Choosing Your Route Home

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1938, Page 13 (Supplement)

Choosing Your Route Home

Alternative Journeys To Europe

p'OR some reason most New Zealanders prefer to travel via Suez, when they first go to Europe. Possibly it is because their friends went through Suez or because they have never thought of any other route. To go any other way somehow seems pl_in sacrilege. Ninety-nine per cent. of New Zealand travellers have thisy Suez complex. Actually the route chosert should be determined by the sason of sailing. The best months for travel vla Suez are October-February. The Red Sea may be as cool as you could wish, and the Indian Ocean, free from monsoons, is one long delight with its deep, peaceful roll and brilliant sunsets. Many people have the idca that each voyage has the same chance of cairn and rough weather as any other, and that one met storms at sea ir.terspersed with days of cairn sunshine, no matter what the season. This is not true. Of course, storms do come "out of the blue," but there are certain months when we can be reasonably sure of having cairn weather for the best part of the journey and others when we can be depressingly certain of not having it. During the famous monsoon season (May-Septeniber) on the Suez route not only rough weather, but intengely humid weather is scheduled, an almost unbearable combination when the porthole has to be closed to keep the sea out! That is when we know if we really did hook our cabin on the right side of the ship. 's i: port or is it starboard? We ndver can remember. Officially it is starboai d (right side) going from New Zealand to London, and port (left side) coming home. from London to New Zealand. Actually it »aries with the voyage, and the starboard cabin holder need not congratulate himself too heartily before leaving New Zealand. It will all depend m which way tbe wind is blpwing in the Indian Ocean. The alternatives to taking a three weeks' Turkish bath m the Indian Ocean and the Rcd Sea are to go via the Cape of Good Hope, through America, around the Horn or via Panama. We will omit f'-e Trans-Siberian Railway and the Cape to Cairo route with your permission. The Ca^je of Gnod Hope 's a nmchused and popular route among travtllers, but during the May-September season the sea is at its roughest via the Cape,

and a bad sailor would haye little. to choose between the Suez . heat . and the Cape — aves. To go through America is the dream of most of us, but is hardly the concern of the bargain hunter, as the minimum fare, second class, is about £70, with the additional expense of accommodation in America. Sailing ships go round the Horn and can well be left for, the adventurous few. The Panama route is left for consideration. During the . May-September season this route offers weeks of comparative cool and cairn. From New Zealand to Pitcairn Island (about six days) the weather may still be rough, but after that there is every hope of cairn, sailing. Crossing the equator in the eastern Pacific is accompanied by the cool trade winds, and one may have to wear a top coat on deck at night, while feljow New Zealanders on the Suez route are gasping with the heat, like nsh out of water. Once beyond the Panama Canal comes the Atlantic Ocean ahd 1 summer time, with its diminished chances of stormy weather. So mvi-.h for the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The Mediterranean is still waiting to be crossed, and it can be a surprisv packet. When expectec to produce its fiercest gale i+ can smile benignly On one voyage passengers were cautioned by the captain to do their packing while the ship was at Port, Said. "It will be, cold and rough from Port ; Said to London," he said. They obediently packed everything except a few winter necessities, and then.spent the next ten days unpacking their summer clother rgain.