Saorrento

Six weeks, seven countries and twelve cities later, our tour to Russia the long way round has finally drawn to a close. It has been the most incredible experience and I am very glad to say there isn’t any one thing that stands out well beyond the others, there were so many magical moments of our trip: seeing snow and wild Elk in Golden Colorado and dining out with Jon and Julie who we both had a fantastic time with; the neon extravaganza of both Las Vegas and Times Square in New York City; the climb to the observation deck of the Empire State Building; seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway; my first rail trip in England going out to Bristol and the Eurostar voyage to Belgium; pub crawls and luxury dining in Belgium; hiking through the snow in St Petersburg to various World War II monuments; getting up close to Soviet and German war machines and other various relics of the Cold War at a number of Museum exhibits; travelling from St Petersburg to Moscow by second class rail, with snowy landscapes out the window; cruising down the Rhine river in Frankfurt past the many vineyards, medieval styled castles and villages. These are just a few of the highlights, simply put; ‘The Long Way to Russia’ has been an EPIC adventure!

What’s next? Well this trip has wet our appetites for so much more travel; I personally would love to see a great deal more of Colorado during the ski season as well as re-visit Frankfurt and spend time touring about Germany. Things like a Route 66 road trip in the United States, a month long stay in Germany and other Euro Road trips are just some of the ideas buzzing through my head for the near future.

Of course then there are also new exotic locations such as the likes of Egypt, Antarctica and Dubai which are pretty high up on the list of new places too. So if nothing else, WATCH THIS SPACE!

Having fallen in love with the laid back get outdoors nature of Golden Colorado it has taken me some time to adjust to New York City. The two are complete opposites, Golden promotes its outdoor lifestyle and NYC promotes the life in the city; where being close to nature i.e. a window view of Central Park from your apartment will set you back $3000.00 a month.

Broadway to me seems a separate entity of NYC altogether. In some sense it reminds me of the Las Vegas strip, with just fewer neons and instead of people handing out cards of strippers and escorts you have people offering you free seats to the ‘funniest standup in town’ (free as long as you purchase a couple of drinks at the show).

We arrived into New York rather exhausted from our six hour flight from Denver and caught a cab straight to our hotel The Modern, near the corner of 55th and Broadway. The journey was going rather well until we reached lower Manhattan where we got our first introduction to NYC traffic congestion – brought about by President Barack Obama making a guest appearance on the Letterman Show which was less than a kilometer from our hotel.

Finally after taking what seemed to be an hour to reach the hotel from 62nd street we finally made it to our hotel. Unfortunately, only to discover that the hotel had made alternative accommodation arrangements for us that night due to a leaking pipe in what was to be our room. The receptionist went on to explain that we have a room waiting for us at the Bentley Hotel, up on 62nd Street, quite a bit away from the Broadway strip. Michelle was less than pleased, I wasn’t too thrilled either, the whole point of choosing the Modern was that we were in easy walking distance from Times Square.

Having worked closely with Receptionists in the past I knew taking my frustrations out on her would lead nowhere, she was just the messenger, so I swallowed my frustrations and worked on a solution. The solution wasn’t ideal, but it was making the most of a bad situation, we received complimentary cab rides to and from the Bentley back to the Modern as well as a upgrade to a Junior suite when we returned to the Modern. On top of that, aside from being located further away from Broadway, the Bentley was a rather posh hotel, a whole star grander than the Modern, and we had a room with a fantastic view of the Brookland Bridge. It’s just unfortunate that by the time we got there and settled in we were both too overtired to really appreciate it at the time.

The next morning, having checked out of the Bentley and back into the Modern we finally set off around midday down the Broadway strip. The strip spanned easily several kilometers with theatres and gift shops on each block. The M&M store, a favorite of Michelle’s and mine whilst in Vegas also had its spot on the Broadway strip.

The Broadway strip didn’t really thrill me as much as it did for Michelle, to me it was a repeat of Vegas, but a poorer repeat. Broadway was dirtier and somewhat sleazy at night, and to my surprise with the occasional broken neon light, not something I expected from the Big Apple.

Later, we boarded a tour bus to take in the sights of this metropolis. The history behind some of the buildings was incredible. What New York lacked in ‘wow’ it made up for with the history.

We passed the Macy Department store founded by Isidor Straus. In 1912, Traveling from Germany back to the United States, Isidor and his wife were passengers of the RMS Titanic when, on April 14, it hit an iceberg. Ida reportedly would not leave Isidor and refused to get in a lifeboat. The officer filling up the boat told Isidor that he could get into the boat with his wife, but he refused to before other men and instead sent his wife’s maid, Ellen Bird, into the boat. Ida refused to board the half-full boat, saying “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die together”. Isidor and Ida both died on April 15 when the ship sank. Isidor Straus’s body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Ida’s body was not recovered. Since that day, in memory of the Straus’s, Macys west door entrance has remained closed since that day.

The next historic landmark we passed by was the Empire State building, the 102 story icon of America’s determination completed in 1931 standing as the tallest building in the United States (aside from the period between 1972 and 2001 when the World Trade Centre held that title). It was a very impressive structure, and a tribute to American engineering and determination – considering that the development of the Empire State building took place in one of the more darker moments in American financial history, the period nick named the ‘great depression’; a point in time which Central Park as we know it today for its lush green surroundings, zoo and piece n’ tranquility was at that time known as ‘tent city’, a place where those who had nowhere else to go wound up, a place where development tycoons employed cheap labor for the most risky of jobs. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn the lives that were lost during the construction of the Empire State building came from Tent City. Ironically, once the great building was completed (some 13 months later) America was still struggling its way through the recovery of the depression, and as a result not many businesses took up residence in this new tower. In fact, once competed the owner paid workers to travel the hallways at night turning on and off lights to various rooms at random, to give the impression that the building was buzzing with activity. To the locals, the Empire State Building was better known to the local’s in the know back then as the Empty State Building.

We then journeyed to ground zero; formally the location of the World Trade centers which met their fate on September 11, 2001. We have all heard of the tragedy that through the destruction of so many lives and united America and the world; we have all heard of the September 11 memorial, the notes to the firemen that did their duty on that day, the notes to loved ones which were lost. To our surprise those memorials and notes to loved ones had all been relocated to one of several remembrance memorials around the city, Ground Zero itself was under development, a new prouder Trade Center design was to be established in its place, one that honored the tragedy of 2001 but also looked towards the bright future of the United States of America.

After a fair amount of walking and stumbling through the WFC (World Finance Center) we finally came across a couple of the remaining street memorials honoring the brave firemen (incidentally the Fire station was located immediately next door to the WTC) who risked their lives that fateful day.

Although I am somewhat pre-determined to never live in NYC, I have so far enjoyed my visit. There are still a number of things yet to experience, from visiting the Statue of Liberty to my first Yankees match. It is going to be a fantastic couple of days ahead.

Or at least that is the way to get to Golden on the road, which in retrospect would of probably been more relaxing and enjoyable rather than having to put up with our second flight delay in the United States. Similar to the flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas, our United Airlines flight to Denver has been delayed by two hours due to extended maintenance required for the aircraft.

I don’t know which comforts me more, the fact that United Airlines are thorough with their maintenance and thus happily taking more time to get it right, or the fact that the aircraft in question requires the extra attention. Perhaps they ran out of duct tape and need more?

It is a shame, we are both looking forward to checking out Colorado, it sounds amazing and we have such precious time as it is; now we have lost an extra two hours.

The pool side makes Vegas what it is; the party capital of the world. Now, I am not talking specifically of the bikini clad chicks that roam these waters (well, the pool side waitresses at least), its more than that; it’s a combination
of things including the endless line of cocktails and the sunny blue sky with 30 degree (Celsius) temperature – something my Australian skin has yearning for far too many months.

It doesn’t get much sweeter than enjoying a cocktail or three whilst lying beside the pool soaking up the summer heat of the Nevada desert…

We arrived in Vegas jetlagged and exhausted from our 18 hour multi-stopover, via Auckland New Zealand and San Francisco. Straight from exiting our plane and entering the arrival terminal we were surrounded by gambling machines and neon lights offering prizes to lucky players, we had indeed arrived at Las Vegas.
Our hotel was the Monte Carlo, located in the middle of the strip, next to New York New York, and a block away from Bellagio – and across the road from the M&M store which delighted me and Michelle. Wanting to force our body clocks to adjust as quickly as possible, we fought our fatigue and ventured out onto the strip.

Night time is the best way to experience the Vegas strip, not only is the weather a lot cooler than during the day, but seeing the hotel casinos with their neon glow makes for an amazing atmosphere. The strip is bustling with as much life during the day as it does during the night with just a smaller change in the clientele that venture onto the strip. During the day the strip is congested with tourists wearing their loud tourist shirts, sporting the ‘Grand Canyon’ and various ‘Sin City’ slogans. At night time these tourists are outnumbered by the younger clubbers, all of whom were dressed to impress, negotiating the strip from one club to the next. Out in force at night are the ‘card slappers’ (the name coming from their nature – slapping cards into their palms trying to get your attention), standing within feet of each other, spanning about 10 meters in some cases are guys and some girls wearing shirts saying ‘girls to your room in 20 minutes’ handing out playing-card sized advertisements of next to naked women with a list of the services they provide and cost.

Pity the poor guy which puts his hand out to receive just a sample of these cards, as these card slappers will surround him like a flock of seagulls would to a lone chip. Seeing just how many I could collect from walking one end of the strip to the other I was shocked to see I arrived back at my suite with well over a hundred cards.

Interestingly enough, the girls that featured on these cards were not all like those seen on classifieds of Australia’s FHM and Zoo Weekly magazines (the ones that make you want to get a Hepatitis C booster shot from just looking at them) rather some of the girls looked more like they were from prominent playboy centerfolds, appearing rather classy and beautifully.

A closer inspection of the cards I had collected revealed a few inconsistencies thus confirming my theory that the whole advertising campaign behind these ‘hotel room hotties’ was a sham; for instance the same girl in two different, one naming the blonde stunner as Sandy and the second as Julie. Moments later I found cards featuring Louise Glover – a prominent English glamour model and photographer and then one of Katie Price (Jordan). Somehow I don’t think that either of these successful women; Louise and Katie who were pseudo-named ‘Candy’ and ‘Sophie’ would offer ‘full services’ for $35 dollars as their cards suggested.

For the five days we were there, we journeyed up and down the strip, being transported into foreign and exotic locations with each hotel; from the ancient worlds of the Pharaohs of Luxor Hotel and Casino (appropriately shaped as a pyramid), to the medieval times of the knights of the round table at Excalibur, the castle shaped casino. Further down the strip was New York New York, with a front face of bustling New York Architecture, everything from the statue of liberty, empire state building and twin towers; the interior modeled as various streets, the floor cobble stones, the shop fronts as building fronts you would see on the street, the ceiling, blue skies with clouds. The Paris hotel and casino featured its own scale replica of the Eifel Tower and also had an interior modeled like the streets of Paris, and just for added authenticity, the reception staff all spoke fluent French. The Venetian next door had a massive indoor and outdoor canal system with gondolas you could ride in. Did I mention the Bellagio fountains that went off every 15 minutes, or the Volcano that erupts on the hour outside of the Mirage, or what about the epic sea battle/musical featuring the sexy alluring Sirens and hunky pirates?

There was just so much to see and do; too much for the five days we were visiting for, so with that in mind, we slowed ourselves down a bit, took in the highlights and then spent some time relaxing by the pool ordering cocktails and soaking up the Vegas heat.

It wouldn’t be a Vegas experience without seeing some of the evening shows on offer; ranging from magic shows, to variety shows, to adult geared entertainment for both men and women there was something for everyone.

On the second night we arrived we went to see Bally’s Jubilee. This was a ‘traditional Vegas showgirl’ show – the girls all glamour up with large exotic feather hats – the feather hats weighed 35 pounds (16 kg), the rest of the costume fitted into a tea-cup – The show prided itself on featuring beautiful girls, an array of costumes featuring every colsour of the rainbow, and incredible stories and performances on larger than life sets from the ancient world of the Samson and Delilah ‘a tale of love, romance, passion and betrayal’ through to the romance and tragedy of the 1912 voyage on the Titanic.

A couple of days later we ventured out on an epic 16 hour tour to the Grand Canyon’s south rim in Arizona. I can’t say the idea of a 16hr trip thrilled me all that much, especially since we were already fighting against the clock to see what the Vegas strip had to offer. At the same time though, I had never ventured through Nevada to Arizona on the road before – and was very excited to experience the ‘wild west’ from the comfort of my coach seat. The scenery was amazing, leaving the lights and glamour of Las Vegas early in the morning we ventured out passing small road-side coffee shops, and fast food outlets advertising bagels, horse ranches and used car yards, from the desert plains through to alpine fields as far as the eye can see, and eventually the incredible vastness of the Grand Canyon itself.

There are three tourist location sites of the Grand Canyon that the tour company shuttle people out to, the North Rim, West Rim and South Rim. The North Rim sees snow fall in winter and due to this is occasionally closed. The west rim on the other hand is always open and is popular to the helicopter tours which chopper down to the base of the canyon connecting to the boat tour which navigates the rapids. The south rim where we went is the most picturesque of the lot, and is home to the many Grand Canyon postcards and prints which are available to buy from Vegas.

Our trip to Vegas also happened to coincide with my parent’s trip to Las Vegas. It was great to catch up with them the times we did, and to just bump into them in the middle of the strip randomly.

Would I come back to Vegas again? Definitely, though I would spend more time relaxing by the pool and partying at night time.

The epic tale of this journey started just over seven months ago, and like all good tales involves a girl. During an initial meeting [December 30th at the Broken Hill Pub] (some might call it a first date) after all the small talk and flirting banter had subsided hypothetical plans for a trip to Russia were being sketched.

Russia was an adventure both of us had wanted to do for quite some time, although given the political nature of the country it wasn’t exactly a destination either of us felt comfortable doing alone. So year after year, trip after trip, Russia was left undiscovered, until that very night. That night I had found a traveling buddy, and although I didn’t realize it at the time, I had also found love.

Over the coming months the Russian adventure was shaped and molded; like a kid playing with play doh unsure of what to make… we knew we wanted Russia in the trip, but we didn’t know where to start or what the journey would involve. The adventure transformed from a Trans Siberian journey across Russia, mainly due to financial constraint, to just visiting St Petersburg and Moscow, to including Las Vegas, New York and London. A round the world fare was then determined.

It was at this point in time that we were getting serious with our travel plans; the next obvious step was to establish dates and look into flight availability. The trip in its entirety was about six weeks long, it then occurred to us that that’s a long time to be traveling with someone you have never traveled with before. Not wanting to compromise our Russian experience with the wrong companion we decided upon doing a smaller scale trip to ‘test the waters on first’ before committing ourselves to Russia later in the year. So in the month of May we tested out those waters in Vietnam.

In many ways Vietnam was a mutual grounds for both of us, namely because it was a place neither of us had been to, whilst offering a nice balance of relaxing atmosphere and exciting things to see and do. We both took particular interest in the Vietnam War, which lead us to a number of war related museums and tours including the Chu Chi Tunnels network that ultimately lead to the demoralization of the US forces invading at the time.

Our two week tour of Vietnam was a conglomeration of one fantastic experience after the other; having stayed at Ho Chi Minh city and then traveling up to the Old Quarter of Hanoi, visiting the various museums of war and history, getting into the thick hustle and bustle of street activity through to enjoying a relaxing cruise on a junket in Ho Long Bay. There was no question upon our return from Vietnam, it was time to get serious about Russia.

It was around this time that we both approached our employment for time off. I was a bit skeptical at this point as to how easy it would be for me to get time off, given that I was requesting six weeks and that it would mean I wouldn’t be available to go to Sydney for the annual Visual Impact Image Expo that the company participates in every year. To my complete surprise, my boss asked if I would mind calling in to visit our main distributors in Phoenix Arizona; Golden Colorado and Antwerp in Belgium. My leave was green-lit and with three new exciting destinations added to our list.

Three months later, with little more than 42 days to go, the adventure ahead is becoming seemingly more real. All flight and accommodation reservations have been booked and paid for.

This is actually my third international trip for the year; the first of these being Vietnam in May, the second, just around the corner being Singapore for 4 days in August to celebrate my girlfriends birthday, and the last of these being the epic round the world adventure setting off 11 of September for six weeks.

I really don’t quite know how I have managed to pull it all together; to save the money required whilst doing one trip after the other, with no prior savings, in the middle of a recession no less! I am consciously aware that I am living life very tightly financially to make these three trips work out, and truth be told it has become far too tight for comfort, but it will be all worth it. (special thanks to Mum and Dad advancing me some travel money for the trip) In a way this trip is rather symbolic; my last harrah before knuckling down, repaying debt and saving for the future; for future adventures and investments alike.

2009 is definitely the year of travel for me.

I am hoping that this upcoming round-the-world experience provides the much needed inspiration that I am desperately in search for. I want 2010 to be a new chapter in my life, a new beginning. Up to this point I have been living a life of dreams and recklessness, and although it has served me well and I have numerous stories to my name, I feel I have somewhat out grown that spir-of-the-moment lifestyle. I am now in search of something more definitive, complying to a plan… I am ready to start growing up and begin shaping my future.

To the dreams that I haven’t yet made happen, watch out – you’re next!