# Travel Stories, Far & Wide.



## Nemo2 (Jan 4, 2023)

Having bored people with my snake anecdote in the Guy wants to face his biggest fear story, I figured I might just as well continue the story and open a Travel Stories thread:

Early 1983, my late wife flew from Toronto to Jozi the day before I arrived from Riyadh.

She arranged a small camper rental which we picked up when I arrived.

A brief stop in Pretoria to change money, and we headed for a small lodge near Louis Trichardt where they rented rondavels.

(Insert python story here.)

The aim was to enter Kruger Park, (which is almost as large as Wales), from the north end and exit from the south.

But first....breakfast...menu at the lodge featured boerewors, a term I was unfamiliar with.

Asked the African waiter what they were.."They're boerewors" he replied.  OK I said, I'll have some.

Kinda shaking his head he walked to the kitchen, and in retrospect I can imagine him saying to the cook "There's a guy out there doesn't know what sausages are!"

Kruger Park:  The procedure at the time, (and perhaps even now), was that there were about half a dozen fenced off camping areas complete with facilities, that visitors HAD to be in (you had to set an advance itinerary) by sunset or they came looking for you.....if they had to do that, a severe cash penalty resulted.

We arrived at the first park, set up, and sometime later heard a commotion by the fence.

An obviously young, but just about fully grown, elephant had expressed an interest in visiting.

Fences were strong, but perhaps not that strong, so an African ranger complete with David & Goliath slingshot showed up.

When the first pebble hit I learned Elephant-ese for "Who the **** did that?  I'll mess you up bad!"

Couple more stones and he departed, cursing & threatening.....could still hear him trumpeting for maybe a quarter mile away.

Then...nice moonlit night, with additional illumination from campers & tents....so, time for a walk.

Just about reached a large tent with adjoining mosquito netted dining area....half a dozen people having dinner, when we noticed what first appeared to be a very large black crab, (except we were nowhere near the ocean), but must have, in actuality, been an enormous spider, heading up the path to the tent.

Next thing....all the occupants of the tent were yelling/shrieking and, um, 'disembarking'.

We left.  Never did find out what it was, but the general impression we received was that it was unwelcome.
..................

Your turn to tell travel adventures.....c'mon you've all got them.


----------



## jujube (Jan 4, 2023)

Most of my travel "adventures" resulted from some really bad ideas on my part.


----------



## Jean-Paul (Jan 4, 2023)

Départ NYC, to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Cairo. 
Toured India  and Nepal,  6 months 1975..6  

With just a backpack, a Rollei 35 mm film camera, some cash.

Goa, Dehli, Jaipur, Varanasi, Patna, 
Kathmandu, Pokora 
Jammu, Kashmir, Gulmarg, Phalgam.....

Amazing photos and experience from dense cité to the Himalayan foothills.

Was sick often, became  veggie...

Travel Changed my life, 

Enjoy 
Namaste!
Acha !


----------



## Nemo2 (Jan 4, 2023)

1963.....lived in Australia.....took a ship across the Pacific to England....worked there for a while, then took off overland back to Oz (the dry parts anyway) first with two other guys, then with one, (detained at gunpoint in Iraq), then another guy joined us in Iran.....spent my 21st birthday in Ceylon.......bought a 'black market' ticket in Colombo on a French ship to Singapore...flew to Darwin from there...hitched to Melbourne.


----------



## Blessed (Jan 5, 2023)

Gosh,  I went to Walmart the other day, it was wild, the native population were shrieking, tearing that last christmas turkey and ham from each other.  The horror in the Electronics department, was nothing like you had ever seen before.  There were no more socks or underwear available.  Thank God, I do not have to go back there for a week for the next blood bath. I think I might try the mall! LOL

This is called traveling on a budget!


----------



## horseless carriage (Jan 5, 2023)

My wife and I have travelled on the Orient Express, steam hauled. We have visited the pyramids in Egypt, walked the stations of the cross in The Holy Land. It might have changed but back then it was wise to visit Egypt first. You would often find yourself barred from entering if you had an Israeli stamp on your passport.

Flown into Montego Bay, Jamaica and then went Island hopping around The British Virgin Islands. Tortola was amazing. 

We have been back and forth to the US more times than I can remember. One thing that we have done as we have got older, is to travel around our own country, we seen many of the historical landmarks. Shame on me, we live about twenty miles from Stonehenge, it was at least five years before we went to see the historic site.


----------



## Nemo2 (Jan 5, 2023)

horseless carriage said:


> if you had an Israeli stamp on your passport.
> Island hopping around The British Virgin Islands. Tortola was amazing.


- The Israelis provided visas on separate sheets for those of us who had to return to Saudi Arabia, etc.

  (Oh, as yet another example of my ongoing lifetime luck......when we flew home from Cyprus, my late wife to Toronto and me to Riyadh via Cairo....she packed my bag...the Egyptians lost it.  Couple days later I received a call that the bag was at the old Riyadh airport.  Went up to the airport, nobody there, my bag on a shelf....just picked it up and left.

Opened it back at the compound, and right up at the top was a T-shirt I'd purchased with cartoon Snoopy wearing a tembel hat with a _Magen David_......that would _not_ have gone down well at Saudi customs!)

-  Tortola:  Stayed at Cane Garden Bay, as any true Jimmy Buffett fan would...even went to the Callwood Rum distillery......and sang _Mañana!_


----------



## Nemo2 (Jan 5, 2023)

Jean-Paul said:


> Was sick often,
> 
> Travel Changed my life,


Yeah....had a periodic Middle Eastern version of Montezuma's Revenge which returned at the most inopportune times....finally got rid of it in Quetta, Pakistan, near the Afghan border, at a Chinese cafe where I ate egg & chips!

Reached Quetta on this train   https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/train-zahedan-iran-quetta-pakistan/  (the blog written by someone I've never met 32 years after I was on it, (I did, much later, make a couple comments as 'Eric' below the article)).

We boarded the empty train in Zahedan at about 3:00 a.m.   As expected, and as at almost every bottleneck, a small group of disparate travelers merged at the start, exchanged stories, and then diverged once the destination had been reached.

One thing I do remember about the ride:  at the higher, winding, slower, and I mean SLOWER, points it was possible to jump off the train, walk ahead and climb back on when the train caught up.

Good times....all so far away now.


----------



## Capt Lightning (Jan 6, 2023)

horseless carriage said:


> We have been back and forth to the US more times than I can remember. One thing that we have done as we have got older, is to travel around our own country, we seen many of the historical landmarks. Shame on me, we live about twenty miles from Stonehenge, it was at least five years before we went to see the historic site.


I can identify with that.  We lived for many years near Portsmouth, but rarely visited any of the numerous historic sites in the local area.  When we moved back up north, we decided that we should visit as many historic and cultural sites as possible so we joined the National Trust for Scotland.  This is valid throughout  the UK, so we can use it to get free entry to properties in England too.

I've travelled a lot on business and sometimes Mrs.L could accompany me at the firm's expense.  In this way we saw quite a bit of Europe from the south of France to the Arctic circle in Finland.  Never made it to really far away places like Australia or Africa, though I have been in or through quite a few US states.    I doubt if I'll travel as far again as we dislike long haul flights, but we aim to have 2 or 3 European holidays and numerous trips round the UK  each year.


----------

