World Tour Wrapup: Travel Stats

Including my departure and arrival days, I checked off 36 calendar days but actually experienced 37, thanks to crossing the date line going east.

I flew 30,000 air miles in 17 fights totaling 60 hours air time. I spent 55 hours in 13 separate airports during arrivals and departures. That means I spent 115 hours or 4.8 days (13% of my vacation time) in the business of air travel.

Touring in Tasmania

My two full days in the Australian state of Tasmania I spent touring: one day to see the Port Arthur ruins; the other day out at sea looking for birds and ocean mammals.

Research and Sightseeing in Ballarat

I took a train from Melbourne into an inland city named Ballarat. The town has two things to attract me: it is one setting for my next historical novel; and, the only person in Australia I know lives there.

Touring the Southeast Australia Coast

On November 24 and 25, I took two all-day bus tours of the coastal areas around Melbourne, Australia. The intent was to see wildlife and scenery. I got my money's worth.

Changing Plans: a Day on the Water

Two days ago, as the plane from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, prepared to land at Siem Reap, I saw great expanses of marshland below. When I landed, I told my guide Sopheak that I wanted to spend one less day temple hopping and do some birding.

Visiting Angkor Wat, Day 2

The Angkor Wat complex includes 246 temples. Today I visited 8 of them.

Cambodian Reflections

In retrospect, Kathmandu seems like a city recovering from an earthquake compared to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia.