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 2001 - The Year In Review.  
Another 200,000 flown Kilometres!

  Dear Client,                                                                                             December 2001
                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                      
Wishing you and your family a healthy and safe and prosperous Festive break and a wonderful New Year.
 It has been a very busy year for me  - about half of it seems to have been spent on a plane going or returning from somewhere!

This calendar year I will have again flown around 120,000 paid miles,  or nearly 200,000 Km.   The airlines certainly like the idea!  I just worked out that averages 2,307 miles (3,692 Kms) of flying,  each week,   every week,   all year.   
Airfares are INSANELY cheap this year.   $A1,500 return  to New York or Boston or Florida etc.  Started the year with an exciting 35,000 mile trip to the Falkland Islands for Christmas via some stops in Chile,  and then New Year’s Eve in Rio.  And what a blast Rio is then – going back this year!   Returned back home in January via New
York.  Missed the plane LAX-SYD due to “wing de-icing” on runway so was flown LAX-MEL-SYD just for fun!

In March did a 20,000 mile round trip to New York via SFO,  LAX,  Seattle,  Denver,  and Chicago to have dinner etc with some frequent flyer friends.  Went up and had a beer on the top observation deck on the World Trade Centre.   Later took photos of it from Brooklyn,  and also of course the superb vista of it towering over lower Manhattan from the Coney Island ferry ride.  Such a tragedy such an iconic landmark is no more,  and under what terrible circumstances.   I’ve visited the USA several times since 9/11 and the security at airports is simply insane and stupid.  Stamp tweezers are being confiscated,  but they serve all meals with lethal metal prong forks – work that out.   May 2001 saw a visit to Vancouver for a fun weekend with some flyer friends.   A beautiful place – my favourite city in North America,  and I’ve visited it 10 times now probably.   Gets better each visit.  Took the delightful day ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island.  Also went up to Whistler.   Even virtually on their summer there were masses of skiers on the summit.  Spotted a couple of black bears on the snow right underneath on the lonnnng chair-lift trip up,  so that made for some great photos! 

   In August paid another visit to Vietnam – my third time there,  and it truly is THE tourist  “must-see”  spot in our Pacific region.  WHY folks go to boring places like Singapore etc mystifies me!   Wonderful people,   wonderful scenery,  and wonderful prices.   $A5 gets you a superb meal with a few beers tossed in.   From Hanoi flew down to Hue,  and was driven through the high Van pass to the beautiful coastal Hoi An area near Da Nang  in the centre of the country.  Walked along China Beach,  and wheezed up the million stairs to Marble mountain,  drank snake wine (the reptile/s still inside bottle!) etc,  etc.  Great scenery.   Hoi An is the tailoring capital of Vietnam,  and this time I went pre-warned.  Had 10 x Vietnam silk shirts made,  also robes etc.  They make them EXACTLY as you want,  with the features you want,  in your choice of many lovely bolts.  And only a few $US a shirt – amazing.   THE best shirt fabric on earth in my view.  TOTALLY uncrushable,  light,  dries fast,  breathes,  and hangs wonderfully.  Wish they sold it in shops here.  Entered and departed Vietnam though Bangkok,  another favourite place of mine for shopping – and food of course.  I get these beautiful leather moccasins made in Sukhumvit Road for about $A25 a pair.  Must have 20 pairs by now,  in all sorts of colour and styles,  and wear nothing else.  They last ‘forever’.  

 Next up a trip in September/October to New England.  Flew to New York  (pretty scary right after the terrorist attack) and rented a car for a few 1000 miles right up to Prince Edward Island province in the Canada Maritimes.  Up thru Connecticut,  New Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode Island,  Maine,  New Brunswick and Nova Scotia &c. You access PEI via the Confederation Bridge - the world’s longest,  with a one way toll of about $C37=$A45!  Caught the Tasmania made “Cat” super ferry from Nova Scotia to pretty Bar Harbor in Maine.  Lobster were selling along the road for about $US4 a pound. Yum.  Who could resist?  The leaves are just stunning right on that October 1 point.   Allowed far too little time to drive from Boston to New Jersey to dump off rental car and catch plane home,  and got to gate with seconds to spare.  

November did something different and flew to Tampa Florida via Washington.  Rented a car and drove down past Miami to the end of the Florida Keys,  and stayed at Key West.  The most southern point in the continental USA,  and I have the photo to prove it!  Between Key Largo and Key West there are 43 bridges.   One is 7 miles long.  And unlike Canada – no $45 toll either!   A fun place to visit if you are ever in Southern Florida.  Had dinner with a friend in West Palm Beach and then flew back home again – some 30 hours in the air/in airports etc. 

 Mid December 2001 flew again to Miami – no stopping from SYD-SFO-LAX-Washington-MIA.  Again that must be 30 hours on the go.  Then a sleep,  and take a massive boat for a Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas,  Puerto Rico,  Haiti,  and Virgin Islands.  Something different for me.  

Then from Miami fly to Brazil.   First a few days at Iguassu Falls,  in both Brazil and Argentina my 3rd Christmas there for some reason – all at the same superb Das Cataratas Hotel.  Then on Christmas Day fly the long haul via Sao Paulo to Manaus up in the Amazon.  I’ve had Christmas Day in the Amazonia regions of Peru,  then Ecuador,  and now Brazil.  Bit of jungle stuff there and then down to Rio for New Year’s Eve.  Hotels incredibly expensive – 4 times usual rates.  This year have a hotel RIGHT in centre of  beachfront on the Avenue Atlantica.  Last year was great fun,  and very safe,  so here comes a repeat performance.   Have a huge “Porcao” feast in Ipanema with some flier friends December 30. Another has invited me to his apartment on Copacabana Beach with a bunch of local friends for NYE party.
Back from Rio and fly to a little coastal town down south called Porto Alegre for a while,  then Sao Paulo,  Miami,  LAX and back home early January.   Phew.   Been a frantic year for travel,  and will scale it back to just over 100,000 miles in 2002.  Well, maybe.  (Off to Miami via Washington early Feb 2002,  and then over to Holland and a flyer weekend in Dusseldorf,  and a few days in Texas on the way back.) Have spent less time on stamps this year as have been on aeroplanes much of the time.  

In late 2001 I had the opportunity to buy “Stamp News” and “Coin Review”.  Had been working on this all year with the owners.  Had put together a consortium of leading Australia and NZ dealers to buy 49%, with me holding 51%.  Had meeting with GM etc,  and at the last moment decided not to proceed,  partly as I don’t need the headache & deadlines.  I do hope a sale proceeds somehow as a STRONG vibrant stamp magazine is certainly needed in this region. 

 Check my website – new list just loaded – List “J-1” spend recklessly – my Mastercard bill right now looks like the national debt of Laos! 

 Happy Holidays,  Seasons Greetings,   Ho,  Ho, Ho,  and all that stuff  ……….. Cheers for another year,  Glen Stephens in Sydney

"Löthlórien", 4 The Tor Walk, Castlecrag, N.S.W. 2068 - Phone: Sydney (02) 9958-1333 - Fax: (02) 9958-1444
Web site: www.GlenStephens.com - E-mail: glen@glenstephens.com


 

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GLEN $TEPHEN$

Life Member: ASDA, PTS, APS, ANDA. ALL Postage + Insurance is extra. Visa/BankCard/MasterCard/Diners/Amex all OK, even for "Lay-Bys"! All lots offered are subject to my usual Conditions of Sale, copy upon request or they are outlined in full on this Web site. Usually allow at least 14 days for order dispatch. If you want same day shipping please go elsewhere! I am Sydney's BIGGEST STAMP BUYER: Post me ANYTHING via Registered Mail for my same-day cheque. Avoid  NASTY auction "commissions" of GENERALLY 35% (12½ + 15% + GST, etc.) AND their five-month delays! Read this for details. I stock Australia & Pacifics nearly 100% complete 1913-1980. Ask for my LOW quote!

"Lothlórien," No. 4 The Tor Walk, CASTLECRAG (Sydney), N.S.W. 2068
Phone: (02) 9958-1333 Fax: (02) 9958-1444 (Both 25 Hours, 7 Days!)
E-Mail:
glen@glenstephens.com
Web Sites: www.GlenStephens.com, www.GlenStephens.net, or www.AustralianStamps.net

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