A Lap of the Globe...

Fifteen years ago, one of my best friends and I did a whistle stop lap of the globe. We were only gone for three months - June until August in 2006. When we returned we went back to work just as if it had been any other holiday. 

I carried a sketchbook around in my bag for the entire trip. I'm sad to say that I hadn't started my daily drawing project / habit then and so I didn't do nearly as many drawings as I wish I had done. 

However, now that is 15 years later, I thought I might re-live the experience and read my travel journal and look through the albums and do some of the drawings I didn't do at the time. 

We took a small toy hedgehog with us on our trip, and named him Prickle. He was a sort of mascot. The idea came about because I was working as a Forest School Leader at the time and used to use a hedgehog hand puppet and so thought I might like to be able to show children where Prickle had been to on his adventures. this version was conveniently smaller than the one I used when in the woods.

We flew to San Francisco on the 5th June 2006. 

6th June - hired bikes and cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge from Fisherman's Wharf. We caught the ferry back from Sausalito past Alcatraz.

7th - Golden Gate Park, Japanese Tea Garden, Meal in China Town in the evening

8th - All you can eat pancake breakfast (turned out we couldn't eat many as American pancakes are quite different to the ones we were used to - more like sponge cakes and very filling. Good maple syrup - stored in litre bottles so quite daring to pour!). Booked onto an 'Incredible Adventures' trip that included Muri Woods and then a wine tour. (Most of my notes are about the trees and how I felt like Alice in Wonderland, dwarfed by the giant redwoods - amazing).

Apparently the seeds can lie dormant for ages then trees can get struck by lightening and destroyed... but the fire can cause the dormant seed to then grow. Nature is amazing.

-We heard here that our trip in China was cancelled. This then began a saga of ringing Bristol from wherever we were in the world to rearrange the last leg of our trip-

9th - Shuttle bus to Los Angeles. We could see the Hollywood sign from our room.

10th - Los Angeles tour (after pancakes). We went on a Limo tour as they were the same price as the other tours. We felt a bit car sick by the end of it. 

I stood on an 'Alice...' star - I'm not sure who's it was as I stood on the surname. I've recreated it with Prickle here.

11th - Getti Centre - saw a Degas Ballerina. Then went to the beach in the afternoon. I have always loved a swing and we found our first swing of the trip on Venice beach. That night we flew to Rarotonga, stopping briefly in Tahiti where there was the most amazing storm. 

More next week!