Here we go again… (4/1/19)

For a second time, it is just under four weeks before I embark on a second of four what I now call “global tours” or “G.T.s”. Unlike last year, I know not the approximate distance I will cover; also, unlike last year, I will, this time travel westwards around the world, as opposed to sailing to New Zealand via west Africa, Mauritius and the Indian Ocean south of Australia,and returning via the Far East and Suez Canal. With less regret than I might have expected, “Around the World in 73 Days” does involve huge amounts of flying. Nevertheless, this does have to be another “trip of life time”.

Day 1 is merely a routine 11 hour and 20 minute flight from Heathrow to San Francisco, where, suitably jet lagged, I hit the sack hopefully weary enough for a long sleep.

Day 2, I present myself at a bus station in time for a local connection with a civilised morning departure by train to Bakersfield. I was last on this train, travelling from Bakersfield, in 1991 and am amazed this service survives 28 years later, carrying the name “San Joaquin”. A bus takes me from Bakersfield to Long Beach for a three night stay on board the original Queen Mary. Will this be the last time I wander the hallowed grounds of the former Cabin Class restaurant and other “iconic” areas which survive to this day? Two full days in what might be a luke warm southern California should be enough to revisit or see for the first time, every available part of R.M.S. Queen Mary. (I am not too bothered about exploring Long Beach itself). As in 1991, I head by train and bus on the still running “Coast Starlight”, this time in Business Class. That journey takes almost as long as the flight from Heathrow! Two nights in San Francisco allows one full day to explore this attractive city. The ruins of the Embarcadero Freeway will no longer act as a poignant reminder of a major earthquake in the late 1980s.

All too soon, my brief reminder of a previous glorious holiday of younger times will itself fade into the annals of my future writings as Cunard’s M.V. Queen Victoria (which I hold in less esteem than its flagship sister, Queen Mary 2), will be taking me accross the Pacific Ocean, eventually to New Zealand and Sydney. That voyage fills a huge gap in my ambition to complete a journey around the world, “not by air”. Two other sections complete this “task” on the third “G.T.” later in the year. En route, we call at Honolulu, Tonga and Samoa, for a mini season of warmth, which should continue until I join QM2 at Dubai, for a third north bound transit of the Suez Canal. Arrival at Southampton concludes “once in a lifetime” journey number 2.

I will write again soon.

David