Getty Museum Free Virtual Library

Here’s  one for the booklovers.

This image crossed my ‘desk’ via my Facebook page, and not only did I have to check out the free books for myself, but I also had to share the good news here.

The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center, in Brentwood, and Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Like all major museums, the Getty produces exhibition catalogues and art books focussing on specific areas of their massive collection. The museum also publishes on a regular basis the J. Paul Getty Museum Journal. The free publications available through the museum site includes all three publication types as well as symposium papers and other material.

All of the books are available as PDF downloads only, which means the content of each has a fixed format. The downside of this is that the text can not be enlarged or reduced in size to assist reading, but hopefully this is a small price to pay for having access to an amazing range of wonderful publications. You can also read the books online, although this is probably not the best way to read them. However, you might do as I did, and check out titles of interest online first, and then download those books that interest you the most.

If you are interest in art, check out the free collection at the Getty Museum site…

More Information

The Getty Museum...
Getty Museum FreePublications...

Friday Photos: Long Beach, California

The Ocean Center Building at 110 West Ocean Boulevard

On the penultimate day of my 2012 visit to America, I went to Long Beach, California. I had never been there before, and wanting to get out of downtown Los Angeles, a trip to the ocean seemed just the ticket before a long flight back to Australia. Here are some snapshots of my visit.

For Sale? Yes, please. Long Beach, California

I assumed Long Beach was part of Los Angeles, but it seems Long Beach is a city in its own right. In fact it qualifies as the 36th-largest city in the United States, and the seventh-largest in California. In addition, Long Beach is the second largest city within the Greater Los Angeles Area, after Los Angeles itself. As of 2010, its population was just over 462,000.

Parkers’ Lighthouse, Long Beach, California

Long Beach apparently suffers from some of the worst air pollution in Southern California and the United States. Thankfully, on the afternoon I visited, non of this pollution seemed to be in evidence judging by the mostly cloudless, and ever present bright blue sky.

Lighthouse, Long Beach, California

The Port of Long Beach is the United States' second busiest container port and one of the world's largest shipping ports. Trade valued annually at more than $140 billion moves through Long Beach, making it the second-busiest seaport in the United States.

Carnival Inspiration (left), and Queen Mary (right), Long Beach, California

The RMS Queen Mary is a 1936 art deco ocean liner which is permanently docked at Long Beach. Roughly 200 ft (61 m) longer than the RMS Titanic, the former Cunard Liner is famous for being the fastest in the world from 1936 to 1952; for its distinctive art deco design, and for its use during World War II as a troop transport. It was purchased by the city of Long Beach in 1967, and converted to a hotel and maritime museum. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get any closer than this view, which is a pity. As a former ship yard worker, I would have loved the opportunity to go on board and give the ship a closer inspection.

The Carnival Inspiration, Long Beach, California

With the Carnival Inspiration berthed so close to the Queen Mary, it was a perfect opportunity to make a visual comparison between the old and new cruise liners. One imagines vast differences between the layout and facilities of each ship, but both no doubt have their champions, even today. If you had a choice, which would you prefer to sail on?

Shopping outlet at Shoreline Village, Long Beach, California

I did not have time to check out other attractions around Long Beach, but the 5-acre (20,000 m2) Aquarium of the Pacific is located nearby, as is the Long Beach Convention Center, and the Shoreline Village, where these two images (above and below) were taken―as were the two photos above of Parker’s Lighthouse. 

Waiting for my ship to come in at Long Beach, California

Downtown Long Beach is located approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Downtown Los Angeles. I got there by boarding a Metro train somewhere downtown, and riding it to Long Beach. I enjoyed my visit, although it was far too brief, and given the chance I would like an opportunity to spend several days in the area exploring further.

More Information

Thanks to Wikipedia for the background information used in this post. See the full Long Beach Wikipedia entry here...

P.S. Click on the images to view full size. 

TED on TUESDAY: A Guerilla Gardener In South Central L.A.

Ron Finley. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

~ Artist and designer Ron Finley could not help but notice what was going on in his backyard,  South Central Los Angeles. Describing the area as “the home of the drive-thru and the drive-by,” Finley decided that it was way past time to try and do something about just one aspect of the many issues facing the area―and that was (and is) the area’s poor health and high mortality rate, with one in two kids contracting a curable disease like Type 2 diabetes.

He started working with the organization L.A. GreenGrounds to install a vegetable garden on the 150 ft x 10 ft patch of ground in front of his house, that strip between the sidewalk and the street that the city owns but the resident has to keep up. What happened when he did this, becomes the heart of this inspiring talk, which has in turn inspired many other people in L.A. and elsewhere to take control of their health and urban environments.

"We’ve got to make this [gardening] sexy,” he proclaims. “Let’s all become renegades, gangsta gardeners. We have to flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangsta. Let that be your weapon of choice!”

Amen to that!

More Information 
TED Online...

The TED Blog… 

Ron Finley… 

L.A. Green Grounds… 

Twitter: @UrbanFoodForest

Hotel Review: Value Inn Worldwide, L.A.

Image courtesy of hotel website

~ I checked into the Value Inn Worldwide hotel in Los Angeles on Monday, July 30, 2012, after an 18 hour flight from Adelaide, Australia (which included a brief stopover in Melbourne).

Although I was on my way to New York City, I figured even one night in L.A. would help me deal with the inevitable jet lag I knew I was going to experience. The hotel was the first of eight hotels stays I would have during my three month visit to America.

Check in: The check in process was quick and uncomplicated. Just the thing you need after an 18 hour flight.

Reception Staff: The Indian lady on reception was friendly and efficient. She said she used to live in Sydney, and knew of Adelaide as the 'City of Churches'. So far, so good.

Image courtesy of hotel website

Cleanliness: I was allocated room 202. Although the hotel is a little dowdy, my room had been cleaned just before my arrival, and everything looked ship shape and gave me no reason to complain.

Location: the hotel is located on West Century Boulevard, which leads straight too and from LAX international airport - just three or four miles away. The neighbourhood itself seems typical for Los Angeles: fast food outlets, cheap hotels and motels, dollar supermarkets, car wash establishments and such like. There is a Chinese take away across from the hotel, and a Panda Express a couple of blocks away. These are handy since meals are not available at the hotel.

Facilities: These include free wired and wireless high-speed internet, free unlimited local and long distance domestic phone calls, and guest laundry.

Image courtesy of hotel website

Additional features and services include in-room coffee makers, microwaves, refrigerators, iron and ironing boards, hairdryers, safes, satellite TV with premium movie and sports channels, and much more. A full list of hotel facilities can be accessed here…

The WiFi reception was fine in my room and came free, a service Australian hotels would do well to emulate. Traffic noise was bearable. This was LA after all, and there was no noticeable aircraft noise despite the proximity of the airport a few miles down the highway.

Breakfast: The Value Inn website refers to their breakfast offering as a "complimentary deluxe continental breakfast", however, I thought it was fairly basic even though there was plenty of it. Choices consisted of apple or cranberry juice, tea and coffee, Cornflakes or Cheerios, muffins, waffles, toast and jam, and I guess water if you include that as part of breakfast.

Image courtesy of hotel website

So much for my Los Angeles stopover. From airport to hotel to bed to airport again. Still, it was never intended to be more than a short break to help me get over the long flight, and reset my body clock from the southern hemisphere to the northern one.

The hotel does not provide a pick up or drop off service for LAX. My taxi fare to the hotel from the airport was $20.00, and the return fare was $15.00 – including tips.

Recommendation: Let's face it, most hotels near large international airports are designed to cater to clients who are generally looking for one or two nights accommodation while they are on the way to somewhere else more interesting, and the Value Inn Worldwide fulfils this brief perfectly well. Based on my one night stay (hardly a scientific study, I know), I am happy to recommend the hotel for just this purpose. As budget hotels go, it was clean, the staff I spoke to were friendly and welcoming, the price was right, and it was close to the airport which is another reason I chose it. 3.5 stars.

More info:

Value Inn Worldwide, Los Angeles
4751 W Century Boulevard, Inglewood.

One Night: US$75.38 (includes booking fee through Orbitz.Com)

Ph: (310) 491 7000.

Jetlagged and Muddleheaded

Click image to view larger size



So here I am, still jetlagged and feeling muddleheaded, adjusting once again to being back in Adelaide, Australia after my latest three month extended travels through America.

The route map above, plots out my trip from New York City to Los Angeles, California, although the map doesn’t show my day trips out of Flagstaff, Arizona, from where I headed out each day in my hire car to the Grand Canyon (twice), Sedona and environs, and up to Monument Valley, Utah.

This completes my third visit to the United States in six years, and I’m delighted to say that once again, I had a great trip, during which I met many friendly locals, and spent more time in hotels than I have ever had the dubious pleasure of doing so before now. However, just to be clear, I did not drive myself across America. The route outlined above was shared between several Greyhound Bus rides, and what is left of the great Amtrak rail network, as well as the afore mentioned car hire.

Over the coming weeks and months I will begin to process the encounters, the highlights (and low-lights), and the hotel stays, and try to encapsulate my experiences via this blog. I have thousands of photographs to sort through, discard or enhance and utilise here, and more hours of video footage than I can ever hope to examine, edit, shape and put to good use in some way, shape or form. But what’s a traveller to do? The answer I guess, is to take each story as it comes and try to extract the heart out of each experience, and write about it in a way that will be of interest and use to readers who stumble on this blog.

Los Angeles On The Go

~ Image: The tide is clearly out in this image of a canal at Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

Still suffering from the effects of jet lag (yes, Livingstone, I know flying 10,000kms hardly compares to the light years you’ve travelled, but tell someone who cares - I’m still tired, Ok?), I embarked on a whistle-stop five hour bus tour of L.A.

Under the expert guidance of Cyril, a driver for VIP Tours, I and my fellow passengers were whipped around Los Angeles for a strictly ‘just the highlights’ tour which took in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Farmer’s Market, The Grove, Hollywood, Grauman’s Chinese Theater, FOX Studio’s, the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, Marina Del Rey, Sunset Strip and Venice Beach, amongst others.

Three stops were included in the tour: Farmer’s Market, Hollywood Boulevard (which includes Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame and other locations along Hollywood Blvd), and Venice Beach.

Along the route, Cyril pointed out some of the many buildings used in movies set in L.A. The tower that Bruce Willis defends in the first Die Hard film; the fire escape used by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman; and of course there was Venice Beach which seems to appear in almost every film shot in Los Angeles. He also showed us the telephone box where Hugh Grant was caught with his pants down; the Saks Fifth Avenue department store where Wynona Ryder was caught shoplifting; the… well, you get the picture.

Cyril pointed out some of the homes of the rich and famous: Steven Spielberg’s massive mansion on top of a hill overlooking the city; Marilyn Monroe’s L.A. home (quite modest by today’s standards); classic music venue’s like the Roxy and the Rainbow; and the venue Johnny Depp bought just so he and his buddies could party long into the night undisturbed.

Venice Beach began taking shape in the early 1900s, when tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney and his partner Francis Ryan bought two miles (3.24 km) of oceanfront property south of Santa Monica in 1891. We passed along Dell Avenue and saw the canals that give Venice Beach its name, although if you look at the area using Google Maps you may be as surprised as I was to see just how small this area actually is.

Image: Livingstone sharing a private moment with Steven Spielberg’s star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame (along Hollywood Boulevard) is probably the one place that every visitor to L.A. walks for themselves while looking for the star that represents their favourite Hollywood legend. The problem is that there are apparently some 2,400 stars fixed along both sides of the Boulevard, so the chances of visiting everyone of them is probably remote given the amount of time most tour companies allocate for this stop.

The stars don’t just recognize actors and actresses – they also immortalize legendary directors, motion pictures, broadcast television and radio, audio recordings, and theater/live performance. As an aside, I note with some bemusement, that Muhammad Ali received a star under the Live Theatre category. Boxing certainly offers spectacle on a grand scale, but live theatre? Ali’s star can be found at 6801, Hollywood Boulevard.

Apart from the glitz and glamour, I couldn’t help notice some of the poverty on display around the city. The most obvious signs of this being the numerous homeless men and women, young and old who have clearly missed out on winning their small part of the American Dream. Other observations: the ubiquitous trash that one sees everywhere; the relatively small midtown section of the city with its modest number of high-rise buildings and skyscrapers (I expected a lot more); the large number of surprisingly small homes and apartments

Image: This is as close as I got to the famed Hollywood sign on the hills overlooking downtown L.A.

As someone who champions the concept of slow travel, these bus tours are exactly the type of thing I dislike most, and yet there I was doing the ‘tourist thing’ just like so many other out-of-towners. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and make the most of the available time you have – and today was one of those occasions. For just $55, the tour was cheap, quick, entertaining enough, and the bare minimum you would need to get some sort of overview of the most popular parts of the city.

I would love to come back and spend a month or two in L.A. to experience the many other sides of this sprawling place, but that will have to wait for another trip and another day.

Historical information about Venice Beach courtesy of Wikipedia...

The Hollywood Walk of Fame...

Complete list of all stars and their locations...

Touchdown in Los Angeles

~ International travel can be quite confusing to the uninitiated. Last night, Tuesday, I uploaded a blog post from Auckland, New Zealand. And now here I am a day later posting another update from Los Angeles, California – and it is still Tuesday night! No wonder international flights leave passengers jet lagged, short tempered, and struggling to adjust to constantly changing time zones.

At 2.02pm local time, New Zealand flight NZ2 touched down at Los Angeles International Airport, otherwise known as LAX. It was the end of another uneventful flight spanning 10,590 kilometres, and eleven long hours from Auckland. All up I’ve spent at least 18 hours travelling (I’m too tired to work out the exact number). Right now as I sit in my Super 8 budget hotel room at LAX, I am delighted I made the decision not to fly through to New York, thereby saving another 6-8 hours of flying time, and the additional problem of trying to work out what to do after arriving at New York City’s JFK airport at one in the morning. I certainly had no intention of banging on the door of my host’s apartment at 3am or thereabouts asking to be let in.

Never the less, my stopover in L.A., is going to be short, sharp and shiny. Essentially, I’m here to let my body adjust to the change in time zones, so that when I reach New York I will be ready to hit the streets as soon as possible. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to spend a day and a half sleeping or sitting around watching cable television. Tomorrow I will go on one of those horrible all-in-one bus tours that cover most of the popular attractions around Los Angeles, if only to get a quick overview of the city.

My in-flight movie of choice this time was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a film based on the best selling book of the same name by Stieg Larsson. Several members of my family have been urging me to see the film, so as soon as I spotted it on the list of in-flight movies, I knew I had to watch it. I must say though, it was very disconcerting to be watching this film while sitting next to two young women. The film features several explicit sex scenes (even after being modified for air travel), graphic violence, lot’s of images of dead female murder victims, and other violent scenes. I don’t know if anyone else was watching the film over my shoulder, but I certainly felt conspicuous and even self-conscious at various points during the movie. Having said that – it is a very good film, and I’m glad I finally got to see it. Even if it was edited for our in-flight entertainment.

Getting through security at LAX was slow but without incident. After having my fingerprints taken and my face photographed for posterity, I was out on the street looking for my courtesy bus ride to the motel, which duly came and presented me with my first problem – no money for tips. It’s not as if the driver of the bus had to do very much. After all, I am quite capable of humping my own backpack and small case, but of course he wanted to show how efficient and accommodating he could be. So he loaded and unloaded them for me, and clearly expected a tip, which I just as clearly ignored, since I didn’t have any money handy to give him.

If the same driver gives me a ride back to the terminal on Thursday morning, I will make sure he gets an extra bonus for his efforts.

I must say, my energy levels are flagging fast at the moment, so I’m signing off. Time for a long hot shower, and meal at the Greek restaurant just around the corner. Later, gator…

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_s_etc/

One Leg Down - One To Go

It's 7.30pm New Zealand time as I write this (5.00pm in Adelaide).

I've just completed the first leg of my trip around the world - Adelaide to Auckland - although I'm not spending any time exploring the 'land of the long white cloud'. There are better times of the year to travel New Zealand, unless you are into winter sports - and I'm not.

Got off to a good start this morning, thanks to Sarah-Jane, my long-suffering niece.

However, I had a moment of panic last night when I went to bed. Literally 30 seconds after I flipped out the light and put my head on the pillow, I suddenly thought: I don't have any printed details for my accommodations in Los Angeles. I had of course, booked a couple of nights in L.A. weeks ago, and I had copied the information into a couple of MS Word documents onto my laptop. But I had forgotten to make a print out of the information.

There I was, trying to get to sleep, while also trying to remember the name of the hotel and coming up with numerous variations of the place, but not the right name. I considered leaving it until this morning, but knew if I left it, I would never get to sleep from having the oversight play on my mind all night. There was nothing to be done but get back out of bed, unpack the laptop, power supply, cables, and pre-paid wifi dongle, boot up the computer, find the files on my machine and finally email them to myself so I could print them off this morning. All that duly done, I packed everything away again, and 50 minutes later hit the pillow once more.

But why did I remember this oversight at almost the last moment? How is it, that my subconscious was able to retrieve this information, when my conscious mind had forgotten these very important files? I have no idea of the answer to those questions, but I'm thankful for the gift. Truly, the human mind/subconscious is a wonderful thing.

In the end, it was an uneventful flight - just the way I like it. My inflight movie of choice was a second viewing of the South African film, District 9. I even got to sit next to the wing exit, which means that in the even of an emergency, I was the person designated to open the escape route onto the wing. Unfortunately, no-one explained if I had to wait until the plane came to a complete stop before I opened the door, or whether I could open it before we hit the ground. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out!

Livingston spent the whole flight tucked into the overhead storage locker - sleeping. At least, that's what I'm assuming. Anyway, he didn't complain too much, and I left him to it. I did take some photographs during the flight, but as yet I can't download them from camera for your viewing pleasure.

They will wait.

Just like I'm waiting for the next stage of the trip: Auckland to Los Angeles.

The first leg was easy. This next one will be a real back breaker, but with a bit of luck I hope to sleep most of the way. See you then, then.

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?

~ Well, yes – and no.

Meet my travelling companion, Livingstone, named in honour of the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Livingstone was created by my niece, Sarah-Jane Cook, a much underrated visual artist who works across many mediums. Since I generally travel on my own, we both thought (that is, Sarah-Jane and I), that it would be good if I had a travel buddy with me on my round the world trip, which begins in less than 24 hours. So, out of all the creatures and characters Sarah-Jane has created, I have selected Livingstone as my boon companion.

Livingstone is already well travelled, having recently come from a tiny planet in the region of a star cluster with the incredibly romantic name of NGC 6752. Seriously! Livingstone was very straight faced and quite sober when he told me this. Apparently, NGC 6752 is somewhere out beyond the Pavo constellation. Unfortunately, he did get caught up in some recent sun spot activity which seems to have caused a major malfunction in his internal guidance mechanisms. The other side effect of this incident is that it has left him with a body mass that has become extremely soft and pliable, giving him the appearance of a soft toy made from heavy ply wool with black beads for eyes – but as Livingstone says, appearances can be deceptive.

In and of itself, his transformation from an inter-galactic, state of the art, robotic alien is not a major drawback, since it means he is now incredibly light and can fit into almost any space, which in turn means I should have no trouble toting him around with me wherever I go.

Assuming I don’t get turned back at Los Angeles International Airport by an overzealous Border and Customs Control officer who thinks it is very strange that a 61 year old should be travelling around the world with a ‘soft toy’ called Livingstone, I look forward to sharing many exciting adventures with you - and of course, with Livingstone.

Packing & Stacking

With around 60 hours to go before I jet off on the first leg of my round the world trip, I have spent most of the past few days (since my return from Melbourne) packing and stacking.

By that I mean I have been packing boxes with the detritus of my rental accommodation, and stacking those boxes in my niece, Sarah-Jane's, garage. I have taken a couple of car loads of clothing, books, and assorted goods to the charity shop and the second-hand book store down the road, and I've off-loaded some old magazines at the laundry on Semaphore Road - magazines which make much more interesting reading than the awful 'women's' magazines that usually lay about on the benches there.

I've got a couple of half full storage boxes waiting to receive the very last minute stuff that I need to see me through the next couple of days. My suitcase is packed. My backpack waits to receive the laptop I'm writing this with, along with the other technological paraphernalia that so many travellers burden themselves with - and that's it.

Los Angeles, here I come...

And New York City...

I hope you are able to join me on my travels, where I look forward to viewing the world with a fresh perspective, an open mind, a joyful heart, and welcoming smile.

See you on the road.

Happy New Year!

~ Happy New Year!

Strange isn't it? It is midday on January 1st, here in Adelaide as I write this (with a slightly befuddled head following yet another late night seeing in the new year), which means we are already 12 hours into 2010.

Meanwhile, in New York it is still only 8.30pm on New Years Eve. I imagine there are thousands of people streaming into Times Square to join the thousands who are already there, waiting to start celebrating in style once midnight finally arrives in that great city.

The revelers in Los Angeles on the other hand, have still got more than six hours to wait before they see the new year reach them. I hate to tell you this folks, but you may as well stay home and get an early night because New Years Day, 2010 looks remarkably just like every other new years day I have ever celebrated.

And yet, celebrate it we will. Just like we celebrate the birth of a new child or the start of spring. All hold the promise of something new; something fresh; something we haven't experienced before.

For myself, I hope 2010 brings me closer to my family and friends, and closer to a few more of the billions of people populating this wonderful planet. I hope too that each of us can take our own individual steps closer to peace, compassion and understanding. God knows, we and the planet could do with it.

Wherever you are, and whoever you are with, may this New Year, 2010, infect you with Peace, Love and Understanding.

The Countdown Continues

Click on image to enlarge

At the beginning of June (in The Countdown Begins), I wrote about my nascent plans for my next major overseas trip planned for 2010. Back then I’d been home in Adelaide eight months following my last trip, and I was counting down the ten months before my expected departure.

Now here I am, two months later and find those numbers have been reversed. I’m now ten months back with eight months before I head off again around the end of March.

My plans are still no clearer in my mind, with respect to what I want to do, and where I want to go, other than I want to undertake a major road trip across the United States, and once again end up in Greece for an extended stay. Greece is the ideal place as the final destination of my travels because I have two sisters living there, and the free use of the original family home on the island of Ikaria.

Regular readers of this blog will know I have been conducting lots of research in the form of reading (and reviewing) books – old and new – in preparation for my trip. I’m a great believer in trying to get a broad understanding of the cities and the landscape of countries I am travelling through, so I can better enjoy the experience. Knowing something about the history, culture, and lives of the people I might meet helps build insight and awareness into the overall travel experience. The more I research and learn, the more I am able to see the world through the eyes of the locals and modify or drop my own preconceived ideas of how I think they should or should not be living or behaving.

And so to America. So far my thoughts are thus: I will probably fly into Los Angeles. I will then catch up with various relatives on the west coast (San Diego; Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere).

I will then embark on my road trip. But for how long and to where exactly? This is currently my great dilemma. The United States is so vast and varied that there is far too much to see and do in one road trip no matter how extended it may be. My plans have ranged from a circumnavigation of the continental United States that would involve driving some ten to twelve thousand kilometres (assuming Google has done the maths correctly), to much shorter drives of four to six thousand kilometres.

I am currently more inclined to aim for a shorter drive where I can spend more time savouring the journey and the destinations along the way, but I’m still a long way from deciding where my road will lead me.

My latest Google mapping exercise has me plotting a route from Los Angeles across the southern states as far east as Alabama, and then up to Nashville before driving back to L.A. along Route 66 (see map illustrating this entry). However, at around 5,300 miles (or 8,500 kilometres), even this road trip looks like hard work, and vacations should not be hard work. They should be relaxing and fun, and stimulating and exciting.

Not that I am baulking at the distances involved – even though I will probably be on my own. One thing Australian drivers learn to do early – whether they like driving or not – is drive long distances. We know that short of flying between major capital cities (or taking a train or coach), the most convenient way to get anywhere is by car. And since we hate to be without a car at our ultimate destination, driving our own vehicles to our final destination is almost always our preferred option.

Anyway, I know I will return to this theme several more times before March, so bear with me, and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please pass on your tips via the Comments box below.

Never to Old to Live and Learn

~ Yesterday, I signed up for a ten week Spanish For Fun and Travel course at an Adelaide based institution, the WEA. The Workers' Educational Association was founded in 1913, and is Australia's largest non-government adult community education organisation. It provides learning opportunities for anyone aged 15 years or older in its nearly 1800 short courses – for which the Association receives over 30,000 enrolments annually.

Using a concession card my ten week by two hour course cost me just AUD$112.00. That breaks down to a mere AUD$5.60 per hour! Even at the full price of AUD$124.00 the course is still incredibly cheap. Further down the track I may even sign up for a French or German language course. And why not? At the above prices, learning a language for ‘fun and travel’ is pretty much affordable to everyone.

I’ve decided to tackle Spanish first because next year I want to drive across America. I will probably start on the west coast at Los Angeles and either drive Route 66 to Chicago and New York, or drive across the south towards New Orleans and then up the east coast to New York.

After spending eight weeks in New York City last year, it quickly became apparent that a basic knowledge of Spanish would be very useful – not just in New York but wherever I happened to be in the United States. Of course it will be even more useful if I decide to take a side trip into Mexico during my road trip.

I know there are regional differences between Spanish as it is spoken in Spain as compared to Mexico (and indeed throughout Latin America), but I figure the little I learn during this course will be better than the complete lack of knowledge I now have.

From the USA I will be going to Europe, and since I have never been to Spain, I am considering a trip to that beautiful country too.

Life is for living and learning, folks, and now that I have the time, I plan to live and learn and travel as far and wide as my finances will allow.

By the way, the WEA is not unique to Adelaide. There are similar institutions elsewhere in Australia and overseas, so if you want embark on a journey of life-long learning, check out the sites below, or ask at your local public library for information about similar organisations in your city.

Links to Associated Sites

• WEA Sydney
• WEA UK
• WEA Illawarra
• Council of Adult Education Melbourne
• Adult Learning Association
• International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA)

All Aboard the World’s Largest Zeppelin!

~ Now this sounds like a real buzz – watching fireworks light the Fourth of July night sky in Los Angeles, while soaring 1000 feet above the Pacific Coast aboard the Airship Ventures Zeppelin Eureka.

Returning to the Southern California skies after a sold-out engagement in May, Eureka will offer flight-seeing tours above L.A. from July 3-7, 2009.

The highlight of Eureka’s return trip to the L.A. skies will be a special two-hour Independence Day fireworks flight that takes advantage of the Zeppelin’s 360-degree panoramas to offer passengers stunning views of fireworks shows up and down the L.A. coastline. The fireworks flight is one of many tours offered during the Zeppelin’s six-day excursion to Los Angeles, which also include one- and two-hour flightseeing tours and private charters.

Flightseeing experiences offer magnificent views of Southern California landmarks, such as the historic Queen Mary, Long Beach Harbor, the Sunset Strip, the Hollywood sign, as well as sweeping vistas of the Pacific Coast from Huntington Beach to Santa Monica.

For those seeking the ultimate Zeppelin experience, tours are available on the transit flights between Long Beach and the San Francisco Bay Area. Soaring above the California Coastline and Central Valley, these 8-hour cruises follow Highway 1 on July 1st (southbound), and July 8 (northbound) as the Zeppelin travels to and from Long Beach from her home base at Moffett Field near San Francisco.

Los Angeles-area flights will depart from the AirFlite FBO terminal, adjacent to the main terminal at Long Beach Airport (3250 Airflite Way, Long Beach, CA 90807, at the corner of Cherry and Wardlow). One-hour flights are $495, plus tax, per person; two-hour flights are $990, plus tax, per person; and the spectacular Fourth of July fireworks flight is $1,200, plus tax, per person.

One- and two-hour flightseeing tours booked before June 30, 2009, will be eligible for the company’s “buy one flightseeing ticket, save 50% on the second,” promotional pricing (excluding the Fourth of July Fireworks Flight). Passengers on every flight will receive a certificate redeemable for a buy-one-get-one free general admission to the Queen Mary, good through September 30, 2009.

At 246 feet in length, Airship Ventures’ Eureka is the world’s largest airship—15 feet longer than a Boeing 747, and dwarfing the largest blimp by more than 50 feet. One of only three Zeppelins currently operating in the world, Eureka offers passengers spectacular 360-degree views of the sights on flight-seeing tours above the San Francisco Bay, Silicon Valley, Monterey and Los Angeles.

About Airship Ventures, Inc.

Founded in 2007 in California, Airship Ventures, Inc., operates the only passenger airship operation in the United States, featuring “Eureka,” the world’s largest airship. The Zeppelin’s spacious cabin comfortably accommodates one pilot, one flight attendant, and 12 passengers with luxury features including oversized panoramic windows, an onboard restroom with window, and a 180-degree rear observation window and “love seat” that wraps the entire aft of the cabin. Using the inert gas helium for lift, and vectored thrust engines for flight, Zeppelin NTs have been flying in Germany and Japan since 1997 with an unparalleled safety record.

For more information the visit Airship Ventures website...

Or call 650-969-8100 x111

IMAGE: Courtesy of Airship Ventures

Photographer: Achim Mende

My Dream Vacation

~ So here’s a question for you.

If you had $100,000 and six months to spend it on your dream vacation, where would you go, and what would you do?

And just so you know: No, I don’t have a spare one hundred grand, either for you or myself, but I did think it would be an interesting intellectual exercise to fantasize about my dream vacation for a couple of hours (yes, I know, I do have too much time on my hands). Oh, and just for the record, I am not an intellectual!

Alright… I’ll go first. Let me see…

First up, starting from here (here being Adelaide, Australia), I would travel by merchant ship to the USA, island hopping my way across the Pacific Ocean. Stops along the way would include New Zealand, Tahiti, and Mexico, before disembarking in San Francisco.

From San Francisco, armed with a copy of Jamie Jensen’s Road Trip USA I would begin my long dreamed about road trip across the United States – first down the Pacific coast to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Tucson, Arizona catching up with relatives along the way (making sure I visited Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon of course).

Most serious road trip enthusiasts dream about driving the length of the famed Route 66 at least once in their lives, and I’m no exception. From Tucson, it wouldn’t be to hard to head north again and join Route 66 at Flagstaff. However, being a ‘completist’ (is that even a real word?), if I was going to drive Route 66, I would have to head back to LA and start the journey proper from there.

Now those of you familiar with the song, Route 66, will immediately realize that would be doing it all wrong. According to the song, Route 66 “Winds from Chicago to LA,” but do I really want to fly or drive all the way to Chicago, just so I can spend several weeks singing the lines of the song every mile along the route in the proper order they were written?

Of course, you are right. Am I a completist or aren’t I?

Ok, so I’d fly to Chicago and drive Route 66 north to south (or to be more precise – north to south-west), and make sure I have lots of great adventures along the way. Unfortunately, that means I am back where I started – sort of. I now have to get from LA to New York City. I could fly, but where’s the fun in that? So after resting my numb bum in Los Angeles for a few days, it’s back into the hire car for the long drive across the American south and up the east coast to New York.

After spending a couple of weeks in New York City, it’s on to the Republic of Ireland – via Niagara Falls and Canada. Well, why not?

Now, relax. I don’t mean to bore you with every stop along the way, so here in some sort of order is the rest of my fantasy vacation: From Ireland I would go to England, France, Spain, and Morocco. The north African leg of my trip also takes in Senegal, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Egypt. From there it’s on to Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands. Now it’s time to rug up and head north into Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. By train we cross the Russian steppes to Mongolia and China. We’re on the homeward stretch now. Just a few more countries left (Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand) before finally setting down in Darwin, Australia.

From Darwin I would drive back to Adelaide the ‘long way’. That is, via Kakadu, Alice Springs, Mount Isa, Brisbane, and then down along east coast passing through Sydney, Melbourne, and finally on to Adelaide.

Whew, that is a sum total of 33 countries in six months, and more miles than I care to think about.

Is it possible? Would $100,000 be enough?

Hey, what do I know? This is a fantasy vacation after all. A pipe dream. A flight of the imagination. A meditation on the possible – or if you insist, the impossible. But who knows? Maybe, just maybe, if I can’t do the whole trip I can do parts of it. Maybe I don’t have to complete the whole journey in six months. What if I only do the ocean voyage and the road trip? That would be a good start in anyone’s book – wouldn’t it? I can always tackle other parts of the journey later.

So what does your dream vacation involve?

Don’t hold back. Let your imagination run wild, and let me know via the comments section below. Alternatively, you could write a longer piece and send it to me. With your permission I might republish it here as part of my blog.

Go on, share the dream.