World Trip

Learn and laugh! From the author who established that you can see space from the Great Wall of China, who discovered that there is a Chinatown in Shanghai and calculated that there is more praying and repenting in the casinos of Macau than in the many churches the Jesuits built there..... "A World Trip - Cruising on the Diamond Princess with the Queen of Diamonds And emeralds, and rubies, and sapphires and many others that glitter - including smiles but... no zircons." is a humorous but factual and informative firsthand account of a trip to circumnavigate the globe. Tasked to organize a tour of Prince Edward Island in Canada, but left unsupervised by She, who usually keeps things under control, the author enthusiastically books a 32 day cruise and additional destinations to complete a circle of the globe. He expects to beat Phileas Fogg, Magellan, Cook and Darwin for speed and Amelia Earhart for longevity. He may not be as thorough as they were but promises to take more photographs. He is accompanied by She who favours the service station approach to jewellery shopping as she barges into showrooms with arms extended and fingers spread and says "fill them up" in a determined tone. Their itinerary will eventually put them only four hundred miles north of Prince Edward Island. Not bad aiming for a first effort.The reader follows the happy couple to each destination beginning with the transit from Ottawa to Anchorage, Alaska. They visit Whittier, Alaska; Muroran and Sapporo, Japan; Vladivostok, Russia; Busan and Kyongju, South Korea; Quindao, Dalian, The Great Wall and Shanghai in China; Okinawa, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Macao; Hong Kong; Nha Trang, Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam; Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Mumbai, India; London and Greenwich and back to Ottawa..Descriptions of destination highlights, historical and cultural backgrounds and cogent observations are mingled with tongue in cheek comments and useful travel suggestions. This book will interest travelers to Asia, cruisers and people with a sense of humour.