Well, no correct place to put this, so this topic seemed as good as any.
Now successfully back from the 'Around the world in 30 days' trip and all is well. As you may remember we planned to do a 'hop, stay and hop' trip by doing shorter flights to get to Scotland rather than a long-haul via any arab state & return the same way. So we did - and just as well as our return would have been via Dubai which had a huge flush put through it (sadly, the smelly bit remains).
So it was QANTAS to Sydney (almost a foreign city these days anyway), then Qantas to Honolulu.
Summary is: QANTAS ain't what it used to be and in our opinion (and many others) it hovers around Jetstar status. The A 330 is the noisiest plane I've ever travelled in other than a DC3 flight in 1962.
Honolulu and Oahu are still worth visiting, but with some of the charm of the 60's & 70's gone. In fact since 2015 it's also lost a bit of gloss, but seems to be trying to improve. We stayed again at Ohana East Waikiki and it's being revamped - as are quite a few others. Problem was, being in one of the revamped rooms the aircon unit sounded like it was being run up to speed by a possum on a hamster wheel.
Honolulu to San Francisco by United - which is a sorta okay airline. SF is great when staying down by Fisherman's Wharf, lots of stuff nearby, but it has the usual hands out for extra money all the time. Alcatraz tour might sound chintzy but it's worth every minute - especially the old folk's bus from bottom to top and back. And the Cablecar ride is a must but be prepared for the queues.
SF to Boston by United, same service in the air (meaning very little and we avoided the coffee). Boston and it's history is a Number 1 destination and should not be missed, and we were especially spoilt by having Fred & Anne join us for a couple of days and squiring us around, over, under and out of the place to the surrounding countryside and all it's attendant revolutionary war historic sites and their home in Shrewsbury. Thanks Guys!
Boston to Dublin by Aer Lingus (leave it alone, Tafmo). As an airline, meh..! Food.... meh. They were on time, seats hard, and lots of young adults aboard. The seats had touch screens in the headrests, yet the 'young adult' behind be couldn't work that out, and even after some instruction she continued to try and drive her finger into the screen. Felt like I had a feckin' woodpecker behind me.
Dublin - yes, yes, yes, and yes! Do it again at the drop of a hat. Baycoz t'ere's t'ousands n t'ousands o hastory thurr for shurr! Just go, enjoy, and be happy. Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, County Clare (origin of my lot), Limerick and back on a day trip not to be missed. Spoke to a guide at Moher and when he asked my name and he told me that the name O'Keef was well known around there. I asked if it was good or bad he just said 'Welll..." and gave the old 50/50 sign with his hands and we both had a great laugh. (As an aside, in my Ancestry search recently I found that my paternal grandfather was a well-known horse thief around the Longreach area).
Whilst there we had to get Jan another coat as the brand new one she had bought 2 months back just started to literally fall apart. So we visited a department store that had a big runout sale and got a good name (DK something) one for 70% discount. When talking to the young bloke at the checkout he asked if we were Australian I said yes, he said he thought so, but was going to say Kiwis. I said that the Kiwis had a greater affinity for sheep that we did. He then asked if we were going to Wales so I asked if it was like Ireland. He answered that no, the welsh had a greater affinity for sheep than the Irish. Just brilliant and all around us had a great time laughing. Just go!
Dublin to Edinburgh by Emerald Air. A twin turboprop aircraft with two great cabin attendants named Liz and Lisa and they made the journey with their taking the piss and swapping insults with me and a few others. Liz even called me handsome so I knew she was taking the piss so I offered her my glasses and she cracked up. Great trip.
Picked up at Ed by Mick and Moira Thompson and they took us on a tour of the north west Scotland and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Just go, you won't regret. I spoke to one chap in Fort William and said one of the great parts of the trip was hearing all the great accents like his. His answer was: "What accent?" Again, cracked up.
It was great being with my old mate again, and it was just like we'd spoken the day before. Mobis, eh?
Edinburgh for 4 days, up & down the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, and a day trip to see Rosslyn Chapel (Da Vinci code, etc.), and one off my bucket list - Hadrian's Wall over the border in England. I got to the entry building and paid my fee and they directed me to the wall nearby but said the top section was - strangely enough - at the top of the hill. So I slid and slipped my way over thick wet grass to the top, climbed onto the summit of Hadrian's Wall and survived.
Then when trying to get down, stepped into a gopher hole and that section collapsed along with me, and I face planted into the ground/mud/grass and got lots of England all over me. End result was 2 black eyes and an amount of blood plus plenty of pain. Further result was that for several days people gave me a wide berth....
Edinburgh again for a couple of days, then onto the train to London. If you're thinking of doing this, don't.
More later....
_________________
Chris O'Keefe
R43136
Ex WO Chippy
19th MOBI Intake
July 65 to July 85
HMAS Nirimba X 4 -Penguin-Sydney-Queenborough - Creswell - Moreton - Stalwart - Platypus - Coonawarra Reconstruction Team 76 - Platypus - Hobart - Cerberus - FHQ - Coonawarra.
Anyone can be ordinary. Shipwrights choose to be extraordinary!
Forum Index
FAQ
Memberlist
Groups
User Control Panel
Messages
Login/Out
Sadly, Brian, neither of those links 
load for me, 
I'm getting a 
"Page Not Found" 
and a 
pages/ articles from Wikipedia...
It's 
Cornish (as 
pasties)...!!! 
I did find it thought provoking when gazing out over 
in a recent travelogue on the 
instead...! 
Here's to the 
years ago... 
Riverdance was introduced at Eurovision 1994...
and Israel - reported impact | Day #175
