Around the World

Welcome to my "Around the World" travelogue. I hope you enjoy my stories and photos.

On Groundhog Day, my sister and I embarked on a trip around the world that would take over 10 months. We bought our tickets through Air Brokers International. Our "Circle the Globe" package included the following 11 flights; San Francisco - Los Angeles - Auckland - overland - Christchurch - Brisbane - Bali - Singapore - overland - Bangkok - Kathmandu - Delhi - Bombay - Nairobi - Cairo - Athens - overland - London - San Francisco. The overland segments were covered using local transportation such as bus, train, boat, or hitchhiking.

We departed LAX at 8:15pm on Air New Zealand, flight NZ1.

Our flight was only 11 hours and I actually slept during most of it. We crossed the Date Line and skipped the 3rd of February. After getting our tent and boots checked for seeds and dirt by the customs agents we hung out at the terminal for 2 hours until we could get the first bus to the city center. It was very early in the morning, but we were very excited about the first day of our trip.

We saw Albert Park and Queen Street. Then settled in at Kiwi Hilton, a youth hostel. I took a 3-hour nap then went to the YHA, red light district, and had a fish and fruit lunch.

We walked around the wharfs, took photos, and booked a cruise on the 'Pride of Auckland' for Wednesday. We looked in some shops, saw the old Customs House, and ate kebabs on Queen Street. We had a beer across the street from the hostel. We didn't like the hostel very much, it smelled like smoke from fire damage or something.

We moved to the YHA (youth hostel), which is much nicer than the other place. Today we went to the Auckland museum; saw a giant Moa bird and other bird displays, Maori canoes, and war stuff.

Took a walk through a big park to beach road and had to run in order to make it to the sailboat for lunch. We got there just in time to board the "Pride of Auckland" before it set sail. We had a "yachtie lunch box" for lunch then sailed under the harbor bridge and the inner harbor. Donna and I took turns at the wheel. Then a storm came along and the wind blew so hard that we almost capsized. It was very thrilling and we made it back alive.

After our 90 minute sailing trip we went to the Maritime Museum and walked up Queen Street. We had dinner at a Korean place and met a couple from Perth at the hostel.