3. Australia Ship Voyage from Sydney to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bombay in 1966.
I sent a message from Australia to Brian Ritchie, Regional Manager, Bombay, seeking his approval to return to India by boat. I had a return Tourist class air ticket. He agreed with the proviso that I must leave Australia latest one day after my earlier plan - probably a precondition by Govt when issuing foreign exchange for business travel. I could manage all this, and the P.O. Shipping Line exchanged my air ticket into a First-class ticket on ss Orsova. It was my last fling as a bachelor - and did I have fun!
Some highlights: The first evening on P.O. boat ss ORSOVA, being in First class, I felt very bored and hence asked the Chief Officer, if I can be allowed to spend evening in Tourist Class, which was full of young people. It was agreed to, but the Chief Officer put me on his own table with some other relatively younger passengers. So, I did not have to go to Tourist class for fun. I played cricket on board and Table Tennis with the young New Zealand TT girl Champion. I was reluctant to go in water, but my co-passengers taught me swimming so that I could join them in the pool. It was unique itinerary of Sydney - Hong Kong - Singapore - Bombay. It was customary to have 'goodbye' parties for disembarking passengers. An American middle-aged passenger was getting down at HK and invited me for dinner in the evening at The Mandarin Hotel where he was staying. It turned out that he was an extraordinarily rich guy as he was received by Heads of two major American banks. I am told the following story by a co-passenger who had escorted him to the hotel. The hotel door man was a burly Sikh (as was customary in many hotels in HK, Singapore, China). On seeing him, he hugged him and asked, 'Do you know Swarn?' The American didn't know that he was not my friend or relative which he presumed him to be. Later at dinner, he queried me as to why I was so thin when the doormen were such bulky Sikhs? I had a 'sampan' boat ride with the NZ champion to get a view of HK and Kowloon from the sea. In Singapore we had the famous 'Singapore Sling' drink at The Raffles Hotel. I sent a cable to my friends - Degans in Bombay to arrange a small party for my ship mates which they did. My co-passengers were thrilled! When the ship sailed out, there were loud shouts of 'S - W - A - R - N, Come back'. What a great farewell gesture!

4. Key West by Road 2002: An interesting drive in USA - discovering a Sikh connection. The so called 'Overseas Highway' from Miami to Key West is a beautiful drive. In KW, we came across the Truman Winter White House. Livleen pointed out that the name plate had also the name of Pritam Singh.Evidently, in 1986 one Pritam Singh purchased the 43-acre property from the Govt for $17 million and has since redeveloped the same. He was a Yogi Bhajan follower, a devout member of 3 HO.

5. Scotland Football and Lakes District, UK.
We were on a driving tour of Scotland and after visiting Isle of Skye, we had stopped for the night at Ullapool. European cup football matches were going on. At one restaurant, there was a sign outside, "No talk of football" and the nearby bar had only football enthusiasts. First goal was scored against Scotland - complete silence and then came the equaliser and the entire bar erupted. During the above road travel in Scotland, my ICI colleagues had pre-booked our night-stay at various halts. I had asked that for last night, we would like to experiment to look for accommodation on our own. As we were entering the Lake District, we noticed a hotel/motel and drove in. The owner asked: 'Are you expected'? How English one can get! He had no rooms available but did help us organise our stay at a nearby hotel