Around the World in 33 Days

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What an adventure! 33 days, 4 continents, 9 countries, 19 flight legs… Whew, we made it. Sounds like "The Amazing Race"!

The voyage got off to an inauspicious start right from the get go. Exiting a West African country is never a picnic and is typically good for some stories in itself. We arrived at the airport over 3 hours in advance of the flight time (Flight 1: Luanda - Lisbon) and then waited in line for over an hour just to get to the room where you check in where we got to watch the Portuguese/Angolan fine art of line cutting at its best. Another 30 minutes in a second line and we were finally checked in. Luckily passport control and security had no line - everyone was still in the first line. Steve's years of transatlantic flights and United 100K status got us into the lounge where were at last got to relax. Of course the flight was late - there was no way all those people could get through the line in time. Initial panic about making our connection in Lisbon was relieved when our Lisbon - Zurich (Flight #2) flight was also late. However, Steve's suitcase still did not find its way onto the connecting flight. The fellow at baggage assured us that it would be delivered to our hotel in Delhi. Steve would have to make do with 1 change of underwear and socks until then. Flight leg #3 had a shaky start the next morning as the airport folks directed us to the wrong line where we waited for an hour before informed of "our" mistake - we then rushed to the correct counter, managed to get checked in on time but alas, not sitting together. We finally made it to Delhi for the beginning of our Indian adventure.

Part One - India
We booked a city tour of Delhi which proved to be very good. The tourist sites in Delhi are very spread out which would have made it impractical to get to everywhere otherwise. We saw the parliament buildings, Gandhi's cremation site, a mosque, the old town, and several monuments. It was a Saturday so driving around was quite manageable. In the evening we decided to walk a kilometer to a restaurant but gave up quickly when we realized we were lost, it was further than anticipated, and it was very dark. We then hopped on a motorized rickshaw (tuk-tuk) which zips in and out of traffic and gives you full exposure to all the traffic fumes. On the way back, we caught a bicycle rickshaw which was quite the hair raising experience. Again darting in and out of traffic but no lights! We were grateful to make it back alive. That was the last time we rode one of those after dusk.

Early the next morning we caught a train to Agra, which is where the Taj Mahal is located. Steve's suitcase still had not found us. Upon arriving, we found out that our hotel booking had not happened (made for the wrong date, even though we had emails to the contrary). After much complaining we were placed in another hotel by the agent that had botched the booking. We also found out that the Taj Mahal was closed that day for a "VIP visit". We spent the rest of the morning walking around - and quickly discovered that walking around in India is not a "normal" activity. We were harassed constantly by the rickshaw drivers wanting to give us a ride. They don't take no for an answer. They will follow you for hours badgering you to PLEASE let them drive you. Over the course of our visit we learned that this amazing persistence is borne out of the commission system. If they take you to a shop, the shop pays the driver about 50 cents. But if you buy something, it's payday! They get a 30% commission of any purchases you make. Steve's shopping and negotiating strategies were quickly adjusted to take this into account.

By about 2:30 we decided to see if the Taj had opened. Over an hour in the security screening line, and then we were in. Incredibly beautiful but also the most amazing mass of humanity I've ever witnessed! The next morning we booked a guide and car & driver and went back to the Taj where there was no line and a wonderful sense of peacefulness there. Quite a contrast to the previous day. We also toured the Red Fort and then, after a Pizza Hut lunch, (at Beverly's insistence) went to visit an abandoned city from the 16th century about 20 Km out of town. It was our first taste of Indian road rage. We made it back safe and sound, and Steve WALKED to a store to make his first purchases of the trip - 2 bronze statues (very heavy!). The biggest highlight of Agra was that Steve FINALLY got his suitcase after 5 days in the same set of clothes. The key to success was paying a local travel agent to procure the suitcase at the Delhi airport as it was becoming painfully obvious the airline wasn't going to get the suitcase to us on their own, and no one could provide a phone number at the airport that we could call to complain.

The next day we journeyed to Ranthambhore which is the site of a tiger reserve. We had booked a car and driver for the journey. Driving in India is not for the faint hearted and we discovered that the previous day's excursion was just a preview of the horrors to come. The roads we traveled were 2 lane highways which accommodate a wide variety of transport mechanisms: bicycles, scooters, tuk-tuks, camel carts, pedestrians, elephants, cars, and trucks. The basic law is "might is right", which means a truck going the opposite way can pull out to pass at any time and any smaller vehicle going the opposite way is expected to avoid him. Likewise, our driver would pull out at any given time (unless a truck was in the way) and any smaller vehicles going the opposite way likewise had to avoid us. Another interesting aspect of Indian driving is the use of horns - everyone honks at everything - which means the street noise is deafening!

We arrived, in one piece, after this hair raising 7 hour drive only to learn that the tiger reserve had been closed for the past 4 days due to some lawsuit. We were assured that it would open the next afternoon. Being the skeptics that we are, we made arrangements to leave the next afternoon if the reserve did not open as promised. It was a lovely hotel however and it was refreshing to be in the country and breath some reasonably fresh air. That evening we did a "game drive" around the area to look at various types of antelopes but seeing the local people proved to be far more interesting (a people safari). The next morning we hiked 3 miles up to the Ranthambhore fort where we saw monkeys galore! Upon returning we learned that the reserve would not open that day (it finally opened on Dec 22!) and we hopped in the car to drive to Jaipur.

In Jaipur we stayed at a hotel which was once the palace of the "mayor". Here Beverly made a point to relax every afternoon, either at the pool or on our balcony (which had a number of monkeys who would visit) while Steve got some quality shopping in. We got to partake in an elephant ride which took us to a large and impressive fort on a hill outside of town, and also visit some interesting palaces in town. After 2 days in Jaipur, we hopped an airplane (flight #4) for a short flight to Udaipur which is on the banks of a chain of lakes and was smaller, less congested, and more relaxing than all of the previous cities we'd visited. An especially nice feature of the town were the numerous roof top restaurants which provided excellent views of both the lakes and the street action below. We stayed in the Lake Palace Hotel, which is a palace in the middle of the lake. Over the top luxurious. The experience was somewhat marred by the revenge of Beverly's stomach which laid her low for much of the stay there.

After 2 nights at the Lake Palace, it was time to head back to Delhi (flight #5) to catch our flight to Thailand (flight #6) to meet up with Daryl. Steve got to enjoy one last bit of drama in an argument with the airport security police in India. He had packed his very heavy bronzes in our wheelie in an effort to avoid paying overweight charges on our checked luggage. However security didn't like the look of them on the X-ray and upon hand inspection, informed Steve that "metal was not allowed as carryon". After a bit of argument, Steve consented to have them checked yet was not able to go back to the counter to do that as we had already passed through passport control. After waiting for 30 minutes for someone from the airline to come get the suitcase, the officer let Steve move on with the promise that he would check the bag at the gate. Of course Steve did not (and we didn't see anyway to check the bag at the gate so it was really a moot point). One last hassle as an appropriate send off from India.

Part Two - Cambodia/Thailand
We managed to hook up with Daryl in the Bangkok airport (after dropping off the suitcase with Steve's very heavy India purchases at left luggage) in spite of his inability to follow directions (he was told to meet us at check-in, he didn't show, Beverly worried like crazy, but we finally found him at the gate), in time to catch our flight to Angkor Wat (flight #7). We were immediately struck by the contrast between Cambodia and India. The people were friendly, easy going, and no hassle! We spent the next 2 days touring the amazing temples there. We even ran into our neighbors from California in the main temple there - what a coincidence!

We then flew back to Bangkok (flight #8) where we stayed with a high school friend of Beverly's, Robb, who she had not seen in at least 26 years. It was a lot of fun catching up after all those years! Our three days in Bangkok was spent in a frenzy of shopping for everyone but Steve - Daryl went wild in the "knock offs" section of the markets, Beverly bought many DVDs for those long Luanda nights, Daryl was fitted for a suit AND a Tux, and Beverly scored a sapphire ring as a belated 25th anniversary present. A highlight was the world's largest market which had everything imaginable (including puppies which made Beverly pine for Ozzy back home) but not enough objets d'art for Steve's liking. In between all the shopping we managed to see a few temple and palace sights in Bangkok as well. In addition, Robb showed us some local color, including a restaurant with a "condom" theme - as you enter there are all sorts of sculptures made out of condoms - pretty bizarre- and the local red light district which also boasted an excellent market with lots of counterfeit DVDs and designer knockoffs - so you can do your shopping while listening to the promoters from the various "girlie bars" try to entice you with graphic descriptions of the delights awaiting you inside.

We then flew up north (flight #9) for 2 1/2 days in Chiang Mai. Here we found more market action - and Steve actually found some artwork to buy - a large, intricate carving of elephants that although bulky, was not too heavy! To Daryl's delight the knockoffs where still out in force and he found more fake designer delights to augment his wardrobe with. We rented a car and visited a few out of town sights as well - we drove to the highest point in Thailand where we got to see the Thais bundled up like they were in the Artic - it was maybe 60 degrees! We also visited an "elephant camp" which was very touristy but we did enjoy the opportunity to see the elephants up close and let them "hug" us with their trunks. We then headed to Krabi (flights 10 and 11), a beach area south of Phuket, for 3 days of beach time. There we did an all day snorkeling trip, Daryl did a half day rock climbing lesson, and the rest of the time was spent chilling out.

Part Three - United States
Time to head back to civilization. Now going to the US on one of these trips is normally against Steve's religion, but it was the only way we were going to get to see Rachael on this trip. While we were gallivanting around southeast Asia, she was slaving away at her internship in Sun Valley, Idaho.

We arrived back in San Francisco (flights #12-14) and Daryl immediately ditched us to celebrate New Year's with his new girlfriend while we were left to deal with our jet lag and a pile of dirty laundry, as well as sort our belongings into what should go with us to Sun Valley and what should stay behind in San Francisco. A trip like this, with so many climate changes, is truly a logistical nightmare! The next morning we headed over to the East Bay to meet friends for lunch, drop off excess luggage, and hook up with Daryl again. Then off to the airport to fly nonstop to Sun Valley (flight #15). Halfway there, though, the captain comes on the intercom to announce that the airport is fogged in and we're diverting to Boise and will then need to ride a bus for 2 hours to get to Sun Valley. What fun! Made for a very late night as we finally rolled into the hotel past 11 PM.

Rachael had lucked out and had the first 2 days of our visit off, so we were able to ski with her. We also were able to take advantage of one of her employee benefits - $10 tickets for family members! The first ski day was actually relatively temperate (in the 20's) but it got snowy on the 2nd day and then really cold on the subsequent days. Rachael unfortunately fell ill the second day but at least Beverly was there to get her hooked up with a local doctor and get her on the road to recovery (she had a strep infection!) Even when Rachael was working, we were able to see her at lunch and in the evenings. By the 4th day of skiing, Daryl wuzzed out after a 5 degree morning on the mountain and refused to go back out after lunch. It actually warmed up enough for Steve and Beverly to survive the afternoon just as our skiing legs were kicking in. We were looking forward to a leisurely last morning in Sun Valley before catching our flight back to Oakland (Number 16), but at 7 AM we got a phone call saying the return flight was also diverted (it was snowing quite heavily) and we needed to get to the Sun Valley airport 5 hours early to catch the bus back to Boise. NEVER TRY TO FLY TO SUN VALLEY AIRPORT! We later learned that 20% of the flights to that airport are diverted. Not fun!

Our last 24 hours stateside were spent in a blur of activities. We met yet another friend for dinner, did some power shopping for electronics, pet supplies, a GPS unit, and some groceries, and got a quickie glance at Daryl's living quarters. We enjoyed a quick Mexican dinner with Daryl and one of his Stanford friends before Daryl dumped us off at the airport (he didn't seem too sad to see us go - I think he just wanted the car back to himself and after 3 weeks he'd had enough of bonding with the parental units). Our flights home (Flights 17-19) were marred only by the rejection of our wheelie carryons by security in London's airport because they were too big (by an inch!). So we emptied the contents into two backpacks (which were inside the wheelies) and then checked the two almost empty suitcases. A very unproductive use of time. We then flew to South Africa and connected to our flight up to Luanda - 24 hours of actual flight time. Definitely the long way home. But all of our suitcases made it to Luanda, so the trip ended on a smoother note than it began!

Epilogue - Back Home
So now we're back to reality and settling into our routine once again. One of our first tasks was to finalize plans for our April/May trip which will be much simpler! We're planning to spend 2 weeks in Europe including a 10 day Mediterranean cruise, then a week in the San Francisco area visiting Daryl and taking care of medical/dental obligations, then a week in Arizona attending Rachael's graduation and looking at property. We're hoping Rachael will have the time available at the end of May to spend a couple of weeks in Luanda with us. Another trip (probably to Namibia) is penciled in for September, and we're hoping that both Rachael and Daryl will able to join us. We will be looking to travel in early December as well, destination undecided, but most likely in Africa.

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