for the cheapest possible air fare (who isn’t?) and are willing to splurge a bit on the hotels and tours.

For the answer, take a look at the French title of the novel by Jules Verne about a wager made by one Phileas Fogg, and substitute the word mille for the word jours. By the way, for a non-topical comparison, here’s a look at Phileas’ planned route.

click to enlarge

Regardless of how you go about it, an around the world journey is definitely anything but inexpensive. It certainly is not an investment from which you can expect monetary gain, unless maybe you are a talented writer and have some marketing skills. However if you measure the return in terms of lifelong memories and one-of-a-kind experiences, it becomes money well spent indeed. For everything else there's Mastercard...

We are truly fortunate to have the financial ability to take this trip. That ability comes, in part, from having had an upbringing by parents who cared to enough to give their children a solid foundation for learning how to save, how to budget, and how and when to spend money. A stable career with a steady, comfortable income lent a lot to it, as well.

As is the case with many other things in my life, financially, I am not a do-it-yourselfer. We have had help for many years with our financial planning and management from an advisor. Our guy’s name is Chris Allessio and he is with Edward Jones. When I look back at our portfolio value from around the same time as we seriously started planning this trip and compare it to the value today, it has increased enough to cover the cost of this trip.

To anyone seeking a good financial advisor, I highly recommend Chris. If you want to know more about Edward Jones and Chris, here is his home page.

You Can't Get There from There

We, in the U.S., are spoiled. My earlier rant about airline delays notwithstanding, one of the more convenient by-products of all that airline scheduling is that you can fly nearly anywhere in this country on any day of the week. Pick just about any city with an airport and there is probably at least one flight serving it per day. More often than not, there are multiple flights available.

Throughout most of the rest of the world, however, it’s a vastly different story. In fact, nearly the opposite is true. Even between major cities, there is not always daily airline service available. Also, even though there may be more than one carrier to choose from, they generally operate on a single hub and spoke system. So unless your destination is the main airport or one of the spokes for the airline you’re using, you are probably going to go through some other airline’s hub on the way there… even if it means backtracking several hundred miles.

Initially, we had planned to go from Egypt directly to South Africa. Not only were we limited by the lack of available flights, we also ultimately found out that that particular leg would not be included in the alliance fare because it was operated by a non-member airline, even though that flight is scheduled by an alliance member airline and is listed as that alliance member’s flight. Go figure. So we will wind up backtracking to Athens and connecting in Frankfurt to get to South Africa. Although they are not on our itinerary as destinations, we will be passing through Frankfurt once and Singapore twice. Even though Bangkok is on the itinerary, we will be passing through there a second time on the way to somewhere else.

The overall lack of ‘US-like’ flight options along with the scheduling limitations as a result of utilizing an alliance for air travel (which essentially reduces the number of airlines you can choose from) leaves us in a situation where the money saved on airfare is expended on convenience. In our case, we decided that the cost savings would be worth it. If we wanted to, we could book the Egypt to Johannesburg leg separately. However, the cost for that leg alone would be close to a fifth of what the total fare is for all the rest of the air segments covered by the alliance. Convenience ain’t cheap.

An Acknowledgement… Finally

As I set about the task of deciding how to document our travels, I was looking for a way to make things (mostly pictures) available to family and friends, as we went along our way, without encumbering them with emails that have massive attachments. It was suggested by our travel agent that I establish a web album, or a website, or a blog.

Well, I had no experience with, nor any usable knowledge about, any of those things, but at the mention of the word blog, I immediately thought of my friend, Don. Don has a blog of his own, which is listed in the “Links I Like” section in the column to the right. It’s called “Get the Flick.” I have been reading it for nearly as long as he has been writing it.

I have known Don for about twenty-five years. He is easily one of the most intelligent people I know… he’s well read, well spoken and is an excellent writer. Over the years, I have come to value his opinion highly and, although I haven’t always agreed with him on everything, I have found that he is usually right.

I did a little looking into blogging and, as I expected, I came across more information about it than I could filter through alone, so I got in touch with Don and let him know what I had in mind. I felt certain that the answer I would get would be clear, concise and probably correct. I was not disappointed.

Within an hour of hearing back from him, I had created this blog and had it up and running. Although I don’t add things to it with any regularity, I have spent enough time, here and there, tinkering with it to figure out how to write and manage posts, organize pictures, embed links, and add gadgets. In fact, I have gotten sufficiently wrapped up in those aspects that, up to now, I have neglected to publicly thank Don for his assistance.

So…

Thanks, Don! This wouldn't have been nearly as easy without your help!

“Bob”

One for All...

We currently have in our proposed itinerary upwards of twenty flight segments throughout the journey. While it is possible to book individual tickets for each segment, we have reached the conclusion that we would really rather not do that. For one thing it would be really cumbersome to haul around all those tickets. Also, in spite of the contention of several outfits claiming to have the lowest possible fares, it will be at least as cost effective and more convenient to utilize one of the ‘round the world’ packages offered by one of the three major worldwide airline alliances. Plus if there are any changes we want to make along the way or more importantly, any problems, it will be much nicer to deal with one of the alliance members’ personnel than to try to get in touch with a third party ticket provider. Using the alliance method, though, is not without its problems. Look at that word ‘alliance.’ Here’s how the dictionary that came with my computer defines it:

alliance |əˈlīəns| |əˌlaɪəns| |əˌlʌɪəns|
noun
a union or association formed for mutual benefit, esp. between countries or organizations

The title of this post is also the beginning of the motto adopted by the title characters in Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. The motto, in its entirety is, “One for all and all for one.” It is indicative of the fact that they had formed an alliance; that they were committed to supporting each other. They allied themselves with one another for their mutual benefit. Notice that the motto doesn’t go on to say anything about the benefit of anyone else.

It is very much the same with the airline alliances… although they will cater to the customer to a certain extent, keep in mind that the primary purpose of the alliance is for the good of its members… NOT the customer. It really isn’t realistic to expect any one of the airline alliances to be able to fully accommodate any individual itinerary, despite this quote from the brochure of the alliance we will be using for this trip:

“With 855 airports in 155 countries and a network of 17 airlines, our unique Round the World Fare opens up a world of itinerary options which fit into your plans rather than the other way around.”

In actuality, it is “the other way around” for us. There are several portions of our itinerary that aren’t covered by the alliance, and for those parts, we will be securing either individual tickets or regional passes. This particular alliance serves us best, though. We checked with the other two and it’s the same story, only in different parts of the world. I’m not trying to complain here… I just want to point out a truism of planning a world trip. Collectively, the three alliances could serve us better, but that’s not the way it is. So… we are going with what we’ve got… and we will make the best of it.

The Itinerary

Our initial ‘hit list’, which the travel agent asked us for, included just about everywhere that we thought we might like to go. We were initially thinking of a 7 week trip, but the places we had listed made it more like 10 weeks… so we cut some stuff out. Here’s a quick rundown of what was eliminated:

Scandinavia, Russia, Belgium, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Japan, Vanuatu, Pago Pago, and Tahiti

We also had thought initially to start in London, but later changed that to Paris. The trip is now down to about eight weeks and it currently includes:

Paris and Disney, Munich, Rome, Athens, Cairo and a Nile Cruise, Botswana and South Africa both including photo safaris, Thailand including Chiang Mai, Beijing and a tour to the Great Wall, Hong Kong and Disney, Sydney, Melbourne, Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, Fiji and Honolulu.

I expect this all to undergo a few more changes within the next couple of weeks.

Planning ‘The Trip’- Phase II: Finding Some Help

To take up where the Phase I post left off, we will need to flash back to July of 2006. It was at that time that we had decided to seek help and were just getting started on considering who we might want to have as our travel agent. We would need someone that could work up an around-the-world itinerary and who also had some expertise with things that would cater to the kids. We thought that we ought to make a list of agents to contact, starting first with agents we already knew, then ones in the local area (via the phone book and the web), then adding any possibilities based on input from friends and co-workers.

Susan has been a long-time subscriber to Condé Nast Traveler and it was while I was flipping through one of the issues that listed the year’s best travel agents that I came upon an entry for a particular agent that said something along the lines of,

“…(Agent's name) is a specialist in around-the world-itineraries and in travels involving children.” This particular agent was also located in Atlanta.

Well… I guess that’s sorta what we were looking for!

We didn’t think that searching any further would yield anyone who could seemingly better fit the needs we had, so we decided then and there to give her a call to see if she was taking new clients. She was and we have been a client of hers ever since.

Our initial communications were centered on introductions, passports, fee schedules and that sort of thing. Then we started getting down to the nitty gritty… we gave her a ‘hit list’ of everywhere we wanted to go with the design of cutting it down right away to fit into the timeframe we had established. We have been continually modifying that list over the past year taking into account, among many other things, airline schedules, availability of specific tour dates and changes in our preferences.

We are now working on the fifth mutation of the original itinerary and I will cover the basics of it and the changes it has undergone in more detail in a future post. I think I’ll call it something clever… like, “The Itinerary.”

Took a Little Trip...

My niece got married this weekend up in western North Carolina and we all made the trip to be there with her. The wedding was grand, the bride was beautiful, she and the groom make as handsome a couple as you will ever see and the reception was to die for. The best part of it all was the chance to get together with family and friends. I had lived in Asheville for seven years and the place has gone through some highly visible changes in the nearly eighteen years since I moved away. One thing that hasn’t changed much is the magnificent views… and the peaceful, satisfying feeling I get when I see any of them. Susan did a great job of capturing one of them on this trip…

(click to enlarge)

I took advantage of the opportunity of being out of town to check out the new Mac on several aspects of “away” use. By that I mean making sure that all the wireless settings and email authorizations and such were set to work properly away from home. They did fine.

From where we live, we cannot get to Asheville without going through Atlanta. Since we chose not to leave until after school got out on Friday, we knew that we would be tangling with the Atlanta rush hour. (In fairness to Susan, in the preceding sentence, “we” should rightfully be “I”… she has found it is easier to give in to me on the subject of taking the kids out of school early.)

The traffic met our expectations and we probably spent an extra 10 to15 minutes getting through downtown as compared to non-rush hour times. Gwinnett County on the northeast side, however, was nothing less than horrendous. We spent the better part of an hour in stop and crawl traffic, rarely getting above 10 mph. It’s normally a four-or-so hour trip, but it wound up taking us nearly seven hours this time.

Still, I prefer that to making the kids deal with make-up schoolwork. Also, in comparison, the grandness of the rest of the weekend more than made up for the relatively minor hassle of getting there. Being there for the blessed event was worth whatever it took.

Delayed Reaction

Recent reports on the national news indicate that airline flight delays are at the worst level now than they have ever been.

Have you ever been aboard a delayed flight and heard an announcement that the reason you cannot depart is due to “air traffic control restrictions” or something similar to that? Do you know what that means? It doesn’t always mean what you think it might.

During my carreer in the ATC system, we implemented restrictions frequently… to keep airplane movements SAFE and orderly. Such restrictions, however, are probably not the underlying cause of anywhere near as many delays for which they are receiving credit… or should I say, “blame.”

Every airport and every runway at every airport has a maximum capacity, usually expressed in terms of hourly operations (arrivals and departures). When the scheduled use of an airport or runway exceeds that capacity, not every airplane is going to be “on time”. Controllers are obligated to apply appropriate separation standards to all aircraft movements, regardless of whether an airport or runway is operating at, below, or above capacity. That’s not exactly the same thing as causing a delay… it’s more like doing a job according to the rules.

The rules also used to limit how many flights could be scheduled at several of the busiest airports in the country. Not so anymore. Any airline or group of airlines can schedule more flights than a given runway (or airport) can handle at a given time… and, since there is nothing to keep them from doing it… they do it. And it causes delays.

When the delays exceed a specified threshold, they are reported and records are kept “…so that the public would have clear information about the nature and sources of airline delays and cancellations.” However, even though the ATC system is functioning as it was intended, the resultant delay would not be reported as an over-scheduling delay (that category doesn’t exist, not even as a part of the Air Carrier category, unless it’s included in “etc.”) rather it would be recorded as an ATC delay in the NAS category.

That’s clear information all right… clearly misleading. I wonder why they don’t want us to know the truth?

"Start Spreadin' the News..."

Of the many places we have visited, there is one in particular that seems to keep us coming back… the Big Apple. Susan and I had been there before we had the boys and have gone twice, with them along, for New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

Long before I ever knew Susan, I had been to New York City a few times. My first night away from home while I was on the way to college was spent there. Most of my trips to Europe went through there. It truly is a remarkable place and we all have grown to like it a lot.

This November we will be going there again… for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. We’re traveling on the Wednesday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Think there’ll be any delays?

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

Corned beef, Anyone??

New York's Finest

All decked out...

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Intrepid Travelers

Technology and Me

I was born nearly smack-dab in the middle of the previous century.

(Coincidentally, I was also born nearly smack-dab in the middle of North America. Although that doesn’t have much to do with the topic, it does go right along with the theme of “Smack-dab in the Middle…”)

Back then, there wasn’t much in the way of “high-tech” stuff. Telephone numbers had “exchanges” and if you wanted to place a long distance call you had to go through the operator. If you were away from home and needed to make a call, you would have to find a pay phone and also have the correct amount of money (in coins) on hand. Passenger airplanes had propellers and pilots sometimes navigated by looking at stuff on the ground. If a household had a TV at all, it was usually only one. There were no video games.

It wasn’t as if we had no “modern” conveniences… we had nearly all of them. There just weren’t as many of them then as there are today and they were nowhere near as complex. The invention of things like the transistor and the silicon chip eventually led to a veritable explosion in the consumer electronics market and for the most part, the new-fangled devices that came into being as a result, came along later in my life. I was never much on technology to begin with and when so many new things came about after I had reached the age where I was getting pretty comfortable with the old things… well… I became a little resistant to it all.

If I hadn’t gotten married I probably still wouldn’t have an answering machine. My cell phone would make you laugh… it’s getting pretty old, too. I wouldn’t even have it if I didn’t have kids. The only reason I got one in the first place was to be able to call someone if my car broke down and the kids were with me. I still rarely use it to receive calls. I only recently got caller ID for the home telephone.

The job I had for a quarter of a century did involve some major technological changes… fortunately I worked for the government. They were so far behind the times (and still are) that I only needed to speed up a little to keep pace.

Last week I bought a computer for the first time ever. Oh, we’ve owned several of them over the years, but my wife bought them all. I have learned to use them…

somewhat.
(I must confess that I have come to rely heavily on the use of email.)

The point I’m slowly getting around to is that for a person like me, who basically is way behind the technology power curve, this journey I am preparing for will be vastly different from most of my previous travels… because of technology. Before, when I would travel, my primary concerns centered around transportation, lodging, food and clothing. Now, in addition to those concerns, I am mulling over things like power converters, adapter cables, compatibility issues, digital image management, hotels with high-speed internet access, and whether or not there will be other accessibility options like Internet Cafes or Wi-Fi hotspots along the way.

Toward the end of my period of making frequent visits to Europe, I was able to pack for a two-week trip using only a carry-on bag. For this coming journey, it is beginning to look like I may reach my carry-on limit just with electronic gizmos.

I am going through a learning process here, and I am confident that I will eventually sort everything out and have the volume of equipment, as well as the associated plans for using all of it, down to a reasonable level. However, if I don’t succeed at that, this blog may wind up with a two-month gap in its posts.

Ahh… how well I remember the simpler life!

Planning ‘The Trip’- Phase I: Laying the Groundwork

Once it was decided that we definitely would take on an around-the-world adventure, it became necessary to start making some semi-definite plans. To begin, I got busy with reviewing the many, many travel-related books we have had on hand for a long time. I am speaking of things like Frommer’s, Baedeker’s and Michelin publications. While they contain a vast array of information, they can get out of date very quickly with regard to accommodations, dining recommendations and information of that type, but the remainder of the information contained in them is usually quite durable… However, poring over those things isn’t what I would classify as my favorite kind of “recreational reading.” That is to say, it takes me some effort to stick with them. Despite that, I have managed to persevere and that type of book, at least for me, does a good job of laying a mental foundation.

I have been supplementing that foundation with maps. Maps have always been a favorite of mine. I actually can spend hours reading them. I don’t mean referring to them… I am talking about reading them. For as long as I can remember, I have been able to immerse myself in maps in much the same way as other people immerse themselves in good books. I have done a lot of map reading since we got serious about this trip.

I have also gotten on the internet and started searching for anything related to this type of journey. The first thing I did was Google “around the world trips.” To say that the result of that search was overwhelming is an understatement… there were over 121,000,000 of them. That’s 121 million.

So… Where should I begin with this avenue of approach? Well, I used my usual tactic of starting with the first one, then the next, then the next and the next, then skipping down several, then skipping a few more, then skipping a few pages, then skipping it all together for a while and having a few of those Arubian rum concoctions.

Later, when I could see one screen again, I started to give the sites I would visit a quick “once-over” and then I would set about the task of organizing the websites I wanted to re-visit at some point into categories, based primarily on three things:

1) sites to plan travel routes and buy tickets
2) sites that were basically travel brochures, and
3) sites that were personal accounts (blogs)

Over a period of time, I had gotten fairly well acquainted with which ones to give a cursory glance, which to pore over a bit longer and, ultimately, which to add to my browser’s “favorites” list.

It took a relatively short time of doing that, as well as all that travel guide scanning and map reading, before I came to the realization that I would either need a lot more time and a bigger hard drive or I would need professional help. By ‘professional help’, I mean a real, live person with some knowledge, experience and a little savvy about the subject of round-the-world travel…

In other words, I would need a travel agent.

Coming soon: Phase II.

Dates Which Live in Infamy

Throughout our lives, each of us experience things, which cause us to remember exactly where we were and what we were doing on specific dates. For me, a couple of them include November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001. Today's date, 26 years ago, is also on my personal list.

On August 3, 1981… I went to work…

Across the nation…. 11,700 of my co-workers didn’t…

Random Thoughts Department: Trivia

When the height of Mt. Everest was first measured and calculated, the result was exactly 29,000 feet. Fearing that it would be regarded as a mere estimate, the mountain’s height was publicly reported to be 29,002 feet.

Hmmm…

So, if you want to make what you know to be a fact more believable…

You should lie?!?

Current, and presumably more accurate, measurements of the mountain's height vary between 29,028’ and 29,035’, apparently depending upon whether the thickness of the ice cap is included.

Wonder if that's the truth?

Picture Practice

(click photos to enlarge)

Savannah, Georgia - June, 2007
The boys and I pause to watch a ship head down the Savannah River and out to sea.





Yellowstone National Park - February, 2004
Zeb and Lachlan flanking a tree with bear claw marks. The snow depth was about five feet and the boys were about four... so, the bear was doing some reaching.

Amsterdam, Netherlands - September 1987

We just arrived from Chicago. While on board, I asked Susan to marry me... (she said, "Yes.")

For some different views of this airplane, click here and here.

Athens, Greece - August 1963

That is me, second from right in the foreground, between my dear, sweet mudder and my younger-older sister. (I also have an older-older sister and an older brother.)

Thanks Anyway, Messrs. Greeley & Soule…

…but we are gonna go East.

We did give it some thought and decided that it would be better to go that direction for a few reasons:

1) Susan and I have both traveled to Europe and we thought it would be a good idea to start this trip off with some places with which we have some familiarity. That way we can sort of “ease into” the concept of extended traveling.

2) Going east will start us off with the comparatively shorter flight segments. Going west would have us facing at least two rather lengthy flights, which we thought might seem even longer with the anticipation that accompanies the beginning of a journey. With those flights at the end of the trip, we felt that we all might be better able to relax, if not rest a bit, during them.

3) We have some relatives and friends who are contemplating joining us along the way during the European segment. We felt that we would rather do that sort of thing early in the trip when we are less likely to be road weary.

4) It was “tails”.


So… with the direction decided, we now needed to start to set down some of the basic logistics of the trip. Things like an itinerary… modes of travel… where to stay. There were many options for us and it would take some thought on all of them. But – that makes good fodder for another post.

Neverland

I have crossed the Pacific three times… never by air.

I have crossed the Atlantic 27 times, but never by sea.

I have never crossed the Equator.

I have never driven an automobile in Europe.

I've never been to South America (Aruba was close... but no cigar).

I've never been to Spain (but I kinda like the music).

The Birth of a Notion

This trip we are now planning has part of its roots from when I retired back in 2003. Susan gave me the entirely unexpected gift of a trip to Aruba… just her and me. I don’t think the kids were really thrilled at being left behind, based solely on their nearly constant ragging us about it for a while, but they don’t often mention it any more. However, I knew then that when Susan’s time came, the boys would definitely be going with us.

Aruba was lovely… I have never in my life spent an entire day doing absolutely nothing, but I did do it for one day during that trip. It was marvelous! The other days were spent doing the Aruba stuff… snorkeling, touring the island, having some rum drinks...

This is the view from our hotel room.

click to enlarge

After our return home, I began to think of where she might like to go when her career is done. I had in mind a place that, like Aruba, starts and ends with the letter “A”…

Alabama.

She had a slightly different place in mind…

Australia.

Well, if she wants to miss out on the myriad learning opportunities associated with an in-depth visit to our 30th largest state… who am I to stand in the way?

So, Australia it would be. Neither of us has been there and both of us have thought for a long time that we would like to go. I set about gathering information and doing a little initial planning but, up to that point, it was all geared toward a “there and back” type trip and the biggest question was: for how long? Surely, for all that distance, no less than three weeks. A month, maybe?

…Then Susan said, “Well, we will have all summer available.”

All summer, eh? We certainly could cover a LOT of Australia in that amount of time. There’d be no reason to hurry. We could spend as much or as little time as we wished with nearly every facet of such a long trip. The entire summer… hmmmm. I wondered if that might be too much time to spend.

Why, that’s even longer than the trip I took when I was ten years old...

That’s when the thought entered my mind, and I mentioned to Susan, “Ya know… Australia is halfway around the globe. Whadda ya think of going to Australia, and then just keep on going the rest of the way to get home?”

It took no convincing, and now here we are… less than a year away from starting out on a trip around the world. The new biggest question became: which way to go to get to Australia… west or east?

All for now… more later.

Places, Everyone!

Places I've Been (starting with where I have lived):

Bismarck, ND -- Seattle -- Okinawa -- Seattle (again) -- Arlington, VA -- Honolulu -- Alexandria, VA -- Raleigh, NC -- West Point, NY -- Raleigh (again) -- Greensboro, NC -- Charlotte, NC -- Asheville, NC -- Tampa -- Fayetteville, GA

Places I've Been... (first RTW trip):

Tokyo -- Hong Kong -- Bangkok -- New Delhi -- Beirut -- Jerusalem -- Cairo-- Athens -- Rome -- Florence (countries from here on) Austria -- Switzerland -- France -- Germany

Places I've been otherwise (in no particular order):

New York City -- Oklahoma City -- San Diego -- San Francisco -- Vancouver, BC -- Whistler -- Banff -- Key West -- St. Louis -- Dallas -- Venice -- Denver -- Abilene, TX -- New Orleans -- Boston -- Bangor --Bar Harbor -- Friday Harbor -- Concord -- Disney World -- Disneyland -- Chicago -- Indianapolis -- Annapolis -- Chattanooga -- Roanoke -- Fredericksburg -- Norfolk -- Flint, MI -- Tijuana -- Cozumel -- Grand Cayman -- Grand Bahama -- London -- Brussels -- Munich -- Berlin -- Aruba -- Paris -- Anchorage --Amsterdam -- Brugge -- Ocean City --Ocean Isle Beach -- Vero Beach --St. Augustine --Zurich -- Salzburg

Well... there are more. But that's already more than enough.

Hopefully reading over this list:
a) ignited a little curiosity
b) brought back a few memories
c) did both.

A Little Background

I am the fourth child of a career army officer and, as such, have lived in many different places. Moving can certainly be a pain and many of those painful parts (such as bidding goodbye to friends, many of whom you may never see again) are difficult, if not impossible, to avoid. Other aspects of it can fall anywhere between onerous and enjoyable, dependent upon your outlook. Accordingly, the actual physical relocation of yourself and your family can either be a task or, as was often the case with my parents... an adventure. They had a knack for emphasizing the journey rather than the destination.

One of our relocations involved moving from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. Rather than return to the mainland and travel across the country, we spent six weeks traveling around the world. Although I was only 10 years old at the time (I'm much older now), I still can vividly remember most of that journey. That trip solidified the outlook on travel that I have to this day.

That trip was also among the many, many gifts that my parents gave us... I could not possibly pay them back for any of them. For one thing, my father is now deceased and my mom is not the type that would accept anything. I can, however, do something in a fashion similar to what a guy named Doug (who I have not yet met) describes as "paying it forward" .

Sooooo... in just under a year, my wife and I will give to our kids the same thing that was given to me back then. I hope they enjoy it as much as I think they will. I also hope that one day they might be inspired to do the same for their kids. If so, then what better way to say, "Thanks again, (and again and again) Mom & Dad!"

For Starters

I'm thinking....

Come back later, please, whem I'm not.