Continuing our travel talks with Bob Simmons, in this week’s Buzzy Podcast Chief Larry and I hear about his 1967 round trip from London to Nepal:

Here was Bob’s itinerary:

1967 Asia Timeline
2/4 arrive London
2/10 group first meets at Kings Cross Station
2/12 night crossing of channel; 1st night in trailer (Dunkirk, France)
2/13 Montebauer, Germany (broke down)
2/16 Munich, Germany 
2/17 Salzburg, Austria
2/20 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
2/22…Sofia, Bulgaria
2/24 Istanbul, Turkey
2/26 Ankara to Samsun (Black Sea)
2/28 Trabzon
3/1 (or 2) Crash! In Turkish mountains
3/8 cross into Iran
3/10 arrive Teheran
3/11 depart Tehran (repairs complete)
3/14…Meshad, Iran
3/15(?) Iran/ Afghanistan border incident
3/19-21 Kabul, Afghanistan
3/22 Khyber Pass
3/24 Lahore, Pakistan
3/25…Pakistan/India border incident
3/26 …to Delhi by 3rd class train
3/29 Agra by train
3/31 Jaipur by train
4/2 Benares by train
4/3 fly to Nepal…Katmandu
4/6 fly to Delhi
4/8 meet in Lahore (by train)
4/9… back in Land Rover, depart Lahore
4/10…Lost in forbidden tribal areas in Pakistan
4/12-18…Baluchistan, Pakistan; Yazd & Kerman, Iran
4/19-21 Isfahan,Iran
4/23 Baghdad, Iraq
4/26…Iraq/Jordan border incident
4/27 -30 Jerusalem (Good Friday was 28th)
5/1-2…Dead Sea; Petra
5/2 Damascus,Syria
5/4 Cappadocia, Turkey
5/6 Ankara to Istanbul
5/9 Edirne, Turkey
5/10 ..Turkey/Bulgaria border incident
5/10 ..Greece border incident (Revolution was 4/21)
5/12…Broken axle in Yugoslavia
5/15 Klagenfurt, Austria (went ahead by train)
5/20-24 Salzburg, Austria (met repaired land rover)
6/1…Back in London

In 1967, cost for the round trip was $434 for transport, accommodation in a trailer and 1 meal per day.

The Mark Twain travel quote that I butchered (00:25) when trying to recite it to Bob is as follows:

Bob’s mention of traversing the Zambezi Bridge (12:30) reminded me of when Buzzy and I did it on our trip to Victoria Falls. To give you an idea of what that was like, I found this video of folks bungee jumping from the Zambezi Bridge.

All this calls for a travel tune. Marrakesh Express was a tune written by Graham Nash after his Moroccan vacation. This from Wiki:

Never knew that the “America made is five foot tall and blue” line (1:00) was a reference to little old American ladies with blue hair.