Croatia & Austria: Silver Jubilee! (25th anniversary)

25th anniversary is in 4 weeks.
Tickets to Zagreb, Croatia purchased. Check.
$2,000 in Euros purchased. Check.
New journal purchased. Check.
Fun commences. Check.

Mission Complete - some final thoughts

Cool. Been around the world.

I must say it all went perfectly. Tickets, airports, trains, buses, trams, metros, hotels, getting around, getting  educated, touring, museums, gardens, seeing my friend Gaew (an unbelievable gift!) and working with 5 currencies – all went well.  There were some scary hiccoughs of course, but handily resolved.

The people stay with you. The Ibis staff is amazing (in 3 hotels) and the Hard Rock Café staff (in 4 countries) still makes you feel like you’re “home.”  Then there’s the fellow tourists like the couple in Hong Kong (from Wales, lived in North Carolina for 10 years), the couple in India we met in an airport and later ran across on a Goa beach, and also the lovely ladies who just wanted to practice their English and surrounded me at the Mumbai Hanging Gardens - special memories shared with fellow travel aficionados.

But then there’s the locals: The Chinese man who helped us with change for the bus, the lady who touched hands with me when our trams were inches apart, the over 100,000 Filipino ladies who come out to the streets to visit each other on Sundays (no husbands or kids – they’re just working in Hong Kong since they’re educated but the Philippines are not so good for women), and all the little kids who couldn’t take their eyes off Gene.

So many stories are flashing through my mind – but it’s the beggar children in India who are in the forefront: the disfigured boy at one taxi window, the mother holding a naked baby at the other window, the beautiful young girl who I pray escapes prostitution.  Those children are never going to school.  It’s the poor, old, sick and dying just laying on sidewalks while people with jobs and business attire walk by.

India has some of the richest people in the world and I tell you… wealth does not trickle down.

Staying away from religion and politics (don’t get me started!), I do want to comment on the arts of Asia – very moving.  The individual human stories welling up over time and exploding.  From filth and destruction to exquisite beauty for all to enjoy, the range of detail, workmanship, effort, history and wealth is mind blowing. I’ve seen the worst expression of being to the most elegant. Thank you to the many people who create gardens amid inspiring architecture. Thank you to people who create and maintain stupendous art exhibitions. And thank you to the artisans who created all those gorgeous saris!

I’ve been further inspired by three books on this journey. I’ve noticed a tendency for the very books I need to practically jump into my hands – these are three such books.  In my quest to become a travel writer, I’ve gotten some fresh ideas. I’ve now studied over 50 travel writers, with many different topics, styles, formats and approaches, but here’s what they have in common:  when the author has actually experienced what is written, there are sentences throughout that demand re-reading, like little candles of light they are scattered and jump off the page burning with truth.

The People Stay with You

This couple is from Wales, but lived in N. Carolina for 10 years. We met them while in a line to see the Big Buddha on Lantau (Hong Kong). Fellow travel junkies, great conversation. 

This beautiful beggar girl won me over by kissing the taxi's window. Pray for her..

Met this little girl at a Goa beach. I'm trying to get the lovely henna designs on her arm to show up in the shot. 

Having fun practicing English and learning about Saris. This fortunate young lady has completed high school and hopes to be a teacher.

We returned to the fabulous Taj Mahal Hotel for lunch and I got a chance to join the Ritzy folks. This is the view from our window table...the Gateway to India.

Lunch at the Taj. Smoked salmon and cream cheese on pumpernickle with capers...and fish n' chips.