Around the World in Thirty Days

Oki, Jack and I have just been around the world in thirty days. We travelled first to the United States, crossing the vast Pacific Ocean from Sydney to San Francisco in a mere twelve hours, thanks to the help of a good jet stream. We left Sydney on Monday, 5th December, at 4.30 in the afternoon, crossing the International Dateline, to arrive in San Francisco at 10.30 on the same morning!

I had experienced a very uncomfortable, long distance flight with Adam only six months before this trip, flying with Qantas, and we had both found the squashed seating and poor service a really unpleasant ordeal. We assumed that this was the state of play for all modern air travel, with airlines trying to squeeze as many passengers into as many seats as possible to maximise their profits. Well, on this flight, we discovered that not all airlines are the same, and to our great pleasure, we found that the seating on United Airlines was spacious and comfortable, so that we could stretch out and not end up with aching backs after six hours of flight.

Qantas had the latest in entertainment on the back of each seat, but that is no consolation for a seat that won't recline far enough to let you have a sleep. The air hostesses on United Airlines were also a pleasant surprise. Instead of having the pretty, young blondes we have all come to expect, the United hostesses came in all ages, shapes and sizes, along with their own personalities, senses of humour and life's experience. What a breath of fresh air, especially for female passengers, many of whom find it an insult that the only acceptable form of woman on airlines and in the media must be young, blonde, slim and physically attractive.

Whereas on Qantas, we rarely saw a hostess, and when we did, she just threw us a bag of snack food to keep us quiet, on United, the hostesses and stewards were back and forth, serving good meals and looking after us as air crew used to do in the 1970's. It was such a lovely treat, and I would recommend United Airlines to everyone. In contrast, if Qantas were carrying chimpanzees and orangutans as their passengers instead of humans, they could be reported to the RSPCA for cruelty to animals! The airline should be ashamed of its cramped conditions and lack of care of its paying customers.

Because of our comfortable flight, we arrived in San Francisco ready to go, and so we did. Our hotel was right in the middle of the city, close to Union Square and Chinatown. We watched the ice skaters in Union Square, looked into a Macy's department store, took a ride on one of the lovely, old cable cars, went down to Fisherman's Wharf, played in the Musee Mechanique on the funny, old, arcade games machines that were eighty to one hundred years old, and looked around a lovely Ghirardelli chocolate shop. In the evening, we walked to Chinatown and had a good Chinese meal before going to bed at 8 p.m. This first day had lasted two days!

Next morning, with no sign of jet lag, we went on a tour over the Golden Gate Bridge to the beautiful Muir Woods, and wandered through the tall forests of Giant Californian Redwoods. On our way back to San Francisco, we stopped at the little seaside town of Sausalito, which had started as a hippy houseboat village in the 1970's, but grew into a millionaires' weekend retreat. Back in San Francisco, we attempted to use the buses and trams without having the right change to give the drivers. A couple of them took pity on us as we fumbled over our strange, foreign coins and gave us free rides. We struggled up the steep hill of Lombard Street and down the other side, which is known as the famous Crookedest Street. Finally, we wandered home through Chinatown and finished our second day.

Next morning, we were off to the airport to catch another United Airlines flight to visit Rosie and Lillie, who live in New Orleans. My sister, Rosie, has lived in New Orleans for about fifteen years, and in all that time, she has had almost no visitors from Australia - that is, until 2009, when, by some strange coincidence, practically everyone she knows came to visit her, one after the other. Despite all the effort she had put into entertaining this continuous stream of visitors, she still managed to find the time to show Oki, Jack and me all around the city. Lillie and Rosie took us out to dinner in the French Quarter and we tried some traditional New Orleans foods such as Gumbo and Po-Boys. The French Quarter was an architectural delight with narrow streets and lovely, old houses, cafes, shops and pubs built around the 1790's.

Lillie and Rosie were victims of Hurricane Katrina, followed by Hurricane Rita, and Lillie's beautiful house was almost destroyed, being located close to some of the levy banks which burst. Water filled the ground floor and came up into the second floor, and they lost most of their possessions, including Rosie's car, which was washed away, never to be seen again. Luckily, the insurance company paid up, although it tried not to, and we saw the house all fully restored and looking wonderful.

On the second day in New Orleans, Rosie took us around the badly damaged areas of the city, and up the famous St. Charles Street, through the Garden and Uptown Districts, where the old street cars (trams) glide along the tree-lined avenue of beautiful oaks, gardens and old mansions, which at this time of year were all decorated in Christmas wreaths and red ribbons. I never thought that New Orleans would be such an attractive city. In the evening, we headed back to the French Quarter for dinner and music in a bar.

Jet lag finally set in on the third day in New Orleans, just when we thought we had missed it, and for the next few days, we would get up, have breakfast, and then go back to bed for an hour or two. So, once we had arisen for the second time that morning, we walked down Canal Street, had a look around the Insectarium, and then caught an old paddle steamer along the great Mississippi River. In the evening, we went out for a Thai meal with Lillie, her sister, Jane, and Rosie, and then played some tenpin bowling at the "Rock 'n Bowl". Thank you, Rosie and Lillie, for giving us such a happy time in New Orleans.

The next day, we headed up to Washington D.C., moving from a balmy 23 degrees centigrade (74 F) in New Orleans to 0 degrees (32 F) in Washington. Over the next couple of days, we visited the Smithsonian Museums along the Mall. Our first priority was the Air and Space Museum where we saw the first jet to break the sound barrier, the returned Gemini and Apollo space capsules, the nuclear missiles, the space suits, and the replicas of Skylab, the Lunar Rovers and the Martian landers. We also saw the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Treasury, the Archives and several other beautiful government buildings. We took time to have a quick look around the Smithsonian Museum of Art, particularly enjoying the beautiful American and Dutch paintings, the 16th to 18th Century Italian works and the Turners. In the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, we enjoyed the fantastic meteorite and gem displays in the Geology Hall. As with New Orleans, I was surprised at how lovely Washington was, with its low rise and very elegant buildings, spacious layout and excellent public transport.

Still fighting our jet lag, we headed up to Baltimore to visit long-time, family friends, the Armstrongs. This time, we travelled by Amtrak train. American trains are expensive but very comfortable, and are a great way to see the countryside. We reached Baltimore in fifty minutes and were collected by Louise Junior, (many thanks, Louise), and taken to Ruxton, just north of Baltimore, to stay with Louise Senior, aged ninety and as fit as a fiddle. Having seen the Armstrongs' green and leafy garden in summer when I visited with Adam, the brown and leafless winter garden was such a contrast, also beautiful with its carpet of fallen leaves and naked branches in the mist. That evening, we had a wonderful dinner with Louise and her ninety year old family friend, Harvey, who was also as fit as a fiddle. Harvey was educated at Harvard, became a Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University, and specialised in optical physics, particularly in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Being interested in science, Oki, Jack and I had a wonderful discussion with Harvey about his life's work, and all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thank you, Louise, for giving us a fantastic and happy evening together, and also thanks to Harvey for stimulating our brains and giving us such a memorable dinnertime discussion. We will always remember that night.

The following morning was rainy and cold, so we had a quiet and relaxed day catching up on our jet lag. In the evening, we visited Mary, one of Louise Senior's five offspring, and her family. Once again, we had a happy and memorable evening of good food and interesting conversation. Many thanks, Mary and Josh, for having us to dinner. After this, Louise Junior and husband Jack took us into Baltimore to see some of the neighbourhoods decorated with their Christmas lights - some crazily decorated and over-the-top - but all in good fun and for the simple joy of Christmas. Thanks to Jack and Louise for looking after us so well, once again. Now it's your turn to come to Sydney and let us take care of you.

The next stop was New York, which we reached after a two-hour train trip. Having visited this brilliant city just six months earlier with Adam, I felt confident about getting around by Subway and knew just what to see and do. We stayed in a two-star, cramped but clean hotel, just off Broadway and only a short walk to Central Park. We had a great view from our hotel windows, looking out across the Hudson River and nearby park. By staying in a cheap hotel, it meant we could enjoy a longer time in New York, and so we stayed for five days.

During this time, we caught the Staten Island Ferry, walked down Wall Street and past the New York Stock Exchange, visited the "Bodies" exhibition in the Old Seaport area, went to Ground Zero and the nearby St. Paul's Chapel, where there is a very moving memorial, visited Grand Central Station and Times Square, and went to see "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway with half-price tickets, thanks to the advice of my friend, Sam Kass, who lives in nearby Brooklyn. We also went up to the top of the Rockefeller Centre twice, for a brilliant daytime view over Central Park, and over the bejewelled and sparkling city at night. We saw the Guggenheim, went up into Harlem, visited the wonderful Museum of Modern Art, saw the spectacular Frick collection of art and furnishings, and checked out the Natural History Museum. We also visited my friend, Sam, who helped Jack buy a harmonica and gave him some of his own warm jumpers and jackets to prevent Jack from freezing in the Northern Hemisphere winter weather. Jack learnt that cotton will not keep you warm when it's really cold. Thanks, Sam, for the happy times we had together, and for the help and advice you gave us so freely.

All this time, Jack had been praying for snow. A big snow storm was brewing, but we missed it by a few hours as we flew out of New York and up to Montreal, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Britain. Our flight over Canada in the afternoon was a real Arctic experience, with snow in the fields and ice in the lakes and rivers. In Montreal, it was -13 degrees centigrade (~ 8 F), and when our plane was ready to take off for London, the wings had to be de-iced. As we arrived in England, we could see that there had been a recent snowfall, with the fields all soft and white. Meanwhile, back in New York, the snow lay a foot deep, and Jack had missed it all, to his great disappointment.

Our ten days in England were mainly a family affair. We used to live in England in the 1990's, when the boys were young. Benn and Adam attended primary school in London and both have fond memories of their time in Britain, and of their relatives and friends. Jack, however, was just a baby and toddler, and remembered nothing. Therefore, it was a number one priority that we visit his English nanna, Maxine, in the Devon countryside. We drove down with Benn and Nicola just before Christmas, staying overnight in a lovely, little country lodge. Maxine was very happy to see us all, and on the second day in Devon, we drove to Ivybridge for a view of the pretty English scenery and an excellent pub lunch at the Sportsman's Inn. Maxine loved every minute and it was so good to bring her pleasure and to see her so happy.

Back in London, we had dinner with Jack's auntie and uncle, Shaun and Jaime, but unfortunately missed his cousins Chia and Mayita, we walked through Richmond Park with Jack's other auntie, Allison, cousin Charlie, and the dogs, had a great day with the Bartholemew clan in Sussex, seeing Sheila and Geoff, Geoffrey, Charlie, Simon and Henry. We went to see the panto "Snow White" at Richmond Theatre, where Charlie works, and had a drink with him in the pub afterwards. We also visited Oki's Dad, John, and his partner, Adela, in Shepherd's Bush, plus old friends of mine, Vanessa and Tina, in Sheen. Thanks so much, everyone, for giving us such a happy time with you all. I would have loved to catch up with other friends too, such as Linda and Simon in Richmond, but time was short, especially around Christmas, and sadly, we missed out.

We needed to show Jack a few of the sights of London, so headed to Oki's favourite place, Greenwich, to see the new London Planetarium, the Royal Observatory and the famous Greenwich Meridian, now marked not only with a line on the ground, but also a laser beam through the air. This laser beam, of course, is only visible if conditions are right. After doing the rounds of the place, something wonderful happened! Jack's dream was finally answered with a heavy fall of beautiful, soft, fluffy snow. The scene from up on the hill turned to white, and the laser beam shone out clearly through the falling snow flakes to mark the 0 degrees longitude meridian. Just brilliant!

The down-side of having snow in London is that everything grinds to a sudden halt, and it took us four hours to get home to Putney that evening, a trip that should have taken no longer than an hour. With time running short, we decided that the fastest way to show Jack the main city sights was to do a Hop-On and Hop-Off the Bus tour, and so we did. It was an excellent way to see all the highlights: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, the Monument, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Docklands and, of course, the River Thames.

Before we knew it, we were off to Prague, Europe's most beautifully preserved mediaeval city. We stayed in an old hotel, built in 1457, just 'round the corner from the Old Town Square. We arrived in the evening, and as we looked up at the pointy spires of St. Tyn's Cathedral and over the mediaeval houses in the Square, it began to snow. It looked like a scene out of a fairytale. The Old Town, built round 850 A.D. is joined onto the New Town, where Wenceslas Square is to be found. The New Town was built in the 1250's and the other areas joining these two towns were built in the 1400's. We walked along the cobbled streets, through narrow alleyways, from one little square to another, and everywhere we turned was beautiful. The Old Towns in other European cities occupy several acres of ground, but in Prague, the old, mediaeval areas occupy many hundreds of acres, if not thousands. The city is an architectural and historical paradise.

On our first full day in Prague, we did a six-hour walking tour of the city, guided by an historian who gave us wonderful commentary and showed us all the main sights, including Prague Castle, St. Vitus' Cathedral, Charles Bridge, Powder Gate, the Tyn Cathedral and the Old Town Hall with its astronomical clock, the Jewish Quarter and Wenceslas Square. We also went on a boat down the Vltava River and up the hill to Prague Castle on a tram - an excellent tour. The following day, we went out to Kutna Hora, an old silver mining town, visited the beautiful St. Barbara's Cathedral and the crazy Bone Church, decorated with human skeletons in the form of chandeliers, wall decorations and other furnishings.

On New Year's Eve, we went to the Old Town Square and enjoyed the stalls selling Old Prague Ham, Bratwurst sausages, mulled wine and punch. Jack ventured back down to Charles Bridge to watch the fireworks, while Oki enjoyed dodging the bungers and other hand-thrown fireworks in the Square - a somewhat dangerous but crazy evening. If anyone is planning to be in the Old Town Square on a future New Year's Eve, we would recommend ear plugs to protect your eardrums.

Our last stop was Vienna. We caught the train for the 250 km. (155 mile) journey through the Czech countryside to Austria, and noticed that the general poverty still to be seen in the Czech Republic as a result of the Communist years suddenly turned to Germanic neatness and tidiness as we crossed the border. We arrived at our lovely hotel in the Old Town in the late afternoon, and I had to put my schoolgirl German into practice quick smart, as the Germanic people still don't speak much English. Oki and Jack were very impressed, but I felt out-of-practice and found it quite a struggle, although I did make myself understood, and I could usually understand the answers that were given to my questions.

On the first full day, we did a bus tour along the Danube and visited the beautiful, old towns of Krems, Durnstein and Melk. Krems is a picturesque and beautifully preserved mediaeval village, while Durnstein has an ancient castle at the top of the hill where Richard the Lionheart was held captive before England paid the enormous ransom of 25% of its total wealth for his return. (They would have been better off keeping their money, as Richard wasn't much of a king). Melk is famous for its monastery and baroque cathedral which overlooks the little village below. We were shown around the monastery, which is still in operation, and entered the cathedral for an elaborate view of baroque church architecture. What made this tour all the more interesting was our wonderful Austrian guide who was pentalingual. First he gave his information in English, followed by Italian, then Spanish and finally French. To hear him change from one language to another so fluently was a real eye-opener to Jack, and Jack is now determined to teach himself French so that he can, at least, become bilingual.

On our final day, we did a city tour of Vienna, seeing all the fine buildings that were constructed during the 18th Century in what was then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We saw the Opera House, the Museums of Art and Natural History, the Palace of Justice, the Parliament, the Old Town Hall, the University, the Votive Church, the Burg Theatre, the Hofburg Palace, and finally, the wonderful gothic St. Stephen's Cathedral at the heart of Vienna. We were then taken to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburg monarchs, and were shown through about twenty state rooms, laced in gold and baroque finery. In the afternoon, we had coffee and cakes in one of the many cafes that Vienna is famous for, and then strolled around the lovely city, taking a closer look at the buildings we had seen in the morning, and wandering along the Kartner Strasse and the famous Graben, still all lit up with Christmas decorations. Finally, we were off to the airport to make our long way back home, via Bangkok to Sydney, and the Australian summer.

If the United Nations succeeds in its fraudulent plan to redistribute wealth from  the West to the Third World via carbon dioxide taxes and climate change propaganda, then this will be our last big trip, as future travel costs will become astronomical. I cross my fingers that the UN fails totally and utterly, and that the public will eventually come to realise that it has been conned by power-hungry politicians and pseudo-scientists. Whatever the case, Jack, Oki and I will have a lifetime of memories of this wonderful journey around the world in thirty days.

Brief Final Summary:
Favourite Places - Old Town Square in Prague; Krems on the Danube; English Countryside; New York
Favourite Activities - Seeing Rosie and Lillie, the Armstrongs and all the family and friends in England; Museum of Modern Art in New York; Trip along the Danube; Walking Tour of Prague; Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington; Walking around the French Quarter in New Orleans
Favourite Hotels - U Tri Bubnu in Prague; Hotel Austria in Vienna, Comfort Inn and Suites in New Orleans
Favourite Airlines - United; Thai
Favourite Buildings - Tyn Cathedral in Prague; Guggenheim in New York; Mediaeval Architecture in Prague and the Danube Villages; St. Charles Street Houses in New Orleans