Perhaps the best thing about traveling alone is that you are not beholden to anyone else. There is total freedom to come or go strictly as you please. I flew on to Rome and have enjoyed the week here. Rome is such a wonderful city to visit. I toured Saint Peter’s Basilica and once again […]

Israel and Jordan were good fun. The weather could have been better, but you take what you get. We overnighted in Tel Aviv after the 02:50 arrival having traveled all day and night. Then we caught a puddle hopper from Tel Aviv to Eilat on the Red Sea and a cab across the border to […]

I am having a problem getting the blog site to work, it won’t let me upload pictures or edit. I will try to get it fixed soon.

Poe and I had a nice short flight from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. We were met by our guide/driver for the next 6 days, Letawo. He was very pleasant and knowledgable and a good spotter. The first night was in the Arusha Coffee Lodge. A series of bungalows in a coffee plantation. They […]

So after three and a half weeks in India I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa and the first thing I did was to have a double cheeseburger! It was awesome! Not spicy and no vegetables in sight. I am definitely a carnivore. Johannesburg was a clean and pleasant city. I didn’t spend much time there, […]

Back in Mumbai passing time and waiting for my 2:35 in the morning flight to Johannesburg. To pick the storyline back up where I left off, my very good driver Ratan took me over some of the worlds worst road to Karauli where I stayed at the Bhanwar Vilas Palace. It was built in 1932 […]

As one frog said to the other, “time’s fun when you’re having flies.” I have been in India now for nine days and am just about past the shell-shock of the place. I had forgotten the incredible somewhat controlled chaos that is India. I have decided that it is not so much a destination you visit […]

Back from Phuget and I stayed at my $70 per night five star hotel. It is a wonderful place, spacious and high end. At first I was thinking this might have been a bad choice for a place to stay in that it is in the middle of nowhere, near the airport. I asked at […]

Out of Bali I flew on to Singapore. Quite the change of pace from Indonesia. The place is spotlessly clean, and wealthy. Flying in I could appreciate the huge number of cargo ships passing through the port. Singapore is a shipping center and has made huge money on it. They gave up some individual freedoms […]

After Poe went home I drove over to the eastern coast of the North Island and spent a couple of days. Then another long travel day. I checked out of the hotel at noon and drove back across the island to Auckland where I got to wait at the airport for my 1:10 in the […]

Greetings from Middle Earth (not the Middle Kingdom). My apologies for the long delay in the blogging, but I have been too busy living the dream to write it down. I thought the Australians loved their sheep, nothing like the Kiwis! They seriously love their sheep. Well I figured that I had dodged the bullet […]

My last bit of time in Melbourne was fun. I went to the Melbourne Museum and saw the “King Tutankamun” traveling exhibit. The detail work of the jewelry and carvings was exquisite. Given that these were done 1350 BCE or thereabouts, the workmanship is unbelievable. I took a walk through the “rainforest” that they have […]

Well sadly for those I left aboard the Spoilsport on the Great Barrier Reef it turned out that Tuesday was the most rainfall ever recorded in Cairns! I however had spectacular sunny skies and 72 degrees in Melbourne. I forgot to mention one of the more interesting things I found in Cairns. At dusk they have […]

How am I? Well as everyone here says all the time for “you are welcome”, “Of course”, “it is fine”, and any generalized positive answer: “No worries, mate”. North Queensland has been wonderful and in another hour I set of on the live aboard dive boat for the outer Great Barrier Reef and some hopefully […]

I am heading for Australia this morning. It was exciting riding the subway to get to Nagoya for my train connection, during rush hour with a suitcase and knapsack, . My car didn’t have a map so I had to keep a close eye out for my transfer station as we were sardines in the […]

Well the tour has taken a little change in flavor. Our small group (the Chinese Gang of Nine) is to hook up with another group and have a national guide to travel with us. We flew down out of Tibet into a rainy day in Chongqing where we were to board the cruise ship for […]

And just to ease your fears, no I didn’t use a ladder to get here. The time in Tibet has been wonderful. After the usual delay for the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa we arrived and met our local guide, Pema. The first night we spent in a small town called Tse Tang. On the […]

I tried to get to the blog site in Chengdu and got in, so maybe it is just Beijing or even just that hotel that blocked the access to blog sites. Anyway here is an update: One week into the China tour and all is well. The group seems to be meshing very well. We […]

China does not allow access to blogs. Will write in 3 weeks. See ya

Here I am passing through Oz and at the end of the second leg of the trip, or should I say the third leg. I have seen North America and it was spectacular. The Rockies and the Canyon lands are truly incredible and worthy of the bucket list for sure. Carlsbad is still a place […]