MUGA Day #45: Napa

I'm now a month and a half into My Ultimate Global Adventure with nearly a week left.  What have I learned?

1.  Well, because of USA Today, I now know that Joyce Kilmer of TREES fame (I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree), was a man.  I'm not much into poems, and was never forced to memorize this poem, nor knew anything about the poet.  Well, to learn that TREES was written exactly a century ago by a GUY named Joyce, was noteworthy.  To further read that he, with a fifth child on the way, volunteered to fight in World War I, and was killed three months before the Armistice at the age of 31, that was a sad revelation.

2.  Travel magazines provided in hotel rooms and airline lounges also are worthy of mention:

    a.  Global Traveler, is a particularly slick publication that measures up to the standards of My Ultimate Global Adventure.  The May 2013 issue reports that:

        1)  Japan's bullet train (Shinkansen) will this fall operate retro-style first class trains in Kyushu featuring regional craftworks and traditional designs.  Poland, Portugal and Sweden will soon become members of the high-speed rail club, joining France, Germany and Spain in Europe.  California hopes to build a 520-mile high speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco...BY 2033.

        2)  Global Traveler's Hall of Fame Nominees for 2013 include Asiana Airlines for Onboard Service and Flight Attendees (as I indicated earlier in MUGA), and United Mileage Plus as the Best Frequent-Flyer Program.  I am flying Star Alliance.

        3)  There is a special feature on San Francisco (Bay Bridge art), and I'm spending nearly two weeks in this city by the Bay or nearby.  Also highlighted are Barcelona, New Delhi, Helsinki, Silk Road, Perth and a whole range of cuisine.

    b.  The April 2013 issue of Business Traveler focused on Seoul, American barbeques, the State of New York, Ireland golf, and the future of aircraft design.  I was particularly surprised to learn that United Airlines now has baggage delivery service in 36 cities, including Honolulu, where checked baggage delivered to your home within 40 miles of the arrival airport would cost only $50 for three suitcases ($30 for one and $40 for two).  The service could soon expand to 190 cities.

    c.  Premier Traveler wrote on their 2012 awards, and looked at Toronto, Sydney and Napa.  If you want a room at the latest rage, Andaz (a Hyatt) in Napa, they're generally booked, but if you get in, be prepared to spend $450/night.  Nice to have friends in Napa.

    d.  There are many, many business travel magazines!  I lost count.

3.  China is an environmental mess.  While I was in that country, Time magazine had an article on "The Poisoned Rice Bowl."  You've read about all this in this blog:  16,000 dead pigs in the river from which Shanghai purifies for drinking, H7H9 avian flu and air pollution so terrible that one million Chinese die prematurely every year.  On my final day in Beijing I began to cough, and it took me two weeks to get most of the particulates out of my lungs, I hope.

TOMORROW I CONTINUE MY WINE-TASTING SERIES.

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