Pilot Club... Feb 96
Roger Ebert Travel: Boston S’field plane............ Hilton
Began ‘79 Inspiration: Dr. Charles Frank
Robert Benchley: IN AMERICA THERE ARE TWO CLASSES OF TRAVEL: FIRST CLASS AND WITH CHILDREN.
Paul Fussell: ANYONE TELLING ABOUT HIS TRAVELS MUST BE A LIAR..FOR IF A TRAVELER DOESN’T FILL HIS NARRATIVE WITH THE SPIRIT AND TECHNIQUES OF FICTION, NO ONE WILL WANT TO HEAR IT.
See through fresh eyes....Went to London alone..........
Mark Twain: I HAVE FOUND THAT THERE AIN’T NO SURER WAY TO FIND OTU WHETHER YOU LIKE PEOPLE OR HATE THEM THAN TO TRAVEL WITH THEM. ---Beardstown Ladies...King’s Cross...Sydney Australia
---MUST BE SENSITIVE TO PARENTS....Tahiti, Jeremy, Paul Gogan
(I don’t tell these stories until the group returns)
John Stenbeck: A JOURNEY IS LIKE MARRIAGE. THE CERTAIN WAY TO BE WRONG IS TO THINK YOU CONTROL IT. ---Beth K & Eric M...Bullfight Noel Coward opinion on air travel: “HOW WAS YOUR FLIGHT?” WELL, AERONAUTICALLY IT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS. SOCIALLY, IT LEFT QUITE A BIT TO BE DESIRED. --Traveled with some interesting seat mates. Little old man: I design the spectacular marques on Broadway. Which ones? All of them. They’re all spectacular. ...Air Italia...cockpit window.
---Worst airline ever: Aeoflat..Aro-flop..landed three times each time. Champaign Dave...getting out of Soviet Union.
CUSTOMS: ..Unisex Toilets...concentration ..French Bidet...Rick: Sock washer...wet pantlegs ..Jodi and Susan...bathtubs. ..Greatest shock: “What time would you like your girls knocked up?”
TRULY UNFORGETABLE MOMENTS: ..Ladies in rags waiting for hours to take communion in Soviet Union. ...Seeing St. Basil’s cathedral in Red Square for the first time. ...Highest point in Kremlin: A cross. ..Sadness of Finnish bus driver ..Ireland...Preacher Frank from West Virginia clearing out a bar for church ..Assisi...Sinclair Lewis: HE WHO HAS SEEN ONE CATHEDRAL TEN TIMES HAS SEEN SOMETHING; HE WAS HAS SEEN TEN CATHEDRALS ONCE HAS SEEN BUT LITTLE; AND HE WAS HAS SPENT HALF AN HOUR IN EACH OF A HUNDRED CATHEDRALS HAS SEEN NOTHING AT ALL. Two olive-skinned ladies on tour --The Alps.....Thomas Gray in 1739 on viewing the Alps: THERE ARE CERTAIN SCENES THAT WOULD AWE AN ATHEIST INTO BELIEF, WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY OTHER ARGUMENT> --Craig, Lucerne, Richard, communion Richard: Les Miz, Miss Saigon, English Music Hall (Me: writing V’Ville show) (2 girls on the way out)
....FINALLY: The story I never tell if any future travelers in the audience. Part of it was printed in USA TODAY last year..Paris-Madrid train.
John Steinbeck: WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG AND THE URGE TO BE SOMEPLACE WAS ON ME, I WAS ASSURED BY MATURE PEOPLE THAT MAUTRITY WOULD CURE THIS ITCH. WHEN YEARS DESCRIBED ME AS MATURE, THE REMEDY PRESCRIBED WAS MIDDLE AGE. IN MIDDLE AGE I WAS ASSURED THAT GREATER AGE WOULD CALM MY FEVER AND NOW THAT I AM FIFTY-EIGHT PERHAPS SENILITY WILL DO THE JOB. NOTHING HAS WORKED...IN OTHER WORDS, I DONT IPROVE, IN FURTHER WORDS, ONCE A BUM ALWAYS A BUM. I FEAR THE DISEASE IS INCURABLE.
Russian trip Moscow via Aeroflot scarey airport...man ahead of me put ring under his watch rows and rows of gray buildings...12 miles of them Intourist Hotel...boat...Olympics... East Germans Toured Moscow... coming up on St Basils as bells were ringing.. the story of St Basils...Tsar... had eyes poked out. Complete freedom to go where we wanted, but followed, even in back of bus Moscow subway... fastest..most beautiful.. Lenin wanted beauty enroute to work 3 churches inside the Kremlin... a cross is the highest point Long lines.. hurrying down street when something came up for sale. Food: tongue, head cheese, awful beer, dirty bottles, caviar with breakfast. Cash: Paristroyka..dollars for certain stores met with students: Do you trust Bush? Job sharing.. afraid of Paristroyka.. full employment Glasknos.. speakers on streats.. our guide couldn’t believe it. grayness until rain then colorful umbrellas came out
Trip out into the country: monastary.. Gadansk guide wouldn’t comment enroute Black marteers everywhere... made it hard to even walk down the street The Heritage... awesome... inlaid tiles
Overnight train to Leningrad
Leningrad, Stalingrad, St. Petersburg Beautiful by contrast...made for people by people Moscow:made for men by government Ken Rhoads... passport Hotel: 2,000 rooms. no Russians allowed. Ladies in hallway safe everywhere at all hours.. Sun didn’t go down until midnight People: unbelievably friendly everywhere we went. Give up their seats. Wanted desperately to show their good will. Leningrad circus. Finnish bus driver took us out.. sadness at every stop.. formerly Finnish controlled. Border...Dave.. money.