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!

Our second morning into New York started on a very patriotic note, Michelle and I caught the metro to Battery Park for boarding a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We arrived at Battery park a good hour before our Ferry was due to depart, in fact so early that the Ferry before ours hadn’t even departed yet. Fortunately for us we were able to board the earlier ferry which meant we had just gained an hour in our day.

Of course before we could board the ferry, and again later on before we could walk up the steps of the Statue of Liberty we went through a grueling security check, similar to that of the airport immigration. “Shoes off, belts off; stand in this line. No food or water past this point. Have your tickets out” directed the security officers. The way us tourists were being herded about it may of well of been 1921 immigrating through Ellis Island.

Once on Liberty island we took our headless pass (although the Statue head had recently been reopened since its closure brought about by 9/11, we did not acquire tickets to the head as they had already sold out) to the base of the statue, where yet another security check was performed. The only consolation in this case was we got to keep our shoes on. Everything else, including my dignity had to be put in a box and scanned through the X-Ray machine.

To our disappointment we soon discovered that although they kept advertising it as the ‘head section’, what they actually meant was the ‘Green part of the statue’, that is, all of it. We got as far as the first viewing platform, which granted was something like 156 steps, but it wasn’t in the actual statue itself, rather the platform the Americans built for the French designed statue.

The statue of liberty was a gift from the French people commemorating the alliance of France and the United States during the American Revolution. Yet it represented more than simple generosity. By honoring democracy in the United States, the French who proposed the gift were indirectly criticizing the repressive Second Empire (1853-70) at home. The monument was to be at once a reminder of this historic friendship and a bold call for returning democracy to France. Hands up how many people knew that? Although I am sure to the locals and those that know, the statue will remain a reminder of the friendship expressed by the French people, but more so in today’s eyes the statue itself resembles hope and freedom. Even back in 1921 immigrating to America; Imagine, after months of cramp quarters on a boat, surrounded by the stench and disease also associated with a long voyage from Europe back in the early 1900’s, imagine what you would of felt when you first laid eyes on the Liberty statue as you approached Ellis Island, it would have been so liberating.

The Ellis Island reception center has since been remodeled as a museum showing the history of immigration into the United States, it made for a great visual of how it would have been back in the day.

On the day of arrival, most immigrants felt both hope and apprehension. On Ellis Island, the weary travelers would be observed, examined and either permitted to land or sent back to their homelands. Many of the immigrants had invested all they owned in the journey, and exclusion at this point would almost certainly cause great financial and emotional hardships.

“We were put on a barge, jammed in so tight that I couldn’t turn ’round, there were so many of us, you see, and the stench was terrible. And when we got to Ellis Island, they put the gangplank down, and there was a man at the foot, and he was shouting, at the top of his voice. ‘Put your luggage here, drop your luggage here. Men this way. Women and children this way.’ Dad looked at us and said, ‘Well, we’ll meet you back here at this mound of luggage and hope we find it again and see you later.” Eleanor Kenderdine Lenhart, an English immigrant in 1921, interviewed in 1985

When disembarking at Ellis Island, some immigrants were so encumbered with large bundles that they kept their health certificates handy by clenching them between their teeth. The assortment of baggage contained what must have been their most prized but portable belongings: clothing, feather beds, and dinner ware, as well as photographs, family prayer books and other mementos of their homeland.

Ellis was an eye opener experience, you really did feel you had stepped back in time and were experiencing and living through the events from immigrants eyes (the afore mentioned security checks made it seem even more realistic at times).

The next day we ventured to ground zero, formally the location of the World Trade Center until the 11th of September 2001 where a terrorist plot to divide and traumatize the United States backfired, instead unifying the nation moreso, and the world with it. America has grown so much stronger since that tragic day.

We went to ground zero initially expecting the area to be shrouded by memorials, photographs of loved ones and other shrines. To our surprise, and to the determination of the American people to never be put down, the memorials, still strongly respected in their hearts were put to the side, some along the fire station, and others in various other locations around the city to make way for a grander and even better World Trade Center than before. Yes, Ground Zero was well under re-development with the foundations and lower levels of the towers well underway.

As a tribute to American ideology and determination this on a propaganda poster with rendered artist impressions: “Months after the events of September 11 2001, the U.S. Navy undertook a project to honor those who perished. Eight years and thousands of man-hours later, USS NEW YORK, her bow forged of 7 1/2 tons of precious steel recovered from the World Trade Center, will slice through the waters of New York Harbor to be officially commissioned as a U.S. Navy ship. USS NEW YORK will be an enduring tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and, through the ship’s crew, will carry the spirit of New York wherever she goes in defense of her country.”

Our last afternoon in New York was spent doing something probably more symbolic in the modern world than the Statue of Liberty or Empire State building itself, we went to a Yankees game; it wasn’t just any game though, it was one of the finals between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Socks held at the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Getting to and from the stadium was relatively easy, unlike going to a local Derby in Perth where the roads leading into Subiaco Oval become gridlocked. Michelle and I jumped on the metro from Broadway and took it right the way through to the Yankee Stadium station.

We were nervous only about two things, one, being seating in a Red Sock dominant area; especially since between us we had dressed up with a Yankee cap, shirt and giant foam finger. And secondly, due to this being one of the finals we weren’t entirely convinced we had the best seats, given there were slim pickings left over in the first place when we booked online a month earlier. As it turned out our concerns were not warranted on both accounts, we quickly realized upon entering Yankee Stadium that the stadium got its name simply because of the huge Yankee fan base that it has. Glad we were not Red Sock supporters, I don’t recall seeing a single Red-Sock paraphernalia store in the stadium. So the foam finger was proudly worn and the jacket concealing the Yankee shirt was unzipped.

After collecting our token bag of peanuts, some hot chips and two pepsi’s we journeyed on through the stadium to find our seats. We were sitting on the third tier directly across from third base with a view of the entire field and the giant multi-story plasma screen at the end of the field, used for highlights and player introductions. The seats turned out to be perfect, we were concerned initially because after making the game booking one of Michelle’s friends taunted her that ‘you never get third base seats’ (as if we knew that), but that only becomes problematic if no action makes it to third base, fortunately for us, our game did.

The game started off very slowly, if it were an AFL match a respective supporter would be forgiven for walking out or changing channel on TV. We went through about four rounds without a single person reaching home, but you wouldn’t know it – the stadium atmosphere was wild; the giant plasma screen constantly previewing introductions of the next batter. Particular batters even had their own theme music and video introduction. A lot of the Yankees theme music came from Star Wars.

The stadium was rather full, with only a few free seats scattered here and there. Next to us sat two American brothers who, you could easily tell, baseball was their life. While waiting for the game to start the guys were talking about the whole history of the Yankees, recollecting who won and by how much year after year. After a while one of them turned to me and asked ‘What accent is that?’, ‘Australian’ I replied pronouncing Australian with a bit of an auzzie slur. ‘Ah yeah, I know the place, the land of the Crocodile Hunter and Elle McPherson!’. After breaking the news to the man that Steve Irwin was in fact dead I turned back thinking, so that just leaves us with Elle McPherson? There has to be more than that, and at the very least, surely there are more famous (and significantly more beautiful) models in Australia than Elle.

After the fourth round the game started to pick up, at least for the Yankees. They put on an entertaining show and by the end of the match had a few home runs under their belt compared to the Red Socks which finished with a single run to their name. we were both disappointed with how fast the three hours seemed to go by, even with a wind of zero degrees (or so it seemed) hitting us at our elevated position the adrenalin felt through the entire match kept us going. What a great way to end our New York experience.

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.

When I was young, by that I mean seven or eight, my favorite actor/idol of all time was Michael Crawford. He was a very famous actor in the 70’s; probably most notably for his performance in ‘Some mothers do have em’ – but at that time I had not head of that show, and to Michael it would have been a distant memory of earlier days.

The film I first saw Michael Crawford in, a Disney production, was of a comic book writer turned secret agent. Essentially being at the right place at the right time and due to the circumstances having the CIA under his finger he was able to request all of the gadgets he invented in his comic book and live his adventure comics for real; the comic chronicles of ‘Condorman’.

Yes, this was a spy spoof of a film, and remember it is a Disney production, but to a eight year old, it was great; it had the humor, the swish looking car (which I obsessed over) and of course the evil of evil bad guys! That movie was my life, the actor who played the super hero ‘Michael Crawford’ was my hero – I wanted to be like him.

I recall at about the same time, perhaps a year on, my sister and I going out to the Wannaroo Markets with my Nanna and Grandpa. They turned to me and my sister (three years younger than me) and said, ‘here is twenty dollars, spend it on whatever you like.’ – As I recall my sister of six years wasted no time and immediately directed my grandparents to a piercing salon, and came out of it the other end with pierced ears (much to my Mum and Dad’s horror). I however walked as far as the nearest music store where I was immediately confronted by promotion posters featuring my favorite actor ‘Michael Crawford’. He had gone on to perform Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Phantom of the Opera’ – without hesitation I raced into the store with my $20 and purchased the cassette. To this day I still have it, although I have nothing to play it on.

Some sixteen years later on I find myself on Broadway in New York City, sitting in the audience of the longest running musical in Broadway history; The Phantom of the Opera.

For me, this opera experience was extra special, not only was the opera piece itself performed fantastically (not as well as Michael Crawford however) but also stirred all these memories of a childhood that existed so long ago.

The sets were incredible; the addition of the fog and fire just brought the production to life. The orchestra beneath the stage; the deep throbbing beat just prior to the organs introduction of the title piece echoing through the Majestic theater; you could feel the music vibrating through you.

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!