Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas


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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 85  London to Cambridge, England

    Wednesday 2 February 2000
    Highlights: Cambridge University

    In a rare display of everything lining up perfectly we managed to get to the Britrail train just on time, leaving at 9.15 am and arriving at Cambridge at 10.10 am.

    Cambridge is based around the famous University which is made up of several Colleges.  Today will visited King’s, Trinity, Trinity Hall, Pembroke, Peterhouse and Emmanuel Colleges.  We paid to enter King’s College Chapel which Henry VI created to honour the Virgin Mary in 1446.  The Chapel has had many Royal patrons over the years, including Henry VIII who glorified the interior and as a result has pictures and statues of himself everywhere.  The Chapel is very impressive, especially the high roof.

    The city is awash with students not surprisingly, and heaps of bicycles being ridden everywhere, a very gentle English feel to the place.  We finished the day watching a soccer match in a pub having a bet on the outcome with Ladbrokes and sinking a few pints.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 84 London, England

    Tuesday 1 February 2000
    Highlights: Westminster Abbey

    With our alarm clock off at the insistence of Jon after yesterday’s waking, we ended up sleeping though to 2 pm!  Not a great way to spend limited time in London.

    we quickly rushed to Westminster Abbey in order to make the last entrance time of 3 pm which we just made.  The Abbey was established in 1066 and all but two sovereigns were crowned here.  Most Kings and Queens are buried here and the heads of the Church of England (Anglican Church) meet and discuss religious matters here.

    Notable memorials includes Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin.  The Abbey also houses the Coronation Chair which has been in use since the 1300s.  The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (not solider) who died in World War I is also entombed here.

    While magnificent the Abbey seems mostly concerned with honouring the great but not necessarily be a place of religious worship.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 83 London, England

    Monday 31 January 2000
    Highlights:  War Cabinet, West End Show (‘Les Miserables’), Harrods, House of Commons.

    Jon was still suffering from acute jet-lag and wasn’t a happy camper when my alarm went off at 8.45 am.

    Today we started with a visit to the underground War Cabinet (1940-1945).  The whole complex was setup as it appeared in late 1940 when it was first used.  The audio tour included information on the London Blitz, newspaper articles about possible German ground invasions, instructions on gas attacks, and personal letters either sent from or to War Time Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Days 81-82 London, England

    Saturday 29 January 2000 and Sunday 30 January 2000
    Highlights: Leicester Square, Tower of London, The Globe Theatre

    Firstly jet-lag hit hard with both Jon and myself waking up at 3 am and unable to get back until about 7.30 am.  At least we could watch the Australian Tennis Open, the first time I had missed the Tennis Open in 10 years.  The hotel room includes a television and full breakfast which we made full use off.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 80 London, England

    Friday 28 January 2000
    Highlights: Westminster, St Paul’s Church Evensong performance

    Well we got into London a little early at 9.30 am.  The flight took over 10 hours.  I think next time we will check in separately as everyone else had a bonus spare seat.  After 80 days travelling together I think a spare seat apart would be fine 🙂

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 79 – Los Angeles to London, England

    Thursday 27 January 2000
    Highlights:     Leaving USA

    Straight to the airport for an uneventful flight from Los Angels to London (Heathrow) followed by a train trip to gets us to Notting Hill our location for the next few days in a small hotel.  It is good to say goodbye to the backpacker hostel for a little while.

    Today we finally finished the extensive 64 day USA leg of this world trip.  I’m very glad I did such an extensive tour of the United States.  I probably won’t get the chance again to do such a long stay in just one country, at least not until I’m retired.

    Highlights included visiting JFK’s shooting in Dallas, listening to jazz late into the night in New Orleans, comedy and everything in New York, the people in Deadwood, the magnificent Niagara Falls and the impossible to gasp Grand Canyon which is easily the best natural sight I have ever seen.

    I was also glad to see America sport; gridiron match, a basketball match and WCW wrestling (I know this isn’t a sport).  The Titans are still alive in the NFL and playing in the Super Bowl this weekend so I might have seen the Champions live during the season which would be great.

    Onwards to Europe or more accurately the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 78 – Los Angeles, USA

    Wednesday 26 January 2000
    Highlights:     Venice Beach.

    We arrived at 4 am and luckily the hostel let us check straight in and crash. The bus trip was mostly fine and I even got some sleep but thank god that is the last overnight bus trip.  They save time and money but really knock down your energy levels.

    After getting some sleep we headed down to Venice Beach.  While their was a lot of construction going on there was still the usual weird / unusual LA people and tourists (like me!). The rest of the day was spent preparing for tomorrow’s flight to England.  I wrote the last of my USA postcards and visited the local library to send emails to everyone.

    Tomorrow we commence the Europe leg of the trip; England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Republic of Ireland.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 77 – San Francisco to Los Angeles, USA

    Tuesday 25 January 2000
    Highlights:     Golden Gate Bridge, Girhardelli House Ice cream.

    For our last day in San Francisco we decided to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge, so called because of the entrance to the bay.   We totally misjudged the distance and ended up walking for over 2 hours.  I know I felt the strain of walking this major hills.  The weather was fine for this hike so we got so great photos (I hope).

    As a reward for our hiking we once again visited Girhardelli House for ice cream.  We really noticed the beggars and homeless today.  You’d think with all this wealth they could assist the unfortunate.

    Finally we caught our last ever Greyhound bus back to Los Angeles.  After 18 bus trips around USA, many of them overnight, I’m looking forward to never using this company again.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 76 – San Francisco, USA

    Monday 24 January 2000
    Highlights:      Girhardilli House, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable Cars

    We woke to very heavy rain but that is no excuse no to explore.  We walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf and split up.  Jon visited Alcartz which I skipped having been there only 14 months ago.  Instead I explored the local area in particular the tourist designated Pier 39.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 75 – Los Angeles to San Francisco, USA

    Sunday 23 January 2000
    Highlights:      Nothing today.

    Leaving Los Angeles on the 3 am bus, I’m not sure what we were thinking here, we didn’t get into San Francisco until after 11 am and it was raining heavily. Possibly the worst trip on a Greyhound Bus so far and that is saying something!

    After arriving at the hostel we discovered they mucked up our booking so upgraded us to a double (private) room which was great.  Today was a necessary laundry day which meant a public laundry which exposes you to some very interesting characters.

    We walked to Chinatown for dinner and I am tell you the hills are enormous and really test your fitness.  I ended up talking toJon for a few hours before going to sleep.  Despite travelling together we don’t get that many hands when in a shared dorm room.

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