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From the Great Wall to the Grand Canyon — a holiday album to savour

FROM Antigua to Vietnam with 51 countries in between — globetrotting Jim and Elaine Stott have a holiday album few can rival.

The Shaw couple have clocked up a staggering 250,000 miles visiting an impressive list of holiday destinations.

Awesome sights such as the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids and Angel Falls in Venezuela have all been captured on camera by the pair who have also visited four of the seven wonders of the modern world — Petra in Jordan, the Great Wall of China, the Coliseum in Rome and Chitzen Itza in Mexico.

They have taken planes, trains and automobiles as well as driven a team of huskies in the Arctic circle, enjoyed helicopter trips, travelled by elephant in Thailand and cruised up rivers such as the Orinoco, Nile and Rhine.

From Graceland and the Grand Ole Opry to the State Opera House in Vienna, then there are the poignant places like Auschwitz, the Normandy Landing beaches, The Bridge on the River Kwai, the Crimea and the devastation of Montserrat.

“For me, every holiday is the holiday of a lifetime,” is how Jim describes his love of travelling.

The 63-year-old, who recently retired as sales manager with Warburtons, added: “We have always been interested in history and places of interest. The main thing was bringing the children up, then when the children were older, we spread our wings. We have never been sun, sea and sand people. On our last holiday in Norway, the temperature went down to minus 33.

“We went up to the Arctic circle, drove a team of huskies and our own skidoo up to the Russian border — that was something different.”

Jim and Elaine (59) have been married for 41 years and have two children and three grandchildren. Elaine is manager of Orchard House Day Hospital in Royton and an occupational therapy manager with Pennine Care.

They have visited some countries more than once, but rarely the same place. Jim explained: “The world’s too big to go to the same place twice. I think it’s a waste really.”

His highlights are numerous but include visiting the Chi tunnels built by the Viet Cong guerrillas, the room in the Winter Palace where the Russian Revolution started, travelling on the world’s fastest train in Shanghai and the Great Wall of China.

“The climb up the inside of the Red Pyramid in Egypt was something different,” he added.
The couple would never travel to a war zone — although Jim would like to visit Iraq — but have had a few hairy moments.

In Israel they were stopped by a soldier and informed that the road they were driving on “didn’t exist”.

Jim added: “In Vietnam, we were told to keep to the paths because there was a lot of unexploded ordnance all over the place.

“You saw people everywhere, children with limbs missing, who had stepped on unexploded bombs. We were in a taxi in Gambia which was surrounded by people wanting to look at us. I felt a bit unsafe there.”

The couple have no intention of slowing down and are looking forward to visiting Brazil and Argentina next year.

But Jim admits he was not always that keen. “I used to think holidays got in the way of work,” he said.

“I was perhaps a bit of a workaholic and then there was a turning point. Having said that, it’s always nice to get back home. I wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world.

“I think it is important to make the most of the time you have got. We will always have our memories.”


Where they’ve been
Antigua, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Cayman Islands, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Malaya, Mexico, Montserrat, Morocco, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Vatican, Venezuela and Vietnam