The Epilogue

Sunday, 25th February at 10.15 am and after 33 flights in 4 months the big BA bird touches down at Heathrow. David & Andy and Alex & Mags (and a definite bump) had all turned out to welcome us home - which was wonderful - and we were so very, very pleased to see them all.

They had brought three cars for us and all our luggage - and seemed quite disappointed that we only had 4 dumpy bags and a couple of small backpacks in total. However, and to be fair, we had sent home about 50kg in boxes.... so when we all got back to 2 Fairfax Gate it was just like Christmas as the boxes were opened. Lots of souvenirs, books and presents.

Now we have been home nearly a week and it almost feels as if we haven't been away at all!

Everyone is asking about which was the best bit... but to be honest ... it was all marvellous. There were no real disappointments, nothing we would have left out, and probably not much that we are very, very desperate to visit again soon - but only because there is still so much of the world that we haven't seen.

We do know how fortunate we are to have been able to do this and our memories will be with us for the rest of our lives.... and we still have the 6000 photos to sort through!

But these were probably the greatest highlights for each of the major destinations visited -

India - Rajasthan - The Taj Mahal
Thailand - Rayavadee, Krabi
Cambodia - Angkor - Pra Thom
Malaysia - The Petronas Towers
Bourneo - Anna Lisa - Sepilok
Singapore - Boat Quay

Australia - Great Barrier Reef & Our First Turtle
New Zealand - Mountains, Rivers & Lakes & The Sperm Whales
The Cook Islands - Doug's 60th Birthday
Hawaii - The Humpback Whales
California - San Francisco's Cable Cars

What we didn't see ....

Tigers in India

Kangaroos in Australia

Mount Cook in New Zealand

But what we did see included a few surprises -
A fine selection of cement mixers (for those current members of the Cement Mixers Convention, the President asked that you particularly note the use of one at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, another at our first campsite in New Zeland - Hokitika and he was very excited to have found a very elusive specimen, locked away for its protection in Alcatraz).

For those members of the Aston Martin & Jaguar Club - Orgiva Division -

Two Aston Martin DB9's both near Auckland, New Zealand and a Vanquish in Maui, Hawaii.

And Doug took it upon himself to compile the Beer Drinkers Friendly Society Guide to Beers of the World, which required a lot of sampling.
Needless to say this is only a fraction of the compendium, so if you require further detailed information or copies of the photographic data or maybe you would like to leave some feedback then please don't hesitate to contact the Secretary of the Friendly Beer Drinking Society, Mr Douglas Howe.

So the sillyness is put on hold, temporarily, and it's back to reality!

We have a house to sell ... so the agents will be in again next week and hopefully we will be able to make a new life in Spain before too long.

We do hope you have enjoyed travelling with us - and look forward to seeing you all before too long. We just want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have dropped us a line via the web during our travels.... it was always lovely to hear from home.

With our very best wishes,

Diane and Doug xx

The end.

Las Vegas

Right at the beginning of our Grand Tour we met a Fab 4 (Barry & Meryl and Gill & Sharon) on the Palace on Wheels - the train journey around Rajasthan. Our new American friends live not far from Los Angeles and said they would drive up to Las Vegas to spend the weekend with us... what fun! One of the highlights of the weekend was to see the Cirque de Soleil's new show at The Mirage - entitled "Love" and based on the music of the other Fab 4 - The Beatles. This show is a must and if ever it comes to anywhere near you..... you simply must book. It is probably the best show we have ever seen. Great music, acrobatics, ballet, roller skating, gymnastics, choreography, timing.... you name it!

We discovered recently that Master Howe to be will be born in the Chinese Year of the Pig... but not just any old pig ... the Golden Pig, which only comes around every 60 years. The Chinese were celebrating New Year bigtime at The Bellagio and had a magnificent display in their conservatory.

Las Vegas itself doesn't need any explanation... gambling and money in general prevail - hotels based on every venue theme you can think of - Luxor, Caesar's Palace, Paris with an Eiffel Tower, The Venetian has its own gondolas and Rialto bridge,

New York New York with a Statue of Liberty - and all the way - shopping big time!

The boys took themselves off to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to be driven around the circuit by professional drivers in Indy cars at 180 mph! They enjoyed themselves, of course!

And yes, on the last night we went gambling and won! Not a fortune... but we put our last few bucks on the roulette wheel on the new grandson's expected birthday - 29 and yes - we won $380! Great fun and walked away whilst winning... it certainly paid for dinner that night!

The six of us had a wonderful last dinner in The Hotel - in a penthouse overlooking Vegas... what a view!

Doug wasn't the only one to celebrate his 60th... Meryl did as well... that week! Happy Birthday Meryl!

Thanks Gill & Sharon, Meryl & Barry for making the end of our trip as great as the beginning.... we look forward to seeing you again, soon, somewhere! Hopefully next time our other travelling companions from the Palace on Wheels, Carol & Tim, can also join the party.

San Francisco - City by the Bay

We have arrived in San Francisco with only a week left of the trip and it's still an exciting adventure, which we are loving.... no Tony Bennett to serenade us in to the city where he left his heart... in the City by the Bay! We thought the windy city was "Chicago" - San Francisco must come a close second!

We continue as "tourists" and take overselves on a Cable Car down to Fisherman's Wharf to get on a very windy cruise of the Bay - and catch our first glimpse of the city from boat, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the part of the approach road of the Bay Bridge which we had seen so graphically on the newsreels - with the two levels falling apart in the 1989 Earthquake. The weather was lovely - bright winter sunshine, but quite a strong, cool breeze, but perfect weather for long walks exploring this great city. We also took a tour of the city on a motorised cable car, travelled on a genuine street car... not named "Desire" but it is still in the fleet. San Francisco was smaller than we had thought - and very manageable, but we still didn't see everything and would love to go back one day.. hopefully soonish!

Our tour of Alcatraz was really amazing. We learned all about the inmates and the prison officers, some of the escape plots, etc all of which were very interesting and insightful ... we even locked Doug away in solitarty for a few minutes... and he said it was not at all nice! They slammed the door after him, it was pitch black and the sound of the keys turning.... help!

Whilst we have been on this trip we received the best possible news from Alex & Mags.... a baby is due at the end of June! But by the time we got to San Francisco we knew that we are to have a grandson and we had full permission to shop for his wardrobe. No further encouragement to shop was needed.... needless to say we had to buy another small suitcase! The American kids' clothes are gorgeous - so Baby Gap, Osh Kosh, The Children's Place, H & M, Old Navy and Ralph Lauren all became part of the San Francisco Tour!

Just one more stop before we are home to see Mags' bump! So let's see if we can win enough money in Las Vegas to pay for this wonderful tour.... but we are not holding our breath!

Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii

A busy 48 hours whilst we based ourselves in Honolulu, in fact Waikiki, the home of surfing and its icon, Duke, and we had quite a few drinks in his Canoe Club Bar, but also took in a tour of Pearl Harbour. And of course a Blue Hawaii Cocktail... and just look ....Elvis is well and performing there (mmmm... not really - but an excellent tribute evening).




Waikiki Beach




































Pearl Harbour






Doug is holding the Hawaii flag... take a close look it has a Union Jack in the corner! The Arizona Memorial, USS Arizona being one of several ships sunk at the Pearl Harbour bombing - and as hundreds of the marines bodies could not be recovered, this is a war grave. Also USS Missouri, which is the ship on which the Japanese Surrender ended WWII.

The remains of Arizona...

USS Missouri and some of her guns




The plaque which commemorates the signing of the Surrender.

Diane gets a Blue Hawaii Cocktail and we are entertained royally by "Elvis".








Hawaii was a really pleasant surprise.... we had no major expectations , but we really enjoyed the two very different destinations - and would thoroughly recommend either - actually both!