Ray Rose has only been traveling for 10 years, so it is only natural that he would visit Europe and forget. It was only natural that he would tour Machu Picchu and forget.
“There were many times that, dammit, I meant to do it, but I keep forgetting,” admitted Rose.
Then there was the time that Ray Rose didn’t forget to take a copy of The Wanderer in his travels.
“I grabbed this one and threw it in my suitcase,” he said, choosing the January 9, 2020, issue featuring Kanaly brothers William and Henry while holding up September 19, 2019, and October 10, 2019, issues of The Wanderer during their Fall 2019 visit to the Eiffel Tower.
In that manner, the Kanaly kids accompanied Rose everywhere he went. It’s a long list of destinations that for him were only stopovers, part of a bigger picture.
“I wonder if there’s ever been a Wanderer that circumnavigated the globe,” muses Rose, who would become the closest thing to an answer to his own question during trips he made from January to March 2020.
One trip he made with a longtime companion, the other with his daughter Amy. Both were broken plays, improvisations of situations meant to be far more limited in scope.
A 50-year resident of Mattapoisett, Rose grew up in the South End of New Bedford and attended the public high school (Class of 1969).
“It was kind of a dream,” said Rose. “As a kid, I use to love reading about places all over the world. There are places you go that are not going to be quite what you expect. Egypt just blew me away.”
Rose was on a jaunt to South America with intentions of visiting friends in Peru until being advised amidst political unrest to stay back in Argentina. It so happened the Argentine national soccer team was battling France in the World Cup, so Rose was able to bathe in what amounted to a huge party in Buenos Aires when the locals emerged victorious by penalty kicks.
Extending his trip southward instead, Rose wound up in Ushuaia, Argentina, the world’s southern-most city. There, he boarded a boat for Antarctica.
The two-week trip aboard Ortellis ran through very rough seas until approaching the Antarctic Peninsula where the seas calm down. It took two days to get there, but upon his arrival the silence was deafening.
“There were no sounds except for natural sounds, rumblings, maybe an avalanche, a penguin or a bird,” he said.
Rose was surprised by the coastal environment. “The temperatures were not that bad. If the sun was out, you are shedding clothing,” he said, noting the warm reflection of the sun off the white snow. “Camping in Antarctica is a unique experience.”
The Wanderer went with him.
The same, tattered copy of the local newspaper accompanied him on a separate trip that took a western path so far it ended in the East.
Having left Boston on January 14, 2020, Rose began by visiting a friend in Seattle, then a stepsister in Hawaii. He was in Raratonga (Cook Islands) when he realized the opportunity at hand.
“It was spur of the moment,” he said. “If I’m going to Australia and New Zealand, I’m going halfway around the planet, so it doesn’t make sense to go back the same way.”
Australia and New Zealand require that visitors apply for an online visa stating arrival and departure dates, so only that much was certain.
“Once I went to Australia, it was like, ‘where do I go next?’”
Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, then Nepal, where he visited with Rajesh Shahi, the Nepalese man who had spent time in Mattapoisett as a child.
The Wanderer would eventually make it to King Tut’s tomb, but the more important encounters were with natives of foreign countries and creeds that embraced Rose in his visits. His adventures included a ride in a hot-air balloon, a dive into crystal-clear waters, visits to temples of Luxor and Carnac, encountering children in poverty and the confusion of Kathmandu’s countlessly tangled streets and wires.
Rose would reach Egypt as part of a tour, visiting Cairo and Luxor before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled his plan to fly back from Jordan. Instead, he was sent back to Cairo to catch a flight at three times the price to New York and finally, Boston.
Broken plays, extra expenses and all, Rose wouldn’t trade the experience.
“It was incredible,” he said.
By Mick Colageo