LESSONS FROM OUR WORLD TOUR FOR 2 MONTHS !!
Happily back home in our own nice country Belgium it is time to think about all the many things we have experienced during our 65.000 km long journey around the globe. It will take time to digest it all. So many different things. So many different people. So many different land- and "sea-scapes!. How can you at all make a conclusion about all that?! You can't! But you can try.
Our overall conclusion is that it was a fantastic trip. A long trip, yes. But not too long. And not too difficult at any time. We got so much used to having everything done for us that it will be difficult to come back to "polite self service"! But we will manage :-)
If you ask for more specific lessons from our journey we will mention these ones:
1. It is fascinating all the time to travel in the same direction as the sun. This makes possible jetlags easier to manage. And you only have to adjust your watch now and then, not all the time. In the middle of all of it we passed the International Date Line. We lost October 21. There was no October 21. We were lucky not to have our birthday on that day. And before we reached the Date Line we were all the time behind Europe in time. After we had passed it we were ahead of Europe all the time. Yes, try to figure that out :-) In order to have a certain control of the time I carried two watches during the whole trip: on my left arm: the local time. On the right arm: European time. No Hocus Pocus - just a bit of Behändigkeit !
2. Vancouver as a city is really nice and interesting. We had four days there, fortunately. We got in a way carried away by it. A sort of European city in the middle of Wild West. And with lots of people of Asian origin, not least Chinese.
3. Seattle is also interesting and special. Like Vancouver well placed with water and islands around it. We were in particular taken by the impressive Bill Gates Foundation Center, explaining how much of his income from Microsoft is spent on important human-touch projects around the world.
4. Our 22 days' cruise across the Pacific Ocean was - as expected - an experience second to none. Yes, it was a long time on a ship - or a "ferry" as I called it. Yes, we saw a lot of water. Yes, there were many, many other people on board our Explorer of the Seas ( almost 4.000 + 1500 crew ). But it had space, lots of space, for us all. Unlike our earlier cruises we had many very fat people on board this time. Really fat. It was easier and faster to jump over them than to walk around them. Some of them, also the younger ones, were not able to walk. So they were moving around in a motorized wheelchair.
It was also remarkable that during the whole cruise we saw no other ship. The Pacific Ocean is empty. Huge and empty. Do not get lost there - you might well be lost for ever. While we were happily cruising away two American sailors - girls - were found by Japanese fishermen near Japan. They thought they were on the way to Tahiti in the south of the Ocean. They were really lucky.
And the Ocean is also really pacific and quiet. Old Magellan was right when he gave it its name. Only the very first day and night during our cruise we experienced an agitated sea. And many passengers had to "speak in the big, white telephone" as it is called. Not us, though.
5. Hawaii was, of course, an experience in itself. Alone - way, way out in the ocean, as they said themselves. Tropical and therefore quite hot. American, yes. But also different. We were lucky to have two excellent guides on our two bus excursions. Not least the excursion to the top of a volcano was impressive. So we almost feel experts by now.
6. Fiji and its many islands was our next stop - and our next great experience. Before arriving there we had to cross Equator. I made a personal complaint to our very nice Norwegian captain Kjetil that they had no Norwegian Linie Aquavit on board :-( It is for me linked to passing the Equator. But no worry. We got each a certificate that King Neptune had accepted us passing the Equator, even without his permission on beforehand!
During our stay in Fiji we were delighted to learn that they had stopped being cannibals more than 150 years ago! Especially our visit to a Fijian village was very interesting. They danced and sang for us - and pretended that they were killing us in the most brutal way as long as a photographer was around to take a picture!
7. Next stop Sydney - our old acquaintant from two lovely visits earlier. It is a fantastic city with fantastic things to see and do. Unfortunately, it was unusually hot during our two first days there. So we had to take refuge in a few "water holes". But the star was, of course, our "Danish" Sydney Opera House. We had a very skillful guide during our visit to the opera. We saw no performances, also because the main theatre was under reconstruction. So we saved a whole evening! But we enjoyed a nice night meal while looking at the fantastic building from the outside. Food in a way tastes extra delicious with such a view !
8. Canberra - Australia's capital - was also very interesting and nice to see again. Distances are huge in that city, so we had good long walks. And a very interesting on the spot introduction to Australian history and politics. Quite complicated - and fascinating.
Our tour by car southwards from Canberra gave us a personal experience of the mountains, of the bushlands and of the villages scattered over a huge area. Staying two days and nights in Tooma, a very local village with the size of three times nothing, went to our hearts with its very personal and warm ambience - started by a big local market on the day of our arrival. The sad fact that I managed to run into a naughty and "I-shall-get-after-you" - sausage in the one and only pub in the village will not spoil our memories of a great stay there. It just spoiled the good sense of feeling in my stomach for a couple of days :-(
We enjoyed the winding-up of our South-East Australian odyssey in a nice and very comfortable resort in Lorna at the Great Ocean Road along the South Ocean. This is the capital of surfing. We enjoyed seeing them falling off in the water! But the after-chocks from my malicious bushland sausage made our movements around the area few and slow ! But the eternal truth that peace around you gives you peace in mind was a very good cure for us before "hitting" the family on the other side of Australia !
9. And last, but not least: our visit to our lovely and lively family was on purpose arranged as the highlight at the end of our global tour! Fantastic to see them grow, see them enjoy Australia, see them in a positive and dynamic way enjoy their work and challenges, - and see them still being as we know them! No, they are not Australian, neither formally or by mind. But they enjoy the country and all its possibilities, including a fantastic school system. They might for practical reasons apply for Australian citizenship next year. But as they can keep their Danish, Greek and British citizenships at the same time not much will change. Cecilie and Nikos will also try to get Greek and Danish citizenship for the girls. Apart from the psychological happiness around it they will get more possibilities in the future, if they are successful in those efforts.
Of course, our visit got an extra dose of glamour and pride, because Cecilie is nominated full professor at her Curtin University as of December 1. We are all very happy and proud of "my small, little girl"!!
10. Talking about happy and proud: I have got permission to tell you all that Liselotte smoke her last small cigar in Seattle !! In the beginning I was threatened with the death penalty, if I told anybody. But after she herself put the big secret on the table with the family in Perth, I was allowed to mention it - even here in our DIARY. I would add that even if the only positive thing we would have to say about our world tour were Liselotte's bye-bye to the nicotine, then it would absolutely be worth the trip!
PS: To Liselotte: and do not start smoking again, just to get on to a new world tour!
Our overall conclusion is that it was a fantastic trip. A long trip, yes. But not too long. And not too difficult at any time. We got so much used to having everything done for us that it will be difficult to come back to "polite self service"! But we will manage :-)
If you ask for more specific lessons from our journey we will mention these ones:
1. It is fascinating all the time to travel in the same direction as the sun. This makes possible jetlags easier to manage. And you only have to adjust your watch now and then, not all the time. In the middle of all of it we passed the International Date Line. We lost October 21. There was no October 21. We were lucky not to have our birthday on that day. And before we reached the Date Line we were all the time behind Europe in time. After we had passed it we were ahead of Europe all the time. Yes, try to figure that out :-) In order to have a certain control of the time I carried two watches during the whole trip: on my left arm: the local time. On the right arm: European time. No Hocus Pocus - just a bit of Behändigkeit !
2. Vancouver as a city is really nice and interesting. We had four days there, fortunately. We got in a way carried away by it. A sort of European city in the middle of Wild West. And with lots of people of Asian origin, not least Chinese.
3. Seattle is also interesting and special. Like Vancouver well placed with water and islands around it. We were in particular taken by the impressive Bill Gates Foundation Center, explaining how much of his income from Microsoft is spent on important human-touch projects around the world.
4. Our 22 days' cruise across the Pacific Ocean was - as expected - an experience second to none. Yes, it was a long time on a ship - or a "ferry" as I called it. Yes, we saw a lot of water. Yes, there were many, many other people on board our Explorer of the Seas ( almost 4.000 + 1500 crew ). But it had space, lots of space, for us all. Unlike our earlier cruises we had many very fat people on board this time. Really fat. It was easier and faster to jump over them than to walk around them. Some of them, also the younger ones, were not able to walk. So they were moving around in a motorized wheelchair.
It was also remarkable that during the whole cruise we saw no other ship. The Pacific Ocean is empty. Huge and empty. Do not get lost there - you might well be lost for ever. While we were happily cruising away two American sailors - girls - were found by Japanese fishermen near Japan. They thought they were on the way to Tahiti in the south of the Ocean. They were really lucky.
And the Ocean is also really pacific and quiet. Old Magellan was right when he gave it its name. Only the very first day and night during our cruise we experienced an agitated sea. And many passengers had to "speak in the big, white telephone" as it is called. Not us, though.
5. Hawaii was, of course, an experience in itself. Alone - way, way out in the ocean, as they said themselves. Tropical and therefore quite hot. American, yes. But also different. We were lucky to have two excellent guides on our two bus excursions. Not least the excursion to the top of a volcano was impressive. So we almost feel experts by now.
6. Fiji and its many islands was our next stop - and our next great experience. Before arriving there we had to cross Equator. I made a personal complaint to our very nice Norwegian captain Kjetil that they had no Norwegian Linie Aquavit on board :-( It is for me linked to passing the Equator. But no worry. We got each a certificate that King Neptune had accepted us passing the Equator, even without his permission on beforehand!
During our stay in Fiji we were delighted to learn that they had stopped being cannibals more than 150 years ago! Especially our visit to a Fijian village was very interesting. They danced and sang for us - and pretended that they were killing us in the most brutal way as long as a photographer was around to take a picture!
7. Next stop Sydney - our old acquaintant from two lovely visits earlier. It is a fantastic city with fantastic things to see and do. Unfortunately, it was unusually hot during our two first days there. So we had to take refuge in a few "water holes". But the star was, of course, our "Danish" Sydney Opera House. We had a very skillful guide during our visit to the opera. We saw no performances, also because the main theatre was under reconstruction. So we saved a whole evening! But we enjoyed a nice night meal while looking at the fantastic building from the outside. Food in a way tastes extra delicious with such a view !
8. Canberra - Australia's capital - was also very interesting and nice to see again. Distances are huge in that city, so we had good long walks. And a very interesting on the spot introduction to Australian history and politics. Quite complicated - and fascinating.
Our tour by car southwards from Canberra gave us a personal experience of the mountains, of the bushlands and of the villages scattered over a huge area. Staying two days and nights in Tooma, a very local village with the size of three times nothing, went to our hearts with its very personal and warm ambience - started by a big local market on the day of our arrival. The sad fact that I managed to run into a naughty and "I-shall-get-after-you" - sausage in the one and only pub in the village will not spoil our memories of a great stay there. It just spoiled the good sense of feeling in my stomach for a couple of days :-(
We enjoyed the winding-up of our South-East Australian odyssey in a nice and very comfortable resort in Lorna at the Great Ocean Road along the South Ocean. This is the capital of surfing. We enjoyed seeing them falling off in the water! But the after-chocks from my malicious bushland sausage made our movements around the area few and slow ! But the eternal truth that peace around you gives you peace in mind was a very good cure for us before "hitting" the family on the other side of Australia !
9. And last, but not least: our visit to our lovely and lively family was on purpose arranged as the highlight at the end of our global tour! Fantastic to see them grow, see them enjoy Australia, see them in a positive and dynamic way enjoy their work and challenges, - and see them still being as we know them! No, they are not Australian, neither formally or by mind. But they enjoy the country and all its possibilities, including a fantastic school system. They might for practical reasons apply for Australian citizenship next year. But as they can keep their Danish, Greek and British citizenships at the same time not much will change. Cecilie and Nikos will also try to get Greek and Danish citizenship for the girls. Apart from the psychological happiness around it they will get more possibilities in the future, if they are successful in those efforts.
Of course, our visit got an extra dose of glamour and pride, because Cecilie is nominated full professor at her Curtin University as of December 1. We are all very happy and proud of "my small, little girl"!!
10. Talking about happy and proud: I have got permission to tell you all that Liselotte smoke her last small cigar in Seattle !! In the beginning I was threatened with the death penalty, if I told anybody. But after she herself put the big secret on the table with the family in Perth, I was allowed to mention it - even here in our DIARY. I would add that even if the only positive thing we would have to say about our world tour were Liselotte's bye-bye to the nicotine, then it would absolutely be worth the trip!
PS: To Liselotte: and do not start smoking again, just to get on to a new world tour!
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