Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 4.

Work and Income Determined Travel.

Where I could travel to and how far was determined by my occupation and its related income. I left school with no qualifications in 1968 at age 15 and began my working life sweeping the floor in a family-owned cabinet-making factory. My annual income back then was £208. That means my weekly pay was just £4. Out of that, £2 was given to my parents for daily food and upkeep, £1 went into a savings account, and the final £1 was pocket money. Yet, while working in that factory in 1972, I had my first overseas trip to Spain without my parents. It was also the first time ever I saw the inside of an aeroplane.

Then again, £1 in 1968 equals £18 in 2024/5. The gross weekly income at that cabinet-making factory would now be just over £72 a week, or £3,744 a year in today's currency. This compares with the Government's Minimum wage of £17,888 a year for someone between 18 and 20—the age bracket I was in in 1972.

In 1972, after flying home from Spain, I joined the Reading Life-Saving Club and trained to be a poolside lifeguard. Alongside developing in-water towing skills, the course also involved an expansion in knowledge of human anatomy, especially the blood circulatory system and respiration. I qualified in December of that year and in 1973, I was a full-time lifeguard. This was the year I took my first solo backpacking trip to Italy, setting the course for a life of independent travel.

After four months in 1973 as a summertime pool lifeguard, I entered the world of precision engineering. It was during this phase of my life that I set foot in the Holy Land in 1976, my first trip to America in 1977, and again in 1978. After that, I was made redundant in 1979, followed by a year of unsuccessful job-seeking until launching out as a self-employed window cleaner in 1980, which I held until I retired due to health issues in 2015, on my 63rd birthday. It was during my 35 years as my own boss that not only had I returned to Israel and America in 1993 and 1995 respectively, but backpacked around the world in 1997. This Photo Extravaganza should cover all this in the weeks to come.

This goes to show that, as an unmarried working-class individual, who has never seen the inside of a university or an office environment - where the salary tended to be considerably higher - in the sphere of Travel, I did very well! However, throughout the eighties, that decade was spent building up the business, and it was when Travel was more restricted to Western Europe, including Italy in 1981 and again in 1982, France during the mid-eighties, and within the UK into the start of the nineties.

This week, I will feature Italy in 1981, covering the northern area. This includes a stop in Turin where I spent a couple of hours at my maternal grandparents (Nonni) before boarding a train to Loano, on the Ligurian coast. The main reason why I didn't stay any longer was the language barrier. Neither spoke a word of English and in 1981, my Italian was very limited. Hence our communication, or lack of it, spurred me to continue with my journey to Loano without any misgivings. They understood. 

After Loano, I then travelled to Pisa, then Florence before settling at Viareggio to hike part of the Cinque Terre, just north along the coast past the busy port of La Spezia. Pausing in Geneva to change trains, I finally arrived in Milan to visit a friend from our church living in Italy on a temporary contract.

The main town on the Cinque Terre is Monterosso, where from Viareggio, I had to change trains at La Spezia, else I would have sped through Monterosso Station on the mainline route to Geneva. However, a hiking trail links the five cities, offering some of the most spectacular mountainous views of the coast.

Whilst I was in Pisa, especially in Florence too, some dirt interfered with the shutter, causing some of the exposure to fog. For the more severe cases, I couldn't post here, but I managed to post a couple of mildly affected pics on this week's blog. That was one of several problems with the old shutter camera and a roll of film - fogginess, camera shake, out-of-focus, over- or under-exposure, and even double or overlapping exposure. Nevertheless, traditional photography with all its setbacks made it a challenging hobby.

After the 110 Instamatic letdown at the Grand Canyon in 1978, a friend gave me a fully manual 35mm camera, and still sticking with the idea of a slide show, again I used the slide film to take these travel pics, and each photo made its way to this laptop via the slide viewfinder, pictured in last week's post.

I hope you'll find enjoyment in browsing through these pics. Again, there have been some changes between 1981 and the present, especially in Monterosso. The drabness of the town represents real Italy before the surge of tourism was the motivation behind sprucing up the town's appearance.

Italy 1981 - Starting at Dover, UK.

A Sealink ferry I'm about to board at Dover.

We leave the white cliffs of Dover behind.

The Ferry sailed into Bolougne-sur-Mer, France.

Turin and Loano.

My maternal Grandparents as they were in 1981.

I pose with Nonna, Turin, Italy 1981.

Loano Esplanade.

View of Loano town from my hotel room.

The quiet street in Loano.

Loano Beach.

Loano - hiking my way up Monte Piccaro. 

From Loano, I hiked up Monte Piccaro.

Pisa and Florence.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Pisa Basilica (fogged).

Interior of Pisa Basilica.

Florence Basilica.

Florence Bell Tower, from the Cupola.

Cinque Terre.

Monterosso Station, Cinque Terre.

Monterosso Harbour.

The mountains of Cinque Terre.

Monterosso Town as it was in 1981.

Monterosso Beach.

Another View of Monterosso.

A carving of Atlas on the cliff face, Monterosso.

On the hiking trail to Vernazza.

How I love Italy!

View of one of the bays.

Approaching Vernazza.

Church across the Harbour, Vernazza.

Boats moored at Vernazza Harbour.

Geneva.

Naval Dock, Geneva.

Lake Como.

Mountains of Italian Alpine Lakes.

I hiked from Lake Como to it surrounding mountains.

The Peak I hiked up was Monto Brunate.

View of the Alps from Lake Como.

Lake Como.

View of Como Town from Monto Brunate.

Boats at Lake Como.

Milan.

Near my friend's apartment in Milan.

Indoor Plaza, Milan.

Milan Basilica.

On the roof of the cathedral.

Piazza del Duomo as seen from the church roof.

Roof Architecture.

Basilica rooftop.

Minitalia with my friend Derek. The Vatican.

Minitalia - Mole Antonelliana, Turin.

Minitalia - Geneva.

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Next Week: Southern Italy 1982 including Sicily and Mt. Etna.

Travel Biography Photo Extravaganza - Part 3.

Why Two Consecutive Trips to America?

Having set foot on the North American Continent in 1977, I was thrilled! Only a year or two earlier, I couldn't have imagined such an achievement. Credit goes to Freddie Laker, an airline entrepreneur who, in the mid-seventies, opened the way for commoners, such as me, an opportunity to fly over the Atlantic Ocean at a price so reduced that I found to be within my budget.

During the seventies, I was an employee at a precision engineering company and had already "flown the nest" to set up a home for myself, with overtime, a good income, and plenty of patience, I saved up enough to pay for such a trip, itself inspired by the weekly detective drama, Starsky & Hutch. However, the difficulty in getting a US Entry Visa has ironically presented an opportunity to visit Canada and the USA, visiting Niagara Falls on one side of the continent, and Southern California on the other.

After arriving home, as a committed Christian, I became interested in historical geology and the long-established dispute between Charles Lyell's Uniformitarian Geology—a theory on which Charles Darwin built his evolutionary concepts—and pre-Abrahamic Holy Scriptures, especially on the Noachian Deluge, a subject I always found intriguing. One area of study was the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River cutting through the Kaibab Plateau of North Arizona.

Textbook pictures show how the stratified rock layers of various limestones and sandstones formed a "sandwich" of bedding planes, indicating that the whole Kaibab Plateau was once underwater. Each rock layer lay smoothly and horizontally on the layer beneath. The bedrock on which the whole strata rests is of schist, a variation of granite that forms the lower cliffs of the Inner Canyon and through where the underfit river flows. The bedrock is of uneven bedding, together with millions of years of geological layers "missing", this bedding plane is known as the Great Unconformity.

But reading books and looking at photos taken by someone else wasn't enough. Having already visited the States, I had a desire to return specifically to see the Canyon for myself. After counting the cost, I returned to the US Embassy in London to get an up-to-date visa stamped on my passport. This time, I walked out of the building on the same day with my passport stamped with a multiple-entry visa to last the rest of the passport's life.

And so, in 1978, I arrived at the Grand Canyon after landing at New York's Kennedy Airport. My initial intention was to look across the vast chasm while standing on the South Rim, and taking advantage of the facilities at the Village before returning to Flagstaff on the same day. At that time, I knew nothing about any trails leading to the Canyon floor, let alone hiking. Now, everything was about to change.

Due to a last-minute cancellation, a bed became available for one night at Phantom Ranch on the Canyon floor, near the Colorado River. I was offered the bed which I gladly accepted with excitement.

As I descended, following the switchbacks of Bright Angel Trail, storm clouds were gathering, and the environment became eerily dark. It was when the 110 Instamatic, which I bought in Toronto a year earlier in 1977, failed the test. Many of the Inner Canyon photos were under-exposed, causing the side cliffs to appear as silhouettes. I have included one or two examples here. Therefore, a second hike into the Canyon was called for to build a proper photo album, but I had to wait 17 years until 1995 before I had another opportunity.

All pictures were taken in 1978 using the 110 Instamatic. However, instead of prints, back then, I decided to have slides instead. With a compatible slide projector and a large white screen, I put on a spectacular show in my apartment for visiting family members, church members, and secular friends alike. 

Unfortunately, the projector had a short life with the bulb constantly blowing and needing to be replaced. Therefore, I don't have it anymore. As such, I attempted to transfer the relevant images onto this laptop using a slide viewer, pictured below. Since each slide is only 15mm x 10mm, reproducing them here was very difficult. Therefore, pardon me if each image looks slightly out of focus. On a laptop, each image should be discernable. But if expanded by clicking on it, the blur will become more obvious.

Nevertheless, I hope you will still enjoy looking at the 43 photos presented here. Initially, there were meant to be more, but these will be displayed on the 1995 blog which will be posted later.

You can go to the Index by clicking here for the main Biography relevant to these photos.

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Photos of USA 1978.

Viewer and slide size used in this week's display.

New York.

 "The street was blocked by fire engines and red cars."

At Downtown Manhatten, 1978.

The World Trade Center as it was in 1978.

Manhatten seen from Liberty Island.

Approaching the Statue of Liberty.

Inside the head. It felt like a sauna!

The Grand Canyon

The first view of the Canyon, 1978.

I gaze into the chasm.

The Bright Angel Trail is seen from the Rim.

Preparing for the Hike to Phantom Ranch.

The view as I begin the Hike.

Bright Angel Trail

Battleship Rock is on the Right.

Looking back at the South Rim from near Indian Gardens.

I stop a rare passerby in this lonely desert.

Entering the Devil's Corkscrew. Ghostly Orbs?

Photo failure. At the Colorado River the next morning.

Indian Gardens, on my way back up.

Los Angeles.

Downtown L.A. as it was in 1978.

The Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles.

Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland.

Goofy? Or Pluto?

At Long Beach, California.

 At Long Beach.  Although breezy, I got sunburnt.

Tomorrowland, Disneyland.

At Disneyland.

San Francisco and Sausalito.

Union Square, San Francisco.

Panorama of Downtown San Francisco.

San Francisco palms.

Golden Gate Bridge touches low fog.

Oakland Bay Bridge passing Yerba Buena Island.

I cross Golden Gate Inlet to Marin County.

On a ferry to Sausalito, passing Alcatraz Island. 

At Sausalito, a town in Marin County.

Oakland Bay at Sausalito.

The Route from San Francisco to Miami, Florida.

Salt Lake City. I didn't stay this time but passed through.

A bus service stop allowed me to revisit SLC. 

A pause outside the Alamo, Texas.

Sailing on the San Antonio River.

Miami Beach, Florida

Posing at Miami Beach

Among the coconut palms at Miami Beach

Back to New York.

Last day in the USA, on the roof of the World Trade Center.

Present Facebook Avatar, Visitors Center, WTC.

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In composing this photo display, I apologise if these pics appear amateurish, as converting tiny slides into digital images was a difficult job with just a camera and a slide viewer. But in the past, I had better results using the same method, such as the two of me at the Grand Canyon with one of them carrying a rucksack. However, from a projector, all the images thrown onto the screen appeared sharp and more professional.

Also to note, over time, some of my slides have gone missing, including those I took of the French balconies gracing Bourbon Street in New Orleans French Quarter. Having said that, I hope you still enjoyed what I managed to present.

Next week, I'll still be using the slide-in-viewer method to compile images of Italy in the eighties. However, these slides are 35mm, thus it's most likely that I'll get better results from using the same method. I have done this before. The images appearing in the main Biography covering the eighties are from these slides.

Finally, these images are from 1978. A more detailed album of pics of the 1995 hike down the Grand Canyon will appear in a few weeks.