I don't know which is more exciting, the planning or the going.
This is my trip of a life-time- though I have promised someone to take them to India next year [start packing Jude]. What I did was to take a whole bunch of trips I've always wanted to do and strung them together. Some of it I booked online, some of it a travel agent helped with- thanks Barry!
Here's what we've come up with:
July 3rd: Fly to Beijing and join the Intrepid crowd [I loved going to Vietnam with them, so I am doing a return gig]. We spend a few days in Beijing - this time I am aiming for a couple of more levels on the Wall of China- and then hop on the Trans-Mongolian Railway to the Trans- Siberian on our way to St Petersburg in Russia. That takes 21 days
July 23rd: St Petersburg to Tallin in Estonia: to wallow and gape among the Medieval villages. Then down to Amsterdam for a couple of days where I catch a ferry to Newcastle in the UK. I will make my way down to South Hampton [stay tuned for those adventures].
August 3rd: Sail on the Queen Mary2 to New York. This one's for my Mum! [though I might have to hide in my room because I won't have the right clothes to wear on the ship] The brochure says they have the longest jogging track on the Atlantic Ocean- now there's a treat. I'll have to spend most of my time in the gym to work off the food they serve. Yum!
August 12th: Meet my friend Moira in Toronto where we catch the Trans-Canada Rail and go to Vancouver. We will then schmooze around Vancouver til-
August 20th: Sail up through the inside passage to Alaska- icy and cold and totally thrilling.
August 28th: Make my way down the USA West Coast to visit old friends, and finally land in the South to visit my cousins. There I pick up my cousin Sue and:
Sept 21st: We sail to Hawaii for a 10 day cruise and a short stay on Kaui. After that we will fly back to the USA where in
mid October, I fly to Lima Peru. There I will go to Machu Pichu, schmooze around the Amazon Rainforest and then fly to Quito to tour the Galapagos Islands. After Galapagos-
13th November: I fly to Santiago in Chile and then to New Zealand. I plan to hang around in the North and South Islands camping etc til the 5th December when I fly back to Sydney. I'm trying to convince a couple of friends to join me in NZ which would be a lot of fun.
I'm excited just writing about it.....I hope the trip is as good as the planning of the trip....but that's where I came in. Before this I turn 60 in late May. [Maybe I can get a Senior's discount!?] There's a whopper of a party to go through first. Then I can spend the next month [June] getting ready. Got the suitcase, now I have to fill it....what do you take when you are going away for 6 months? I don't want to shop my way around the world, I want to have some wonderful experiences before I land in the nursing home.
Fasten your seat belt friends....we're off to an amazing ride.
More coming in July [do you think they have broadband in Mongolia??]
Genie
