High Point: Everyone at Station 1, Portland Fire Department. What a great bunch of people. Thanks again to all of you for making us feel so welcome.
Low Point: US border control. Was there really any need for them to be so grumpy?
No Point: Bridge height readings on the bridges. It really is too late to do anything about it by the time you see them.
Quote of the day: “Whatever you do, do NOT touch the dog!”
We departed Vancouver this morning after a farewell coffee with Captain Mike Tookey and the crew at the fire station. They even gave mucky Martha a good clean for us. If everyone is this welcoming then we are in for an even better time in North America than we anticipated.
High point: Watching the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 45th American Superbowl.
No point: The Burger vs Sandwich debate rolls on. When is a burger not a burger? What constitutes a burger? Is a Chicken Sandwich a burger? And what on earth is an Eggplant Burger?
Just missed the point: Rob nearly running over a jogger on a pedestrian crossing within ten minutes of taking the wheel (priceless video footage available upon request).
If you were a sports loving kid growing up in the eighties there’s a strong possibility that Channel 4’s American Football coverage fronted by Gary Imlach on a Sunday night was a key part of your weekend. Whilst the UK’s love of the sport has wained significantly over the past twenty years, North America’s would appear to be stronger than ever. Settling into Vancouver’s number one sports bar on Sunday afternoon surrounded by as many TV’s as football fans, our first proper afternoon in Canada’s unofficial capital left us with no doubt how much these guys love their sport. Ice Hockey still ranks number one for most Canadians due to a small matter of being Olympic champions, however American Football clearly runs a close second. Read more →
High point: Collecting two very excited crew members from the airport; Route Master General Rob Poderoso and Ben ‘I’ve been to Vancouver before’ Battye, you may remember Ben’s hilarious blogs from stage 1 (no pressure Ben)
Low point: Being bumped off the Global News channel due to a gang shooting
No point: Using the lift. Someone was stuck in there for 5 hours!
Everywhere we go around the world we always receive the warmest reception from fire stations. From washing our clothes in Uluru fire station (while Steve sat in his boxer shorts) to organising FTFE press coverage across Asia in Chengdu. We’ve been well fed, watered and even given a bed for the night too many times to mention. The hospitality has been tremendous and Vancouver was no exception. As soon as the guys heard what we’re doing they welcomed us with open arms (and a large plate of pasta and garlic bread). Thank you to Captain Tookey and the guys at Vancouver Fire Department for the warm welcome.
Culture shock; Adj; Is the difficulty people have adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own……
After leaving FTFE and Martha in Beijing in September and traveling across the African and South American continents, culture shock was the last thing I was expecting to be feeling as I walked the streets of downtown Seattle, yet undeniably I definitely felt it. Arriving in America has been like receiving a large frying pan right to the face carried by an extremely loud man who insists on shouting every time he hits you! It was certainly the wake up call I needed after taking 48 hours to travel up from Peru.
Prison? Student Halls? Isolation Unit? Man I am confused. Either way, feels like the big man has popped me on the naughty step to think about what I have done. For someone who used to panic in search for entertainment if the next train on the London Underground was over 3 minutes away, sticking me on a ship for two and half weeks smells to me to like one social experiment too far. I do however only have myself to blame and I dragged poor Amy into it. We have almost done a month on ships now, crossing both the Tasman and Pacific, and I would love to report that though meeting my mind head on has been difficult, it is certainty something everybody should do.
High point: Saturday night is party night and the crew had a BBQ for us on the deck, in the rain, with Christmas songs playing. Wonderfully random.
No point: Wondering what’s for dinner, it’s rice and probably something with cabbage.
Low point: Eating stir fried kidney thinking it was going to be a mushroom.
Most random meal on board: Mushroom brulee/soufflé that tasted of fish. I’m not saying the two are related but, the day that was on the menu, was the only day I was sick.
Lessons learned: Avoid mushrooms, they are evil.
Best chat:
Amy “I saw I seagull earlier, I forgot to tell you.”
Hello people! I’m back by popular demand… I hope you’ve all enjoyed a fantastic Christmas and are planning for an amazing up coming year. I’m here to recount our epic Australian leg for any of you that might have missed the many hilarious and highly entertaining blog posts from the crew.
It’s been over a month now since I’ve returned from duty, but it feels more like a lifetime ago since I first stepped on to Australian soil. Stepping off the plane, the heat and humidity hitting me like a slap in the face, I instantly forgot the 23 hours spent in transit.
Perth turned out to be more than just a starting point for our Australian leg, it almost became the end of the whole trip. The quarantine officials were rather unimpressed with the clean up job done on Martha before she boarded the ship and were threatening 3 weeks in jail (quarantine jail that is). Steve quickly got his persuasive hat on and got chatting to the guys at Luckens. Low and behold quicker than you can say “Bonza mate” we were pushed to the front of the queue, free of charge of course, and were due out of quarantine in 3 days. The first of many amazingly generous offers of help and assistance we got from the people of Australia.
Stage 4 seems like a million miles away now, having just stuffed myself silly at various Christmas/New Year celebrations. Feel a little sad writing this now I am about to embark on my first day back at the office for 2011 but here goes my overview of the best month of my life so far…
The stage started back on a very rainy night in October when Lyndsey, Seve and I were united at Heathrow, all very excited and eager to embark on the journey ahead. After 18 hours and a quick pitstop in Bangkok to sample the sights and sounds of a very busy Khao San road, and the tastiest Pad Thai I have ever eaten, we touched down at Luang Prabang airport. My first impression on landing at the airport was one of pure admiration of the beautiful landscape Laos had to offer, and then secondly I was overcome by giggles at seeing ‘plane spotter Steve’ in the bushes of the airport trying to get a snap of us getting off the plane. The first few days on the trip were relatively easy as the boys of stage 3 needed a well earned break before we headed off on the road. While definitely not the longest of the stages in terms of distance and duration it did have 3 borders which we were more than a little concerned about crossing. We needn’t have worried though. The team at Global link, KPP and the Singapore Civil Defence service did a sterling job of hand-holding us on our crossings through these notoriously busy and difficult borders.
A look back at FTFE’s smashing and cracking 24 days in China
With well over a year of research and hard graft behind it, we had always thought that of all the borders we are crossing, the Mongolian/China border was the “big one”.
In order to comply with Chinese regulations and to ensure we could successfully enter China with Martha we hired a company called NAVO. To comply with the regulations it meant having a guide with us for the entire time and NAVO selected Sun Ji for this task. It was Day 54 and Sun Ji was there to meet us at the border. As he joined we had already been surrounded by some very interested Chinese border police who Ailsa was impressing with her Chinese.
Sun Ji had been at the border for a couple of days finalising the paperwork which had started a year ago. After a spot of fun with the customs officials, we were through in no time at all. We were so incredibly shocked, relieved and confused that the crossing was met with complete silence as opposed to the usual hysteria. There was still further official paperwork to complete, but essentially, we had successfully rolled into China. The first foreign fire engine ever to do so. Another first chalked up for FTFE.
There had been quite a lot of press coverage about how bad the traffic had been around Beijing with tales of a huge traffic jam and people being stuck in their vehicles for over nine days. We came across three lanes of traffic about 250km out, and when I say traffic I actually mean thousands and thousands of trucks. Sun Ji suggested we take to the hard shoulder and try and squeeze past some of the worst of it. With sirens blazing Martha seemed to develop her own personality and nothing was going to stop her, or get in her way. She pushed, nudged, bullied, and cajoled her way through over a 100km and we were tired and exhausted when we rolled into Beijing at 3am. Read more →
