Nathan's Insights

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

  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 41 – Washington DC, USA

    Monday 20 December 1999
    Highlights    : Visiting FBI, USA Capitol Building, USA Holocaust Museum

    Today was a welcome to the very cold north of USA. We left the hostel early around 8.40 am to visit the FBI building. The tour was fantastic and covered the history of the FBI, how they gather evidence, training requirements and a live display of the on the shooting range of an actual field agent. While the tour was free I would have been happy to pay for it. I found out you need a degree to even be considered for the FBI. Pay starts at around $45,000 for basic first year field officer.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 40 – Washington DC, USA

    Sunday 19 December 1999
    Highlights    : 19 hour bus trip concludes, Attending a Professional Wrestling Pay for View Event (WCW Starcade)

    We arrived in Washington at 7 am after a 19 hour bus trip on Greyhound. How we are going to survive the 24 hour bus ride next month I don’t know!

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 39 – Orlando to Washington DC, USA

    Saturday 18 December 1999
    Highlights    : Commencing the long bus trip to Washington

    We had problems selling the fourth day Disney Ticket, in the end we had to settle for $25 instead of the hoped for $30.

    Before the next bus ride we used the free internet access at the public library to catch up with the world. Mostly work colleagues this time telling me about promotions and other office gossip. I ended up sending long e-mails to my sister Lana and mum detailing highlights of the trip so far with a possible to call on Christmas day.

    Got a 16 hour plus bus trip to Washington which starts at 12.15 pm. I also rang home and got to talk to my brother Reagan who mentioned there was a WCW wrestling event in Washington tomorrow and I should try to attend.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 38 Orlando, USA

    Friday 17 December 1999
    Highlights    : Buzz Lightyear (Magic Kingdom), Shuttle launch postponed 😦

    A very overcast morning so the launch wasn’t looking very good. However we still hoping for luck when we set of to the Magic Kingdom.

    I think I found today I am too old for Disney’s Magic Kingdom as I found it mostly boring. The Water Rapids was okay and the Buzz Lightyear ride was very good. To tell the truth we probably would have left early even without the launch waiting, especially after it rained (we left our raincoats at the hostel – DOH).

    Eventually we went out to the Shuttle launch and waited in the rain, hoping for a break in the weather against hope. This was wasted hope since the launch was postponed again. The ‘Sunbury 5’ all lost money on our gamble this would go ahead. Disappointing as it would have been a highlight instead we wasted $30.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 37 Orlando, USA

    Thursday 16 December 1999
    Highlights    : Rain

    I did a little shopping today after finally getting some sleep after a big night. I walked down to the factory outlets and visited the Nike store. I ended up purchasing a raincoat, Nike cap and gloves. These should help in the colder climates up north.

    Unfortunately the shuttle launch was postponed for 24 hours. This was after we had paid $30 each to shuttle out to a viewing spot (the fee was non-refundable). Disappointed on return this turned our day into watching television and later back to the now traditional drinking & cards.

    It’s not looking good for tomorrow’s launch but we will cut the Magic Kingdom short in order to make our shuttle at 4.30 pm.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 36 Orlando, USA

    Wednesday 15 December 1999
    Highlights    : Disney Epcot

    We went to the Disney Epcot Park today which features science, technology and the future. What we learnt was that it was mostly educational.

    The best ride was a test car driver which frankly sucked. Managed to take an electronic photo and send it by e-mail back home so people can remember what I look like. Should be interesting to see the reaction back home.

    The world displays were very informative especially Mexico & Norway. The USA display had a show covering the American (USA) Presidents, which included them all up to the current President Bill Clinton. The robots were very life like.

    No expense was spared on the USA President display. While a visually great the pro USA message was a little over the top.

    Once again we went drinking back at the hostel and playing card games. With luck tomorrow we will see Discovery Space Shuttle launched tomorrow.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 35 – Orlando, USA

    Tuesday 14 December 1999
    Highlights:     Disney MGM Theme Park, Beer inspired Uno Matches

    We decided to start with the Disney-MGM Theme Park since it is the newest park and it involves movies so I felt we were bound to love it.

    MGM has two great rides, the “Tower of Terror” and the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Rollercoaster” which featured a pre-show from Aero Smith.  Other highlights included “Drew Carey’s Sounds Dangerous Animation Show” and the history of movies show and ride.

    To top it off there was a brilliant Mickey Mouse sound, light and water show after dark using lasers.  A spectacular show enjoyed by all.  Being so close to Christmas MGM also had over 5 million Christmas lights display.

    Back at the hostel we drank beers, 5 for me, and played Uno with Sean, Alex & Matt from Australia and Justin from Upper USA until 1 am.  As it was against the rules to drink beers at the hostel we had to be very sneaky!

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 34 – Savannah to Orlando, USA

    Monday 13 December 1999
    Highlights:     Running into a former school and cricket team friend

    We got up early for our longest non-overnight bus ride of 7 hours to Orlando.  I should probably say Kissimmee since that was the bus station and hostel’s actual address.

    Unbelievably we run into Sean Kiley who both Jon and I played cricket with at Salesian College and who was one year between as both.  Sean introduced us to two other Sunbury boys.  It turns out it is a very small world indeed.  Our group ended up playing a few hands of ‘assy’ as we caught up.

    Better still was the news that there is a planned space launch on Thursday night while we are still here.  A once in a lifetime chance with any luck.  With this in mind we purchased a 4 Day Disney World pass with an option to sell back a day for $30 if we end up going to a space launch.  So we should either see a shuttle launch or spend an extra day in one of the Disney Parks.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 33 – Savannah, USA

    Sunday 12 December 1999
    Highlights:     Savannah History Museum

    We explored beautiful Savannah today, my first impressions from yesterday were right a lovely town, somewhere you could easily live in.

    Visited the Savannah History Museum which covered the areas past in detail especially interesting was the Wars that Savannah’s citizens have been involved in.  There was also an excellent film about Georgia’s creation as a religious outpost into today’s more secular setup.

    Later in the day we caught a ferry down Savannah’s river which was very disappointing.  A total waste of money.

    I tried calling home to catch up with everyone but Mum and Kara were shopping, Lana and Steve had not yet arrived so only Reagan was home. This is the longest I have been out of Australia and you do feel homesick after a while.

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  • World Trip 1999-2000: Day 32 –Nashville to Savannah, USA

    Saturday 11 December 1999
    Highlights:     Riverside Walk

    Our bus arrived into Savannah around 4 am, the comfit of the trip wasn’t helped by a having a really stupid American lady talking non stop though the night 😦  We waited at the bus station until the hostel opened at 7 am.  It turned out we were lucky as officially the hostel was closed but the caretaker let us stay for the weekend.  This allow us to finally wash our clothes after 8 days, which was probably 2 days too long to go.

    We walked about this lovely town and along the riverside which was charming.  Better yet we found a Pat O’Brien’s Pub and slowly drank and enjoyed a well earned Guineas.  This town seems to be the nicest and cleanest please we have stayed in so far.

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