Preparing for the Journey

Looking at this little piece of information which was seen in the Brisbane Courier Mail July 1942, one would be forgiven for thinking I was on my way to a remarkably well travelled life. Would you believe I never entered a plane from then until 1988? What happened? Very little obviously, but the year 1984 found me with a divorce decree in my hand and a brand new life stretching before me.

‘Wonderful,’ thought I, ‘what to do now?’

I always had a desire for travel and had fostered that love in my children, thinking that they would fulfil my dream for me, which they did. Little did I know that I would have the chance to realize that dream for myself. Now my time had come!

After buying a cute little cottage, I found a job, started saving madly for my dream to become a reality.

One night as we sat at the kitchen table, my daughter Louise produced a huge world map, laid it before me and said,’ The world’s your oyster, where would you like to go, what faraway places have you always dreamed of seeing? If you don’t go soon your knees will give out and you will end up on a bus with the twin set and pearl brigade!’

The double mention of my arthritic knees and the tourist bus complete with guide did the trick. Not that there is anything wrong with guided tours I hasten to add, it was just not part of my dream.

My Oyster!

Travel light, no unnecessary luggage or clothes to weigh me down, after all who would know or care how I looked on the other side of the world?

Back to the kitchen table and map. Mmm, well Asia had never interested me greatly, so after much perusal I settled on Europe, United Kingdom and a couple of places in the U.S.A.

As a child of the thirties and forties, the Saturday afternoon movie matinee figured hugely in my life, the heroes and heroines were adored. I used to write fan letters by the dozen and in those days they were beautifully answered, by their minions of course but we kids thought they were personal letters, hand written by the stars of the silver screen, accompanied by glossy photos. So of course HOLLYWOOD had to be on the agenda.

To stroll down the boulevards among the palm trees, see Grauman’s Chinese theatre, the corner of Hollywood and Vine, the Brown Derby and all those magical places so eagerly gobbled up from the fan magazines by those young eyes all those years ago, was a must. So LOS ANGELES number 1 destination.

I had become an ardent admirer of Elvis Presley rather late in life, joining the ranks of fans including the likes of The Beatles, the Proclaimers and U.2. to name a few, so while in America why not head way down south to Memphis Tennessee and visit Graceland? Why not indeed, and as his birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi was not too far away, how could I miss that experience!

Across the ocean to the U.K. London, how about Loch Ness, East Bergholt in Suffolk where my favourite artist John Constable was born, I simply MUST see Rome, Venice Paris etc. etc.

Now the ideas were coming thick and fast. Louise was having a hard time plotting my course, but eventually we had an inkling of my desires, so the next step was a visit to a travel agent. Flight Centre was our choice and the manager complimented Louise on her efforts and promptly offered her a job which she declined as she had spent the last few years at Uni. working towards her teaching degree.

After deciding on an ‘around the world’ ticket which would cost $1889, the wheels were set in motion. Begging five weeks off work with my boss’s blessing, I really started to prepare for my trip of a lifetime.

Travel light, so a small back pack was purchased. Now the hard part, what to take. No boring details but believe me when I tell you I really followed that travel light to the letter.

That little job taken care of, now the work began for Louise... the itinerary and what a grand job she did. Plane dates and times, places to stay, everything was there. All I had to do was follow, it looked so easy.

I joined the Y.H.A., (Youth Hostels Australia) purchased Britrail and Eurail train passes before leaving. Also in case of emergencies a MasterCard was a necessity.I will point out here that this was to be 'on a shoestring' travel. My reasoning being that if I could keep my expenses to a minimum, I would be encouraged to save and travel again (and again). I was hoping to manage my spending below $5000 including air fare.I have no trouble roughing it so saw no reason why that goal could not be achieved. I was going purely for the sights.

The much used itinerary- my calendar,watch, map and sometimes the only way to keep track of where I was!

As you can see by the state of the itinerary I did a little chopping and changing directions, and though my family had a copy , there were times when no one in the world knew where I was,(including me.) That was a truly liberating feeling for me. Of course, thinking back it was rather stupid but in their ignorance my children slept well.

I was supposed to travel from Rome to Naples but had been told that it was a very dangerous place for me to attempt on my own, lots of crime. I regret that decision as I never made it back there.

Also my journey from Pisa to France was cancelled because someone told me they were very intolerant of the English. I did get back on a later trip with my daughter and found it a wonderful place. Apparently the way to a Frenchman's heart is to try and speak their language, so many bon jours and merci's were exchanged but not much else. That seemed to satisfy them.