A Eulogy for Kate Trelford, 5 March 1944 – 12 June 2023

‘We christened her Katherine’ – I can hear mum recalling this anecdote, quoting her mother when time and time again she was referred to by friends, teaching colleagues and even in the papers, as Kate. Not many know her still as Katherine – although we have kept that name alive as Joanna’s middle name. She is Katie still, to some friends, and of course in the last decade of her life was named by Molly as our dear ‘Gaga’. 

Thank you so much Isabel and Alisa for that beautiful performance – using Nana’s score, mum’s mother Dorothy – who was a professional singer, and went by the stage name ‘Sylvia John’. Creativity and a constant fascination with culture in all forms ran through mum’s veins. She had inherited that from her parents, who met performing Aladdin, Grandpa the Fairy Queen – not his proudest am dram moment, that would probably have been Iago or Malvolio. Mum did have a few notable appearances on stage – at school performing Major-General Stanley from The Pirates of Penzance and perhaps type cast as Lady Bracknell from The Importance of Being Ernest in her final assembly at St Pauls Girls School. She was though, always herself – always so real – in her element in the classroom and directing plays, notably during her time teaching at South Hampstead in the late 1970s, The Cherry Orchard^[1] and The Crucible – which the Ham and High said was the best school play they had ever seen – and one that I was lucky enough to watch – Twelfth Night at St Pauls in 2003. 

Her love of live theatre and opera continued until the very end, treating MoJo and I to the ballet at Saddler’s Wells the last two Christmases, her very last outing was with me to see Stoppard’s Arcadiaat our local Questors, where the girls went on to perform Grease two weeks later. Musicals were a firm favourite, and she derived much pleasure from music throughout her life. Piano was her instrument, and the cello for a few years after we bought her one for her 50^th birthday (yes the same year her brother Richard bought her a flying lesson at Elstree). Later on, Alisa will play us one of mums favourite Bach Preludes from mum’s music. Recently Gaga showed MoJo how to play a vinyl on her turntable, claiming the tunes just sounded that much better. Babysitting often turned into a Beatles session recounting that in 1964 she saw them live at Finsbury Park Astoria…

Mum was born in Aunty Lou’s nursing home a good year and a half before the end of the Second World War, but always proudly declared that her parents had been sensible enough to wait to conceive until they knew the war was won. 

She grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire, it is lovely to see some of her childhood friends here today. There are many stories of her and her younger brother Richard playing in the nursery, the rocking horse Bobby, cricket in the garden. They attended Wimslow Prep school, directly across the road from their home Redcot on Grove Avenue. One traumatic experience was watching their house on fire – the radiogram had short-circuited and burst into flames, the worst thing was they had to stay for school lunch, and she never liked beetroot or pineapple as a result. In her later teaching years, I’m told that school lunches were where she was in her element unsurprisingly at the centre of stimulating discussions. 

If there was ever a ‘people person’ it was mum – fascinated in everyone she came across. It shows in the diversity of messages I have received since she died, thank you. What came through again and again were memories of her laugh, her wit, her beauty, her spirit. A force of nature – a one-off – always with a good story! Straight-talking, loyal, wise: fiercely intelligent with terrific recall, someone you wanted on your quiz team or to watch University Challenge with. She claimed she was shy…she certainly felt emotions so keenly and intensely, all of her life – perhaps what made her such a wonderful friend and devoted family member. 

‘Silence, Deportment and Green Knickers’ was the title she gave an amusing piece retelling her experiences as a boarder at Cheltenham Ladies College in the 1950s. Head of House and Committee Prefect, just falling short of Oxbridge (so few places for girls in those days) and taking up a place to read English at UCL. After a year in publishing and then research at the Conran Design Group in its heyday, she went to Cambridge, Hughes Hall, to complete her PGCE, a happy year when many of her cousins and brother were there as undergraduates. 1967 was her first year teaching English, at Putney High School – a career that lasted over forty years. 

I want to read an extract of a speech prepared by a colleague Nick Dakin at St Pauls Girls School in 2008:

Kate Trelford was a naturally gifted, uniquely spirited and inspirational teacher. She burst – or rather glided – into our professional lives from a bygone and more elegant age. Yet it was her ability to move with the times, or rather keep a judicious half-step behind them, that was so special. She had a wonderful rapport with all her classes, and was every bit as fresh and irrepressible as they. Young ladies, in the words of Oscar Wilde’s Miss Prism, might be ‘green’, but Mrs Trelford was positively evergreen. 

She certainly inspired generations. 

Holidays for the close foursome of mum, Richard and ‘the As’ were from early on in Europe – first to Lake Maggiore in 1955 – after Nana won a prize for inventing a slogan for a travel company, also appearing on TV (they had bought their first set three years before, for George VI’s funeral). Most frequently Austria and Italy but also Tenerife (winning the ships talent competition singing Yellow Birdwith Tony Robinson) From 1967 mums parents lived abroad – Majorca, Portugal, the Isle of Man and eventually, Guernsey. I’m so pleased we took her back there last summer. Clare, James Isabel and I had many happy holidays as children in Guernsey with its cliff top paths, golden beaches and endless pub lunches, as well as swimming and tennis at the King’s Club.  

Nana had been a brilliant tennis player, school champion at Manchester High three years running – and mum was rather good – much of her youth was spent at Alderley Edge tennis club and she still claims she beat me in our last match…at school she hated running – never understood why her brother and Tom and I derive so much pleasure from it – but she did have some successes, was vice-captain of the House 2^nd Cricket team the year St Austins won the cup, proud that she could bowl straight over-arm (taught by her grandfather). In their childhood, they would visit Old Trafford (the Hornby stand) to see Manchester United and Manchester City on alternate weekends. She would have been proud to see in the final paper she read Man City winning the treble. There was absolutely no way this service could have been held during Wimbledon fortnight, and oh how she would have delighted in Djokovic’s defeat last weekend. The Ashes too, and the Six Nations rugby – those were the big three.   

We travelled a lot too during my childhood, a few freebies – Disneyworld Florida, Barbados, mum travelled with dad on work trips to India, Egypt and Israel and wrote fantastic travel pieces. In 1998 we retraced mums America trip from 1973 – visiting friends of hers in New Orleans and California as well as taking in the Grand Canyon. Our yearly pattern was the Lake District in October, Bath in May, and Europe in the summer along with regular holiday camps at Millfield School and weeks by the sea in Sussex, kicked off by her parents renting a house in Newick in the ‘70s – a tradition that we continue, and will be in Wittering next week. 

Mum made 22 trips to Dubai during the 12 years Tom and I were based there, and hated it of course….having sea swims on Christmas Day, lovely meals, the births of Molly and Joanna and birthday celebrations (hers usually falling during Art Dubai). A memorable trip to Jordan. And we will always have Venice. First when I was 16, she came back to visit me frequently when I was working at the Peggy Guggenheim and again when I was installing artworks from Dubai. Our latest trip together was in July 2019, when we stayed on the Lido and visited the Biennale and many of our favourite haunts. 

But London was where she was most at home – ever since her first day in 1962 when there was a transport strike, so she walked from her digs in Hampstead to UCL, only to find that registration had been postponed. She knew the city so well, acting as a taxi service to us all. It was a long running joke that she would pass the cabbie’s knowledge with flying colours. She was a member of the London Library for years, as well of course Covent Garden and the Royal Academy. In the early 1990s she studied for a diploma in History of Art from Birkbeck – her period was the Early Renaissance – fitting that our last time in town was to the Donatello at the V&A. 

During my childhood, Sundays were spent at Kenwood, taking our trays in the snow, admiring the Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, finding our favourite trees, stretching round them and holding hands. Since moving to Ealing we realised it’s not much more of a drive than it was from Islington, so went a few times. This spring we admired the daffodils.  

After years of flat sharing (I will leave Mary to tell tales from these days are they were well before my time!) in the late 1970s mum and dad decided to settle in Islington, buying their first house in Canonbury Grove where I was born, then moving to Lambert Street – settling in Richmond Crescent by 1984, my childhood home – and from 1998 until 2020, in Thornhill Grove. 40 years in the borough. It is a sign of mum’s excellent neighbourly spirit that such a crowd have travelled to join us in Ealing today. For the last three years, I’m so thankful we came across this community in Pitshanger – mum derived so much pleasure from living close to us, it really is the most wonderful place to call home, so thank you to all our new friends and neighbours for giving us the chance to make such happy final memories.

Social life in Islington was initially focused on playgroups, branching out to the Scottish Dancing committee and in later years aqua aerobics, choir and book groups. She led memorable poetry seminars and was famous for hosting drinks, especially at Christmas. Dinner parties were a frequent occurrence – she was even giving one when she was in labour with me. Her Sunday roasts, crumbles and chocolate pots have been infamous for decades and the jury is out on whether her roast potatoes or Toms are better ….

I could not have wished for a more devoted and supportive mother, grandmother, and friend. I can’t think of one time when she wasn’t there for me, attending any art exhibition I had worked on, editing everything I wrote (until this!). She did the same for Dad, during his time as Editor of the Observer – where she had worked in the literary department. These were of course the celeb spotting years – the Ritz in Paris for her 40^th birthday courtesy of Mohammed Al Fayed – bonding with Princess Diana in the Royal Box during the Olivier Awards over the kids’ hair washing night. The late Queen too, turned to her chief guest King Khaled of Saudi Arabia at a dinner mum was at and said ‘I don’t know whether you have met Mrs Trelford? 

I am going to end by reading extracts from two poems, written by mum. Not all of you will know she wrote poetry – usually only at times of emotional intensity in her life. The first is dated March 1997.

It Must be Something to do with Spring                      

the forsythia

Forced first in the warmth of my kitchen

At last bursting out in the garden – 

Spectacular glow on early mornings

A fan of sparkling rays

Intricate network of filigree

This year

Brighter than ever

Against the other dark greens still in waiting.

Higher in the house I see across the gardens

A haphazard network of random plantings

Even a seedling I jammed in behind the holly

So bravely sprouting new shoots.

Just like the network of friends

These last months, weeks, days,

Haphazardly planted through my life and his,

Met and re-met,

Criss-crossed over counties, countries, years

Family, schools and colleges, 

Flats, travels, parties

Now glowing and 

Growing

Whichever way I look.

Brilliant.  Brilliant.   Brilliant.

And this, dedicated to Molly and Joanna, 2013 and 2015, bless you both for ever and ever. 

Does Love have a Reserve Tank? 

Is Love infinite? 
Or is there more? 

Where does it come from? 

How is it stored?

You give all the love in the world, 

Every shred you can muster

To the child you adore

So how do you find a store

Of more

For the utter perfection

Of a grandchild? 

Then one more? 

Is it a bottomless pit? 

No, it is rather

An endlessly renewable source

From that Reserve Tank of yours. 

And now I would like to invite Joanna to read a poem she has written. 

Memories

I remember the way she laughed

The way she taught me something new.

I remember the times we talked

Her always saying something true.

I remember trips to the sea

Going out to restaurants and shows

Watching sport on tv

Admiring her perfect rose. 

My strongest memory is afternoons 

Spent listening to her favourite tunes. 

By Joanna Egerton. July 2023. 

---

^[1] I was corrected after the service by an ex pupil from SHHS, Jane Hellings who was in attendance, it was The Sisters not the Cherry Orchard! 

We were prepared for life to be different for the four of us once we arrived back in the UK after our eight months of traveling the world. Since we got back, it’s been said and thought many times – how incredible our timing was.

In idle moments away, we frequently discussed what our priorities would be once we landed. We had decided to arrive back in early March as our hazy memory of that time of year was that things were warming up, it being spring (how foolish!!) and it was the start of birthday season in the family. Joanna’s kicks that off each year on the 26th February and we spent that in New York. Little did we know just how many times we would be singing happy birthday to ourselves as we repeatedly washed our hands…

We landed in London Heathrow the day before my mum’s birthday so could spend it together at home in Islington.

A week later it is Grandma Egerton’s birthday and the day after cousin Cassie’s.

Two lazy long lunches with birthday candles for the grandmas, one fun sweaty afternoon with twenty kids, cake and a bouncy castle for Cassie. MoJo had been looking forward to the ‘things that fly…’ party ever since they had been sent the invitation and had been planning their outfits for weeks! It was a great day, highlights being meeting the newest member of the family and all the girls playing pass the parcel.

Birthdays aside, first on our serious setting up our new life to-do-list was getting the girls into school, which would require us to find a place to live. Next would be buying bikes or scooters for the girls to get to school (the plan was to live close enough to do that). Finding a job for Tom would come next, probably in a hotel given his experience, then probably buying a car and lastly a job for me, once we had worked out childcare options.

A while ago we had pinpointed the west London borough of Ealing as the location that would best suit us to live. I visited some schools and houses last April. We took advice from a couple of friends we knew in the area and slowly got excited about how life would be for us there, with plenty of green space, easy access in and out of central London and good options for primary schools.

Days after returning we had made calls to estate agents, booked ourselves onto school tours and Tom had accepted a two-day work trip to the Netherlands. After a week, we had spent a day in Ealing and found a fully-furnished three-bedroomed house to rent, on a cul-de-sac a short walk across a park to our favourite school. School applications were in, deposit paid, move in date scheduled for the beginning of April. The question really was whether the girls would start school before or after the Easter holidays.

Then of course, everything changed. Our fears for the future, which had been growing ever since the first outbreak of Coronavirus in January, became big enough for us to change our minds. After seeing it happen first in Dubai, then across Europe and the US it finally been announced that schools in England will close indefinitely on Friday.

Today we made the very difficult decision to make a u-turn on our plans for now. As we are all being forced to do, we have put our new life ‘on hold’. Meeting up with all our dear friends and wider family in the UK is going to have to wait.

During Lockdown 1 (as it was to be called) we are very fortunate to be made to feel welcome in two homes in London: Tom’s childhood home in North Harrow and my mums in Islington (every other week I took one girl there for a long weekend). To pay rent on a house for us when the girls won’t be going to school and Tom and I are extremely unlikely to find paid employment would be foolish in the extreme.

A major advantage with the necessary homeschooling was having four adults in the house keen to spend time with MoJo and resources collected over many years. Grandparents who possess an interesting range of skills and knowledge areas – a PhD in Chemistry and forty years of primary school teaching no less. Rough timetables were drawn up, incorporating household chores as well as a variety of lessons and plenty of time for board games.

With four of us around, Tom can find time to do manual tasks in the garden and loft and I can keep writing. We rotate going to the shops and cooking meals, and make sure we still manage to go on runs and walks round the block to clear our heads.

Three generations can attempt to live together peacefully and happily, making the most of the time we are forced to spend together. Lots of laughs have been shared so far! Yes of course as well there will be a lot of TV watched, things will get broken (so far a bed, ornament and a broom…watch this space!) there will be tears, cross words and regret. I live under no illusions. The wider world is also understandably so full of worry and anxiety. But instead of getting caught up in every news story, we must switch off now and again and embrace a surprising opportunity: we have been given time. A commodity which as a parent I have felt increasingly precious and rare, we now have time – time to spend together, time to read stories, time to reflect, time to talk, time to learn about one another. Let’s make the most of it.

It is mad to consider how impossible our world tour would have been if it had been planned to finish even a few weeks later than it did. I am aware, and indeed am quite glad that I still have five countries from our Egerton World Tour to write about here on the blog. Now is of course a great time to do this, so expect posts on those to go live over the coming weeks. It feels even more important now to remember and recount our many adventures. When I am up-to-date I will continue to post about how life is panning out for us back in the UK – how life with MoJo is going in these extraordinary times.

Since moving to the UK and living through lockdown we often look back over the daily diary entries the girls wrote and the blog to remember our trip and one day we asked them some questions. 

Looking back over photos it is incredible to see how young the girls were on our trip. We try to talk about our adventures as much as we can to keep the memories alive. They were so brilliant at adapting to all the varied experiences, it is something we shared as a family and is a time we look back on with so much happiness.

When you think of ‘our travels’ (aka the Egerton World Tour) what is the first thing you remember? 

J: The Lion King on my birthday.

M: The food. 

Can you say any more? 

J: Mummy and Daddy said that we would be late for our train but we were actually going to see the show as a surprise!

M: Its very different to everything else we normally eat. 

Which was your favourite country or place we visited? 

M: I liked Australia and New Zealand the best. 

Why? 

M: Because I liked seeing Grandma and Grandad! 

J: I liked Vietnam

Why?

J: Seeing the water theatre puppet show.

What was your favourite activity? 

J: I enjoyed learning how to cook some food. 

M: I liked it when we went down the hill in cars – the luge. 

What was your favourite view? 

M: With Minji by the waterfall.  

J: Sunrise over the temples (in Cambodia)

Which people did you most enjoy meeting? 

J: Michele in Bali

M: Minji in Japan.

Best beach? 

M: The One in Cambodia

J: I liked it when we played beach Olympics. 

Best city?  

J: Beijing

M: Ho Chi Min, especially the bamboo bunkbeds!

Best meal?

M: snake 

J: buffet on the Yangtze River Cruise. 

Scariest moment? 

J: the exhibition we saw in Wellington about the first world war with giant figures. 

M: The jetboat in New Zealand. 

Best day?

J: When we went to Disneyland

M: same! 

Any final thoughts?

M: It was an amazing experience, no one I know has ever done such a thing with their family. 

J: I liked it when we went to Disneyland…

To wake up in a city that never sleeps, king of the hill, top of the heap – if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere….

We had booked the last flight of our tour a few months prior: Virgin Atlantic from JFK to London Heathrow. We hadn’t, however, got around to planning a great deal of what we were going to do during our final week. When an old friend Andrew suggested we stayed in his Brooklyn apartment, we jumped at the chance. 

Feeling pretty groggy after our night flight from LAX, we arrived via Uber at Andrew’s apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Norman Avenue and had some great catchups and recommendations for local eateries along Manhattan Avenue. I think we made it to nearly all of them. 

We headed out to a traditional diner across the street for breakfast. As the girls stared at the enormous pancakes in front of them (quick to learn that American food is supersized outside California), we realised it was Shrove Tuesday. 

We spent the rest of the rainy afternoon at the Brooklyn’s Children’s Museum, founded in 1899, its the original museum designed specifically to educate kids and in 2008 became the first green museum in the city. It was quite a long journey south from Greenpoint, in a residential area, Crown Heights. (In my mind, Brooklyn is a relatively compact district just across the East River from Manhattan. I had underestimated it.) Sadly the museum felt a bit dated, but we made the most of it and had fun rearranging the greengrocers and meeting a sloth in a live show.

We made it back to spend some time with Andrew before he took a flight to the UK. For dinner we walked out for a pizza up the road at Fornino – a lovely atmospheric restaurant full of displays of Murano glass and enormous, delicious pizzas (including gluten free options and sides of artichokes and brussels sprouts). We went back there another night it was so good.

The girls daily diaries by this point in our trip had got quite far behind. So, considering how cold it was outside, we decided to start each day in quite a leisurely fashion, knocking off a few days at a time so we could be up to date before getting home. 

An especially slow start came for a good reason on the 26 February – lots of presents to open as it was Joanna’s 5^th birthday! We made it down the road to Frankels for a birthday bagel lunch before getting onto the subway to fulfil Joanna’s one birthday wish: to see the Statue of Liberty.

We boarded the Staten Island Ferry from Battery Park enjoying some rather misty views across the Hudson.

Joanna’s godmother Sonia had told us we must take the birthday girl to Magnolia Bakery for a sweet birthday treat, so we did – enjoying the bohemian feel of Greenwich Village and Blecker Street.

We ate them in the playground across the road, but it really was too cold for a long play. Boarding the subway again we enjoyed tunes from a Handpan busker. (Tom getting some tips for when he is reunited with his – which had been taken back to the UK with friend John, who we later found out had been a little surprised at the size of the pan Chef Tom had asked him to look after!). We got out at Bryant Park, watched some ice skating and had some mulled wine and hotdogs whilst listening to some live music. We took in the lights of Broadway and Times Square and met some familiar characters.

The girls thought we were heading back to the apartment when we took a detour – for a surprise evening outing to see the Lion King at the theatre. 

It was a brilliant show, all of us blown away by the costumes and stage set, we had bought great seats on a balcony, with characters coming close to us and great sightlines of the musicians and main action on the stage. 

Perhaps due to underestimating the size of Brooklyn, Tom and I did some really long runs that week – several half marathons completed. 

Running over Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridge gave spectacular views of Manhattan. 

I went across to the World Trade Center one day and ran the whole length of Brooklyn to Prospect Park another, Tom making it across to Roosevelt Island. After the first couple of days of drizzle the weather had cleared, now faced with sunny blue skies but subzero temperatures. 

Given the cold, art galleries and museums seemed a good idea – although getting between them was often a struggle. We got particularly frozen in Washington Square after visiting the Grey Art Gallery at NYU to see the Barjeel Art Foundation’s exhibition ‘Taking Shape’. 

We then explored some galleries in the Lower East Side around the New Museum, particularly captivated by Walter De Maria installations ‘Earth Room’ and ‘Broken Kilometer’ from the Dia Art Foundation. 

One afternoon was spent in the Met, with a tour from friend Marcie of exhibitions on the Sahara and Scientific Instruments, then exploring the main collection and striking some poses. 

Another day we met more friends Cari Frisch and Sarah Kennedy at MoMA.

The girls enjoyed the Art Lab, a Donald Judd solo show and following the kids guide around the permanent collection. 

We stayed until closing, only breaking for a late lunch at Xi’ian Chinese dumpling restaurant across the street. 

A couple of times I went off to explore more art solo – visiting the newly opened Met Bauer to see the exhibition ‘Alien Property, Home is a Foreign Place’ and recent acquisitions in context. 

Another afternoon I went to meet friend Lily Lyons at Intelligentsia café in the High Line Hotel and was amazed at the number of new gallery spaces in Chelsea, visiting the Pace Gallery, Gagosian, David Zwirner and more. 

One evening I went out to Bushwick, Morgan Avenue to artist Kamrooz Aram’s studio for drinks and private view of his new work for upcoming show at Natur Morte, New Delhi. 

On the 29^th I went down to Williamsburg for a Leap Year party at the bar Tuffet, organised by Ben Davis, meeting a mix of arts journalists and enjoying some Negroni cocktails.

That evening, Tom and the girls took advantage of not needing to be gluten-free by having dinner of sausages and pretzels at BeerHall, another recommendation from Andrew.

We had a few must-do eatery experiences to tick off – one was Katz’s Deli for pastrami sandwiches with the best pickles.

We went down to DUMBO area to meet friend Pippa at the Time Out Market. 

As it was a weekend it was busy but warm and had a good range of outlets. We went upstairs onto the terrace and felt some snowflakes on our tongues.

The girls had a ride on Jane’s Carousel, which has been in position since 1922, a bargain for $2 ride. 

Our main foodie day came when we met our friend Marcie in her home district of Queens.

We met at MoMA PS1, first enjoying the James Turrell installation ‘Portal to the Sky’ and other artist interventions by Pipilotti Rist, and Cecily Brown – getting trapped in a stairwell! 

It was the final day of the exhibition ‘Theatre of Operations – the Gulf Wars 1991-2011’ not that kid-friendly but with powerful work by Wafa Billal (who was there) Francis Alys, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ala Younis and others. 

Food time: we went into Court Square subway and traveled out to Jackson Heights, Junction Boulevard marveling at the sheer volume of food stalls and eating at an incredible Mexican taqueria. 

We went onto Corona (still something to laugh at back then) to visit the iconic Lemon Ice King – choosing cherry, watermelon and rainbow flavours.

A cold walk took us around Flushing Meadows, appreciating the place where the US Open tennis tournament takes place, seeing the space rockets from Men in Black and the New York Hall of Science. 

Back at Greenpoint we had a fun evening at restaurant Sauvage on Lorimer Street, going home with some birthday balloons kindly given by a lady in the restaurant and cookies from a lady upstairs!

We appropriately had our last dinner at Tick Tock diner at Penn Station. There was some drama on the subway on the way back to Brooklyn as Joanna and Molly accidently knock into one another and Molly’s mouth started bleeding, as we were listening to a rather good busker playing the Saxophone.

The result was of course a wobbly tooth coming out, the tooth fairy finding us on the Egerton World Tour for the first time, on our last night. 

Tom and I had some final games of Quirkle and Uno, which had been regular fixtures throughout our 8 months. 

Our last day was a rainy slow one, packing up and buying some gifts, eating some final tacos at Calimexico and coffee and cake from Swedish coffee shop Konditori. It was time to head back to London and start a new Life with Mojo. 

Los Angeles is so central to any Californian experience. We ended up coming in and out of the city a number of times. As written about in a previous post, we landed at LAX from Mexico and spent our first night in the USA on a freebie night in a mediocre hotel close to the airport giving the girls their first taste of great American food (Molly complaining there was no lettuce in her McDonald’s burger).

We next hit the sprawling suburbs (or traffic) on our route through SoCal in our camper van, from Santa Barbara to Orange County.   

We cleverly decided that this would be the best time to visit the Getty Center, as we had our own transport and would be pretty much driving past it on our way south. 

Designed by Richard Meier, the complex opened in 1997 and is spectacularly located high in the San Gabriel Mountains with views across the city of vineyards and mansions and down to the ocean. 

After a fun ride in an autonomous tram from the parking area (we parked alongside the school buses!), we started with a picnic lunch in the gardens, admiring some outdoor sculptures and the sheer magnificence of the exterior of the buildings, covered in travertine stone from Italy. 

We decided to take a Collection highlights tour with Louise, to give us a whistle-stop overview of the art collection. She made it very engaging, we particularly enjoyed copying poses by old masters and spent quite some time in the photography section. This was the first of many art museums we were going to visit in the next couple of weeks (unwittingly getting our fill before over a year of world-wide closures).

Our final two nights in the camper were at Anaheim Harbor RV Park, a pleasant enough site, although we didn’t spend much time there – arriving in the dark. That first night Tom and I sat out, warmed by a gas fire enjoying the fireworks display from nearby Disneyland. We decided not to wake the girls to see it, as we thought they would have the chance to watch it the next night (unfortunately we didn’t know it was going to be cancelled due to the weather!) 

We woke early and with excitement building, we headed straight to the bus after breakfast, arriving at Disneyland at 9am as the doors opened. We had roughly sketched out which rides we wanted to do, so decided to start in Fantasyland with A Small World. It remained Joanna’s favourite of the day!

It seemed an appropriate place to start, the girls rather embarrassingly loudly pointing out all the countries we had been to on Egerton World Tour.  

‘The Happiest Cruise that ever sailed ‘round the world!’ 

Next we went underwater in the Finding Nemo Submarine, then on the rather boring monorail around the park to get our bearings. We gradually built up our thrill factor with the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride and Pirates of the Caribbean – which got a bit scary, so we calmed down in Winnie the Pooh and by a visit to Sleeping Beauty’s castle. 

We enjoyed interacting with some Disney princesses walking around and listening to a brass band. 

Another highlight for MoJo was watching Beauty and the Beast and Tangled at the theatre. 

Joanna emerged from the front seat in the Matterhorn Bobsleigh very wet and a bit traumatized by the woolly mammoth that seemed to jump out at her! 

We walked across to Star Wars new land ‘Galaxy’s Edge’, spotting a man acting as a R2D2 controller. Tom went on the Millennium Falcon while we went on the Pinocchio ride and back to the theatre. 

After a dinner of burritos, we timed it well to see the Mickey Mouse show, followed by a stroll around Toontown, enjoying the Roger Rabbit ride, exploring Mickey and Minnie houses, Donald Duck boat and treehouse and queuing to meet Mickey where we failed to get his autograph (Tom tried to get him to sign a $bill but that’s not allowed).

With renewed energy and aided by free spots thanks to our fast-track passes collected during the day, we ended on a high with Space Mountain, Star Tours and Big Thunder Mountain as it was getting dark. We had hit 12 hours inside the park!

Despite no fireworks, we enjoyed the Fantasmic! light show, before heading back to the camper around 10pm.

The next morning it was time to return the camper to El Monte RV, getting our first of many LA Uber rides to our hotel AC Marriott Beverly Hills. It was a short walk through some lovely residential streets in Beverly Hills to the Original Farmers Market at 3^rd and Fairfax, our first stop on the brilliant itinerary supplied by our wonderful friend Steff Sykes. 

There was much for all of us to enjoy, Tom finding a ‘Light my Fire’ chili shop he had visited when last in LA in 2000, buying a birthday present for Joanna from a great toyshop and plenty of delicious food stations – most of us still in a taco mood and loving Trejos Tacos, Molly unusually selecting a salmon crepe. 

There was a particularly lively atmosphere as Mardi Gras celebrations were underway with live music, the kids were handed out beads.  

We walked out to the rather sophisticated Grove shopping area, admiring the trolley bus and buying some Girl Scout cookies. I was delighted to buy some new Havaiana flipflops and we spent far too long in the engrossing world of American Girl, allowing the girls to choose a doll each as a memento. (Julie and Mary Ellen) 

Next stop was an Uber up to the Griffith Observatory. It was a beautiful drive accompanied by dramatic skies and incredible views of the city below us once we reached the top.

We spent quite some time enjoying the view and posing in front of the Hollywood sign. What tourists. 

Thinking it was about time we did something educational, we signed up to a show in the Planetarium about the history of the universe – fascinating. 

We only had time for quick showers before getting to Soowon Galbi for a Korean BBQ dinner reunion with Steff. We were of course pros on Korean food and had missed it since we were there in October – LA certainly does so many global cuisines superbly. 

I went for an early morning run down to Beverley Centre, through the design district and up to the Hollywood strip, stopping to admire the wall of fame and stars. 

Our weekend really begins with a rather strange but delicious breakfast of burritos, donuts, and vegan tacos at Smorgasburg at the Alameda Produce Market in Downtown. 

Time for some more culture: the queue for the Broad was long so we sneakily took turns with loo stops and a first look at MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art) across the road. The girls particularly loved the family guide activities and in particular Mason Williams life-size print of a greyhound bus. 

Back to the Broad, we made it in and were blown away by the building itself with its long escalators snaking past the storage vault (with some well-positioned John Baldessari works). Highlights for us were the vast canvases by Mark Bradford (who’s exhibition we had seen in Shanghai) Jeff Koons, William Kentridge animation and a Yayoi Kusama infinity room (with memories of our time in Naoshima).

Back at MOCA we enjoyed a Bacci chocolate courtesy of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and an exhibition of pattern and decoration in American art in the 1970s and 1980s. 

We were perfectly positioned to take a ride in Angels Flight, a vintage funicular railway down to the Broadway. 

At Grand Central Market we met a colleague and friend of mine from Venice days, Morgan. He advised us to check out the Bradbury Building across the street where Bladerunner and a number of other films were set. More exciting in fact was catching a car chase being filmed on a nearby street junction for a Nissan advert! 

We went onto the Arts District, enjoying the incredible buildings of Hauser and Wirth, surprised by the chickens and herbs in the garden area and taking in the brilliant exhibition ‘Walking the Space’ curated by Luca Massimo Barbero of Lucio Fontana’s light installations. 

After having a quick look at a number of nearby breweries, we eventually decide to have sushi for dinner, which we hadn’t eaten since we were in Japan. 

Our final day in LA began with a Steff meet up again, to have a private tour of the incredible new Academy Museum on Wiltshire Boulevard, promising to be a major highlight of Miracle Mile and indeed the city. When we were there the opening was going to be a few months after we visited but was substantially delayed.

Designed by Renzo Piano, its standalone dome structure and sequence of bridges and interior theatres and spaces makes the most of its dramatic location. They also hand out the best hard hats, badges and totes.

Its neighbour is LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) so the plan for the rest of the day was to take in the museum’s exhibits, starting and ending with Chris Burden’s Urban Light.

We visited a mid-career survey show of Julie Methetu’s complex and enthralling paintings, prints and drawings.

We walked under the dramatic Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer on route to meet Steff for a Vietnamese lunch at Saigon Pearl LA.

It was another great meal reminiscing of cuisines enjoyed earlier on Egerton World Tour, taking in delicious bowls of Pho and some monster hugs.

Back to LACMA for an afternoon stint of culture, we kicked off in the kids’ zone alongside a monumental Richard Serra, creating cityscape collages. 

We were all fascinated watching Chris Burden’s Metropolis II being activated: giving a bird’s eye perspective of trains and cars moving in a miniature city. 

We walked along to the Tar Pitts park next door, learning about mammoths and other remarkable feats of nature, and then chose Counter for a final burger dinner (sadly never making it to the Cali highlight In-N-Out). 

It was time to take a night flight from the West Coast to the East, appropriately eating an apple pie at the airport before boarding our flight to our next and final stop: the big apple. 

The Californian coast really embraces the Pacific Ocean it borders.

Highway One is the coastal, scenic route to take if you have the time. Running all the way up to Oregon and down to Santa Barbara where it merges into Route 101 before you start the crawl south into Los Angeles (LA), it’s the longest highway in the state.

The most famous stretch is that known as Big Sur, between San Francisco and LA: just picture that opening sequence from Big Little Lies. The iconic road opened in 1937, frequently the victim of landslides, sections are often closed for repair.

Winding round the dramatic cliffs with the waves crashing below is quite an experience, especially in a camper van! 

We skipped the first section south of San Francisco due to our inland diversion to Yosemite, therefore not visiting Santa Cruz which was a bit of a shame as we had met a fun hippie couple from there in Tulum who had told us about its laid-back vibe. 

The drive back to the coast just north of Monterey was quite eye-opening. We passed through Stockton and Merced, urban areas badly hit by the recession, which record some of the highest crime rates in the country.

Quite a contrast to the squeaky-clean tourist towns we were spending most of our time in during our weeks traveling through the sunshine state. What we thought on the map looked like a pleasant park for a picnic definitely wasn’t, so we chose to stop in a Denny’s carpark for a homemade camper-based lunch instead. 

We arrived in Monterey around 4, with a plot booked at the Veterans memorial park campground. It was located high up a hill in a residential part of town, with a playground. We headed down into town for a walk along the harbour to Fisherman’s Wharf, admiring the sunsetting behind the boat masts.

We chatted to a lady running one of the boat companies – she told us it was rough out there but that whale sightings were common. We decided we had had enough of boats on Egerton World Tour!

Every restaurant along the pier seemed to be offering taster samples of clam chowder which made do for a starter, some were tastier than others. We strolled over to Alvarado Street for dinner, choosing the lively Alvarado Street Brewery, with great burgers and beer. 

Waking up to a cloudy Valentine’s Day morning, I took a run down to Cannery Row, admiring lots of houses decorated with pink hearts. 

The sea is as near as we come to another world

We spent most of the day at Monterey Bay Aquarium (where the above quotation was found).

Despite feeling a bit smug that we had seen so many animals in their natural habitat during the Egerton World Tour, it was a great experience.

We arrived just in time for penguin feeding, then jumped straight across to the open sea feeding session and kelp forest discovery tour with divers in the tank, winding up at our favourites: the otters. Shoals of fish circled at feeding time whilst turtles took what they could.

There was a clear environmentally aware message throughout – we were especially surprised to learn to avoid crab, shrimp and bluefin tuna from a particularly captivating exhibit by the safe fish watch.

It had turned into a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to explore the Pacific Grove peninsula.

It seemed appropriate being 14 February to drive to Lovers Point for lunch in the camper with a perfect ocean view, looking out at ‘the kissing rock’ and ‘heart-shaped rock’.

Next was a quick look at Point Pinos lighthouse and the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, despite thinking that we were there at the right time in the season, we clearly missed it by a matter of days, only seeing one butterfly!

We drove on to the 17 Mile Drive from Spanish Bay around to Pebble Beach, especially stopping to watch the wildlife around Bird Rock and Seal Rock and the timeless beauty of Cypress Tree lookout.

After passing through classy Carmel we really were in Big Little Lies opening credits – stunned by the views of Bixby Creek Bridge and Rockery Creek before hitting the spectacular Big Sur drive. 

We hadn’t realised it was Presidents’ Day weekend so all the campsites along Highway 1 were fully booked, this time we foolishly hadn’t rung ahead. As it was getting dark, we went up a side road and had our one night of freedom camping – on a bit of a slope but with an ocean view. Pasta and a game of happy families, not a bad Valentine’s Day evening for us four! 

On Saturday morning we enjoyed our drive along Big Sur, stopping at a stunning viewpoint for breakfast then onto Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal refuge.

It was incredible to see hundreds of seals on three connected beaches – identifying the males, females and baby pups, witnessing skirmishes between the males, mating, birthing and pregnant seal cows resting, and new mums guarding their young.

We took a 4km walk around the cliffs. 

We then drove onto sleepy San Simeon to have lunch, walk along the pier and have a quick look around the coastal discovery centre. 

One thing we had thought to book ahead was the unmissable tour of Hearst Castle. Between 1919-1947 the media magnate William Randolph Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan conceived and created the so-called ‘Enchanted Hill’ or La Cuesta Encantada: unique and utterly fascinating.

Both an architectural feat and a showcase of a remarkable art collection.

We just made it to the visitors centre in time for our Grand Rooms Tour that was booked for 1.40pm. It began with a 15-minute bus ride up the hillside during which sightings of zebras are apparently common, before arriving at the tropical paradise gardens outside the main building called Casa Grande.

Molly was our guides assistant, helping to ring a bell and open the front door.

Inside we glimpsed another world – the Assembly Room with its walnut panelling and tapestries, a Dining Room where extravagant banquets had been served and other entertaining areas such as billiards and a cinema.

We marvelled at the two swimming pools – Neptune pool surrounded by statues and the interior Roman pools decorated by mosaics. 

We hadn’t learnt our lesson from the night before, so we again struggled to find a campsite with a free spot. The more appealing rural state campgrounds were all full because it was still a bank holiday, so we opted for an RV campsite close to the beach – Morro Dunes Travel Trailer Park and Resort. We hadn’t read much about Morro Bay so were quite taken aback when we walked onto the neighbouring beach by the sight of a beautiful sunset behind an enormous rock jutting into the sea. Dubbed ‘the Gibraltar of the Pacific’ Morro Rock stands at 175 meters and is the last in a chain of long-extinct volcanoes. 

We decided to walk down the Embarcadero to find some dinner, but all the restaurants were so busy we have to walk a long way and had to settle for an average meal, but we did all enjoy some fish (hopefully all local – I chose Halibut). Sunday morning started with an invigorating run for me along Morro Strand State beach, half of it dog free and half full of dogs and their owners. I also spotted sea otters and some brave swimmers and marvelled at the hundreds of sand stones along the shoreline.

We drove onto quaint San Luis Obisbo, bustling on a Sunday morning. First checking out the rather gross Bubblegum alley, we chose to have lunch at the infamous Firestone Grill, the queue already out the door – but it was a worthwhile wait for its delicious tri tip sandwiches and cobb salad.   

Strolling through the town we took in the mission, art museum and creek enjoying listening to some buskers. 

Spotting a Walmart set dramatically at the top of a hill with a stunning view of the sea from the carpark – we went to ask the manager if freedom camping was allowed but apparently not. So, we headed back to the coast to the very crowded Pismo Beach, settling for a campsite with a swimming pool and a hot tub. Our campervan had never felt so small nestled in amongst gigantic motorhomes. 

We walked to the beach and played some beach games – our beach Olympics by now a well-oiled machine. Tom manages a chilly swim in the sea (at the time we didn’t realise this would be the last on the Egerton World Tour) and we all enjoy chats with some fellow campers in the comforting heat of the hot tub. It was quite a chilly long walk to the shower block.

The next day we headed inland, to the Santa Ynez valley known for its wine tasting, made famous by the quirky film Sideways. Solvang was our main port of call, a bizarre but captivating Danish village.

You know you have arrived by the number of clogs and windmills you can see.

We hired a 4-wheel bike for an hour which was great fun and allowed us to stop off at sights such as the Hans Christian Andersen Museum (of Little Mermaid and Snow Queen fame) and Copenhagen House with contemporary design brands. 

We pick up an essential danish pastry and hit the road to Santa Barbara. A place I have happy memories from my first Highway One adventure in 1998, the vibes were good as we spied plenty of palm trees and beaches.

Taking a stroll along the iconic Stearns Wharf we took in an ice cream and made our obligatory magnet purchase and had a little dance on a compass, before watching skateboarders do some tricks. 

We had booked our campsite this time well in advance: the location convenient but not scenic, being right against the Highway One barrier. It did however have great showers and MoJo immediately made friends with a pair of Korean sisters in the neighbouring camper. I made it back to the beaches for a long run in the morning, before we hit the road for our first taste of LA traffic doom. We broke up the day by cleverly stopping off at The Getty. 

Having broken the back of LA heading south, we entered Orange County, dropping back to the coast at the aptly named Corona Del Mar and along to Crystal Cove. Campsites were pricey here, so we picked up some groceries in fancy Laguna Beach and called ahead to book a plot at a state campground inland: Ronald W Caspers Wilderness Park.

We lucked out, with a huge plot with a firepit, lots of space and even some bunnies for company. On reflection, we had the best of times at campsites in more remote areas in California where we could get a fire going and toast some marshmallows. Simple pleasures. 

A highlight of my 1998 Road-trip had been time spent down in La Jolla and San Diego. This time we would skip the trip to Tijuana for lunch that I made aged 17 – but it was wonderful to reconnect with a family friend Richard Green over breakfast at Broken Yolk in Pacific Beach.  

We cruised through picture-perfect La Jolla past the cove and saw that the contemporary museum was under refurbishment but did manage to spot the installation Pleasure Point by Nancy Rubins on its roof, an accumulation of kayaks, jet skis and surfboards seemingly stopped mid-flight towards the ocean.

We had, for a second night running, picked a fantastic campsite, Campland on the Bay – positioned overlooking Mission Bay which served as an excellent running challenge for me the next morning. With playgrounds and swimming pools galore, we were happy there. 

A trip down to San Diego proper had to be done – we decided to skip Balboa Park and its famous zoo in favour of the USS Midway Museum (for Tom and MoJo to get their pilot badges) and the Museum of Contemporary Art and a stroll through the Gaslamp quarter for me.

Both had their high points, a low was getting a parking ticket (for being too long for the parking space that Tom has perfectly parked us in!) We fuelled up at Kansas City Barbeque which rightly makes a big deal out of being the location for the scene when Goose plays the piano in Top Gun was filmed. They also make excellent beef short rib.

All that was left of our California Road-trip was to head back to LA with another stopover in Orange County. There was one campsite left on our itinerary: Anaheim Harbor Park RV, where we were booked in for two nights. Why? One word: Disneyland.

After our experiences travelling by camper van in Australia and New Zealand, we were excited to get back into that way of life again for two weeks. We knew it was going to be a little bit different, for one it was a bit colder – even the sunny state of California gets chilly in February. We had anticipated that the roads would be bigger and busier – but had underestimated some of the distances (especially troublesome in winter when it gets dark so much earlier) and the famous traffic around Los Angeles, although the carpool lane worked brilliantly for us there.

There were other differences that we hadn’t anticipated, for one how booked up the campsites get in advance, and how different rural state-run sites are compared to private RV sites near the coast and more built-up areas – where you pay through the nose for a parking space under a motorway with enormous motorhomes on either side.

It was frustrating too that freedom camping was virtually impossible to do anywhere in the state – especially as we were completely self-sufficient with a loo and shower onboard and electricity and water so only needed a hook up every few days.

We found a practically empty Walmart carpark on the hills above Pismo Beach which had spectacular views – and as we had read that it was legal to stay overnight in Walmart carparks, we headed inside the store to check with the manager. Sadly, we were told that it was no longer possible as the car park was owned and run by the state rather than Walmart, so we were forced to pay at a campsite nearby.

We had also read that you were allowed to camp overnight in casino carparks, so nearly went to Palm Springs to check that option out, but in the end we ran out of time and were not certain that was true, especially considering minors would not have been allowed into the casino itself!

We had to make the choice of what to see north / east simply due to time – we would have loved to have gone to Napa Valley, to Sacramento, to Lake Tahoe – but what with other jewels glistening down south where it would also certainly be warmer – we had to leave them for another time. 

It was quite an epic journey to get the campervan in the first place – we had to take an Uber to a hotel to get picked up and taken out to the San Francisco suburb of Dublin. In the hotel Molly got going on a game of chess which we had to abandon as our bus arrived.

Once in the RV office we had to sit through numerous safety videos and decide which essential items we would need to rent (how many plates or pillows?). Once we hit the road, we realised we weren’t going to be able to get that far before it got dark, so it was lucky we had thought to go to Mount Diablo for our first night, just an hour’s drive from Dublin. First stop though was to Target for crucial supplies – not only food but also jeans, gloves and long-sleeved pyjamas – you have to remember we had been chasing summer for over a year!

As the light was going and the road looked incredibly windy up at the top of Mount Diablo, we decided to stay in the lower campsite, Live Oak. No one official was around so taking the advice of a couple of fellow late-to-arrive campers, we trustingly put our fees in an envelope at the entrance, filled in a form and picked a spot.

Tom had cleverly sneaked a packet of marshmallows into the supermarket trolley – so here, in a deserted mountain campsite in probably around 8 degrees Celsius, we had our first forage for wood and lit a fire.

Not something we had been able to do in Australia of course given the forest fires (which were on their way to California) or New Zealand, as it was never dark enough, or allowed. This would become a bit of an obsession over the next two weeks. Yet again we realised there were rules to follow, which made sense – certain campsites sold wood, for others you needed to bring your own.

Tom went for an exploratory run in the morning up to a viewpoint at Sentinel Rock which we all walked to after breakfast after a bit of wall climbing around a small cave.

After that we drove up to the summit for absolutely stunning views of the whole bay area.

We learnt a little history of the state park.

But it was incredibly windy so we didn’t stay long!

Time was ticking however, and we took a few wrong turns on the way to Walnut Creek, where we had arranged to meet Aran, a cycling friend of Tom’s from Dubai.

Waiting in the wrong Peet’s coffee (which felt a bit Central Perk!) meant that we only had a short time with him – and for us it was already lunchtime and we had quite a long drive ahead of us: first back to the RV office to get the pilot light fixed and then on to Yosemite National Park where we were booked into the Upper Pines Campground for the next two nights.

Yosemite wasn’t directly on our route, but we had decided it was a not-to-miss segment on our trip and we are so glad we made the effort to get there, it was truly an unforgettable experience.

Going to Yosemite in winter certainly had its advantages – lots of the campsites were closed and even the ones that were open were a quarter empty, so you had a lot of free space – and the same went for all the tourist hotspots.

It would be hard to imagine how different it would be full of people, probably impossible to park in any car parks or get a seat on the bus that goes around the park.

We were exceptionally lucky to have crisp, clear days with a bright blue sky and slight frost underfoot.

Speeding through the mountain passes towards Yosemite, we listened to Bruce Springsteen and were dazzled by a dramatic sunset through the back window of our campervan.

The girls very excited by the patches of snow and ice by the side of the road as we neared our destination, I was more concerned we might need to work out how to attach snow tyres.

It was very dark when we arrived at Upper Pines, after the warden had left for the day, so we saw a note with which site we had been allocated and would have to formally check-in the following morning. The most concerning piece of information in our welcome back were the rules regarding bears – such as not being allowed to keep any food items with us – and the basic fact that furry friends were all around us…potentially coming out of hibernation….

We were thankful that sensible Tom had packed head torches and bought an extra hand-held torch as we needed them to get our bearings. It was below freezing however so we didn’t explore for long!

I woke up early and went for a run around Mirror Lake, taking in part of the valley trail. A sign at the start of the route warned about the presence of mountain lions – to add to my fear of bears it was all I needed! It definitely put a spring in my step, picking up the pace especially when I was entirely alone, which was for most of the route.

It was cold but beautiful.

Tom opted for more of a dramatic route the following morning to get to a viewpoint we hadn’t made it to altogether, to see Vernal Falls which was a hilly, chilly run with views of a frozen lake, very memorable, and probably better than mine.

With one day to explore the park we headed off after breakfast to tick off some highlights that were possible to walk to with little legs. First on our list were the Yosemite Upper and Lower Falls, a gentle, circular walk to see the waterfalls which were pretty impressive, and we stopped in a nice spot for a picnic lunch.

Information plaques taught us about early tourism and the achievements of John Muir. Next on the list of natural feats to see was El Capitan, the famed vertical rock formation that is more than 3 times as high as the Eiffel Tower.

We first went to El Cap Meadow to get a sweeping view and then drove on to Tunnel Viewpoint before walking to Bridalveil Falls.

Next was Cathedral Rocks and Half Dome. Blown away by such natural feats, we took some time out in the village, enjoying the Ansel Adams Gallery, watching the film ‘The spirit of Yosemite’ in the Visitors Centre and learning about early settlers in the Indian village at the back of the Yosemite Museum.

Back at the campsite before darkness fell, we watched some school kids playing a funny blindfold game which we them replicated and had a great evening around the fire feeling more in tune with nature than ever. 

Be sure to have friends who live there! Our time in the Golden City was made all the better by the hospitality of my uni friends, Felicity and David who have a beautiful home in Eureka Valley, in the vibrant Castro District. Known as the Castro, it was one of the first gay areas in the United States, growing through the hippie-fuelled 1960s and 1970s.

Walking through the area you came across a riot of colour looking up or looking down – the rainbow roads, as MoJo called them.

Before all of this though, we had to actually enter the United States – the thirteenth (and final) country on the Egerton World Tour. During the last seven months we had come across many different requirements for crossing borders. Luckily Tom had done his research. To enter China, we had to process our visas before we left Dubai (with numerous hand-completed forms, listing every place we were staying, the flights we were flying in and out on and so on, many in Mandarin), but we had only the narrowest of timeframes to apply: before our UAE residence visas had been cancelled and less than two months before we landed in China. Made it, just. Some countries required quite hefty visa processing fees in advance, others cash on arrival, some forms you completed in the air, some had tricky machines you had to work out how to use bleary eyed straight off a long flight in the early hours of the morning. We knew about strict rules on food items when entering Australia and New Zealand, but hadn’t expected the sniffer dogs and searches. Nothing, however, could have prepared us for our arrival in LAX.

We had got a little blasé about time differences by this stage of the trip – so had completely mis-calculated the flight duration from Cancun to Los Angeles. The flight left at 18.10, we had had lunch on route to dropping our hire car off at the airport (and luckily an afternoon ice-cream). We were due to land at 20.30 so figured we would get a late dinner after checking in to our hotel. There is in fact a three hour time difference, so we were facing a flight that was over five hours and we wouldn’t actually be landing until close to midnight our body time. We had also recklessly let our snack bag get perilously empty whilst in Mexico, and there seemed to be no food or drink available at all on board our United flight (nor TV’s I hasten to add). We coped pretty well, until we disembarked and joined thousands in a snaking queue that didn’t seem to be moving at all, to reach the immigration desks. I think it was at least two hours we had to stand in that queue, alongside US citizens and everyone else. At one point (as we split our last rice cake despite signs saying no food or drink) a guard took pity on us and ushered us into a marginally faster line. Once we finally reached the desk we were greeted by a smiley officer who was struck with the Machu Picchu stamps in our passports – initially we were worried that had been a bad idea, but he seemed more interested in travel tips than telling us off.

Once through, we had real difficulty finding the bus stop for the airport hotel shuttle (LAX is VAST!!! So many terminals!) We were using a free night we had with hotels.com, as we were flying up to San Francisco first thing in the morning. Once we found the right bus stop we had to call our hotel to send a complimentary shuttle, as of course we were not booked into one of the chains whose buses circulated endlessly round the airport. No, that would have been too easy. Molly was brilliantly helpful at stacking up luggage trolleys to while away the time (which we found were where she had left them when we returned the next morning!). On check-in, we asked the guy on reception what time room service ran until and received a chuckle and directions to a McDonalds, ten minutes walk away (who walks in LA?!) so valiant Tom returned with a pair of happy meals, a double whopper (no salad? Said Molly) and a chicken salad (only GF option). Our first American breakfast the following morning in the hotel was served exclusively with plastic plates, cups and cutlery – all thrown into a mixed garbage can (getting into the lingo). MoJo were completely shocked (but did enjoy some waffles and shhh we took A LOT of sachets of honey, jam and peanut butter to use while camping, result).

Initially in our plans we were going to drive the pacific highway south to north, but instead flipped our trip around to start in San Francisco and drove south back to LA, mainly due to the availability of friends at either end but it also meant for a more dramatic, cliff-hugging drive south.

We had bought quite cheap seats on our LAX-San Fran leg and were really worried about our baggage allowance, especially our carry ons (i.e. the girls scooter bags which we had already been told off for using in the airport that morning). But we needn’t have worried, as we had the nicest air stewardess on that flight. Molly helped out with the demonstration and we finally got a MoJo and pilot pic!

Landing into a sunny San Francisco, we took an uber across town to the Castro and made it in time for a fun, bonding burst of fresh air up Kite Hill open space with Felicity, Emily and Jacob. And Forrest Gump.

Back in the house a perfect kiddie dinner was prepared, a shared bath (well for the kids) and story (Matilda) before the adults had a proper catch up over delicious risotto and excellent wine (we found out later our hosts were keen home-brewers of wine!) Molly and Joanna were delighted to be in the company of friends their own age (with lots of toys) and it was fantastic to again be able to relax and let others take the lead for what we should see and do whilst in the city.

Tom and I took turns on consecutive mornings to run half marathons up and down the (at times vertical) hills, taxing but by this stage in the trip we had really done well to build up our fitness. We both reached the Golden Gate Bridge, I stopped to admire Giuseppe Penone’s La logica del vegetale (The Logic of the Vegetal) and Idee di pietra (Ideas of Stone) beautifully installed in Fort Mason’s Great Meadow. I think my morning had more sun and Tom’s more fog…

We had timed it well to be there over the weekend, so could all hang out together (these were the glorious days when some adults went to work in offices, remember?!). On the Saturday we headed out mid-morning into Castro, taking the Muni (subway) down to the Ferry Building to see the Farmer’s Market where we enjoyed the buskers and vegan food demonstrations. After a run around the skateboarders’ haunt of Vaillancourt Fountain, we had a traditional lunch of Clam Chowder (and pizza for the kids) at Boudin Bakery. 

It was such a nice afternoon, we spent it meandering all-round the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf, admiring the views of Alcatraz (we just missed a ferry across the bay so decided to skip a boat trip, which was a bit of a shame as it was too windy the rest of our time there but you can’t do everything). The kids played around with the interactive exhibits outside the Exploratorium such as ‘People Power’ and Fujiko Nakaya’s ‘Fog Bridge #72494’.

After pointing out and climbing on all the Sea Lion statues we could find, it was great to discover hundreds of real sea lions lounging at the end of Pier 39 where we also enjoyed an ice cream and Molly lost her cardigan.

To get back to Castro it made sense to have a ride on the traditional cable car, although unfortunately due to Chinese New Year celebrations the usual route was diverted so we had a rather longer journey home than anticipated.

The evening was one to remember, as we started off with a shopping trip to the local supermarket called Molly Stones – for Tom and David to pick up ingredients for a curry off! Felicity and I were willing tasters and it would be hard to pull a winner between an absolutely delicious Lamb Dhansak and succulent aubergine and raita concoctions taught to Tom in Sri Lanka.

The next day, after a taxing game of chess between Molly and Emily we all headed off to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA) for an arty day, really enjoying the permanent collection.

Highlights for the kids were the Alexander Calder room, the living wall and outside sculpture garden as well as videos by Hassan Khan (Jewel, with catchy dancing and music) and Andrew Nguyen (complicated narrative about a family divided between Senegal and Saigon but a nice comfy floor to sit on). I was delighted to find the exhibition ‘Soft Power’ curated by Engenie Joo with exciting work by Haig Aivazian, Marwa Arsanios, Cevdet Erek and others.

David cooked us a traditional San Fran marinated tri-tip steak on the bbq that evening – and ever since Tom has tried to replicate it, perhaps only almost managing it on his smoker back in London. It’s definitely an American cut of meat and has to be prepared in a particular way: and is totally delicious. Our diets have certainly got more sophisticated since university. They also taught us the game ‘good bad buffalo’ which came in useful during many family dinners during lockdown.

Monday morning was the beginning of the working week for the household (we loved watching Felicity taking the kids off to school on their electric bike – what blissful ignorance not knowing how little school was left for the rest of the year…) and we had to pack and get ready to collect a camper-van for the next chapter in our American adventure: the road-trip!

One of my favourite lines when talking about a trip to America I took when I was seventeen was that I went to Mexico for lunch. It’s true, my mother and I were staying with family friends in La Jolla in Southern California and I was taken by their daughter and her boyfriend across the border to Tijuana. I remember the very visible signs of poverty, the rubbish, beggars, dirt, noise. Delicious guacamole. I didn’t even have my passport with me: I had to practice saying I was from the US in an American accent to pass back over the border with no issues, which I managed to get away with. How different things are today.

Having been so busy in Argentina and Peru, we decided to use the spare week we had before arriving into the US as a week to relax and recuperate, so instead of hitting up Mexico City or the major Mayan archaeological sites, we opted for a week in the holiday haven of Tulum. It’s basically an extension of the Caribbean (its shore meets the Caribbean Sea) but probably cheaper, a little bit rougher around the edges and a favourite of fashionistas. The sea is as sparklingly turquoise, the sand as white. Paradise?

It was a 6-hour flight from Lima to Cancun, with no time difference, but for some reason despite an early flight, it was dark before we arrived at our Air bnb apartment. We had booked a hire car for the week, so drove ourselves the 130 km down the coast from Cancun to Tulum on an open highway, sadly with no views of the sea. Finding our apartment was very hard, down potholed back streets – what was even more of a problem was getting out of the apartment complex back to our car as a resident had let us in and the key wouldn’t work! We eventually worked it out (there was another door round the other side of the building) and were pleased to find a spacious, tastefully decorated apartment with a plunge pool just outside.

Unfortunately, Tulum has grown in size dramatically in recent years with considerable building work – mostly happening directly outside our apartment. Luckily, we were there over a weekend and a Mexican holiday so were not disturbed too much, but there was dust everywhere.

Tulum has an odd layout, basically in four distinct parts which are only connected by car, and by a single road. Firstly, the main part of town (pueblo) set quite some distance from the coast, we were closest to this. Its Mayan walled city, now an important archaeological site, found on the coast to the north. Its zona hotelera is a strip of trendy hotels and eateries along the coast which run for several km leading eventually to its final section, perhaps the most rewarding, the biosphere reserve of Sian Ka’an (which translates as ‘where the sky begins’).

We spent time in all four areas. We soon worked out that the restaurants and bars in town nearer us were far cheaper, but you missed a sea view. The first night we went to a restaurant called ‘Farm to Table’ which had stood out on the first drive down the street and we were pleased to find it had a beautiful courtyard out the back. I was happy sipping a Turmeric Sour (it was going to be cocktails all the way in Mexico!!) while we ate a mix of lamb and shrimp tacos (tacos were also going to become our stable food!).

Just like we had Peruvian chef Alfredo advising us on establishments in Lima, we had chef friend Ivan giving us his tips of where to eat in Tulum. High up his list was Taqueria Honorio in town, an incredibly fast-moving and authentic taco place, only open until 3pm so we had lunch there, entertained by live music.

We also loved Burrito Amor up our end of the main drag, so much so we went there twice. Whatever time we drove past it was always busy. A simple, no frills place with delicious burritos – also importantly guaranteed gluten free coconut tacos (it’s a slightly grey area whether wheat or corn flour is used for tacos, so it is hard to be sure sometimes) that were to die for, especially with the pastor pork, yum.

MoJo are not major fans of vegan food so our meal at La Hoja Verde in town wasn’t our best, but probably good for us.

We only walked out to one restaurant from our apartment – everywhere else was too far – to La Consentida. It was quite average but had a local touristy feel, the night was made all the more memorable for it being Superbowl Sunday. We were routing for the San Francisco 49ers as we were going to be in San Francisco in a few days’ time, so were gutted when the Kansas City Chiefs clinched victory but J’Lo and Shakira’s incredible halftime show made our evening all the better.

I was pleased to find a fantastic yoga studio, Yoga Dicha where I enjoyed some Vinyassa, running to it from our apartment, visiting the supermarket on the way back.

We spent one morning at the Tulum ruins, struggling a lot with the humidity but enjoying the views and many iguanas.

The city was a major port in its heyday and one of the last cities to be inhabited by the Maya in the face of Spanish invasions during the 15^th century. Tulum can be translated as ‘wall’, which explains the sturdy fortifications and watchtowers along its steep cliffs and land entry points. The site was known as Zama by the Mayans – translated as ‘city of dawn’ as it faces the sunrise.

The three main buildings which remain partly intact (you do need quite a bit of imagination) are El Castillo (the castle), its walls impressively 7.5 metres high; the Temple of the Descending God with a sculpture familiar across Tulum of a winged god with a headdress; and the Temple of the Frescoes with some decoration still visible. Most tourists come here for the free beaches – we had realised after a few days there were two things that were difficult to find: free parking and free access to a beach. Once you accepted that you were fine.

We tried to get to the coast to enjoy sunset on our first day but failed miserably – watching it instead from Tom’s drone footage taken from a carpark across the road. We also failed to get in to the most talked about restaurant in town, Hartwood. Instead, we went to ARCA, another of Chef Ivan’s great recommendations, a very trendy spot where we ate scallops, octopus and pork and I enjoyed a cocktail called ‘Naked in the Desert’. Both restaurants were in the zona hotelera, but on the opposite side of the road to the sea. There were lots of intriguingly-designed entrances to fancy establishments.

Another day we took our chances with Posada Margherita, which had shabby chic looking décor, a pizza oven and most importantly a free parking space outside. It was a lucky break: finally, after five days, we were on the beach and what an incredible beach it was.

Jumping in and out of the waves we played beach games and sipped cool drinks with sand between our toes – bliss. The food rustic Italian. One shock we had was Joanna’s dinner being ruined by a pelican releasing his load flying above us!

The other big selling point of the area are the many ceynotes, or underwater sinkholes you can explore. After much research, we decided to visit two, Ceynote Calavera and Cenote Carwash.

The first was appealing as it had a ladder to reach the crystal-clear water (it was at least a 3-metre jump in otherwise – which actually three out of the four of us did enjoy) and a swing once you were down.

It was only later we learnt its alternative name is the temple of doom or skull ceynote – perhaps why it was sadly the place where Tom’s drone flew off totally on its own and was never seen again. The second was more of a large pond, so there was some underwater life to be seen but it wasn’t quite so dramatic.

We decided we preferred spending time at the beach and exploring the coastline – so took a drive along to Sian Ka’an. It’s a shame you can’t actually see the sea on one side or the mangroves on the other as you drive for what seems like hours. We didn’t make it has far as Punta Allen, the end of the road. Instead we stopped first at the UNESCO World Heritage information point to take a walk to see the mangroves, enjoying finding lots of iguanas in the jungle but declining a boat ride through the crocodile infested waters. Yet again, it felt impossible to find anywhere to stop and actually be on the beach – once we found a gap in the fence but there were a few nudists walking along so it didn’t feel a very appropriate spot for us! Going a little further we found Emily’s campsite. Chatting to ginger-dreadlocked Ana from Santa Cruz, California, we paid a minimal amount for leaving our car, beach access and some beaten-up sun loungers for the rest of the afternoon. Tom went for a run along the beach to see if there was anywhere else we were missing close by – there wasn’t – and we had a chilled out time nibbling on the sandwiches and snacks we had sensibly brought with us. The landscape was a bit more rugged out here, the sea had more seaweed and floating coconuts. Taking the advice of Ana and her Brazilian boyfriend Marcelo, we drove onto Punta Boca Paila (a rickety bridge) to look for crocodiles at sunset. We didn’t see any, but it was nice enough.

For our last day we decided to splash out and go to a beach club, picking La Zebra. We had slightly underestimated the wind that day – to sit too close to the sea meant sand in your eyes but we made the most of it and had a great time, toasting godfather Neil’s birthday with a Big Daddy cocktail, the girls finding swings and a friend to play with and ending up with our traditional tacos dinner.

I had an invigorating run along the sand, intrigued to find some familiar sculptures by artist friend Sunil Gawde, versions of pieces we had installed in Dubai in 2007.

We made the most of Tulum – which has perhaps been too successful a holiday destination for its own good.

Our flight out was in the evening, so after checking out of our apartment we decided to drive halfway back to Cancun and stop off at Puerto Morelos, a small fishing port.

It was lovely, much more the sort of place Tulum probably once was – laidback and beautiful – although not in layout as here the town was sensibly along the beach and harbour.

We had lunch at the lovely Lola & Moya, the owner serving juices to MoJo in Anna and Elsa glasses which went down well. After a wander through the many souvenir stalls, we had an ice cream and walk past the oddly crooked tower and onto the jetty, admiring for the last time Mexico’s startling turquoise sea.