New And Improved

For those of you whose lives are empty since the ending of our blog.....good news, I have started another one. If you want to know what little we've done since we're back feel free to visit......www.returnoftherejchrts.blogspot.com

The End

375 days after setting off and Air Canada flight 848 brings us back to Heathrow where it all started on 3rd July 2009.

The raw numbers show two complete circumnavigations of the globe on 169 flights. The first circuit involved flying 152,588 km, while the second trip was 88,060 km in 3.5 months. Total in-flight carbon is therefore in excess of 240,000 km. These were largely incident-free with just two aborted landings (one early on in Erbil and another on the short flight from Samoa to Tonga) and a near miss avoiding a bird-strike out of Vancouver on our commuter flight to Victoria.

In addition, we sailed 4,150 km on a cruise ship and drove rental cars over 38,200 km and I managed a run about every three days, running a total of 1,300 km.

Our trip took us to 38 (or was it 39?) countries and territories, so we covered 19% of the UN list of the world’s countries in a year. We had set out with the aims of spending more time in the places we love (South Africa), revisiting places we had not been to for some time (Canada, Australia, China) or only briefly visited (Japan) while also setting out on a discovery of the new (New Zealand and the Pacific islands). On the whole our travels reinforced previous experiences.

This being our first trip of this magnitude, we certainly learned a few things on the way, which will be useful for doing it again. And in no particular order here is Peter’s 8-point guide to travelling the world:

Packing & planning

• For me, take less clothes! - no matter what the airline luggage allowance says, being weighed down with three suitcases on a Japanese metro train in the rush hour is no fun.
• Organisation and planning really are good traits, allowing more time on the road to enjoy the experiences rather than having to be thinking about the next destination.
• Some places really just are not worth bothering with - I have this idealistic world view that places will not really turn out that bad but the illness and dirt of Madagascar and the bureaucracy of Russia on this trip were tiresome and will possibly help in Sarah reigning me in from booking a trip to Tajikistan for our 2011 wedding anniversary.
• It has been tremendous having a support network back home with Sarah’s sister only an e-mail away when we desperately need to transfer funds to pay for our Tanzanian safari as their credit card machine was not working. And for dealing with a year’s worth of mundane post and bank statements - I am sure despite protestations to the contrary she has thoroughly enjoyed the free snapshot into our lives! And the feeling of popularity due to the volume of our post received on a daily basis.
• The thought of spending a year with the same person might put people off contemplating a trip of this nature. We have had periods of not listening to each other, being ill and tired and grumpy with each other as well as disagreements over where we are going, but on the whole we have had a great time together. The trip has reinforced what we enjoy about each other’s company and has provided many shared experiences we can treasure and that are already oft-repeated.

Airlines & money

• Low cost airlines are not low price and cause no end of hassles (particularly if they are called Virgin Blue) when things go wrong. You are plum out of luck if you expect good service and low cost and the difference to the front end of full-service airlines is simply unbearable. Also, don’t believe independent ratings of airlines - we booked several flights on Korea’s Asiana based on their top rating by Skytrax only to find their beds extremely uncomfortable and their service indifferent.
• When you visit so many countries and with a weak domestic economy, currency hedging is a good skill to have and playing the currency markets can be of great benefit. We were in Oz when the pound was its weakest against the Aussie dollar and acquiring foreign exchange at times when the pound was stronger could have helped us out financially.
• We have dipped rather than plunged into the various cultures on our route. This was our intended strategy when we set off and it worked well. However, as we were preparing to leave Canada we saw a map of the vastness of this country and this brought home to us how much longer we could have spent in each place. Nevertheless, our experiences have given us definite ideas on where we would like to spend more time in the future.

Emotionally we have thoroughly enjoyed the enriching experience and the wonderful opportunity to spend extended periods in so many great places around the world. On reflection the world seems quite small despite the big numbers and only Japan stands out as truly culturally different to anywhere else on the planet. China may well be the future but it’s a future very similar to the present based on the pursuit of materialist consumerism.

We finish the trip healthier (maybe trimmer), culturally wiser and emotionally wealthier, which leaves us ready to do it all again - if anyone wants to pay us to disappear for a while.

Sarah has produced her own thoughts on the year of travel, shorter than mine of course………"Next time I’m doing it without Mr Dipstick"…..charming.

Enough of the emotional diatribe from me. We plan to keep the blog going on our future (less adventurous) travels, so keep an eye out for possibly a new web address but the same mad people at the keyboard.

Back to Civilisation?

Welcome back to Canada - after a week in Cuba we are briefly back in Canada. Now in Toronto, the largest city and the one with the most American feel. A bit of culture shock on our arrival:

• We did our usual "please stamp here" routine at immigration - this was simply ignored
• We walked down to baggage claim and found trolleys required payment - the first such airport in Canada. Do they think this is Oz or the USA?
• The bus driver made announcements of various stops after getting stuck in expressway traffic for an hour - these were completely intelligible in this English (?) speaking country
• We wanted to book a last night treat at the Hilton with views of Lake Ontario. We checked in to a room on the fifth floor with views of the nearest intersection and the construction site next door despite lots of e-mail correspondence prior to the arrival about high floors. Luckily things improved and we got the room changed to 31F and use of the Executive lounge on 32F with some good views both of the lake and the CBD.

Cuban Olympics?

Yes, Havana has an Olympic Stadium. It is under 20 years old, built for the 1991 Pan American Games and with an eye to bidding for the 2012 Olympics. Then the world caved in, Soviet subsidies dried up and now, like so much in Cuba, it stands rotting and decaying.

The Cubanologist’s View - 33 deg and 82% humidity; GMT-4

In 1991 I submitted my thesis on the Cuban trade economy at a time of tumultuous world events with the ending of the Cold War, which saw Cuba tailspin into recession as it lost its beneficial sugar-for-oil swap agreement with its former benefactor, the USSR. This was probably not the best year in which to make prognostications on the future direction the Cuban economy might take but that is the plight of the student with deadlines to meet.

19 years on and the same slogans - Long Live the Revolution and Socialism or Death - are still knocking around along with Fidel’s exhortations to be altruistic and think of the collective good above individual gratification. These are beginning to sound hollow in the dual economy created through Cuba’s pursuit of hard currency through tourism joint ventures.

In reality, the state economy is defunct and everyone tries to participate in the secondary economy to survive. There are even separate currencies to serve the national economy and the tourist economy; for those with convertible tourist pesos (CUCs) everything is available at a price. The state fails to provide adequate food and transportation, so access to the CUC as a form of payment is essential. This has created a parallel capitalist economy, or the opportunity to cheat and rip off at every turn. In practice, this means:

• The nationalised car rental company employees supply vehicles with 200 km less of fuel than a full tank but make renters pay the full tank and pocket the difference
• There are fees for every service like looking after luggage for 2 hours - cost 1 euro. Cuba is not looking such a bargain anymore
• The petrol pump attendant who assumes that if he fills the tank he will get the balance of any notes you hand over as a tip, even if this tip is close to 1 euro. And, of course, there is no service like in South Africa of washing the windows for that assumed tip. In fact, service remains largely an alien concept in this pseudo-system. Years of being brought up in surly socialist businesses and the Spanish heritage of grumpy non-service are hard to eradicate in this new parallel economy
• The menu that advertises soft drinks included and when the bill turns up there is a separate charge for drinks
• The bar we frequented for dinners in Havana that on our third visit decides to impose a random 20% service charge.

Then there is the poor service and the languorous laziness and slow pace:

• The maids who do not knock in the morning but simply burst in, assuming it must be time to clean the room
• The horrific road accident stats - while getting our undercarriage fixed (there is a government-owned repair shop in every settlement) I looked at the stats for the Trinidad area and only three coach drivers had been accident-free over five years.

Within minutes of the arrival, the car hire agent said to us that he hoped this is not our only trip to Cuba and that we would soon be returning. I thought this a strange comment at the time but as the days wore on I began to realise that there is a desperate need for return visitors to fill the ever expanding concrete blocks being knocked up along all of Cuba’s coastline and left in varying states of decay within months of completion. Don’t get me wrong - the sordid decay of La Habana Vieja, largely uncorrupted by modern influences, is very different to the average Caribbean capital with daily cruise ship arrivals and shops selling tat - and, despite the sewage on the streets, has a faded grandeur that is both photogenic and historic.

Over the last two decades much has been stagnant, but there has also been significant change - there is no way I would have predicted all those years ago that i) I would return or ii) there would be Coca-Cola available, or Nestle ice cream (made locally in another joint venture), or heavy traffic on the once-deserted streets, or luxury western cars, like Audi and Mercedes taxis. Also now absent are the fur-coated Russian technocrats and Havana has a much more cosmopolitan face, with an even an ambassadorial presence of the old enemy of South Africa (having been at war with the South Africans in Angola last time I was here) and many Chinese businessmen.

The revolution seems to have succeeded in creating the very system that it was intended to overthrow - capitalism with huge income disparities between those who can fleece tourists for the valued CUC and the destitute farmers without mechanisation - while maintaining an authoritarian bureaucracy that permits no dissent and a rigid, centrally planned, structurally inefficient command economy that fails to deliver.

After a week I struggle to see why anyone would chose a beach holiday here over Thailand or anywhere in Asia. This week has reinforced our decision not to spend much time in Latin America.

Sarah’s Swansong

Where to spend the last week of our trip was a painful question…honestly it was. We had planned to travel through Canada and wanted to finish on a somewhat different and more relaxing note to prepare for our return to the Mother Country/Nanny State.

Having discounted much of the Caribbean on cost I suggested Cuba for the culture, grandeur and politics of Havana combined with a side trip to the quiet mountains and a few days on the beach in Varadero. Peter had been to Cuba before (no surprises not for holiday but for a MPhil dissertation) and according to him he was close to death with food poisoning/cholera, but agreed it was a long time ago and for potential value for money it’d be worth a look.

I’m not sure when we realised it wasn’t such a bright idea:

• Waiting for over an hour for our luggage at Havana airport (good practice for Heathrow)
• Collecting a heap of junk Chinese rental car (no worse than Europcar Tasmania)
• Constant requests for us to buy cigars, embroidery and hats (a bit like China without the fake luxury labels)
• The 14 km off-roading detour thanks to Peter directing us in aforementioned heap to get to our accommodation in the sierra, loosening the undercarriage and getting a slow puncture (reminiscent of driving a Merc up the Katberg mountains in South Africa, probably with less screaming at every jolt from Peter this time)
• The quiet mountain hotel besieged by an aged east German cultural tour group singing O Sole Mio after 11 at night (probably the same in every tour group hotel frequented by Germans that we don’t normally use on our travels)
• Turning up to the Mercure Hotel in Varadero only to find they’d lost our reservation and had since become an all inclusive resort an doubled the price (this is truly unique).

There were of course positives - the historic hotel in Havana had also lost our booking but gave us a fabulous corner room with large windows facing the historic sights and the sea. We were treated as VIPs as we had booked via our Accor Club card, which got us into the amazing rooftop restaurant for the same rubbish breakfast as the plebs on the ground floor. This section of the trip also gave us the opportunity to look more favourably upon our return to the UK, it certainly would be cheaper than extortionate (literally) Cuba.

What I don’t really understand if the Revolution is continuing here why nothing has changed in over 50 years? I suspect there is going to be more revolution in Casa de Team Rejchrt over the next few weeks while we settle down, neither of us have the beards or cult status of Fidel or Che, but I’m starting making up revolutionary slogans now.

Please Stamp Here

As we hit the one-year anniversary of the trip and leave Canada (to return in a week's time) we have almost finished with the "please can you stamp on a used page" routine to all immigration officials we encounter.

After some unnecessarily flamboyant stamping in the Pacific islands at the turn of the year we thought we might run out of space in our first passports, hence the requests to officialdom. Cuba issues tourist cards, which are stamped and collected on departure, and we have only one more entry stamp to go - back into Toronto. At the moment I have seven pages left in the 48-page version of the passport and Sarah has six.

And it has proved an interesting game to see just how many stamps we can accumulate on a single page.

Big Breakfast

Our last meal in Canada before we hit Cuba (expect less blogs in the next week) and I was desperate for a traditional big brekkie, but couldn't face having my pancakes sat next to my easy over eggs.

Sarah tried the lighter meal but failed spectacularly with two types of potato!

Happy Canada Day

We're in Edmonton celebrating 143 years of independence (from you know who) and the Queen has joined us in Canada, although she is getting more press coverage and isn't spending the equivalent of four whole days driving in a rented Toyota Corolla.

Talking of cars you may have read an earlier comment from Peter about registration plates. What started off as a mild amusement to see how far some people travelled to tourist sites in Canada ended up in an "Eye Spy" tick off sheet trying to get as many different US state registered cars. By the last day in Jasper we would cruise along our favourite street where most of the foreign cars rested up for coffee and muffins. We'd even walk the extra distance if we saw a plate we didn't recognise. So this is it, a year of travelling, broadening our horizons and we're plate spotters!

Plenty of Stodge Here

For our last night in western Canada we went for a typically Canadian meal in a restaurant that reflects Canada's enthusiasm for immigration. Barb and Ernie set up their resto here 40 years ago, having left Germany penniless. The German beerhall interior belies the truckstop exterior, but the fare was stoutly German with lots of meat.

Running Wild

The downside of all this fantastic wildlife in Canada is the impact it has on my running. I finally decided to brave the open trails and head out into the wilderness rather than stick to suburbia.

Within minutes I was scanning the trees waiting for a bear family to pounce, looking over my shoulder for the calving elks doubtless about to charge me, not to mention moose and rabid beaver. The squeak of the squirrels in their dens set my nerves ajangle.

After 12k I returned a nervous wreck, not sure if my lack of puff was altitude induced (Jasper is 1050m amsl) or simply from the many frights I had along the way.

At the dinner elk viewing site I summoned up my courage and ended up quite close to the elk. It seemed more interested in food, particularly dandelion heads, and what was in the woods behind than in me!

Bear Hunting No. 6

We drove up towards the Marmot Basin ski centre in Jasper today, no-one else on the road except for one bear crossing. He was so fast by the time we'd retrieved the camera and turned it on, all that remained was a furry bottom retreating into the woods. We weren't disappointed, we've accepted our camera issues and were pleased to see a bear so close at hand. We drove on and 50 metres later another bear appeared walking alongside the crash barrier; we were no more than 10 metres apart. He ignored us and we held our breath while I tried to snap away and not be eaten.

In the afternoon a large volume of cars stopped by the roadside signalling elk and calves, something we'd yet to see. There are more human injuries due to elks than bears and there are warnings around the trails to keep away from them if they have calves. Safety in numbers...there were 50 of us standing on Highway 16 watching them.

Feeling pretty chuffed with our day of animal sightseeing we treated ourselves to a picnic burger dinner (Team Rejchrt knows how to live) out near Maligne Canyon. We were going to use the local toilets but an elk beat us to it.

Bear Hunting No. 5

We have had a lack of bear spotting opportunities recently, but as the main camera is broken (did anyone notice how Peter's earlier blog managed to apportion no blame for the breakage?) we are relying on a small old digital. These shots of mother bear plus three cubs are the best we can do.

Luckily the deer and caribou we spotted later in the day obliged by standing closer to the camera.

Considerate Canadians

As is in many other respects the Canadians have been very thoughtful along the Icefields Parkway linking Banff and Jasper. Yes, you do have to display a national parks pass but you do get the drive-up glacier included. Oz was unusual for its drive-in bottle shops but who has ever heard of the drive-in glacier? And they wonder why the glaciers are receding.

Even my mother, who was rapturous in her praise of Antarctican glaciers, cannot claim to have done the drive-in version.

Our Rockies Journey Continues

Day 358 of the trip and our Canon camera has decided to give up - having started to play up a month ago in Japan it now has a shutter that does not work so we are on back-up cameras with weak batteries. Perhaps the first sign that we should be thinking of coming home? The stunning scenery in the Alberta Rockies continues unabated and irrespective of camera functioning.

Like The Caribbean?

A passing comment overhead by an American group at Lake Louise, noting the colours of the lake are reminiscent of the Caribbean! Huh, they clearly did not read the signboards about the lake's glacial and mineral contents.

Bear Hunting No. 4

A day in the Rockies without a bear sighting. How annoying, another squirrel was chased down to have its photo taken.

This grainy photo is a zoomed up speed shot of a muskrat we had mistaken for a fish in Johnson Lake, Banff.

We can also provide you with a deer (Peter was convinced it was an elk) shot if you're really desperate. They roam Banff Avenue like they own the place.

Cultural Sensitivity

Throughout the trip and wherever we have travelled we have made friends with the locals and forged strong cultural bonds, enriching people's lives as we go. Or something like that.

Sarah has taken bonding with the natives to a higher level. Our waitron in Lake Louise enquired after the FIFA scores on the final day of England's group matches. Sarah noted that we had sneaked through and that "your lot" were also lucky to qualify referring to the last minute winner for the USA. I cringed in my chair, but Johnnie seemed to manage to laugh it off, obviously keen to earn his "customary for Canada 15-20% tip" despite the deep national insult that had just been hurled at him.

What will she do next? Call them moosie or something.

Coffee Culture North American Style

Time for a rant about coffee. These pictures summarise all that is wrong with coffee in North America. For once my pet hate (the ubiquitous plastic stirrer) is not provided, but there appear to be no tea spoons in all of North America so a soup spoon appears to stir the coffee. The cappuccino turns up with a lovely frothy head, just the way it should be with a shot of espresso underneath. The head of course hides the fact that the coffee is the usual over-roasted North American bean with a bitter after-taste. All in all not the best coffee of the trip but not the worst.