Around the World in 95 Days

“Here I go, Here I go, Here I go again” 

(to quote Salt, or is it Pepa?)

I did something rather unique this time. 

It wasn’t my intention at the onset but as it happened, I circumnavigated the globe in 95 days by continually traveling eastward, with a few zig-zags, from Los Angeles back to L.A. in just over 3 months. (Mr. Fogg still has me beat by a fortnight; I know, shameless literary reference.)

Here was my itinerary in broad strokes: 

   Leg 1: Flight to New York followed by a 2-week Trans-Atlantic cruise to Barcelona

   Leg 2: 7 weeks in Thailand & Singapore

   Leg 3: 1 month in Japan and the return home

(For those of you that are sticklers at math, add a couple of days to legs 2 & 3 and you get to my 95 day total…hee hee, I think of everything, don’t I?)

                                                                ~~~~~

2100 hours: North Atlantic

There’s an ominous chill in the air. A turn-up your collar kind of setting. Dark, dark clouds on the horizon, blocking out the moon, yet silhouetted by the moonlight. A howling wind that lays its icy finger on any exposed skin. This same wind constantly smacks you in the face. It’s uncanny, this wind. Whichever way you turn it gets you. You look eastward, slap there it is. You look the other way, there it is again. It’s as if it’s alive and enjoying this game of hide and seek and slap. And it keeps winning too which forces you back indoors, to the bar and that sip of scotch. 

Hee hee ‘hips’…who’s winning now?!! 

Bermuda

700 miles from the nearest landform is an absolute darling of an island. It’s clean, it’s bright, it’s colorful. I liked it.

It’s a weird shape though. Looks like a fish hook. There’s more negative space (i.e. water) than there is land. There's isn't a a central core and everything is built on the outer edges. 

There are 3 sections to the island:

  The Dockyards: this is where the cruise ships arrive and as the name implies, was the former British Naval yard. It’s been renovated over the last few years and is now a pleasant touristic site with shops, restaurants and pubs in and around the old fort complex.

  Hamilton: the capital; full of banks and a lovely riva lining the harbor. It’s across the "inner sea” from the Dockyards. You can take a bus but it takes forever or a quick 10-minute water taxi ride. All of the buildings are in those bright vivid Caribbean colors; blue, green, yellow, pink with the "gingerbread" accents. You’ll also see the traditional Bermudan “costume” of shirt, tie, sportscoat, dark shoes with black socks, connected by Bermuda Shorts! It’s not a myth, it’s true and looks odd at first but grows on you.

  St. George: the former capital but now a tiny, sleepy tourist spot. I didn’t have time to visit, so no description. Hmm, a reason to go back??

Next came 4 very long days at sea. It was restful. Gave me time to read and think about things and read and think about what I read, and did I mention that the days were long. I mean really long. There was lots of horizon-staring, contemplative nods to fellow passengers and hiding from that pesky chilly air and…it was just long. No amount of bachata lessons or bingo games can divert your attention from the slow moving minute and hour hand of the clock. If any of you ever decide to take a trans-Atlantic or -Pacific cruise, be ready for this. Plan on shutting your mind and body down. Oh, and don’t fall into the trap of eating your days away. You’ll be sorry later. Seriously, you’re going to hate yourself afterwards. I mean, how many times can you eat chocolate cake in a day? Well, I’ll tell you: breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, 4 PM tea time, dinner, midnight dessert buffet… at least ½ dozen times!! 

Finally, mercifully, Land HO! 

Madeira Island and the port town of Funchal off the coast of West Africa. There isn’t much flat land so the town is built into the slopes of the hillside, think of an amphitheater. The population is only 100,000 people but the hillsides are covered in homes so it seems much more populated than that.

It was green and rocky; a wonderful relief to the dark blue vastness of the last few days, and solid underfoot, though once in a while, you’d get a sense of the ground rolling as you walked. That always looks funny and feels weird too. 

Continuing on, we pass through the Pillars of Hercules, i.e. the Straits of Gibraltar. Europe on the left, Africa on the right. Pretty cool. Then we arrived in Ibiza! 

Party time! Well, not really. We’re in port only for the day, so no revisits to the original foam party venues or discos of old. I partied here many, many years ago when this place still had that underground party vibe where only those “in the know” knew of it. Yeah, we’re talking the late 80’s, early 90’s. This island grew up. Lots of beachfront condos and much more development everywhere else. As I strolled around searching for old haunts or anything familiar, for that matter (nothing did), I did see a few Brits stumbling around looking for an open bar to order their first Aperol Spritz of the day! [Hair of the dog, innit] Ah, very nice, guess this place hasn’t lost all of its decadent charm after all.

Next island was Mallorca and the town of Palma. Definitely worth a visit. It’s grand and medieval and full of life. And full of flowers, too. I arrived the Saturday before Mother's day, so the town was literally overflowing with flower stalls. Added lots of color and what a sweet aroma. 

And just like that, it's all over. 

Dock in Barcelona at 7 AM. Shuttle to the airport; board an 11 AM flight to Vienna where I connect to my overnight flight to Bangkok at 5 PM.

Zip, Bam, Boom! (And maybe a Whoosh!)

It’s not often I get such a seamless travel day, but today was one of those wonderful hassle-free, fluid days where all forms of transportation, boat, bus, plane, work in perfect harmony getting me from Europe to Asia without a hitch.

Southeast Asia

“Bangkok, Oriental setting…”

(Another song quote, this time it’s One Night in Bangkok. 

I think I’m on to something.)

Arrival into Bangkok and let’s begin with the traffic. Oh my, the traffic. Companies are actually moving out of Bangkok because they simply can’t get anywhere and those “self-flying” helicopters are nowhere to be seen. 

From the main airport into downtown, it should take 40 minutes or so. In reality, plan on at least 2 hours. In essence, all of the main roads and highways are parking lots that slowly jerk you forward at infrequent intervals. It’s soooo aggravating, especially after a 12 hour flight as you battle your old foe “Captain Jet-Lag”! And since it’s only 10 AM, the body can’t comprehend that anyplace can be so steamy, so hot, so humid, this early in the morning. It’s plain brutal.

Travelers tip: Go to the bathroom before getting into a cab because you’ll be in it for hours. Oh, also, choose a nice one (i.e. taxi) because that broken rear seat will cause you back problems later on. And if you see all of the windows down, move onto the next one because it means no air conditioning. You want A/C, trust me.

Finally the hotel and the walk into the blissfully air conditioned lobby. I stop and with an immense sigh of relief my body re-expands as it soaks it all in like a cartoon sponge. I’m here for a few days in order to acclimate to the time zone. I used to try to get over jet lag in one or two days by forcing myself to stay awake 36 hours at a stretch but now as I travel, I have much more time on my hands so I can ease into my new surroundings. 

The evenings are pleasant, though still hot, for strolls about town. The sky bars at neighboring hotels and business towers are open again after the Covid years so I visit at least 2 each night. Many of them are themed: the Speakeasy - with hidden panels giving way to secret rooms; the Red Room - you probably can guess the overall color palette of this one; Old Havana - transporting you back to Cuba of the 40's.  

The main crux of this return to Thailand was to head south; to the beaches and the islands, which I never got to visit on my previous (and only) visit 15 years ago. So enough of the big city. Let’s go to the islands! 

Phuket Island, the regional touristic hub

The nicer beaches are on the southwest side of the island. I started at Kata Noi Beach, then every 4 days or so, moved up the coast and stayed at a different bay; Kata Beach, Karon Beach, Patong Beach. As it turned out, I started at the most quiet relaxing place and worked up to the most raucous. We’ll get to Patong Beach and more specifically Bangla Road in a minute. 

Each bay was a perfect crescent moon shape with boulders and jungle shrouded hills at the endpoint which isolated the bays from each other. Over the years the bays took on varying personalities. This is reflected in the hotels they attracted or maybe it was the other way around, where the hotels that were built created the vibe of the place. Whichever, there's a place for everyone. Kata Noi is quiet for couples. Kata is for Club Med and surfing. Karon is more for locals and families and Patong is for Australians on a budget and tourists that don’t want to sleep.

Alright, Bangla Road, let's get to it. If you haven't heard of it, trust me you will once you arrive in Phuket. It's in Patong Beach. The road is perpendicular to the beach and runs for, say, 500 yards or so. Not too long but it is packed cheek by jowl with bars, go-go clubs, nightclubs, weed shops (it’s legal now and you’d think that it’s the only thing Thailand sells because these shops are e-ve-ry-where!!), food stalls and of course, the tourist tee shirt shops. 

In the daytime, it’s sedate and a nice place to have an ice cold beer. At night, it goes under a neon transformation and is quite unrecognizable. You can’t walk a straight line down the street, not from too many beers but from too many people! The street is packed shoulder to shoulder, like a Tokyo subway at rush hour! If you’re claustrophobic, then maybe stick to the daytime. But this place is over the top in everything: there’s music streaming from all venues; people in the middle of the street gawking at the go-go dancers gyrating on the balconies of the second story bars; the giant LCD screens showing the bands that are on stage inside the nightclubs. This place is crazy fun but not dangerous at all (though you should always be aware of pickpockets.) Everyone is here to have a good time. It’s absolute mayhem and I loved it!! 

Leaving Phuket, I went to another island: Samui. This place was nice too. In fact, I think I preferred it. One town in particular, Fisherman’s Village, had an ideal layout. Just above the beach was a row of restaurants and bars on a slight bluff. At the end of this row the big beach resorts started. In essence, the town was split in two. Lively street scene at the north end with a quiet peaceful area at the south. 

The only bad news about visiting South East Asia at this time of year (May) is that it corresponds with the monsoon season. Lots of storms offshore, though I only had a couple days of rain. But it did impact the number of islands I could get to. Day trips by boat are hit or miss because if the tides and/or waves are too high, they are canceled outright. Hence, many of the islands I want to check out went unvisited. Oh well, next time.

After a month in Thailand, I was off to Singapore, where I saw friends, discovered those damn amazing Lychee Martinis (that I still can’t get enough of), and finally got to visit the Marina Bay section of town. 

After that, I was still open to my next destination. Vietnam and Cambodia were the likeliest contenders though Malaysia was climbing up the list. As it turned out, Japan jumped the queue and there I went because I got a screaming deal on a cruise out of Yokohama (Tokyo’s port). 

The cruise did 2 arcs around the southern islands. The first arced its way to the Korean island of Jeju and the second, further south, along the Okinawa islands all the way to Taiwan. This was an easy way for me to visit these places, as I noticed that the further one gets away from Tokyo, the less English is spoken and the more difficult it gets to communicate with the locals. Also, information becomes harder to decipher (e.g. ferry time schedules between the islands) and even the websites take on a personality of their own especially when you try to translate them into English. That’s when you get those lovely mis-translations. I didn’t write any of them down but I do remember laughing out loud reading them.  

Here are a couple of cool places to visit outside of the big and must visit cities of Tokyo & Kyoto:

Miyajima Island. A 5-minute ferry from the port of Hiroshima, this place is famous for its "floating" Torii gate outside the Itsukushima Shrine. I definitely want to come back here and spend a night or two on the island. 

Taketomi Island. This tiny island is in the Okinawa Islands, a 10-minute ferry ride from Ishigaki Island. Upon arrival at the little port, here’s what you do: Rent a bike for two hours. The first hour, pedal around the island and visit the cute little town in the center. Then go to Kondoi Beach and frolic, yes frolic, in the stunning clear, warm water and on the gorgeous white sand beach. It’s simply too beautiful for words.

Kanazawa. Couple hours north by train from Kyoto. This place is known as “samurai-town”. It has many Edo-era (1600's) preserved buildings and neighborhoods. Two places worth visiting (beyond the regular strolling around) are the “Ninja Castle” and the Kenrokuen Garden.

The “Ninja Castle” has hidden staircases, moving walls, secret passageways, all real cool but then at the end of the tour, it’s emphatically stated that this place was a temple and in fact, had NOTHING to do and NEVER housed any ninja at all!! WTF?!?! 

The other place is the Kenrokuen Garden. When you think of a Japanese garden, this is the place that comes to mind, it’s the quintessential Japanese garden. Now what makes it even more special, is that it was originally a simple private garden back in the 1650's but over the years, each ruler of Japan added their own section to the garden. In doing so, you witness the evolution of style over the centuries: a small river and hill here; a large lake there; some cherry trees over here; a tea house over there, etc. It’s a wonderful, peaceful stroll. 

And with that, visit over and time to return home. My flight back to L.A. closed my loop around the globe and it only took 95  days. 

Sayonara and ‘til next time. Be well.