How I Caught the Travel Bug

One of life’s best investments.

I am fortunate to have travelled extensively, and my favorite has to be my first “round-the -world” trip from December 1975 through January 1976. I had never travelled outside of Malaysia and Singapore and this was my first overseas trip. Rhonda and I were only recently married in Malaysia and my company was sending me to New York for an orientation/training visit prior to a posting to the Philippines. They provided us with an “around-the-world” airfare (which you could get in those days). The trip was from Kuala Lumpur to Manila, then to cities in the United States, and returning to Kuala Lumpur via London and Delhi. It was an eye opening adventure filled with memorable experiences packed into six exciting weeks.

Manila, Philippines

We were met at Manila airport by my future colleague. I was recently appointed the New York manufacturer’s regional manager for the Philippines and was to transfer there in the New Year. The owners of the distributorship hosted us at their beautiful home and we had a taste of the local cuisine and the very friendly hospitality of the Philippines. Although it was a short two day visit, I felt very much at home in Manila. The local restaurants, music and people left me looking forward to my new posting.

The USA (California, New York, South Dakota, Iowa)

We flew from Manila to Honolulu for an overnight beach stop on Waikiki before flying to Los Angeles where we were met at the airport by my uncle John and his wife Mary. We went straight from the airport to a great Mexican restaurant where we had the “best” Mexican meal accompanied by double margaritas in oversized glasses! During our stay with John and Mary, we toured LA and Hollywood and Mary got us complimentary tickets to Disneyland. After a lovely time at their home in Glendale, we took the short flight from LA to San Diego where I also had relatives. My uncle Rene had moved their family to San Diego from Malaysia a few years ago and we spent time reminiscing and catching up with my many cousins. We visited the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. The USA was getting ready to celebrate its bicentennial year (1976) and there were special events in many places. From San Diego, Rhonda flew to South Dakota to her parent’s home while I flew to New York for my work orientation at the company’s facilities in Oyster Bay, Long Island. You can read more on my visit to NY here.

During my work orientation I stayed at Burt Bacharach’s East Norwich Inn. At the inn I was lucky to come across some famous film stars, including Angie Dickinson and Sammy Davis Jr. The Inn attracted a number of celebrity guests because of its connection with Burt Bacharach.

After an informative and interesting week of orientation at the company’s offices and factory, punctuated by a weekend visit to the city and Times Square, I flew to Huron, South Dakota to join Rhonda and her family for the Christmas holidays. Rhonda’s parents had a cheese plant in Wessington Springs, SD. We helped out in the cheese plant while enjoying an American small town experience in my first real encounter with snow country!

From South Dakota we headed to Ames, Iowa and visited Rhonda’s alma mater, Iowa State University. We spent some good days and evenings catching up with Rhonda’s college friends. I recall long drives across the flat state and visiting the Amana Colonies where I got my first wool shirt and hearty helpings of German inspired food.

London, England

The return journey began with a flight to London. We stayed at the Piccadilly Hotel on Piccadilly Circus. London was crowded and busy on New Year’s Eve. We did the little sight seeing we could, and decided our time would be better spent in Rome. We got to the airport and negotiated a re-route through Rome. In those days, with an “around-the-world” ticket, you could get on any flight and make any stop without additional charge as long as it was on their route.

Rome, Italy

We landed in Rome without any plans or hotel reservations. We found accommodation at a hotel called Traiano which was within walking distance of the Colosseum. You can read more on our trip to Rome here.

New Delhi, India

Our last stop before heading back to Kuala Lumpur was New Delhi. We spent two days there and stayed at the Asoka hotel. By then we were ready to get home and were not as adventurous as we had been in Rome. Delhi was a picture of contrasts, fancy hotels and buildings amidst clear signs of poverty. We took a couple of taxi rides to tour the city and saw the Red Fort, India Gate, Hamayun’s Tomb and some other sites. I remember being overwhelmed by the traffic jams and sounds. It was too short a visit to do the country justice and we have to go back and give India the time it deserves.

We returned to Malaysia with lots of stories to share and memories to last our lifetime. After a few weeks back visiting family and friends, packing and attending farewell parties, we flew back to Manila for my new posting and our next adventure.

I feel very fortunate to have had this early experience of travel. It certainly gave me the confidence to face situations and the many unknowns encountered in later years. Travel is a great teacher. We have done a lot of it over the past fifty years and hope to continue to do more in the last quarter of our lives. I have never regretted spending money on any of our travels. Travel is one of the best investments one can make in life and we would do it all over again.