PLANES, TRAINS AND SHIPS

There are those who physically circle the globe, as for example, from the New York Times this morning:

For more than 20 years, the British adventurer Alastair Humphreys roamed the planet. He rowed across the Atlantic, traversed India on foot, cycled around the world. In his lovely essay “A Single Small Map Is Enough for a Lifetime,” published last month, he writes that climate change and familial commitments have caused him to narrow his horizons of late, to seek diversion in his own backyard, “on the fringes of a city in an unassuming landscape, pocked by a glow of sodium lights and the rush of busy roads.”

Particularly note his global bicycle adventure:

• 60 countries.
• 5 continents.
• Up to an altitude of 16,000 feet between Peru and Argentina.
• Biked through temperatures as low as -40 F, which amazingly enough is also -40C.
• 46,000 miles.

On the way, Mr Humphreys has raised more than £13,000 for British-based charity Hope and Homes for Children, which supports those orphaned or abandoned by war, AIDS or poverty.

• 4 years.
• 6 books.

When he rowed across the Atlantic Ocean:

I’m also trying to raise £1 per mile for Hope and Homes for Children and I’d love your support!

Please Text OBUL72 £5 to 70070 or visit www.justgiving.com/AtlanticRow2012 to donate. Thank you.

After all that, how can anyone travel the world without feeling at least a tad guilty.  

Anyway, there is a 1987 film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which got good 92/87 scores from Rotten Tomatoes.  Starred Steve Martin and John Candy.

I've traveled around the world on numerous occasions, mostly on planes.  I would say I've had a dozen or so global trips.   Two examples are MUGA and GAWA.  I'm heading for 3 million miles just on Star Alliance.  My carbon footprint?  Better than Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

I've taken a lot of train rides:  

• Amtrak around the USA.  Really...Los Angeles to Seattle to Chicago to New York City, to Miami to New Orleans to San Antonio and back to Los Angeles.

• 
  Canadian Rail from Vancouver to Toronto.
• Japan Rail Pass throughout Japan, probably a dozen times.
• Eastern Oriental Express from Bangkok to Singapore.
• Eurail Pass in Europe, twice. 

I've also driven back and forth plus up and down throughout the USA.  Once rented a car and drove from Stockholm all the way down to Rome.  But driving is not called for in this posting.

In March we will be using planes and cruises to go around the world. Flights in business and first class, plus three cruises:  Tauck Tulip River, Regent Seven Seas Mediterranean and Queen Mary II transatlantic to New York City.

Last month I asked:  What About Going (mostly) Around the World on Trains?  Cost?  Planned by Railbookers, their odyssey takes 80 days to "only" go from Chicago to Singapore, for $113,599/person, plus a lot of long plane rides, which will add to that total.  Not interested in this one.

So what about a future global adventure incorporating at least one cruise, a few train trips and planes as necessary.  Condé Nast just published The Best New Train Journeys Launching in 2024.  Among the more interesting train options for a future worldwide trip are:

• 
  Vietage, operated by Anantara, already has opulent trips meandering through central Vietnam.  
• This year it is adding a new route between Nha Trng and Quy Nhon.
• Only five hours, but featuring local caviar, local artisanal cheeses, cold cuts and free flowing wines and cocktails, plus a 15-minute head and shoulder massage.  For $420/person.

• 
  A new high-speed train between northern Italy and Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Will stop in Trieste, Venice, Padua, Verona, Divaccia and Postjna.
• A new sleeper train, the Orient Express La Dolce Vita, will go from Rome to Venice, Palermo and Portifino.

• 
  Paris to Portofino on the Belmond Venice-Simplon Orient Express, stopping by Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo.
• Paris via Strasbourg to Berlin NightJets began at the end of last year for an 11-hour ride, which will drop to 7 hours on the TGV.

• 
  The Hokuriku Shinkansen will be extended in March, connecting Tokyo to Toyama, Niigata, Ishikawa and Fukui. 
•  The Kanazawa Shinkansen added 3.3 million more tourists to the station in 2019.  
• This Hokuriku extension adds another 78 miles, and should immensely improve the economy of this region, a godsend, for a 7.6 earthquake struck Ishikawa on January 1, killing 240, with 15 still missing.  
• Why go there?  Cherry blossoms, Maruoka Castle, Nishiyama Park with a sea of azalea bushes and a red panda zoo, and Eihei-ji, a noted Buddhist temple.
• 
  That Eastern & Oriental Express I took 13 years ago apparently has not operated for a while, and returns this month.

In October of last year Condé Nast reported on the Best Train Trips in the World. 

• 
  #1 was Seven Stars Kyushu, Japan.  But for $1000/night to get you only around Kyushu, certainly not my list.
• #2 was Palace on Wheels, India, from New Delhi to Jaipur.  However, I have chosen never to return to India again, so this is out.

• 
  #3 is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express from Paris to Istanbul.
• Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express in 1934.  She was inspired by the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case.  This book was the 10th outing for Hercule Poirot.
• There were four major films, with the 1974 version said to be the best.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it 90/78 scores.  Albert Finney played Poirot, with Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts Richard Widmark and Michael York.  Directed by Sidney Lumet.  That was half a century ago.

• I might consider #3, but not #2 nor #1.  Similarly, go to this article for details, but I see no hope for #4, #5, #6 and #7.  #8, the Golden Eagle Danube Express Jewels of Persia would be great, except for current wars and other discomforts.

• 
  No to #9, but possible okay for #10, Belmond Hiram Bingham from Cuzco to Machu Picchu, for Bingham comes from Hawaii.
• No for #11, #12 and #13.
• #14 is the Eastern & Oriental Express, between Singapore and Chiang Mai.  Went on it once, and could return.
• #15 goes around Kyushu, Japan, so not too directional enough.
• 
  #16 is The Ghan, from Adelaide to Darwin.  Has some appeal, for I love Adelaide.
• #17 is the Canadian, from Vancouver to Toronto and back.  I've been on it, and it goes in the right East/West direction.
• No to #18, #19 and #20.

There are trains from Nice and Paris to Moscow, but they were discontinued for awhile, and might not be operational today.  Anyway, who would want to travel through Russia anymore.  But if conditions improve, there is a train from Moscow to Ussuriysk, which is 61 miles north of Vladivostok.  The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world, spanning close to 5800 miles, from St Petersburg to Beijing.  But Russia?  China?  Today???  Apparently can be done for less than $300.  First class?

Paul Theroux has written two train books involving Russia and environs.

• The Great Railway Bazaar, 1975:  from Great Britain to Japan and back.
• Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, 2009.  He recreated his 25,000 mile journey through Europe, central Asia, India, China, Japan and Siberia.  A bit too grimy for me.

Monisha Rajesh wrote Around the World in 80 Trains in 2019, describing her seven-month journey with her fiance, travelling 45,000 miles.  From Europe to Moscow, Beijing, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, New Orleans, Seattle, Pyongyang, Lhasa, northwest China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Poland, Germany, Italy, ending with the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to London. 

I've had so many cruise postings, so let me refer just to one 7-part series in 2022.  Here is the first one and the seventh.

So some time this week I'll craft the ideal global journey going west, utilizing planes, trains and ships.

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