WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

For our June program (our first virtual meeting via Zoom), long-time members Tom Rinaldi and Ted Scull each presented trips that illustrate their passion for travel—with a dose of adventure—by sea, river and rail to interesting destinations around the globe. The meeting included some discussion between Tom and Ted about creating unusual itineraries.

First, we joined Ted on his travels around East Africa by “The Lunatic Express” and other trains, and aboard a WWI-era coal-burning steamer on a partial four-day circumnavigation of Lake Victoria. Tom then revisited two subjects that reflect his own evolving ideas about travel: first, a series of Mediterranean ferry crossings made while living in Italy in 2004, and second, a three-week trip across East Asia by sea and rail in the spring of 2011. This latter trip featured visits to preserved passenger ships along the way, several of which—including the Italian Line’s motorship Augustus—have since vanished. Tom discussed how these two journeys figure into a sequence of travels over a span of 15 years, and how the success of each trip set the stage for progressively more ambitious itineraries in succession.

(Photos: Ted Scull & Tom Rinaldi)