RANSVESTIA

but out of the town and out of the way in general, so I would just have been isolated for two days.

Leaving there we flew to Majuro where we had to get off the plane while it went to Kwajalein and brought back a whole load of people. They took us for a bus trip around the island to pass the time. Most of that island is only about three feet above ocean level but as it is in a large lagoon surrounded by a barrier reef, regular ocean waves don't get to it; that saves it from being washed away by the first storm. It had been an American base for a long time and there's lots of evidence of military presence all over it. We went back to the airport and waited for abut 45 minutes until the plane returned, got rid of its special pas- sengers and the rest of us could get back aboard and continue our flight to Honolulu via Johnson Island.

We arrived in Honolulu about 2 a.m. and finally got through customs and over to the airport hotel where I really sacked out until about noon the next day. Then it was back to the airport for a flight to the island of Kauai and the Cocoa Palms Hotel where I had stayed way back in 1966 when I was proving to my own satisfaction that I could live in the same hotel for a week seeing the same bell boys, chambermaids, wait- ers and other hotel personnel over and over again. This is a beautiful place on a beautiful bay and I just vegetated for four days recovering from the stresses and strains of the world trip. The biggest decisions I had to make during those four days were whether to get up or not in the morning, whether to go swimming or take a nap or which restaurant to have dinner in. That was about all I was up to by that time.

At the end of that blissful period it was back to Honolulu for one day to walk around Waikiki. It is exactly like it was in 1966 except for more hotels. I gave a lecture at the University of Hawaii which was well received and then it was home to L.A. I had proven that Magellan was right since I didn't fall off anywhere and did get back to where I started. On the way I visited 38 cities in 10 countries (counting all of the USSR as one country but eight different republics) and three trust territories. This required 48 air flights on 17 different airlines, two boat trips and one train ride. It was a busy 90 days, very interesting, very educational and it consierably expanded by knowledge of the world, its people, its religions, its economic systems and its problems.

I returned home to find that I had lost almost half of all the assets I had owned at the time I left so that things have been pretty strained financially ever since. I'm very glad that I got this trip in while I could still afford it and while the world was still relatively peaceful. But little old Virginia will not be going on another such trip for some time.