DICK'S TRAVEL TIDBITS
Dick'sTravel Blog
Bakersfield, CA 93314
United States
dicksny
GETTING READY TO GO...AND A STORY BELOW
SORTING OUT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
What is the business of a person in their 70s who wants to enjoy living, see new places and socialize with people in other cultures? I guess one requirement is looking for inventory, finding the next trip, the right trip, the last trip?
There is the added incentive of just learning how to present the product, learning more about one's body. Lose weight? Walk hills? Lift weights? New meds?
What is the weather going to be? Do I need new clothing? Do I need cloning?
Is the camera technology up to standard? Can I pack essentials and still feel put together? Is there a new set of layers I should wear en route? Once there? A lot to work on.
How do you get ready for an 11 hour flight across the pacific in a small "economy" seat? Does the blood circulate properly? Does one need to walk the plane every 30 minutes? Should one be extra-hydrated? Is there even the possibility of being able to sleep, without drugs....with drugs?
I finally concluded that travel is in many ways the most personal of journeys. One needs preparation, homework, geographic knowledge, a few foreign language phrases, a disposable amount of money and a certain amount of willingness to just put one in the hands of fate.
For Example
http://www.dicksdoings.com/dicksadventures/Helsinki.html
The adventure comes with the product. Sometimes it is fun, sometimes dangerous; but one never chooses.
As with raising children, the concept of control is an illusion; thus travel is just a release from daily challenges. I guess that is the main purpose of my travel...letting go.
No profit margin; just breaking even.
DICKS ADVENTURES
I have been creating picture narratives of my travel and adventures for the past five years. One can access them all by going to: http://www.dicksdoings.com/dicksadventures/DIRECTORY.html
HOWEVER, HERE IS A STORY JUST FOR YOU.
A CRUISE SHIP TABLE FOR EIGHT
SYDNEY TO HONG KONG, 2008. CRYSTAL SERENITYWe have been on six Crystal Cruises, and for each the gathering at supper time was always fun, friendly and informative. This was no exception, but the personalities were a little larger and each quite memorable; no consensus blending allowed.
Shirley Becker, left front, a marvelous, outspoken, dominating personality who has coped with life and limited mobility by traveling a lot since her husband's death 15 years ago. She has two sons, two homes (Miami and Santa Fe) and a daughter. "My daughter," she says, "has the burden of keeping track of me because of proximity and I am sure she is happy to see me gone...for a time".
Shirley has been on the ship since November 15, and will remain until the World Cruise concludes in England. She has booked World Cruise full ride for 2009 and 2010. Where is it going in 2010, I asked, as though the ports of call might induce me to want to take some of it, and she answered, "who cares".
Her hair is beautifully wrapped, and I asked her first night who did it. "I do", she replied. Not one to waste words or impact, she says what she thinks, then acts. In Santa Fe, she said, "if you have grass, you are rich". I did not ask...:-)
In Brunei, she went with a private driver and tour leader and was able to visit every museum and sight that she wanted since they could bring her right to the entrances and her walking was minimal. That evening, she discussed with precision what she saw and her opinion and understanding of "other people...other cultures".
Upon boarding in Miami in November, she had 4 cases of Diet Rite cola loaded on board, and then ordered one can each night at supper. Her drink followed a polite serving of crisp, very crisp celery sticks. If the celery was limp, back it went. Informed that her Diet Rite was running low, she said, with a smile, "someone's been into my stock". She will have some more brought on board at first opportunity. Just tell them what you want, she says, and they will buy it and load it for you.
At the end of supper second night, she arose at 8:00 p.m. and said, "the staff needs time to get ready for second seating; we should all leave at 8:00 pm". She was right, but no one left, although we got the hang of it a little later. But leaving on time was complicated (see the story of McKay and Susan below). I will never forget Shirley Becker; her take on life was tough, unforgiving, without complaint and with purpose.
Ed, second from right, and Marietta, right, are a very happily married couple signed up for the full World Cruise. Ed is a retired physician and medical administrator, and a very successful one who remarried after the death of his first wife. I believe, from what I "heard" around a noisy table, that Marietta was once a patient of his.
I just know that she said once that she kept getting into trouble because she would not take her medicine and he got very impatient with her....or else it was that she was a nurse and kept getting in trouble because of some medicinal procedure, and he would shout at her. As she told the story, he smiled.
MARIETTA'S EGG
In any case, they were a delight to be with. He admires her, just glows with pleasure at being with her, and she pleases him and herself I imagine, by dressing incredibly well, with tasteful emphasis on jewelry, grooming, style and proper tones of blonde. When the new coloring she got on board turned out too brown she had it redone the next day. I liked Marietta a lot, and always enjoyed them as a couple.Ed was very knowledgeable about film and television trivia and he adored talking about "old movies" and the stars he enjoyed. This was a bountiful addition to the chit-chat because Rick McKay has such a rich background in film and broadway, and they really enjoyed questions and answers over wine.
Ed also found some on-board reading on the American revolution to be a revelation, and when he learned that I had taught history at UW, he asked me some questions, which thankfully I could answer. We had a long, interactive conversation about what motivated these men especially in the time frame, 1790-1820. I had some speculations about that, based upon an exceptionally thoughtful book by Peter Charles Hoffer. In the end, I promised to send him a copy, and I will as soon as it arrives. It is now out of print, but I found a copy on Amazon.He is a gentle, thoughtful, loving man. I told him that my physician said to me, "you can take good care of yourself, eat the right foods, take the proper medications, exercise regularly and avoid excesses of drink and drugs.....but after you have done all of this properly....in the end....you die." He then went on to say, "so enjoy life". I loved that observation from my physician, and so did Ed, who said, "you have a good doctor" and took another sip of wine.
Back to the full picture, so you can get a look at Tommie, second row, far right. Now, she is a force. Tommie lost her husband about a year ago, and she has traveled a lot since then sorting out life and making sure that she gets all of it she can while she can. "I like to live on the edge" she says, and in some way, she became a confidant to me that the others did not. I try to sit next to each person at the table and at some point in the travel ask them to tell me about themselves. People like to do that.
Tommie was more than happy to fill me in. She fought against a dominating mother all of her life, secretly marrying her husband when she was a senior in high school; she avoiding having any sex with him until she graduated and turned 18 because, "as you remember, getting pregnant back then was a disaster". I remember and I understand. She went to college in New Orleans, but finished at Univerisity of Miami.
She and her husband, (they were married 55 years I believe) took up tomato farming. He borrowed money to finance every crop, down in Florida, and made money at it, except for one year, when a heavy frost wiped them out in 24 hours. Lost 6 million dollars. Still, he started over, and made it all back and then some. They lived for many years on his yacht, and more recently in an apartment in Miami and a home in Colorado.
Tommie is an athlete who recently shot under 90 in golf; she got off ship from time to time to play a round and to travel to major historic sights: Xian for the underground army, Angkor Wat, Taj Mahal, and maybe Luxor. She has seen the pyramids before, but she thinks she may do that m one more time.
We exchanged stories of movie scenes we enjoyed...she loved the bedroom scene in "Sidways" and told me jokes that had good, old fashioned dirty words in them. She had a gleam in her eye, and told Linda that she did o.k. travelling alone, but would like to have someone to share it with...a companion...even if he were gay...just someone to talk about the days and nights with.
We commiserated. Tommie finished 3rd in the Ladies Shipboard Olympics miniature golf competition. She was proud of her bronze medal and we were happy for her. About Shirley Becker, she said, "last evening, we were the only two here at the table, and she is quite a force, but to her credit, you can push her back and she accepts that".
Susan (notice the ring)Susan was an impeccable presence. A New York City nutritionist, she has become Rick McKay's health guru, guiding him through a year or more of correct eating and exercise, during which he has lost 100 pounds.
Susan has a degree in nutrition, along with graduate courses in chemistry and is quietly, deeply professional in her approach to food, habits, nutirition and discipline. She worked for a time with a major hospital, but found the "ceiling" tiresome, so she gathered herself and went to New York.
Working her network with doctors, nurses and people, she gradually built a clintele that is wealthy, highly complimentary and "proof" of her guidance/work. Her teeth are an envious white (probably too white, but then I am envious), her body (which one always checks out when talking to a nutritionist) is healthy, full normal and extremely well draped with her choice of fashion which I would describe as unmistakably New York.
I told her that I could not imagine any other answer when I inquired as to where she worked, and she said, "New York". She liked that.
She modeled in the shipboard fashion show, and while I missed that event, I did get to see her HUGE dinner ring that they let her wear for the "runway". She had it on that night, and then the next, and Linda said, "I'll bet she bought it". So I asked her, and she said, "yes, I knew if I went home without it, I would always regret it." It was truly a beautiful ring. They gave her a 20% discount for buying it on ship, and that brought the price down to about $15,000 American.
Susan's lifestyle unfortunately included consistent disregard for the gathering hour of the dinner table. Always, I mean, always late, she would show up 20-40 minutes into the evening with some excuse that was either unimpressive, offensive or simply rude. You could not push her back because she never acknowledge that you were there. Her most memorable statement was the evening she arrived 40 minutes late and said, "oh, I was in the sauna and it was so relaxing, I just drifted off to sleep". Boo.
Perhaps the worst aspect of this was that she threw the poor waiters into great stress...she is starting on appetizer when we are about finished with main course. Too, her lack of any real concern about being late was offensive. Because of this, I over-ate. :-)
Finally, there is Rick McKayRick is at the center of the picture as he was at the center of the table, wherever he sat. Born and raised in a small, Indiana town, he tried to make it as a professional singer, then turned to producing for PBS.
Somewhere along the way, he got the idea of having a conversation with those stage professionals who made Broadway shine in the 50s and 60s, and he pitched the idea to PBS. It said no.
So, he took the task up for himself, inviting and finally getting more than 100 former and current performers to come to his little apartment in New York (his stage/studio), sit on a chair while he lit them with lamps he had, set up his semi-toy (but very effective) camcorder and started asking questions. He did this for six years, gradually gaining access to more and more personalities as the "word got around" and his credibility rose.
At the world premier in New York, one catches Angela Lansbury saying, "I'm sure glad I am in your movie". I would have been very sorry to have been left out". End of that scene. In the out-take, however, Rick just looked at her and she paused. "I turned you down didn't I", Angela asked. "Four times," Rick replied. Grins all around.
Rick is hugely, warmly personable with a resonant, soothing voice and a wit to match his smile and grooming. He is funny, loves to tell a story, repeat some gossip and be the center of attention.
One Dorothy Parker story I had not heard had her being challenged by a friend to make a witticism with the word, "horticulture". She replied instantly, "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think". We have Maureen Dowd, but I could do with occasional doses of Dorothy Parker.
My own contribution was more modest. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, when asked how her father (Theodore Roosevelt, vice-president to William McKinley) felt when McKinley lay dying of a gunshot wound, replied as follows: "Oh, daddy could hardly wait for him to die; he so much wanted to be president". Alice also mentioned famously, "If you can't say anything nice about anyone, sit next to me".
In the end, Rick completed his film, took it on the road and showed it in theatres in key markets, mostly at his own expense although I think by then, he had some backers. It was amazing, he said, how people would screen it, and then tell him how much they loved it and wanted to be involved in backing it. Then, he says, they would walk out of the room, and he would never hear from them again.
But a couple of admirers put their money where their feelings were, and after tweaking and editing and making a very important decision about the ending, he released it. It has now been featured on PBS; he is at work on the sequel, and he is gathering footage for a biopic of Fay Wray.
Speaking of footage. As he worked, Rick found people willing to go into their attics and bring out film of many Broadway performers who had never before been viewed. Shirley MacLaine saw herself for the first time in Pajama Game, and her story of the night she had to replace Carol Haney is priceless. You hear it on the DVD.
The only film available of Laurette Taylor shows up; Broadway is live and who would have thought that one needed to record it...so no one did. Actors. I had never heard of Laurette Taylor, but saw her and learned why she is an idol/mentor to dozens of broadway actors and actresses.
And as I saw scenes from the work of Kim Stanley, I was just astounded at her power and then to see her interviewed and bring the same intensity to her feelings about Broadway was moving to me. You all, of course, should see this film, and can purchase it directly from Rick for a mere $35 and that incudes 90 minutes of bonus footage and then another two hours as Rick comments on the film as it is rolling.
You can also take a look at his alternate ending and decide if he was right. I believe that he was. www.broadwaythemovie.com will give you a bundle of information on the cast, brief bios, showings, future plans and more, more more. :-)
Rick always had style, was very popular with the Crystal crowd when he gave two lectures, and was graceful enough to say, on the last evening we all dined together, "well, here I am; this is the earliest I have been late" and a big smile.
He knew; we knew he knew; he knew we knew...but you know, he is a performer and we were an appreciative audience.
Great Table.Dick
Dick'sTravel Blog
Bakersfield, CA 93314
United States
dicksny
