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140 pages

English

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A travel memoir details the many journeys of a seasoned American travel agent as he embarked on a fifty-year tour of the world.
One would never think that someone in a war zone would be bitten by the travel bug, but that’s exactly what happened to Gary Loupassakis’s father while serving his country overseas during the Second World War. When he returned home, he began taking his family on vacations along the East Coast, and eventually throughout the entire country and the Caribbean. Unwittingly, he passed on the travel bug to his son, Gary.
In a travel memoir that includes vivid photographs, Gary shares entertaining stories and images from his life, beginning with his childhood, and then as he worked as a travel agent and toured the world from 1959 until 2021, visiting sixty-five countries on six continents—and still counting. While detailing his adventures, Gary offers fascinating insight gathered through five decades about the cultures, traditions, and tourist attractions of other countries that include Egypt, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, Greece, and many more.
“Go Dat Way and Go Dere” is a travel memoir that details the many journeys of a seasoned American travel agent as he embarked on a fifty-year tour of the world.

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Biography

Autobiography

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Publié par	AuthorHouse
Date de parution	22 juillet 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781665562560
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	7 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

“ GO DAT WAY AND GO DERE ”

Around the World in Fifty Years

GARY LOUPASSAKIS

© 2022 Gary Loupassakis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: 833-262-8899

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911326
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6232-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6233-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6256-0 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 07/21/2022

TESTIMONIALS
I finished reading this book recently, and I just want to say I found it terrific in every way. It was very folksy as Gary talked to the readers. Very informative, and very, very good. It piqued my desire to travel again. The author’s memory is astounding—all the dates, names of kings and queens, streets, restaurants, and hotels, along with the views. Congratulations on a wonderfully interesting and fun book.
—Mary Rodgers

This book will make you want to travel. It’s easy to read and interestingly descriptive. You can use it as a travel guide for places you decide to visit based on Gary’s expert advice. There are bonuses in each chapter—humor, history, and pictures. I’m looking forward to the sequel.
—Jeri Dellaventura

To my father, George Loupassakis. Without his vision and wanderlust, it would never have been written.
And to my wife, Joyce. Without her encouragement to put my experiences in writing, I never could have completed it. Thank you, lovey, for all you’ve done and been in my life.
CONTENTS
Testimonials
Acknowledgments
Disclaimer
Chapter 1 The Man and His Vision
Chapter 2 Egypt and the Holy Land
Chapter 3 Going Down Under
Chapter 4 Once You Play, You’ll Get Hooked Fast. Switzerland, South Africa, and More
Chapter 5 If It’s Not Golf Course or Intercourse, I’m Not Interested
Chapter 6 Traveling with the Kids and Anyone Else Who Wanted to Go
Chapter 7 You’ll Never Get Rich in This Business
Chapter 8 Sun, Sand, Palm Trees, and Peanut Butter
Chapter 9 Don’t Let the Fish Bite
Chapter 10 Riding Elephants and Roller Coasters in the Desert
Chapter 11 It’s All My Fault
Chapter 12 Becoming One with My Ancestors
Chapter 13 If You Dig Deep Enough, You’ll Come to China
Chapter 14 Water, Water Everywhere but Not a Drop to Drink
Chapter 15 The Country Made of Mud
Chapter 16 The World’s Largest Zoo
Chapter 17 South of the Border
Chapter 18 Kings, Queens, and Knights in Shining Armor
Chapter 19 Good Old US of A and Canada, a Little
Chapter 20 How You Gonna Keep ’Em Down on the Farm after They’ve Seen Paree?
Chapter 21 Afterthoughts and Some Other Fun Facts
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my hundreds of clients, friends, and family. Without your loyalty and confidence in me, I never could have continued in business all these years. I know I didn’t get it right every time, but I’d like to think I did most of the time. Helping you plan your vacations, honeymoons, and business trips has been an enormous honor for me. I always liked to think that I made dreams come true. And I hope I did for many of you. Plus, I was able to tell people “where to get off” and get paid for it.
I would especially like to thank a few of the many, many people I worked with. You have followed me through thick and thin, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Your loyalty overwhelms me to no end. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. And I’m sorry if I missed listing your name. It’s just that after fifty years, I may have forgotten it. But if I’m reminded, I bet I can tell you where you went on vacation.
Thanks to Jennie and Charles, Joan and Tom, Jayne and Jim, Ron and Cindy, Lynda and Richie, Joe and Tatiana, Fred and Katie, Susan and Paul, Bob and Kathy, Jim and Eileen, Chris and Tanya, Marty and Mary, Mike and Sandy, Jack and Debbie, Brian and Tracy, Alice and Jim, Phil and Jane, Gary and Dolores, Bill and Nancy, Vince and Jean, John and Jan, Joanne and Rich, Robert and Janine, Barbara and Bruce, Rob and Toni, Joe and Ann Marie, Rusty and Trish, Rich and Cathy, Bill and Mary Ann, Jim and Sandra, Charlie and Maria, Dipak and Falguni, Bo and Rosalie, Dick and Diane.
I also want to thank my sisters-in-law, Jayne, a retired educator, and Joan, a practicing attorney, for helping me edit this book. Their additions, suggestions, and corrections, especially with spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, were invaluable. Plus, since we’ve traveled together so many times, your memories of forgotten events were tremendously helpful.
Plus, I want to thank Peter Roget and Merriam Webster for publishing their books, and Goggle and Wikipedia for helping me with many historical facts and other odds and ends.
DISCLAIMER
B efore I start, I just want to say this is how I remember events. If anyone sees themselves here and remembers things differently, that’s too bad. You can write your own book and tell everyone what you think. But you’ll be wrong.
Also, you know how some movies and TV shows often start out with, “The names have been changed to protect the innocent”? Well, that’s not the case here. Nobody’s innocent or protected. All your indiscretions are laid out for the whole world to see. You can’t hide. I tell it as it was and have used the exact first names of everyone, but only their given names. Except for a few people.
As you read this, you’ll notice I skipped around somewhat. I may be talking about a cruise, and suddenly I’m explaining what there is to do and see in a port of call. Bear with me on this. I tried to put everything in order, but it didn’t always work out that way. Also, I tried to give you some background and history as to why one country, city, or state is more important than another.
I tried to explain all events and adventures as I saw them and included numerous amusing anecdotes here and there. What good is a fun book without some laughs? I edited it over and over again, but when I did, I had to insert many new facts that I just thought about, and they don’t really fit where they should be. My goal is, after reading the book, you’ll want to get on a plane and go to the places I’ve described.
That said, I really hope you enjoy reading about my life. Thank you for indulging an old man.
CHAPTER 1
The Man and His Vision
I was born in 1946 and raised in South Plainfield, New Jersey, a midsize town in Middlesex County made up of middle-class people with a mixture of blue- and white-collar citizens. I went all through grade and high school not particularly distinguishing myself in anything. In 1964, I graduated from high school and tried college for a few years, but that didn’t work out.
During this time in history, there was a thing going on called the Vietnam War; you may have read about it. Anyway, anyone eighteen or older had to register for the draft. By 1967, I was no longer going to college, which would have gotten me a deferment from the draft, nor was I married with children, which also would have gotten me a deferment. So, in order not to be drafted and sent directly to Vietnam—“Do not pass go and do not collect $200”—I joined the New Jersey National Guard. That was the third way to avoid the draft.
I did my six months of active duty in Georgia and Alabama, came home and went to drills one weekend a month, and spent two weeks at summer camp for six years. I can honestly say I hated every minute of it.
During those six years, I got married and had two wonderful children, Dana and Jodi, and even though they’re two and a half years apart, they were the first best things that ever happened to me. I’ll tell you about other best things a little later in the book.
So, now you have a little boring background on me and my life, up until I was about twenty-one years old. It gets better from here.
My father, George, served in the army air corps, the air force before it became the air force, during World War II. While attending Rutgers College from 1935 to 1939, he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) with the army. Here he trained one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer while working on his degree, just like I did in the National Guard. Upon graduating, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was called to active duty a month later.
A few months after that, he was shipped to Illinois, and my mother was able to come along. My brother, Craig, was born here at Scott Field in 1942. They then moved between Wisconsin and Minnesota until Pop was ultimately shipped overseas in late 1943.
My mother once told me that they loved Wisconsin and Minnesota so much they considered relocating there after the war. I am so glad they didn’t. I’m not crazy about the winters in New Jersey, but I can’t even begin to imagine spending one in either of those two states.