When I first had the idea to go to the Brewery Collectables Club of America (BCCA) Canvention in 2008 I did not know in which city it would be held. All I knew was I was going to go to the meeting.
When I got my new job in 2006 I realised that if I was able to go without holidays for the first two years by the time I wanted to got on the trip I would have up to 8 weeks holidays available to take and with the amount of Frequent Flyer points I had I could do a big tour.
Then I found out the meeting was to be held in Orlando Florida and it was to be held in the last week of August, 2008. So now all I had to do was work out where to go and what to see.
So where to go to make this a trip to remember, in the end I decided on the following.
Singapore - I had been there for a few days in 2005 at the end of my Borneo trip to visit my great friend Branka and her partner Oli. (They have since married and in June became parents with the birth of their son Kyle) There was an invite to come back any time so this was an easy choice.
England - I have been there twice before but the last time was in 1991. I have relatives in England and it would be great to catch up with them all again. I also have a very good friend Stewart, who lives in London. Stewart is also a member of the ABCCA. His is originally from Victoria but for the last 14 years has lived in England where he met and wed his lovely wife Jeanette. He has been telling me to come over for a visit for many years. So with family and friends to visit this became an easy destination to add to the trip.
Ireland - Dublin = Guinness. As a person who specialises in collecting Guinness memorabilia I could not go to England without travelling across to Dublin. Since my last trip to Dublin, Guinness have upgraded their museum by constructing a new six storey building for their museum and visitors centre and I need to see it in person.
Orlando - The reason for making this trip in the first place.
Las Vegas - Everybody needs to go there at least once in their life !
When I was a lot younger I had wanted to get a car and drive across America, in fact I still have an NRMA Open Road magazine article from February 1990 pinned to my noticeboard at home which details things to consider for driving across the USA. This idea had waned a lot over the years to a point that I am not interested in doing the coast to coast trip anymore.
California - When I was a lot younger I had wanted to get a car and drive across America, in fact I still have an NRMA Open Road magazine article from February 1990 pinned to my noticeboard at home which details things to consider for driving across the USA. This idea had waned a lot over the years to a point that I am not interested in doing the coast to coast trip anymore.
A short driving holiday from Las Vegas to Los Angeles would be o.k. so I hit the internet to find a route to drive and come up with Las Vegas - Death Valley - Yosemite National Park - San Francisco - Los Angeles.
* I had originally planned to go to Hawaii - I have always wanted to visit Hawaii, it seems to be a wonderful place from seeing and reading about it. Unfortunately when trying to book this part of the trip there were no Frequent Flyer seats available anywhere near the date I wanted so I had to drop it from the trip.
So there was the plan. Visiting Family & Friends, attending a Beer Collectors meeting in the USA, Vegas and driving California.
Seven Weeks - Round the World Ticket - 4 Countries
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