Travel Biography - Week 105.

Round-the-World 1997. The Final Stop.

Defining a stop on a worldwide journey such as in 1997 simply means a break on the route which includes at least one night, hence the shortest was two days long, the day of arrival and the day of leaving. Thus, from locking the door of my apartment on Tuesday, May 23rd, 1997, to the next day, I spent the first night in the YHA Earls Court before taking the Piccadilly tube train to Heathrow Airport. Therefore, my first stop on the worldwide journey was London rather than Singapore. My final stop was five nights at the HI-AYH Santa Monica before boarding a local bus to LAX Airport. I landed at London Heathrow on Wednesday, August 2nd, 1997, which meant that I was out of the UK for exactly ten weeks.

A day spent at Hollywood Universal Studios was more from circumstance rather than advanced planning. Initially, I wanted to arrive in Santa Monica directly from San Luis Obispo. However, there were no vacancies for the next two nights at the resort. Instead, I booked those two nights at a Banana Bungalow hostel in West Hollywood, giving me easy access to the studios.

View of Santa Monica Beach and Pier.

Santa Monica seen from the Pier.

The Terminus of Route 66 from Chicago.

But now it was time to move on. The day after, I took a local bus direct to Santa Monica, and with the reservation already made, it was easy to check-in. I was assigned a bed in one of the dorms at one of America's exquisite hostels.

Looking back, I came to realise that the AYH Santa Monica was the only hostel I stayed at more than once, the first visit was two years earlier in 1995. This made the stop at Santa Monica unique throughout the entire 1997 Round-the-World, except for Earls Court, London, where I also spent the night on the eve of take-off from Heathrow to New York in 1995. As for San Diego, true enough, I did stay at the same hostel, both in 1995 and 1997. But on my initial stay in 1995, the hostel rented a floor in the YMCA at Broadway. By 1997, the hostel management had moved to a different, less impressive (at the time) vacant building on Market Street.

The hostel in Santa Monica was on 2nd Street, a block parallel to 3rd Street Promenade, a pedestrian-only thoroughfare decorated with sculptured bushes and ornaments, a scene very similar to The Corso in Manly, just north of Sydney. Ocean Avenue runs along over the top of the cliffs, and it's as busy with traffic as the Pacific Highway running parallel to Ocean Avenue but along the foot of the cliffs. A wide, sandy beach stretched along the coast, interrupted by the famous Santa Monica Pier, the terminus of the original 2,448-mile (3,940 km) Route 66 from Chicago, its free entrance provides a place of refuge to watch pelicans rest under the evening setting sun over the Pacific horizon. 

Between Ocean Avenue and the clifftop are a couple of footpaths, or the Dutch-style footpath and cycleway running separately but parallel to each other, with lawns and rows of palm trees forming a strip, 1.7 miles (2.74 km) in length from the pier to Ocean Towers, thus keeping the paths away from the main road. At one point, the cycleway turns towards the coast on an incline to join the Ocean Front Walk, a combined foot/cycleway giving beach access to Malibu, a town 12 miles (20 km) west of Santa Monica Pier. 

Main Street USA, Disneyland.

Waterfalls, Frontierland.

New Orleans Square is seen from Tom Sawyer Ferry.

The Matterhorn had lost the sky buckets of the 70s.

A Trip to Disneyland - in a Friend's Car.

It didn't take long to settle down at the hostel. Little of it had changed since my last visit in 1995, except that this time, the patio fountain wasn't functioning. But by checking the Internet, AYH Santa Monica is very much alive and well to this day, and even modified to modern hotel standards. Therefore, the non-functioning of the fountain in 1997 must have been a temporary blip.

Near the reception kiosk, there was a pin-up board where guests could post certain events they were planning to attend or to seek company on a day's outing. One notice was asking anyone at the hostel if he would join him on a car trip to Disneyland. Having visited this theme park three times already (in 1977, 1978, and 1995) - I didn't have much of a motive for a 4th revisit. It wasn't on my agenda, although I was aware I could change my mind and make an effort to revisit it. Especially after 1995, when I saw that the sky buckets were removed, the Monorail shortened, and the park was not quite the same as in the seventies. However, with a companion, everything changed. I signed my name on the allotted space on the pinboard.

Throughout the 70-day Round-the-World trip, I paired up with two other people three times. The first was in Singapore when I joined two other European students for a day at Sentosa Island, including a swim at the outdoor leisure pool. The second occasion was with two Chinese undergrads I joined up with, also for a day, to see the sights of Sydney. This was after encountering them at the YHA Brisbane. Now this. I was about to pair up with at least one other companion for a day trip to Disneyland. Of just three days in good company out of 70, that leaves the other 67 days spent mostly alone, and purposely avoiding any effort to seek friends or companions. Being lousy at team or ball sports could be one reason. After all, at the YHA Coffs Harbour, NSW, I did shed a tear after I was thrashed at a snooker table and teased to the core by a female motormouth.

The next day, after I was contacted by the host, we agreed to meet at a certain spot at a certain time. When I got there, a tall European, roughly half my age, was waiting. He introduced himself as Chris, and there was a third person, Mike, who would be joining us. Like in Singapore and Sydney, I would be one of the threesome heading for Disneyland. When Mike arrived and introduced himself, I saw that he was about the same age as Chris, and equal in height. All three of us were lone backpackers from Europe, but Chris rented a car instead of using public transport. As such, he was the escort for the day and we both submitted to his leadership.

Along the highway and not far from our destination, Chris halted at a gas station (petrol or refuelling stop, to us.) Whilst Chris was talking to the assistant, Mike and I were joking around while I was mimicking a dialogue:

Chris: Can you direct me to Disneyland, please?

Assistant: Disneyland? Where is that? I never heard of it!

A silly joke perhaps, but it was effective in making us both laugh, as we were getting into the spirit of Disney.

We arrived and Chris found a parking space. We then bought our own entry tickets as other people poured in and entered the park to enjoy the day.

Chris and Mike respected my knowledge of the theme park, having visited three times already, whilst theirs was their first visit. Therefore, I became the escort, and I took them on several rides and adventures. However, Mike felt uncomfortable with the fast, gutsy rides (such as Space Mountain) and we had to keep with the more "tame" rides and adventures.

Perhaps as an undergrad or recent graduate, Chris was a better explorer and journalist than I was, and he noticed various facilities that had never crossed my mind in visiting during my last three experiences. One example was the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the central exhibit of the whole park. As I always thought that the castle was nothing more than a Hollywood-type mockup, Chris saw that we could go inside. We found that the castle housed a museum of the history of Walt Disney, his success in creating family movies and having visions of a theme park based on the characters he created, with Mickey Mouse and Pluto the dog becoming Disney's most famed pair. Disneyland in Anaheim, south of Los Angeles, was the first of such parks to be constructed, and it opened in 1955. Walt Disney World in Florida was built afterwards, followed by Disneyland Paris, which opened far more recently, in 1992, with a short-lived, unpopular name of Eurodisney.

Tomorrowland Station, Perimeter Railroad.

Mississippi Steamer, Frontierland.

River Cruise, Adventureland.

Micky Mouse Toontown.

Another idea Chris had was the River Cruise in Adventureland and the ferry to Tom Sawyer Island in Frontierland. Of the former, I recall the river cruise in the seventies, but Tom Sawyer Island and the ferry to it was something new. It featured a cave in which the whistling sound of the wind was heard blowing, and if one listened carefully, the ghostly voice of an Indian who died after falling into the cave below could be heard in the wind.

Mickey Mouse Toontown was a new feature that wasn't there during the seventies, but I saw it for the first time in 1995. Included was a tame rollercoaster suitable for children and for Mike. He and I boarded one of the cars as Chris stood by and watched. What with the Perimeter Railroad train views climaxing at the remarkable image of the Grand Canyon, the day was turning out well, with an after-dark firework display exploding as the sky was lit up. In all, although the two lads looked to me to show the park to them, it was Chris who led us to adventures I had not thought of before (except the River Cruise) including a peek inside the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Of the two lads, Chris had a very adult worldview of Disneyland, and he was more interested in the serious educational side of the theme park. Mike, like me, was more of a fun lover, although he was nervous about the more "gutsy" rides. Yet we stuck together throughout the day. Had we split, I guess Chris would have studied all the exhibits inside the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Mike would have enjoyed the more tame, child-oriented rides, and I would have gone for the more challenging rides such as Space Mountain and Thunder Train roller coasters.

It was getting late at night when Chris called time and led us back to his car, and he drove us back to the hostel. 

On all three occasions, Singapore, Australia and California, I didn't allow my age difference to get in the way of such group friendships with people half my age. But I suppose, by the mid-nineties, I was still free and single - making friends whilst on my travels proved to be an enriching tonic.

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Next Week: Downtown Los Angeles and Malibu.