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Published: August 18th 2008
This is my last blog entry from my Round the World 2008 trip. I've been putting off finishing my travel blog for over 3 months, because it's hard to finish something that has been one of the best things I've ever done in my entire life. I didn't want to admit it was over, I also wanted to do it justice and thank all the people who helped me along the way. I hope you enjoy this last one, several of my subscribers have been kind enough to say they really enjoyed the blogs and will miss them, I will too! Anyway, feel free to post comments I love to read them and have them as a permanent momento from you, when I download my entire blog to backup. If you want to see some photos of pretty England and find out whether or not I had reverse culture shock getting back into life in the UK, and most importantly find out what happened to Newton next, the 'back in the UK' blog is coming soon! For those of you who might be thinking about doing a similar trip yourself but worried about travelling on your own and don't have anyone
to go with, don't worry - just go - it's very liberating. Yes it's fantastic to share the highlights with someone special, but it's also nice to do exactly what you want whenever you want, in your own way and there are always interesting new friends to make if you want to.
So here goes! Monday 28th April - I was in California - lovely part of the US and I thoroughly recommend it - if you can get a cheap(ish) flight go to San Francisco - or anywhere on the coast! Anyway, on Monday 28th April, Angela and I drove back from our lovely weekend in Santa Barbara. We took the quicker way back, not via the coast and got to the Hudson Bay Cafe (we're becoming regulars there)! and Angela checked emails from work etc. Then we went for an Indian meal with Majid in the local town, it was great to finally meet him. Angela and I then said goodbye to Majid who was staying over at his parents that week so that I could stay at the house in Oakland which was very nice of him.
Tuesday 29th April - I went into San
Francisco for a day trip and took the Bart (tube) in and arrived in the morning for my teeth whitening appointment at Brite Smile! Now teeth whitening is something I've been thinking of having done for a couple of years now, but to have the laser treatment in London (I saw on the internet) costs approx £1000, that's totally ridiculous so I put it off until I got to California where it was around £250 and they've been doing it for far longer so have more expertise. These details are for those of you who wondered what on earth it was like. I went into Brite Smile and filled out a questionnaire, then walked downstairs to talk to the Consultant who explained what was going to be done. Everything was very clean and very white with good lighting. I sat in a chair and had a shield put in my mouth so I could keep my mouth open but rest my jaw on it. Then the dental nurse pumped a rubbery like substance into my mouth to protect my gums from the laser so I didn't get burnt. The Consultant gave me some headphones so I could watch tv and
then brought the laser closer to my face and started it up. The red laser started zapping my teeth which made me slightly nervous, but I could still swallow etc and move slightly so that was ok. They told me it would take about 1 hour for the treatment. I thought about Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs (the bit where he's strapped in the cage) it was certainly a bit uncomfortable but the results were totally worth it. After the hour, they 'unplugged me' I went to the sink and rinsed my mouth and could immediately see how much whiter my teeth were, brilliant, like magic really! After talking with Angela later on that eve, she said it's a shame they forgot to match before and after examples so I could see exactly the change, but it was really noticeable anyway. After Brite Smile, I headed off down one of the longer roads towards the Harbour and walked past a homeless woman who was stroking a wild rat in her hand - apparently there's always something bizarre to see in SF. After about 20 minutes I arrived at the Ferry Building for lunch, which is by the harbour
of course and a lovely building to walk around, lots of stalls outside and nice shops inside and a great relaxed atmosphere with people shopping for books (San Francisco has one of the most highly educated populations in the US) and friends etc enjoying lunch. I sat down on a stool and ordered seafood chowder, which was a creamy colour luckily, because my after care teeth whitening guide had said I should not eat or drink anything coloured for 24 hours that could stain my teeth and I should stick to 'white' food! The seafood chowder was delicious and sitting to my right were two lovely elderly gentlemen who took my photo and to my left an incredibly sweet old lady from Florida, who kept saying things like 'oh my' who was with her daughter, I thought about kidnapping her as she was probably the kind of little old lady who baked pie. Most of the people I met in San Francisco were charming. In the evening I walked over to China Town and arrived at the R&J Lounge to have dinner with Angela and Majid. It was literally the best chinese food of my life, I've had good chinese,
or what I thought was good, but this was really delicious. I've tried to pin down since why it was so great. Majid said one of the reasons was the food is so fresh, are there are so many markets around SF everything is bought on that day. It was certainly very fresh, some unusual combinations (we had beef with macadamia nuts) and the team of chefs really knew how to cook it too.
Wednesday 30th April - We woke up to gruesome yet highly amusing headlines on tv that a 'human scull had been found in a quiet residential area'! I took the Bart back into San Francisco for the day again, but felt rather ill all day as a I had a prolonged headache which must have been post teeth whitening. So I pretty much stumbled around getting a bit fed up with the locals not understanding what I was saying. I mean seriously, there are so many nationalities in London with many different accents and you can guess most of the time if you try! I went into Starbucks and ordered a 'Date Pecan Scone' (in my initial pronunciation I said it in my usual way
City Centre
San Franciscowhich would be Date Peacun Scon) the guy behind the counter just kept saying, whhaaat? at me. So I said it again in what I thought would be a more American way, Date (only one way of saying that really) Peacaaaan Scon, and all I got was a whhaaat? So I spoke very slowly (without trying to be patronising (with hindsight I should have pointed to it in the counter but could not think clearly with the headache)) until the girl next to him said 'OH she wants Maple Oat' - Maple Oat, Maple Oat, how could Maple Oat possibly sound more like what I was saying!!!!!! Anyway, I was too stunned to argue, so ended up with a very sickly sweet snack. Angela told me later that the American pronunciation would have been something like Date Pecurn Scoan, but date was date! Anyway a similar thing happened when I went into HMV to see if they had any Alison Krauss cds as I wanted a momento of our road trip to Santa Barbara. I wandered around the store first and couldn't find any so had to ask. Hello, have you got any Alison Krauss cds please? whhaaat? A-l-i-s-o-n K-r-a-u-s-s.
Alison whhaaat? Alison K-r-a-u-s-s. Oh Ok, how do you spell Krauss (I'm thinking well you tell me, you're the one working here) K-r-a-u-s-s ok how do you spell Alison (I give up!). I ended up walking to the waterfront and unfortunately missed the boat to Alcatraz, but saw some seals on Pier 39 and had an enjoyable afternoon. In the eve before heading back, I saw an interesting film with Uma Thurman in it about a High School shootout that changed her life. Oprah on tv, yey.
Thursday 1st April - I had a fantastic day in Napa Valley with Angela's mum Betty. She kindly came to pick me up in her car in the morning and we visited two vineyards. Firstly the Coppola one, owned by the Coppola family (Nicolas Cage's uncle etc) and after lunch, the Robert Mondavi Vineyard. The weather was gorgeous and we were met at the red carpet by the hostess. The Vineyard and cellars were not huge but it was a lovely house and we had a very enjoyable and informative time. The lady who took us through the wine tasting after the tour really knew her wine! The Robert Mondavi vineyard was
bigger and I got the impression everything was done on a larger scale. The guide who showed us around kept saying how generous Robert Mondavi was and admitted he wanted a full-time job at the vineyard! They had some wonderful sculptures in the grounds. All in all, the cabernet sauvignon in both vineyards was really really good, so if you have a chance to try cabernet sauvignon from the Napa Valley I recommend you do so (and give the others a go too). Betty and I popped into a tasty looking grocery store before meeting up with Angela and Majid for pizza at Zachary's. Many thanks to Betty for such a lovely day that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Friday 2nd April - My last day in the US, Angela managed to negotiate working from home so she could take me to the airport, which was fab of her. So I packed in a leisurely manner etc. and did some blogging on the computer. Managed to book online my bus from Heathrow Airport to Stansted Airport and then Stansted Airport to Chelmsford bus station so that noone had to come and pick me up (getting from Essex to Heathrow is usually
a nightmare traffic wise) My flight was at 4.30pm and I ended up sitting next to a young couple from Barking, it was quite a relief hearing the Essex accent again, never thought I'd say that! The Virgin Atlantic flight went without a hitch. Very comfortable and a choice of 3 meals. But....my favourite airline on my trip was Singapore Airlines. If you do a long haul flight I suggest you fly with them unless you can afford first class!
Many thanks to Angela especially and Majid and Betty, I had a wonderful time.
Saturday 3rd April - I arrived back in the UK around 10am and thought 'I wonder if this is when, after I'd travelled so smoothly between countries, that it all goes wrong travel wise', but it didn't! My luggage was one of the first ones off the plane. I managed to get on an earlier bus that was leaving in 5 minutes from Heathrow Airport so didn't have to wait an hour, I just exchanged my ticket at the office. The traffic wasn't too heavy, so I got to Stansted Airport early and managed to wave at the bus driver just as the earlier
bus was leaving. The driver stopped the bus to let me on, unheard of! So I thanked him and he said I could pay onboard instead of in the office, so I got my card out and then he said I could not pay by card just cash! argh! Anyway a fellow passenger (think he was Polish) offered to lend me £6 until we got to Chelmsford where I could go to the cash till and pay him back, then the driver said he'd let me off the payment until we arrived. Brilliant! I arrived back in the uk, mum picked me up from the bus station and we had tea at The Alma pub and sat outside in the garden because the weather was so nice. Lovely to catch up with mum and be back home :o) - after tea I got back to mum's and nearly half a stone lighter (hurrah - must have been the twice a week super noodles) and a lot fitter, took my backpack up the stairs without thinking about it - 10 weeks before I'd been huffing and puffing trying to get it down the stairs, wondering how on earth I was going
to manage.
So......now for the thank yous - thanks go to:
Firstly my mum Dawn, who let me move into her house in November 2007 which enabled me to rent out my flat so that I could go on this trip. Without her, this trip would not have been possible. So thanks very very much Dawn, I know that I have not always been easy to live with, but I hope that after I move out you will remember the flamenco dance rehearsals in the kitchen instead of the moaning about the cat's fur.
Lyn and George who threw a lovely goodbye dinner party for me and Anna and John and Maresa and Sam who came too.
Collette who put me in contact with her family in Malaysia, which I've been meaning to visit for 18 years since I met her at university.
My friends, old and new and cousins who I stayed with on my journeys around Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and America :- many thanks for your kindness and generosity, I hope we will meet again soon. If you want to stay with me anytime you are always welcome:
Auntie Helen and Collette's
family in Malaysia (I won't name you all individually in case I forget someone) including Ursula who organised my itinerary.
Janet and Tom in Australia and family and friends, including Craig, Julie and Mark.
Rae and Gray in New Zealand and family and friends, including Todd, Liam and Rebecca.
Angela and Majid in California and Betty and the housemates.
Also thanks to all their friends and family too for making it such a memorable time for me.
Friends and family who sent good luck cards and some of whom naughtily gave me some good luck presents too - very nice and very generous - Elaine and Steve who found Newton who became my very good travel companion, Maresa and Sam, Katherine and Keith, Caetlyn and Werner, Rowena and Terry, Sundeep Lavanya and Pratik, Denise and Dave, Collette, Mike, my colleagues from Ford, VOPS team, Gina who made me a lovely welcome home card.
My 50 regular blog subscribers who took the time and trouble to read the blog (well look at the pictures anyway! ;o) ) many of whom wrote comments and kept me going with private messages and emails and words of wisdom and wit!
Friends
Shops in the Ferry Building
Full of European type goods e.g. olives, french soap etc and family who I hadn't seen for a while and met up with again and interesting new friends that I made and hopefully will keep in touch with (hurrah for facebook!). Old friends who kept me going with supportive and fun emails.
Just a couple of things left to say:
One of Canadian Mary's favourite quotes - in the words of JRR Tolkein - 'Those that wander are not all lost'.
Tad Williams once said: “Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it — memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”
Was my trip life changing? Well - potentially, the after-surprises are still coming through so we shall see, but it was certainly life enhancing. I remember those quiet moments, especially in New Zealand when I was travelling on my own, listening to my ipod in the early morning (music like The Killers, Bruce Springsteen, Damien Rice, Newton Faulkner etc etc), in a coach on the way to somewhere new, looking at the beautiful mountains
- yes I did have a few moments of clarity and insight, when I thought over conversations I'd had. Ooh deep ;o)
The places were amazing, but it was the people, back home and who I met up with travelling, who really made my trip.
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Denise
non-member comment
Its been emotional.....
So when's the next trip?? ;-)