Around the world in …..148 tea bags

 Around the world in … 148 tea bags ?

You can’t expect the the English man ( and woman, can’t be sexist here, ) abroad not to start the day without a cup on English breakfast tea. So when packing for a world trip , then room has to be made for at least some tea bags . As the trip involved one tea growing country , replenishment would be possible . Image our delight when after only 4 days away we discovered an international branch of our favourite ( food ) store ..Waitrose ; complete with their tea. Required case volume increased; made worse with tea purchases from the Cameron Highlands ( Malaysia ), now deemed necessary for those back home . 

A step back . So this year’s visit to family would include Kuala Lumpur and Quito which invited the exciting possibility of a circumnavigation , taking in friends and family in Australia , then a trip to the West coast of USA. This involved 10 flights with 6 different airlines all with different baggage allowances and seating options . We had tried a multi-trip ticket with one airline ( Emirates ) before  ; but they had proved remarkably inflexible to changes .Passenger stipulation was that trips over eight hours necessitated Business Class comfort . This expense was avoided by careful planning ; except  for Atlantic crossing and the absence of a suitable intermediate stop off . The Pacific distances were substantial reduced by a Honolulu vacation. 

 Packing for a 5 month( 148 days to be exact ) sojourn was not too difficult as our climatic forecasts were generally for warmth, apart from variability in San Francisco and mountain ascents in Ecuador. Then there were plenty of shopping opportunities for filling any unexpected gaps. The only stress ,managed by my packer, was making sure we had enough of our favourite pills and potions ; in the event world pharmacies were well stocked. 

Even long vacations must come to an end ; we need to preserve our post Brexit residency entitlement in France , and the house and garden cannot be left indefinitely to others . We return not only with photographic reminders , but a host of warm memories.

Rescuers 2023

Body retrieval 2022

Cotapaxi as seen from summit of cable car , but year before last . And it is smoking now… too cloudy for us!

Dog trainer par excellence ?

Beware wildlife

Fortunately we never met this one

Paper bark tree

Ah the real thing

Rose sangria in Ecuador, difficult to get in Spain!

Didn’t meet this one either.. before stuffing 

Christian opulence

Too late for this event also

Plenty of raging mountain streams

True Andeans

A posh coffee shop

The only contact with the outside world for these reclusive carmelite nuns , the rotating shelves ensures they are never seen!

This church was built in wood … to look like stone 

Central valley California , after man’s transformation 

The story of our visits , inevitably closed

G&T in Jacuzzi.. at 1500 m 

Not sure I can read too far down the list

Jungle expedition 

Houston hip wine bar … in which we were welcomed

Yep , this was a shop selling coffins

Sydney War memorial to make you think

Tsunami warning tower .  Not heard during our Hawaii visit

Coffee always

Malaysian art

Aussie beach with bathers corralled to avoid dangerous undertows 

Water supply made complicated

Their last resting places

Well there had to be one cheesy photo

A bird park now run by the birds?

Orchids galore 

Sky writer 

Kl skyline 

As if we would

Big guns , without Cher… see her video

Intrepid Amazon explores paving the way , but not for us wimps 

Naturally 

An earlier Indian memory resurrected by renewed contact