We embrace the world

We are writing this book for our friends, as we have a lot of them, ourselves and for you – the person who is holding this book in the hands. So, do not be surprised if I will refer to «you». It was born out of a diary we kept during a thirty-six-day trip around the world. To get to all the places that we dreamed of, we had to get on19 flights, passing 65 thousand kilometres, 7 thousand kilometres driven by car and 360 kilometres travelled on foot. We have been waiting for this adventure for a long time and with such impatience that, in order not to forget anything, we recorded in the plane while flying, all our impressions and thoughts from what we saw in each country.

In embracing the world, we decided to connect our travel with a pleasant and unusual particularity of our trip and this was that Adrian, as a member of the Rotary Club of Slovenia, with the great help of the Governor of District 1912 Janez Lipec, who has supported the initiative allowing us to bring the message of Rotary and of Slovenia too, organized meetings with the oldest clubs on each continent, and this fact enhanced the whole trip very much, making it even more intense and interesting, bringing us the possibility to meet amazing people.

This book will not have a steeply wrapped plot or deep emotional experiences, at least we think so. But here you will find sincere impressions about the crazy experience and feelings that are difficult to get, being an ordinary tourist, about the countries and cities in which we were, about the people we met, about the food we ate, about transport, strange traditions and much more, we will not bore you with long lists.

It gives us great pleasure to write this book, because it is like we are going through every minute of this travel again and again.

1

So, We… and who are we? Our names are Elena and Adrian, sometimes we think that we have always been together, that we have known each other since ever. We almost never stay apart and do everything together, so we write the book together, because our voices sound in unison. So do not be surprised that there is no «I» here, but only «We».

You want to know what we think about life? Life is beautiful if you know why you live. After all, when you are born, you already know that you will die, and it would seem that you have no hope. Why you have to live if you have to die anyway? If you are not able to find the answer to this question, you can drag your legs in a sad existence in anticipation of the death, but you know that the meaning of life is in the other thing, in the OTHER! So, what is the purpose of life? In life…in love. In love, no matter how banal it sounds.

There is still «something» that gives meaning to life – a child. He or she your continuation. He or she is your chance for immortality. This is our simple philosophy, which we believe in, and which gives us energy and happiness.

In this book, we want to talk about the journey of a dream, our dream, which hasn’t happened suddenly but was pre-planned and prepared for the celebration of our hundred years in sum.

A hundred years for two (40+60), well, isn’t it a reason for a crazy holiday 36 days long? We start on Elena’s birthday and return for Adri’s birthday. Not very much for a round-the-world trip, but enough to immerse yourself in an adventure called We embrace the world – we decided to call our mission in this way.

Such a brave idea might have occurred to Him, of course. When one day he told: «Do you know that in two years we together will arrive to common age of 100 years? Imagine what an anniversary! What do you think about around the world trip? Let’s think about which countries we would like to visit.»

In the end, after some thoughts and discussions, an ingenious plan of a trip around the world was drawn up, according to which we will not only see many countries, but also visit some man-made and natural wonders of the world and have lunch at two of the 10 best restaurants of the world.

We spent two years thinking, planning, and anticipating, and now day X has arrived.

We fly from Venice to Istanbul, then we will have a long flight to Cape Town, then India, the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, followed by Thailand, where we will stop in Bangkok, Cambodia with a magnificent Angkor Wat, Vietnam, where we will see Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city and sail on a cruise ship on Halong Bay, Taiwan with a magnificent Taipei, and Hong Kong will be the end of the Asian adventure. The next stage will be New Zealand. American story will include Argentina with Buenos Aires, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Miami, New York, Chicago, and Niagara Falls. We still can’t believe this is going to happen to us.

2

On a birthday, the best time is in the morning: you wake up in anticipation of gifts, calls, messages. March 10. The first anniversary has come.

There will not be a long celebration (by the way, they say that celebrating forty years is a bad omen), there is only time to collect our small suitcases and fly towards adventures.

Yes, this will not be an easy task, because we decided to travel only with hand luggage. This is very practical thing, just imagine what will happen if we lose a suitcase on one of the 19 flights! Where can we find it later? In Bangkok? In Auckland? In this case it will definitely be an adventure with a negative sense, and we do not want that.

Especially for women travellers. So, I take two pairs of ballerina shoes, a pair of pumps, a pair of sneakers, another pair of sports footwear and sandals. That is all from the shoes. Several dresses that are easy to dry (we will have to wash almost every day), trousers, skirts, leggings, tops, cashmere sweater and jacket. All this fit in a small suitcase. iPad, chargers and cosmetics will fly in the ladies’ handbag, as it has an impressive size.

The preparation, by the way, was also from the psychological point of view. It is very important to «not get lost» in time zones, and they will change frequently and in different directions. So, we decided that when we’ll arrive in a new country and in a new time zone, we’ll start living in a new time, without losing precious hours for acclimatization and adaptation, and we will have a rest in the plane during flights.

Our favourite pasta with broccoli and a little wine on the road, and here we are ready and prepared to start.

Venice sees us off with warm March weather. We are ready to make the first flight to Istanbul. How great, it is just the beginning! A business class chair and a champagne as a greeting is a great continuation of a birthday party. A smiling flight attendant holds out a menu. Turkish Airlines is one of our favorite airlines. It’s so delicious to eat and drink here. Yes, you need to be very careful with food, we do not want to go home fat after thirty-five days of gluttony.

At midnight Istanbul airport is full of people. Someone is asleep, someone is waiting for the landing and go to gate announcements, other are running with suitcases to the exit. By the way, this is the last month of operation of the old Ataturk airport, the new one is already built and was waiting for it to work at full capacity.

The birthday is almost over, a pleasant fatigue is already creeping up. We are not in a hurry; we go to the business class lounge to wait for our flight to Cape Town. This will be one of our longest flights. Tomorrow, or almost today, we will be in Africa, at the very end of it, right across from Antarctica. We will see the ocean, Table Mountain, and penguins! Oh, tomorrow would be incredible!

The waiting time for the flight passed quickly with the company of baklava and Turkish tea. We take our suitcases and go to board our Turkish Airlines plane; this is the second and last flight with them. We deliberately write down the names of all airlines in order to compare their service. So, Turkish Airlines is very good. The flight was long, but comfortable and we had a great night: we ate, read, and slept. It was such a night resort in the air.

3

When the captain announced the start of the descent, we opened the window and saw it. This was Africa: terra-cotta hilly landscape and endless space. South Africa, of course, is not a typical example of African continent. Maybe one day we will fly to Botswana or Namibia, but in the meantime we have Cape Town, and we expect a lot from these five days.

Do you know what is the first and very important moment of getting to know a new country? The first breath of air you take when you get out off the plane or step out of the airport. That first breath can tell you a lot about where you have landed. You immediately feel the temperature, humidity, freshness or pollution, the smell of plants or emissions, the smell of morning or evening.

Cape Town meets us with the warm and wet breath of the ocean. First of all, we go to the car rental office, take our right-handed car with a manual transmission and drive to the hotel. In order to diversify the experience as much as possible, we decide not to stay in the same hotel for more than two days, changing the place, the view from the window and the area looks like an interesting idea.

The first hotel is located close the ocean. This is a fairly large building with a beautiful view of Table Mountain, we have chosen it for this, the amazing location and view of. It is the mountain, that has become the highlight of the first day. There is only one thought in the head, which, by the way, will be almost constant during our stay in Cape Town: «Oh my God, what a beauty!». We walk along a beach with light grey sand, a soft wind blows in our faces, and the mountain is covered with a huge cloud like a white hat. In this incredible place, you feel the power of the ocean, nature and Africa. There is a different energy here compared to Europe, it is powerfully sparkle, you feel it almost physically.

March in the southern hemisphere is the first month of autumn, fantastic time, the temperature is optimally pleasant, but the water in the ocean is already cold, no one bathes, so our plans for bathing and sunbathing are not destined to come true. But for happiness, it is enough to see all this, touch the water, breathe in the breeze, yes, this place is amazing.

The walk along the beach is almost in a hurry, as we have to meet the first Rotary Club today. They are waiting for us in the Newlands area, which is also the name of the club. We’ve just arrived, we haven’t seen much, and we have to go to a meeting with people we don’t know instead of starting a beautiful tour. But it will be a great positive surprise.

A meeting with our future friends is appointed at the cricket club, where they meet weekly. The British have left a huge heritage in South Africa: language, traditions, favourite sports. Anglo-Saxon influence is felt everywhere here. Such a number of cricket clubs can only be found in Britain itself. All of them are in excellent condition and they are preserved very well.

There are always a lot of people here, especially in the evening, you can do some sport, play games, meet friends, drink a glass of beer or some wine. We are very warmly welcomed by members of the Rotary Club Newlands. It has been an extremely difficult day for them today, one of the most important of the year. To raise funds for their charity projects, they organize an annual 109-kilometer ride for cyclists around Table Mountain. It is easy to imagine that the mind-blowing views and the opportunity to get a unique experience attract a large number of cycling enthusiasts. This year there were 25 thousand of them from all over the world. To organize an event of this scale, 5 thousand members of all Rotary Clubs of the District have joined forces.

The people of the Republic of South Africa are excellent speakers. When we sit and listen to these people sharing their experiences with a great sense of humour, we do not think that we would prefer sightseeing to meeting them.

When all the stories are over, the floor is given to us as the invited guests. Everyone is listening with interest to the story of how an Italo-Slovenian and a Russian have come together on a trip around the world, becoming ambassadors of Rotary Slovenia and Northern Macedonia and of Slovenia beauties itself with the motto of «I FEEL SLOVENIA. We talk about Slovenia (by the way, few people even know where this country is located, so we have put a map of Slovenia with neighbour countries on our business cards), we show a small video of its beauty and seems that we have surprised them a lot.

Today marks the beginning of a bunch of friendships that we are going to make during our trip. So, let us introduce Janie, Janey, and Geraldine. Yes, it’s not easy to remember, but all the ladies are completely different and beautiful.

Janie is the President of the Club, a strict, highly organized blonde. Snaps problems like nuts and perfectly organizes people into effective teams. «You are our guests, so if you don’t mind, we will help you with your free time,» Janie said. There was no point in refusing her, and why? Cape Town is one of the most beautiful, but also one of the most unsafe cities in the world. Being close to the locals and spending time with them means protecting yourself from a lot of problems and it means the possibility to spend time with rotarian friends and to share our experiences.

In general, this topic is quite sensitive. Cape Town could be called a city of contrasts. On one hand, you see in South Africa the terrible poverty of black population, on the other hand the wealth of the white population, whose life is also not a fairy tale. They have to protect their beautiful rich houses with barbed wire stretched along the perimeter of the yard, which carries an electric current. Looking at these «bastions», you can assume the level of danger and violence that reigns around. When night falls on the city, it becomes scary and deserted, everyone hurries to leave the street, white people move only in cars or stay at home.

Do you know what is the most unpleasant thing? That both white and black populations live in one of the most beautiful places on the Earth, but they have difficulties to enjoy it, because you either have to look carefully around you, or spend all day looking for a penny for bread.

If we haven’t really scared you too much yet, and you still want to read our stories, we will continue.

Let us introduce our next friend, Geraldine. A lively pensioner, full of energy, knowledge and desire to help people. She has invited us tomorrow to go with her and another couple from the Netherlands, a husband and wife also from a Rotary Club, to see their main project, which they plan to conduct for 10 years and money for which they have collected all over the world. «Would you like to see what we are doing for preschool education? Come with us tomorrow and we’ll show you.» This is far away from entertaining program, but we are on our trip to see the real life, as we are and want to be travellers not tourists, of course, and these are the things you will never see in a guided tour, even more you will never do them alone; of course we agreed.

For the next evening we have accepted the invitation of Janey (not to be confused with Janie) to go to Table Mountain to admire the sunset, and the following day we are meeting with Janie (one more, do not be confused, seems that this name is very popular in South Africa) to see the surroundings of Cape Town. It is good that we have not planned anything in advance, besides we are very flexible as travellers and easily adapt to changing circumstances.

Yes, we have been also advised a new hotel, tomorrow, probably, we will change our place of stay.

4

Magic morning. Clouds have descended on the ocean, a warm wet wind is blowing, everything is in noble white and silver shades: water, sky, mountain, horizon. After breakfast, we go out on the terrace to breathe the air that the wind is bringing from the ocean. The picture is so fascinating, it is possible to stand here all the day, thinking and admiring the beauty, but let’s go, Geraldine is waiting for us.

We’re going to meet her in a Cape Town suburb called Langa. Only black people live there, and white people can only be safely accompanied by those who are known and trusted here. Rotary members belong to this limited circle. As we said, they are engaged in pre-school education project.

For better understanding what we want to tell you, think about this: in South Africa, 75 percent of the population is illiterate, the level of education (we are talking about black people) is so low that after the end of primary school, 85 percent of students can neither read nor write, and only a very small number of citizens pay taxes to the state. It is not surprising that in areas, where the poorest population lives, there is nothing, no public services, no social protection…nothing. It is easy to guess, which future awaits kids running around with barefoot in the trash and chasing dogs with sticks, or rather, that they could have no future, because they are almost doomed.

Trying to somehow fix the situation in this country, caring for people, the Rotarians decided to start from the beginning, namely the infant schools. To give to these children knowledge, skills, education and culture means to give them hope and a future, and at the same time it means to take care of their country and their children and grandchildren and how they will live here in the future.

The small infant day-care centre where we have been brought consists of one room, in the centre of which there is a large rectangular table. Children of three or four years old are sitting around it and collecting large puzzles that lack parts. We can’t take our eyes off the babies: huge black eyes, plump lips, curly hair, disarming sincere smiles, they look like live dolls, extremely charming children.

Their teachers are two tall black women: they ask the children to sing a song. We feel awkward, on one hand, we see the poverty and a little affectation of the situation. On the other hand, we understand that these ten kids are lucky. They are lucky to be here, to collect this broken puzzle, and not to run on the street without supervision. They also will have their lunch and, Oh, my God, they will even sleep after it, also if on the floor all together. But to understand all this, you need to see a lot.

Then we visit another infant school, a larger one. It consists of three small rooms, each of it has at least 15 children, in the farthest chamber, one-year-old babies are sleeping, as usually, on the floor on spread blankets, not noticing the screams and noise from the neighbouring rooms.

We drive around Langa for a few hours. To be honest, this was one of those days that can change the perception of life and our attitude to many things, to those that we have and to those with which we can change this world for the better.

It has been really impressive what we have seen, the tough action of local rotarian friends with the help of all five continents, yes, because all the continents are part of the project and here also a similarity to our experience, connecting the world. And, at the end of the tour, one more surprise. The invitation from one of our new friends, Chris, to his house for a cup of coffee and sharing of our feelings.

Chris’s house is bright and spacious, in the British style, with a large well-kept garden. We wait until he turns off the alarm and all the security measures at home, unlocks all the locks and bolts, and here we are, inside. Large spacious rooms, photos of children on the walls, a lot of books and paintings, very cosy and quiet while you are inside. We talk for a long time, having coffee and cookies.

These people are really very nice, we are lucky to get to know the country with their help. In fact, who can show better the beauty of the place than the person, who has lived here all his life and who wants to transmit with their hospitality all the love for this unusual city. And it is really incredible! We are falling in love with Cape Town more and more.

Janey has recommended a charming hotel close to them. We go to have a look at it and immediately understand why she has recommended it. A colonial-style mansion furnished with antiques, high ceilings that fill the space with air, a huge tropical garden with a river and small lakes, where huge beautiful wild birds walk, squirrels run. The queens of this garden are eight huge turtles who live here. They can do everything, even come inside the hotel in the evening, and choose a secluded corner in the flowers and sleep peacefully. This lost paradise is situated right under Table Mountain, so you can imagine the view from the window.

We have been lucky to find one spare room, all the other rooms are already occupied by guests… well, to be honest, this is not exactly a «room», but a huge suite, very beautiful, in noble shades of gray and white, with an interior designed with excellent taste and windows overlooking the garden. The room is so excellent that we don’t want to leave it, but we still have a lot to see, and Janie will show us the best place from where you can watch the sunset.

As we do not want to lose a minute, we go out of town, before meeting Janie, to meet the wind and the ocean. The road is so beautiful, that sometimes it seems that you are asleep, and all what happens to you is a dream. The feeling of happiness does not leave us for a second. From one side you see the ocean, from the other rocks. We pass white beaches, cliffs, mountains, a whale is waiting for us and, from one of the cliffs that has an incredible view of the bay, here it is! A whale! It is floating, rising from time to time, from its home place, the sea. There’s always a thought in the head: «Thank you! Thank you for this!». We haven’t experienced such excitement and such strong emotions for a long time.

In one of the most beautiful places Adri has stopped the car and we go out to admire the view. The man sitting on the bench, hearing us speak Italian, asks with joy: «Are you from Italy? I’m Italian too!». We fall into talk, and he tells us that he has been living here in the suburbs of Cape Town for 20 years, having left Vicenza in the North of Italy. When we ask him if he is afraid to live here, he answers simply and clearly: «I know that South Africa is not going through the best times. Every afternoon when I return home from my office in Cape Town, I stop here, sit on the bench, look at the ocean, and think about how happy I am to see all this. Will I ever be able to leave it? I think I will not. There is no place in the world more beautiful than this,» said a man who was born and raised in Italy, but whose heart was rooted in South Africa. We are impressed by his sincerity and his words, and, by the way, we almost agree with him.

The white sandy beach, arched like a crescent moon and washed by bright blue waves, is located below the mountain, and it is incredibly beautiful. Adri turns the car around, and we search for the descent, passing small towns, groves of large trees of exotic species, and open desert spaces. Meanwhile, the weather turns from sunny and warm to cloudy and windy. This is a normal phenomenon here: four seasons live in one day.

Finally, we arrive at a magical place. The beach is much wider and longer than it looked from above. Dark grey clouds are floating low over the waves and sand. We are here alone, leaving fresh tracks in the wet sand. Adri is ahead as usual, fresh salty wind is blowing in our faces. We want to be silent and listen to the nature. How many sounds are concentrated in this place: the sound of waves, the twittering of birds, the whisper of sand, the rustle of wind. Raincoats help to protect ourselves from the wind. We are part of this landscape, this moment, this happiness. It’s a wonderful sensation, but let’s go back to the city, Janey is waiting for us.