World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
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Flight Reviews | Lounge Reviews | Destinations | Short Breaks | World Trip 1986 | World Trip 1998 | World Trip 1999-2000 | World Trip 2006 | World Trip 2009 | World Trip 2009-10 | World Trip 2010 | World Trip 2011 | World Trip 2012-13 | World Trip 2015 | World Trip 2016 | World Trip 2017 | World Trip 2017-18 | World Trip 2018 | World Trip 2019 | Australia 2022 | World Trip 2023 | World Trip 2024 | World Trip 2024-25 | World Trip 2026-27
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Saturday 22 January 2000
Highlights: Six Flags Magic Mountain.
After confusion at the hostel over our booking to Magic Mountain we paid an additional $11 (total $71) for transport and entrance.
Magic Mountain is purely a roller coaster attraction with a DC Super Hero theme. The best ride was the Riddler’s Revenge. You stand up, get strapped in, and twist and turn while going upside down. Never seen anything like it, try before eating lunch!
The Batman Ride was also brilliant as they had an e collect free fall part of the ride. The Superman Express however was a little disappointing. Basically this was the best theme park I’ve experienced yet including Disney World in Orlando.
The shuttle back to LA broke down meaning we were stuck for a while and when we got back the Greyhound driver forgot our stop meaning we caught the 3 am bus to San Francisco.
Friday 21 January 2000
Highlights: Universal Studios, live taping of ‘Suddenly Susan’
Like the backpackers we are we caught the public bus to Universal Studios saving about $8, every bit counts.
The highlight at the park was the Terminator 2 3D show. The show includes live actors plus footage of all the movie stars including Arnie. Unlike my visit in 1998 the Backdraft demonstration was open and very enjoyable.
However the day become unexpectedly better when we scored free tickets to the taping of ‘Suddenly Susan’ staring Brooke Shields who is stunning in person. The episode itself was fun hand watching how they makes live TV show was very educational.
As it takes about 4 hours to tape the show they have a comedian who entertains the audience. His best act was hypnotising several members of the audience into believing they were drunk which bought me to tears. The best live show and it cost nothing!
Thursday 20 January 2000
Highlights: Mann’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame
We caught the Metro Train system into Los Angeles with a mission to find out how to get to Universal Studios and Magic Mountain.
We visited Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame checking out all the famous movie stars’ handprints. Mann’s Chinese Theatre still shows movies, today it was ‘Any Given Sunday’.
The hostel is located on Hollywood Blvd which has stars dedicated to various entertainment stars including radio, television, movie and music entertainers.
We finished the day watching ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ which seemed like the Hollywood thing to do.
Nathan's Insights 