HALTON HILLS - Over the years, Reg and Gail Finlayson’s children have heard many stories about their parents’ trip from Sydney, Australia to London, England.
The tales are endless, as they simply didn’t simply jump on a plane and fly. Instead, they embarked on a five-month adventure backpacking their way through 18 countries, travelling by boat, car and train across three continents.
“For 50 years they’ve been hearing these stories,” Finlayson said. “They said, ‘You should really get this down in writing.”
Though Finlayson channels most of his creativity into painting, he accepted his family's challenge. The result is Serenhippity: A 1960-70 Backpacking Adventure: Sydney to London.
“We had no major problems, but we had some very interesting times,” the Glen Williams resident said. “It was hippy times. There were a lot of detours. We would plan on going somewhere and then we’d meet someone and they’d say, ‘We’re going here,’ It was never a straight line.”
The couple moved to Australia shortly after they were married in Toronto in 1967. They had only planned to stay for a month, but loved it so much they ended up staying for two-and-a-half years.
When they decided to return to Canada, armed with their clothes, what cash they had and a map, they set off for London, England.
Both Reg and Gail kept journals during their adventure, so when it came time to write the book they became an invaluable resource.
Knowing what he knows now, Finlayson said there was one thing that really struck him as he read through the journals.
“We were young and naive,” he said. “I was mainly surprised how inexperienced we were for that kind of travel. We did some research, but not as much as we should have.”
They met another Canadian couple on the ship to Indonesia who provided helpful information for their trip.
Early on in Malaysia, after leaving Kuala Lumpur, they had hitched a couple of rides before Finlayson realized he had left his wallet under the mattress of the hotel.
“I hitched back, left my wife on a deserted road sitting on her backpack. It took me three or four hours,” he said. “Now I think, how the heck did I do that?”
Though they felt safe throughout most of the trip, Finlayson said they did unwittingly put themselves in some dangerous situations.
Travelling with another couple they met in Nepal, they planned to visit Tibet. When they arrived at the border, they were met with guards. While getting their IDs, one of their travelling companions dropped a piece of paper then tried to retrieve it as it blew away. The guards stopped him and pointed to the hillside.
“There were two machine gun nests next to a big portrait of (Chinese leader Chairman) Mao,” Finlayson said.
Finlayson said they met so many incredible people during their trip. At one point in Turkey, they were desperately trying to find someone to exchange Turkish lira or U.S. dollars. They were about to ask a couple when the couple said, ‘Are you Reg and Gail?’
They were mutual friends of another couple the Finlaysons had been sending pictures to in England, and they recognized them from those pictures.
One time travelling through the Kurdish mountains, their bus driver started laughing and then held the steering wheel over his head.
“It had come off,” Finlayson said. “It was another mile down to the bottom of the valley. After they got it back on, we looked at each other and said, ‘Do we get back on?’ But we really didn’t have any choice.”
“That was not very reassuring,” Gail said.
When they found a place they enjoyed, like Bali or Kashmir, where they stayed on a houseboat, they would stay for a week and rest.
Reading the journals brought back very vivid memories, which was also aided by the more than 400 pictures he sorted through to choose the ones to use in the book.
Finlayson said there was no better way to see the world. Even today, he takes a particular interest in what’s happening in the countries they visited.
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