End of Trip Summary

How long and where?
A good traveller has no fixed plans and is no intent on arriving – Lao Tzu


My Heathrow Express ticket

I left London on Friday, 20th October 2006, and so, today, on Thursday, 13th March 2008 it will be 511 days on the road! I arrived into Venice by ship on the 500th day, and was just leaving Easter Island for New Zealand this time last year.

The countries I have visited in order: UAE, Mauritius, Egypt, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Tahiti, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, India, Nepal, Tibet, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Vatican City, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, UK!



In doing this, I have counted that including connections I have taken 75 flights! Time to get planting trees. In total, I have been to 64 countries around the world. 36 more for the 100, how on earth do people do it?!

Favourite Country:The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, without a doubt. If anything, having seen the world, and much of the good and great that the Empire brought to all in her wings, I am more proud than ever before of England and our sister kingdoms under the Act of Union. Rule Britannia!

No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. – Lin Yutang

The variation in hair:

The Clean-cut look, dipping in the Nile


The Fisherman look in the Patagonian Channels


And finally, the Afro in Rome

Pubs to be visited on my return:
As HW Tilman often quipped, there is no scenery that would not be improved by the inclusion of a good inn in the foreground!

When asked what I miss from home, friends and family aside, I would say good ale, my music collection, my bicycle and the multi-cultural food mix of London. For beer, one of my on-going quests in London is seeking out nice pubs that would please an old man like myself. The following will be high on my list of places to revisit on my return:

Carpenter’s Arms and Mason’s Arms, Marble Arch
Spaniard’s Inn, Hampstead
Old Tea Warehouse, Aldgate
Ship and Shovel, Charing Cross
Phene Arms, King’s Road
Eel Pie, Twickenham

Most Beautiful Girl Countries:


In no particular order:

Brazil – girls in Brazil are on a different level – girls who in the UK would be supermodels, or at the very least have people tripping over in the street, in Brazil just stand at bus stops with their supermarket plastic bags, or just potter about. Just a regular Brazilian girl!

Ethiopia – pipping Mozambique to the bedpost just before I left Africa, Ethiopian girls are truly beautiful. I even met a Chinese guy who thought they were amazing, and you don’t often meet Chinese guys who are into black girls, believe me! Ethiopia seems to have solved the “big bottom” issue that much of Africa suffers from, plus they’re really really pretty girls.

Korea – especially Seoul. This was a new country for me – I knew lots of Japanese people, but Japanese girls tend to be a bit more quirky and wacky, whereas Korean girls lean to a more classical chic conservative look – think Italian girls vs French girls. I of course prefer more ladylike look, and Koreans have it in bundles, long black hair, big eyes, fashionable clothes, though the word is that once you marry them you’ll never see them again, culturally Korean girls apparently don’t expect to have to see their husbands, as they should be working 20 hours a day!

Nepal – I was surprised not to find many Indians that attractive, but it’s different in Nepal, where the girls tend to be small, tough, perhaps a blend of Indian and Chinese, and very pretty, especially those in the mountains with their rosy cheeks and ponytails.

And so in the end.. of course I return home single as usual!

Top Crime Spots:
Johannesburg, South Africa
Everywhere else, South Africa – first attempted mugging of my life just outside Cape Town station!
Rio (City of God), Brazil
Lima (Old Town), Peru

Overall though, I’ve felt safe in 99% of the world. As long as you never go to Johannesburg, you’ll be fine. Don’t ever fear travelling!

Professions Listed at Pointless Checkpoints:
Lumberjack
Pirate
Used-car Salesman
Lover, not a fighter

Things lost along the way:
The penknife Jina gave me (J-A)
Two pairs of Boots sunglasses
Travel alarm clock
Corkscrew (well, confiscated by airport security!)

Things worn out or broken:
Sony DSC-P200 Camera
Panasonic Lumix Camera
Sigma 28-300mm lens
Canon 50mm fixed lens
(are you getting the theme here? I don’t recommend taking expensive camera gear on an extended trip like this!)
Two phones!
Main pack rain cover x2
Crocs shoes
Karrimor Walking Boots
Another corkscrew
And I suspect almost: Canon EOS 400d!

Most valuable travel companions:
Laptop, without which this blog would not exist
iRiver N11 mp3 player with BBC Radio 4 podcasts
Rum Doodle by WE Bowman
Rohan clothes
Superglue
Karrimor pack
Shaving oil (packs small!)

Next holiday Plans (no, really!):


Fox Cottage in Aldborough, Norfolk, UK
Three Men in a Boat Trip on Thames
Senegal and Mali
Diving the Red Sea, possibly off Sudan or Eritrea
Gotland (Sweden)
Italy
New York (it’s been a while)
Nepal EBC (Everest Base Camp)
Iceland (Northern Lights)
Libya (Leptis Magna)
St. Helena (to visit my old boss Vince)
Iran (when it’s a bit warmer than now)
Kazakhstan (Borat!)
Madagascar
Caribbean Islands
Mt Kenya and Oldoinyo Lengai Volcano
Bolivia

Extended Trips:
Silk Road Trip
RTW Sailing Trip
Central America (Columbia, Venezuela etc)
West Coast US (roadtrip?)
Chicago to New Orleans (Blues roadtrip?)

Food
Top Food Countries in no particular order: Thailand, Korea, China, Malaysia, Burma (Shan), India (anyone sensing an Asian theme?!) and Italy!


Sichuan food, yum!

Worst Food Countries: Indonesia (fried, oily, dirty), Botswana (fast food only!), Easter Island (disappointing seafood), Chile (Bland steaks with potatoes and pasta, twice a day)

Since I’ve Been Away:
Chucky, Supi, Chris Pepper, and goodness knows how many others have married (am I getting to that age?!)
New 20 pounds note introduced in the UK
Grandma Daphne’s had no shirts to iron!
Smoking ban in public places has come in, thank goodness!
We have a Scot in charge of the UK, their takeover is almost complete
Westminster City Council launched the "SatLav" mobile phone service which alerts people to the nearest public toilets. Texting the word "toilet" to the number 80097 apparently prompts a quick-response text with details of the nearest facilities and their opening times.
Hedgy’s bought me a house, thanks Hedge!

Money Left:
Not enough for a Zone 1 Tube Fare without Oystercard! I need a job!

In Conclusion
I conclude with a late poem by St. John of the Cross, which I picked up in the introduction to the late great Eric Shipton’s Six Mountain Volume, quoted here in the translation by Roy Campbell:

The generous heart upon its quest
Will never falter, nor go slow,
But pushes on, and scorns to rest,
Wherever it’s most hard to go.
It runs ahead and wearies not
But upward hurls its fierce advance
For it enjoys I know not what
That is achieved by lucky chance.

And in thanks to,
My parents and family for bringing me up to be someone so happy and confident
Rob Meredith for nagging me repeatedly into doing this trip
Andre Leigh for sending me from COLT with such good faith
And finally for the countless acts of selfless generosity experienced along the way, in every corner of the world, which renew one’s faith in humanity.

Finally, I am bound to point what is essentially obvious but often shelved from the forefront of our minds: One never knows when or if you’ll have these wonderful opportunities, so I say to you in Gordon Rodway’s imperative: Travel!

Eurostar and London

Today is the day! I’m coming home, after 510 days on the road. So, from well-organised clean Köln Hauptbahnhof, I take the nice German ICE train 16 at 8:44am to Brussels Midi, crossing the border at Aachen, and arriving at 11:01, giving me an hour before my Eurostar to collect tickets. London in the afternoon..

Brussels Midi station is a complete mess, and it takes me almost the whole hour I have to connect to pick up tickets and get on the train. UK Immigration was a particular chore. It’s good to have things to moan about again!


The ticket


The perfect place to have a coffee in Brussels before heading home..


Here we go..


What a tourist.. photo of the train!

The ride isn’t very exciting, Eurostar economy is much worse than TrenItalia or DB, cramped, no power, looked dated etc. And the new route into London isn’t as exciting as expected, its all underground! New station is nice though.


London St Pancras!



Pippi, who is my cousin for those of you who didn’t know this (!), meets me and buys me lunch before it’s back to Tom’s in West Hampstead.


Pippi

Met Line home. I’ve forgotten how to use the tube, I nearly jump out at Baker Street.


Life is back to usual

Tom welcomes me with a choice of beer or tea. After a cup of tea (of course), its time.. to the pub!

Small Beers in Cologne

So, R464 Express train at 9:16 to Munich, passing through Domazlice, George’s hometown, across the border, Schwandorf, and to Regensburg at 14:47, where I will change to ICE26 to Dortmund, hopping off at Cologne. I have a bit of a panic before the train pulls out, as another train pulls out at exactly the time ours is supposed to, then we leave twenty minutes late. I’m glad I went for this choice of trains, as the alternative was two changes each with about five minutes connection time, which was never going to work!

For most of the journey a pretty German girl in my carriage occupies my attentions, along with the Torygraph and snoozing. We pass through Plzen, the home of pilsner beer! I’ve visited with George many years ago, but was possibly more hung over than I’d ever been before in my life, so wasn’t especially keen on a brewery.

At Regensburg, I spend the hour’s wait looking about the shopping complex adjacent to the station, with a slice of pizza and a 2 euro 50 phone call to Ralfy – the damn T Mobile phone refuses to return any change. IC26 train comes in at 14:33 – German high-speed trains are very sexy, though the Czech booking lot have managed to reserve me a non-existent seat, rather unhelpfully.

The train whizzes up through Nürnburg (Nurenburg), Frankfurt to Köln (Cologne), arriving at 20:05. On board it’s smart, clean, busy, there are power points, in-seat entertainment, and they hand out Journey Plan leaflets listing the route, what trains you can change on to at each station, map of the train, etc. I work my way through an impressive number of King of the Hill episodes!

At Cologne, Ralf picks me up at the station and we head back to the his place which he shares with his girlfriend, Ilka. He’s well-stocked for beer, and we do our best to finish it!


Breakfast the following afternoon!

The gothic Cologne cathedral is the obvious sight, towering high above the city from its position next to the main station and so we have a walk around it inside. Gets us out of the rain if nothing else.



Supposedly the Three Magi (Wise Men) are somewhere in here. Not that we can find them. It does have some spankingly good stain-glass windows though,



the only brightness in an otherwise very simple but big cathedral – much like Canterbury Cathedral in my home town.



We then head back to a coffee shop to meet Jens, another former colleague from COLT in the UK who is now working for a small security firm here. I detect some tension in poor old Jens than Ralfy and I, not having worked for a year and a half, seem to be missing! Coffee over, we walk back to his office, he grabs his things then after a quick game of table football we head off to a traditional restaurant bar called Früh.



It’s noisy inside, but upstairs we find a table, sitting next to a group of Chinese who eat continuously the whole time we were there, an impressive feat!


Ralf and Jens

The beer they drink in Cologne is called Kölsch, which is also the name of the local dialect, so the joke is that Kölsche is the only language you can drink. They drink it out of small glasses, but serve them fast, so you end up drinking vast quantities!



They also serve up good hearty German nosh.


Wurst

They keep track of how many beers you drink by scrawling notches with a biro on one of our beer mats. We have 34 beers in Fruh before heading off to the next bar!



By this stage, Ilka has joined us too, and after a bite, we head off to another place, one of her favourite bars.


Ilka

The next bar is called Low Budget. Classy!



But actually inside it was nice, friendly, and had a barrel of tequila on the bar to which we availed ourselves, in addition to the small glasses coming at our table as if we were in a factory with the end of the production line being our bellies! Ilka’s friend Ina joins us, and we end up at her place, though by the end of the night, I was dozing off. Still, the training programme for my homecoming drinks is going well!

Next day, the weather is miserable, and after having breakfast mid-afternoon, we do precisely nothing! I do blog, and call up Inland Revenue demanding my tax back from 2006! Tomorrow morning I’ll take the train through to Brussels and straight on to the UK. The end of the Travel Blog, hallelujiah! I received an email from my brother Hedgy saying he'll see me tomorrow in the pub and how strange it was to be saying that. For you and me both, Hedge!

Sacher Torte and a Brewery in Prague

With Pippi gone, we enjoy a somewhat leisurely start, and again head down to Termini to dump our bags. Now we stroll from Termini down Via Cavour, passing Santa Maria Maggiore and heading to Capitoline Hill. You get a bit blazé about large historical buildings in Italy, and especially in Rome. Of more interest is Cavour 313, an old enoteca, where we stop for some lunch.







They’re nice and the food and wine is all great, plus the girl steers us to a local pale ale instead of letting us have Peroni, which always will raise someone in my esteem!

At the bottom we have the Palatine ruins on the left as we run along the Forti Imperiali road





The forum, the tomb of Romulus, all the good stuff that they missed in the rain yesterday. We reach Il Vittoriano Palace, completed in 1935,



built to celebrate Italy’s reunification and in memory of King Emanuele II. It’s nicknamed the birthday cake or typewriter, and some jestingly suggest it should be pulled down as it’s over the top, but I can’t see this happening! Mussolini used to keep office in one side of it.

We head up to the top,



where three palaces form museums, and buy some postcards before popping back to the Colosseum for last photos of Rome.







Tube back to station, passing our favourite advert – the Tezenis girl, who appears all over the city



A quick beer in Moka Café as Dad and Lewis’ train is soon. Dad buys me a Telegraph, not noticing that it’s the same one he bought yesterday. Ah well! I suddenly think - why am I downing my beer? I’ve got hours to wait, my train is at 7:10pm! Dad and Lewis head off on the 16:22 to the airport, I’m left to wander about the station,


Strange train

looking for a post box. Tourist information give me back directions so I end up going several blocks away when there’s one inside the terminal, but, ah well, all time killed. After a fine day, there are evil clouds gathering, it looks like the rain is coming back with avengeance, and I see it on the display boards as trains start to be delayed.


Evil clouds gather

To Vienna and Hotel Sacher
When my train finally appears on the board, I head down to Platform 8 and find it’s a Vienna – Monaco service. Strange, I suspect they split the train somewhere, as I can’t believe that’s a sensible route to take. (Update: Monaco is Italian for Munich, slightly confusingly, but makes a lot more sense from a train route perspective).



My carriage is a modern DB (German) sleeper carriage, clean and well arranged, with a couple of flaws.

Firstly, I’ve paid for a four bed room (80 euros). I assumed this would mean more space. The reality though, is that they’ve provided a six bed room and have (presumably) limited the passenger numbers. My fellow passengers are supposed to be embarking at Florence and Venice. The issue with this is that I’ve been put (and the pretty conductor girl says I can’t move) in one of the two beds that are at the top, inches from the ceiling, so I keep bashing my head. Furthermore, the beds are nowhere near long enough! It must be about five and a half feet, and you lose some of that because of the curved roof, so there’s no way I can stretch out. Not comfy!

But I still manage to sleep, and wake up to us rolling through beautiful deep valleys with snow-capped peaks above us and little Austrian towns, their houses with steep roofs suggesting plenty of snow can be received here. The chap next to me, an Austrian, says they didn’t get much this year around here. He also says that in the old days (I didn’t try to define the era) they used to hop off the train at this point (we’re high up above the valley) and sky down, beating the train as it does a long loop to a bridge further along then doubles back.

Breakfast is brought to us about an hour before arriving into Vienna - tea, two raison buns and some jam. We’re five minutes late apparently. I have 11 minutes to connect at Vienna. No more delays please!

We arrive into Wien (Vienna), and I can’t find my train, panicking till it occurs to me that I’m looking at the date numbers, not the time, I’ve got an hour. Should be enough, I dash in with tram and subway to Hotel Sacher, behind Opera, and pick up a Sacher Torte for George and Jitka. I also grab a “For one” mini-cake, before taking Tram D back. My train awaits, and I share a six-seater carriage with an old German chap. I try my cake, and after three bites I’m full, it’s so rich, goodness me!

Prague with Jiri and Jitka
George, my Czech friend from school and his wife Jitka are waiting for me at Holesovice Station, luckily we’re only only ten minutes late or so arriving, and together we tube and bus back to their house, where I enjoy a Pilsner Urquel in a branded glass.



Jitka admits that the other one is in use as a vase at the moment, disgraceful! We head out, first at my request to U Pinkasu, a restaurant bar that I never fail to visit in Prague, near the bottom of Wenceslas Square. It’s a bit touristy, but in a good way, has a nice atmosphere, and if it’s warm enough has a garden area at the back of a church with the benches between the stone pillars.





to Prvni Novomestsky Restauracni, aka New Town Brewery (in Vodickova Street near Mustek). When we arrive, I realise that I’ve been here before, with Lucy a few years ago. Still, it’s a brewery, in we go! Beers up first of course, and we have pretzels, from hooks hanging on the table, then tripe soup and pork with dumplings and zeli (cabbage).



Good traditional Czech food, washed down with the in-house brew.





I’m staying at his house tonight, and we compare Mexican photos before hitting the sack.



In the morning we head out in the glorious sunshine, and Jitka sends me off to the tube, on the way telling me that George is going to a spa treatment tonight where you are exposed to -150C! Surely not healthy?! Tube to Hlavni Nadrazni, the main station, which is being redeveloped and is a bit of a mess and so even more confusing than usual. I eventually find somewhere to buy a ticket, which costs me about 3,000 Czech crowns (what on earth is the exchange rate?!) and we’re off to Germany!