Chapter One: Penguin Around the World

Penguin in front of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

Around the World

Looking back over the past 42 years, I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel as much as I have. Even before getting a job working for the airlines, I had traveled to 42 states. So many wonderful memories of great trips, like spending Christmas in Breckenridge, Colorado with the family and the car trouble getting back home. I loved going to Hawaii in high school, and wondered if I'd ever return. I've had 2 great trips to Nassau, Bahamas and an epic road trip with a friend from Dallas to Cleveland. I had a much needed trip to Perth, Australia a few years ago and during a period of having time off from work I went to Hong Kong, Brussels, Milan and London.

And there is the trip I took around the world, an idea I first got shortly after becoming a flight attendant, after hearing of others doing such trips. The seed was planted. I have flown enough miles to encircle the planet numerous times, but a trip set out specifically for that purpose was another thing.

It all came about because of my best friend, who was raised in Israel. For years, we've talked about going there, and even his mother, when coming to visit for his recent wedding, asked me when I was going to come visit. As it turns out, Ra and his new bride, Sasha (or Rasha, as they are known collectively) started to plan a trip to India. When a friend invited them to his Israeli wedding in November, they decided to start their travels there. I had vacation in November, and asked about the possibility of joining them. I would miss the wedding, but could meet them in Tel Aviv about a week later.

Next thing I know, a mutual friend, Tom, who had time off and money to burn, was coming along as well. I didn't know Tom too well, but I was happy to have a travel companion and a fourth person to the group. And Tom was happy to use my travel passes for the chance to fly in first or business at greatly discounted rates.

It was fun watching the pieces fall into place for the trip. We had a few meetings in person, but did most of our planning on line with various emails being sent after researching our destinations. Rasha decided to put all their things in storage and take an extended trip to last as much as a year and a half. And soon, we were talking about making stops in Petra, Aqaba, the Sinai, Cairo and then India. It was an exhilarating itinerary. And we each seemed to have our areas of expertise. Ra, of course, knew all about Israel and Sasha was most interested in India.
Sasha, Ra, Tom and Penguin in Jerusalem

Since the age of nine, I've wanted to visit Egypt. I used to watch "In Search Of", hosted by Leonard Nimoy. The stories of King Tut scared me – curses and such. There was that famous golden face staring back at me from the TV screen. And the rumors of strange powers in the pyramids, of being built by aliens from other worlds…well, it was fodder for much imagination. Years later, after my father moved to Chicago and the King Tut exhibit came to town, I got to see it all up close and personal during one of my summer visits. It stuck with me all these years and so it came that my area of expertise on our trip would be Egypt.


The largest aspect of my trip not nailed down was when the journey would begin. That hinged on my vacation, which wouldn't be known until late October. I would also have the possibility of adding days off before the start of my vacation time, which could add a week or more. When I finally got my November schedule, it was horrible news. I had a terrible line of trips that were pushed right up against my first day of vacation. In order to extend my time off, I had to drop the trips, but they were not popular trips and having others pick them up would be difficult. In the end, the gods were aligned with my desires and on November 16 I boarded a plane for Frankfurt, Germany. From there I would fly into Tel Aviv. We'd next drive to Jordan and Egypt, then fly to India. Getting home would be via Hong Kong, then directly back to San Francisco.

Tom and I would have 12 hours to spend in Frankfurt. I imagined that we could catch a train into the city and have lunch. Since Tom has family there, he arranged for us to take a train into the country and his relatives would make an authentic German lunch. What could be better?

Using my flight benefits, I typically fly in first or business. We were originally scheduled to leave on the 15th, but when I saw how overbooked business was, and that it looked better on the 16th, we pushed our departure back a day. So many customers upgraded from coach into business that we got bumped back to coach, and first was full. I was so disappointed. The only saving grace was that coach was not full, so Tom and I got a row of 3 seats in economy plus to ourselves. I also spent a good deal of time visiting business class drinking champagne and taking cheese and fruit back to Tom. But I can't sleep in those economy seats, and when we landed in Frankfurt, I'd had only a short nap.

Getting to Tom's family was easy; a simple train ride of about an hour from point A to point B without any transfers. Tom's sister met us all the way from Switzerland. He warned me that she walked fast. I normally walk fast as well. But there is fast and there is the speed at which his sister walks. I tried to keep up, but mostly brought up the rear while keeping a sharp eye on where she was going so as not to be left behind.

I love Germany and it was fun being back again; after all, it's part of my heritage, for my great-grandmother was German. I love the quaint homes and cute gardens of bright flowers. Our taxi left the train station on an overcast morning. We drove through town and started to make our way up a hill that overlooked the entire area. The vista extended for miles, with rolling hills and fields of farmland and ranches.

The home I'd be having lunch in was typicaly German, or at least what I thought was. The yard was well manicured. The house seemed a little on the large side, and it turns out that Tom's uncle is a dentist. We arrived before his uncle and aunt, so we waited outside in the cool air. It felt good and helped keep me awake. Tom looking over family photos


His aunt and uncle greeted us like royalty, full of smiles and boisterous words of welcome. As we pulled our bags into their home, it was a whirl-wind of activity. "Put your bags here, let's look at you, come, have a beer, take off your jacket, tell us about your trip, how have you been," and all of that. We were ushered out of the kitchen so the lady of the house could prepare lunch. We sat in a cozy living room next to a wall of shelves teaming with books. We drank beer and wine and got to know one another. And I finally got to hear Tom speak German. He was a little slow, having not really used the language much in the past 12 or so years. And when they would use their native language, leaving me at a loss for what was being said, I would take in the sights of the house; the small table next to the window where I imagined they played cards or chess or read one of their numerous books, the fact that some books on the shelf were in English and how thin their doors were, yet they seemed to be made of solid wood. There was a nice dining room table eloquently set with candles next to picturesque windows that looked onto a lush green yard with bird houses, trees and shrubs. And there was that wonderful view from the top of the hill.
Enjoying German beer in front of the wall of books.

Before long, Tom's sister was lending a hand in setting the table and the food started coming from the kitchen. There were sausages, mashed potatoes and cabbage. I could select sweet or hot mustard and started with sweet before switching to hot, which I found more to my liking. The food was extraordinary! I love German cuisine and helped myself to seconds, but not before being prodded to do so by my hosts. The beer was cold and washed it down well and I was full. There's nothing like a good meal; and none better than one well prepared at home.

Knowing that we were tired, we were offered the chance to take a nap for a few hours and then the use of the shower, which was refreshing. Afterwords, dessert was waiting. I was offered a bowl of various fruits in a thick sauce with a scoop of ice cream, which was thick and rich and tasted much fresher than any ice cream I'd had from a container back home. A photo album came out and Tom became engrossed with that while his uncle asked about our trip. Wanting to know more, he fetched an atlas which I used to show him the part of India where we'd be spending our time.

When it was time to return to the train station, I found myself wishing we'd planned on spending at least one night here; especially if there were to be more wonderful meals! His relatives were friendly and gracious, making me feel welcomed and a part of the family. We rode back to the airport in the dark of night; the sun sets so early this time of year. Tom seemed a little nervous about knowing at which station to alight. I felt confident in my abilities to recognize it when we arrived. That, and the fact that we were not the only ones with suitcases, so when others started getting up to collect theirs, we would follow suit.

We had an interesting time going through security. We followed the signs to our gate, passed security without much of a delay, and then followed the signs pointing to our gate, which seemed to be leading us out of the secured area. After consulting with officials, we were assured that to get to our gate, we had to pass through some doors, which, as it turns out, put us just outside of the secured area, right next to the security area we had just entered. We couldn't figure out why they didn't tell us we were going through the wrong area when we had entered and showed our tickets to them. I said to Tom that it was just a practice run.

German passport control is so lackadaisical. Historically when I'm in uniform, they hardly give my passport a look and don't always stamp it. When we arrived earlier in the day, they barely looked up and let us into their country. It would seem leaving would be about as easy. At least neither of us looked threatening!

When the boarding announcement was finally made, I started getting really excited. I knew that when I stepped off the plane that I was about to board, this trip was really going to be reality. I'd previously been in Germany, but not to any of the other places we were about to go. I've wanted to visit India for years, and Israel even longer. To add to my excitement, I'd be flying an Airbus 330 for the first time. I had a seat in business and Tom's was in economy, so I boarded before he did.

A 747 taken at SFO


What a beautiful plane it was. The business class seats stretched out flat in the comfort of leather. Each seat had its own TV for watching movies or TV shows on demand. An amenity kit awaited me with lotion, tooth paste and an eye mask. Flight attendants smiled and looked as if they were about to serve royalty and offered drinks in real glasses. Poor, Tom, I thought. I had no idea what it was like in coach, but I knew he was missing out!

I asked about visiting the cockpit and offered up my security ID to show that I wasn't some random security threat. I was ushered up front by the chief purser and had a fun chat with the captain and first officer. Their cockpit wasn't too different from the Airbus planes in my airline's fleet, but there were a few things I noticed that were different. And then they pointed out to me the A380 parked at the gate next door. It was a huge goliath of a plane and was about to depart for Narita, or so the pilots suspected.

The captain asked about my trip and I told him about Tom and me flying to meet our friends in Israel. When he found out that Tom was seated in the back, he spoke to the purser and had him bumped up to business. And very shortly, Tom and I were headed down the runway in a light rain taking off for our trip across the Mediterranean in style. Our food was fancy, served with sea salts and our choice of wine. I watched a TV show about penguins while I started to digest my meal, and then fell asleep.

The usual activity, which accompanies approach to our destination stirred me. I looked out the window and could see a coastline below. There she was, Israel, a land with thousands of years of history. And there I was, about to step foot on her for the first time.

Our first night in Israel


To make reading my epic journey easier, I've broken this blog into country segments.

Chapter Two is Israel.
Chapter Three is Jordan.
Chapter Four is Egypt.
Chapter Five is India.
Chapter six is a collection of poems and writing from my trip.

Following each chapter is a link to the photos for that country. I took a mega-ton and I know most of you won't want to see them all. Therefore, for each chapter, I've compiled my favorite photos in one link. If you'd like to see them all, there is a link at the end of Chapter Four for all of the Middle East photos not included in the favorites, and there is a link at the end of Chapter Five for all of the photos from India not included in my favorites. Photos marked with (T) were taken by Tom.

I hope you enjoy following my trip around the world.

The Itinerary:
November 16: Depart for Frankfurt
November 18: Arrive Israel
November 25: Depart for Jordan (2 nights in Petra, 1 night in Aqaba)
November 29: Depart for Cairo (1 full day in Luxor, 2 nights on a train, 1 crossing the Sinai)
December 2: Depart for India (8 nights in Anjuna, 2 nights Hampi, 2 nights Panaji)
December 14: Depart for Hong Kong
December 15: Arrive San Francisco