Andrew Spencer is ready for his Russian adventure of a lifetime.
By Danny Buttler
PASSPORT… check! Suitcase… check! Frequent flyer points… Nyet.
After a lifetime of waiting and wishing, Cranbourne North’s Andrew Spencer is about to embark on his dream trip to Russia.
The 72-year-old, who has been paying-off his trip for six years, is ready to leave the safety of home for an adventure into the unknown.
With his only travel experience being a trip to New Zealand many years ago, Andrew is understandably nervous about his 19-day trip to the fabled cities of Moscow and St Petersburg.
“Keeping our fingers crossed, everything is seemingly going alright,” he said.
“I’m not a real travel person, so it could be a real shock for me.”
It will be a shock that has been a long time coming.
For six years, Andrew has handed over his fortnightly $50 to Harvey World Travel at Fountain Gate. In a world of credit card debt and play now pay later, Andrew only wanted to travel when he could afford it.
Now that he has his 27 August plane ticket in hand, he can finally see the iconic Russian sights that he has yearned for since his sister painted him a picture of the royal Romanov family many years ago.
“We land in Moscow and a chap will meet us there and direct us where to go, then we take a ship down the Volga,” he said.
“I’ll have a couple of days in St Petersburg where I will check out the Romanovs where they are buried at the Peter and Paul Fortress.”
While most travellers these days take advantage of Wi-Fi, iPads and other digital devices, Andrew has only made one concession to the technological age.
“I’ve bought a digital camera, which is a fair bit different to the old Kodak,” he said.
His other major purchase is a Russian phrase book which he hopes will save the day if he finds himself lost and wandering through a Russian village
“At the RACV I got a little book on speaking Russian,” he said.
“If you are lost you can just look down to L for lost and you will have a sporting chance.”
