h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few days at least. Heading off to Dallas to see the former Mrs Gosho and Dewey And to collect some of Flossie's ashes

oh dear. I'm sorry for your loss.
Under the circs I hope the trip goes well

It's going very well so far in that I got drunk last night, had two breakfasts this morning, went to a British food and goods shop and bought up a sizeable portion of their stock of Bisto gravy powder (and a Turkish Delight, a Double Decker, a Tunnock's Caramel (they only sold them singly, not in packs ), some Camp Coffee and two tins of Heinz beans), spent several hours getting covered in hairs (why did I decide to wear a black t-shirt today? ), will most likely be having a curry tonight and getting drunk again, and have taken several pictures and a few videos of Dewey And a video of the grassy knoll as we drove down Dealey Plaza.

And now I come to realise, BG, just how awful BBC America has become. I don't mind a bit of Star Trek TNG, but I too don't know why it should be all over BBC America. And I can't stand any channel that trails coming programmes *during* other programmes with on-screen animations

It used to be a one of a few pleasant oases in a sea of dreck*. The others were channels like Discovery, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, and NatGeo. NatGeo and Discovery I still watch occasionally when they're not showing some show about tough, dirty jobs in Alaska, so rarely. TLC (formerly The Learning Channel) is unwatchable and probably indicates the onset of the future Idiocracy; and The History Channel is more about aliens, gods, junk and rednecks.













*(Take that, metaphor! I'll mix you however I want!)

Dewey's always been an ornery git when it comes to getting him to look directly into the camera. These are the best two pictures I took of him. Looking pretty good for 15

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNAux-qUkAATYuO.jpg:large
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNAu0h4UYAAyLNM.jpg:large

Hmm, maybe I *will* go by train next time http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34139314

When my sister needed to move temporarily to Huntington Beach, CA following her husband and with a newborn son (this was in the Summer of 1990 I believe), I talked her in to taking Amtrak. There was just no way she could afford airfare and the thought of her driving all that way on I10 through the deserts with a newborn was out of the question. She didn't have to be there on any schedule and knowing how easily she made friends of strangers, I knew she would enjoy the trip and the longer it took the better.

And......... did she enjoy it?

My daughter-in-law (they're not married, but what do you call her otherwise?) has travelled to us alone by train with a small baby and it works well. I have also seen other mothers on their own with babies in trains. People are very friendly and helpful, but some mothers seem to carry an awful lot of unnecessary accessories.

Funny you should mention that. Several years ago while still at the Drafthouse and with a two-week holiday coming up, I thought about a train trip. Where to, I wondered? Well, the desert southwest is a part of the country I like so I came up with a plan that took advantage of the slowness of the train. The way I worked it out (bearing in mind I wanted a few days at home at either end of the two weeks) was that I'd get a train from Austin to Dallas, then Dallas to LA. I'd have all of two hours (I think) in LA - not really enough time to leave the station - before getting the train back to Dallas, then Austin

In the end I decided against it, for a couple of reasons. I thought I might get cabin fever being on a train virtually non-stop for ten or eleven days; I don't make friends of strangers as easily as your sister; having seen the scenery on the way there it'd be a bit boring to see it all on the way back almost immediately, even if I looked at it from the other side of the train on the return journey; and I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to sleep on the train each night.

I don't regret the decision to give it a miss, although I did consider a plane back to Austin.

one day I will take the train from my little town to Vladivastok. But that will have to wait until I'm retired.

I don't know about you, Sho, but it's still surprising to me that Russia is a place you can just... go to now. For most of my life - ie during communist times - you couldn't just... go to Russia, and see things like St Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, St Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum, the Moscow metro and so many other sights. Well, you could, but it was far from easy.

Why Vladivostok? Or Vladivastok?

Yeah, I think she enjoyed the trip, but she hated living in Huntington Beach so much she didn't tell me much about her trip there. Basically she was stuck in the hotel room for nearly the entire time with just another wife and young kid for company.



One of the great train trips I've often heard about is through Copper Canyon in Mexico. http://coppercanyon.org
Of course with any vacation in Mexico for the last decade, you now have to consider your security from drug gangs. I think the train tours are still relatively safe for now.

I want to go to Vladivastok because it's about as far away as I can get, overland by train (it is actually possible to go to Singapore city by train/bus/ferry from my town, via Ulan Bator - a place I've always wanted to go...)

in my schooldays (once in 1979 and once in 1982) I went to Russia. In 1979 we started in Bristol, went to Dover by train (via London) verry to Oostende. Train from Oostende to Berlin (via Aachen and Hannover) - it started out as a compartment train, and converted to a sleeper (6 bunks per compartment). we had a day in Berlin, then got the train to the east (!) and boarded a train for Russia. They had (have?) a wider gague, so they were bigger, and they had a coal fired stove in each carriage where a chap brewed tea which you could buy for a kopek. It came black, with either sugar or jam, in a glass with a beautiful silver holder. We all got covered with coal dust and felt very Railway Children.

There were 4 per cabin - proper sheets, blankets and huge pillows. We travelled to Brest (on the Polish/Russian border) via Warsaw. Had one overnight in Brest, then caught the night train to Moscow.
A few days doing the sights and then the night train to Leningrad. A few days/nights there then we flew home via Aeroflot. Which was a whole other experience.

Ever since then I've wanted to go to Istanbul by train, then I found out that you can go to Vladivastock, via Ulan Bator... I can't wait

How long would that journey be?

I did work it out once, roughly, but I can't remember. If you know the Man in Seat 61 blog, he has the calculator on there I think