We all deserve a big treat. And for 2021 we’re looking east, the Far East, and Japan, with our old friends Wendy Wu.
Which is as it should be as it was at the Chinese New Year lunch in Dublin in January that we travel writers first spoke about COVID-19.
The shape of things apart
There are many reasons to tour Japan at any time but the world’s focus will especially be on The Land of the Rising Sun in 2021.
When the delayed Olympics will take place.
Geisha load of this
A big cuddly bear… and a panda
Now as often happens with these things Japan’s charms are currently being flagged up on TV by one of our favourite Travel writers… in this case Joanna Lumley.
Who waxes lyrical about Japan’s stunning rail network and routes.
Pandamonium… that would be me on tour then
As usual Wendy was there first and she has two new tours including the UK’s first three-week fully inclusive rail tour.
Of islands covering the islands of Kyushu, Honshu and Hokkaido.
Wendy crew
And from now until the end of August there are a range of special offers.
And what’s for the next dish?
Free single supplements for solo travellers (worth up to £1790pp) plus a range of dedicated solo departures.
I dipped my toe in Croatia although alas not its islands nor indeed Dubrovnik but that’s another story.
If you’re travelling from Ireland go with Croatia Tours through Split as I did on my way to Medjugorje with its sister firm Marian Pilgrimages
And here don’t we know that Ireland’s national airlines carrier Aer Lingus will save me from myself by flying me straight to Dubrovnik’s front door from €39.99.
What’s the Croat deal?
As luck would have it we have some Croatian deals here for you.
British Airways has three routes to Croatia to Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik, with flights from Heathrow and Gatwick.
Ryanair has also resumed flights from London Stansted to Pula twice a week, and to Rijeka once a week.
And because we love an island… Losinj, known as a healing resort, can be reached by private plane or luxury car transfer with Losinj Hotels & Villas.
From many European airports, with Pula, Rijeka and Zagreb the closest options.
You’ll want to check out the Boutique Hotel Alhambra, an Austro-Hungarian Art Nouveau villa built in 1912 in Art Nouveau style.
And which also boasts the world-class Alfred Keller Restaurant which specialises in seasonal and local produce.
Spend fur nights at the Boutique Hotel Alhambra and enjoy one complimentary night from €954 (£866) based on two adults sharing a Deluxe Park Side Room for B&B. Valid for stays until October 3, subject to availability,
And you see a troupe (I don’t know what the collective noun is) of Hasidic Jews travel through the terminals. Istanbul,
I discovered it is the biggest hub for Jews returning to Israel.
You could fly an airplane through our airports now (they’re so quiet).
Big enough to drive an F1 car in: The TA Business Lounge
Which I very nearly did after scraping the Statue of Liberty and coming down nose first at JFK in that simulator flight at Turkish Airlines HQ.
The crisis facing our airline industry has been somewhat subsumed.
By the bigger challenges of health and the economy facing the whole world right now.
Tourism driver
But the immediacy of the threat to the sector has to be addressed. Alas,
Travel has forever been treated as frippery and indulgent by politicians and Big Business compared with other industries.
And tuck into BA’s Business Class food
Only tourism is at the heart of every country’s economy, before we even get onto its importance to business.
And while it is obvious that virtual tourism cannot replicate the joy of seeing a county or its people first hand.
And our providers have done a stand-up job in recreating their destinations this way during this crisis.
The same applies to business.
What will social distancing look like?
Dealing with real 3D people first hand over a beer or bottle of wine while sampling local cuisine is the best way to forge relationships.
Faceless bureaucrats
Oh, yes, there’s the conference meetings too.
But don’t we all just look at our watches or the time on our phones when we’re stuck in one of them?
We must fight against the high heed yins, or suits, who will want to stick with Zoom and other digital platforms.
In an effort to cut costs rather than fly their executives out to each others’ countries.
I can just see those faceless, soulless, personality vacuums, the numbercrunchers pushing for a retention of this contactless-free zone we all live in now.
Filling the air: Ryanair
And where do we stand today… with a third of British Airways http://www.britishairways.com staff worried for their jobs, their operation at Gatwick at risk.
Our crew and pilot friends
Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com planning to cut 3,000 jobs and reduce staff pay by up to a fifth?
And Virgin Atlantic www.virginatlantic.com furloughing its staff and raising the alert as to its futurez
And airlines around the world facing similar heart-wrenching decisions.
Every one of those employees is valuable and their struggles are ours.
I have come to know some of them professionally and personally and my heart goes out to them all as they too foresee an uncertain future.
Pointing to the future: In an airport in February
We are continuously having it drilled into us that ‘we will all get through this together’.
But let’s just think about the sectors and real people who are falling through the cracks.
Save our sector
We must have a Travel industry and an air sector to return to for the good of us all.
It cannot all be left to the Trade and the Public.
It is time for those politicians in their private planes to remember the rest of us.
The next time you visit your library you might bump into Andrew Carnegie.
Andrew Carnegie? Doesn’t he have something to do with music and the Carnegie Hall in New York.?
Yes, but the great industrialist and entrepreneur helped fund more than 2,500 libraries in his time too.
And his name may well be inscribed on the outside of your library.
Easy living: Pittsburgh
Carnegie was though more associated with Pittsburgh than New York.
Just call me Mr Carnegie
Carnegie centenary
If we’re quibbling (and I love an our’ quibble) then he’s really a son of Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland who emigrated to the US.
Carnegie died 100 years ago so it’s timely to flag up Pittsburgh…
After all his Carnegie Institute, or Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, are one of the big reasons to visit Steel City.
The Carnegie Museum of Art… you make up your own mind
The Carnegie Museum of Art puts an emphasis on contemporary art. Carnegie instructing them to collect the ‘old masters of tomorrorow’. http://www.cmoa.org.
Admission is £16.50 for an adult and £10 for a child.
Enraptured: At the Museum of Natural History
The most famous inhabitant of Carnegie Museum of Natural History is one Dippy the Dinosaur. http://www.carnegiemnh.org
Dippy is the nearly complete fossil skeleton of the Diplodocus carnegii dinosaur.
He was discovered in 1899 by a team of scientists, an excavation funded by Carnegie.
General admission is £16.50 for an adult and £10 for a child.
The Carnegie Science Centre is true to the Scot’s vision for future generations, dedicated to nurturing innovators and leaders like himself http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org.
General admission is £16.50 for an adult and £10 for a child.
Wow Mao: Andy Warhol Mao
The Andy Warhol Museum will celebrate its official 25th anniversary 19-20 October 2019, coinciding with the launch of the Andy Warhol: Revelation exhibition. http://www.warhol25.org.
And if you’re in the vicinity of Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland I’m sure he’ll look down on you kindly if you visit his birthplace http://www.carnegiebirthplace.com.
How to get there
I found a round trip Dublin-Pittsburgh through Boston from£301 (€340) with Delta Airlines http://www.delta.com.
And the lesson today in Give us this day is from John 1:28 and tells the tale of Jesus, John and the Jordan.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptising.
John 1:28
Not here in Israel…
Lost in time: Al-Maghtas
But here in Jordan.
Like all things in the Middle East there is a history and a land dispute.
Israel claims that John baptised Jesus in this spot, modern-day Israel, in the River Jordan.
While the Jordanians claim that it was further in, deep in their country, modern-day Jordan.
In what is, to our tongue, Bethany.
It looked like a dry ditch when I visited Al-Maghtas, ‘immersion’ in Arabic, in the baking heat of an early Jordan summer.
Could it have been like this: John’s Baptism of Jesus
But the fact is, and not meaning to sit on the fence wherever that might be, you do get a very powerful sense that Jesus of Nazareth was here.
The Pope on John, Jesus and the Jordan
Pope Francis visited the Jordanian site on the east of the river back in 2014 after he became pontiff.
While further to the west a group of Russian Orthodox Christians took a dip in the waters.
A river runs through it: The River Jordan
Which means you don’t have to imagine hordes of pilgrims being reborn again with the water of life.
You just have to open your ears and eyes to the spectacle before you from the Jordanian side.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
Matthew 3:16-17
And sorry for mixing my evangelists which is a canonical crime on par with mixing metaphors.
She’s the Wonder Woman who sews me up and sends me on my way… and very occasionally I come back with everything I left with.
And I’m getting better.
I’m also prompted by RTE reruns of the sumptuous Silk Road by the even silkier Joanna Lumley who agrees about the importance of multi-compartment purses and wallets.
They come in all shapes, sizes and styles (wives and wallets) and all make your life easier.
So what to remember
Your passport obviously. Now you may want to keep it in your inside jacket pocket or perhaps skin tight in your front trouser pocket.
And you will need to take it in and out at the airport but when you don’t need it, it’s best to put it away in the zipper compartment of your folder. If you’re travelling with your partner and your kids maybe put them all in together.
When you get to your hotel room put your valuables in the safe and only take it out if you need it for ID for bars, nightclubs or to get into some sports events.
Your tickets. Keep in another sleeve or compartment. It will be easier to differentiate. Some people (usually younger) are comfortable with having their tickets on their phones but what happens if you run out of battery (Ally?). Be safe do both.
Currency. Save yourself fiddling around in your wallet/purse between euro and a foreign currency and maybe even a third (sterling) if you’re passing through London. Use a third compartment for foreign dosh.
Now you’re on the plane
If you’re on a long-haul flight then you’ll want to keep your vanity case with you… save yourself from having to tap the person sleeping next to you so you can get up to the overhead cabin.
And if you’ve had the good fortune to go Business Class then remember the little overnight bags they give you the next time you travel.
And the earplugs will block out the noise of the snorer next to you.
Overnight bags tend to be the same but different and it’s always nice to find a little new treat.
A little bottle of Eau de Cologne was a particular treat in the Etihad bag I got this week even though I’m the last person who needs it.
Unless you’re just doing an overnighter you’ll probably be taking hand luggage and putting a suitcase in the hold.
Don’t do as I do, but as I say.
Avoid black or blue suitcases, they all look the same on the carousel. Put stickers on it to identify it as uniquely yours, maybe places you’ve been to cheer you up.
Padlock your case up and choose a lock number that’s not 1234 or your birthday or one you might forget.
And always fill out your luggage tag with your address for obvious reasons.
Don’t forget to remember
Make a list. Check it twice and give yourself enough time.
Better if you pack to go home the night before but if you are making the most if your last night on holiday then set your alarm early or get a room call.
Otherwise…
Next week: How I didn’t take any of this advice and some of the scrapes I got into (and out of) mostly because of the saints and saintesses who helped me out.
