Page 16 - Boca Club News - July '21

Page 16, Boca Club News
Travel: Post Cards from Jessica

Some believe that train travel is anything but luxurious, If Southeast Asia is on your map, then the Belmond
but they are so wrong. Yes, you can utilize Rail Europe to Eastern & Oriental Express can traverse you through
get from A to Z, but if you’re really interested in seeing the the heart of this region as you travel from Bangkok to
countryside while eating an elegant dinner, then sleeping Singapore. There’s a certain magic to this voyage that
comfortably in your well-appointed cabin, there is no better combines adventure with total relaxation. Sit back and raise
way than by luxury train travel. a toast from the elegant dining car as you meander past lush
Traveling by train nowadays can still recall the imagery jungles, ancient temples and quaint villages.
you might have seen in old movies like Murder On the Orient If you’re planning to travel to South Africa for that long-
Express. Keeping in character, you’ll find cabins with wood awaited safari vacation, I highly recommend an unforgettable
paneled walls, queen-size beds, full bathrooms with showers, train adventure on the famed Rovos Railroad. There are
and even a personal butler. several bespoke train journeys lasting a couple of days or
Climbing aboard and being welcomed with a glass of more to those lasting two weeks traveling from Cape Town
champagne is only the beginning. Trust me, from the moment to the magnificent Victoria Falls. Step aboard the vintage
To: Anyone Ready to Climb Aboard you leave the platform and hear the first whistle as the wheels wood-paneled coaches and sit back as some of the most varied
begin to turn, you’ll experience an adventure that will be
scenery imaginable unfolds beyond your cabin windows.
From: Wherever the Rails Begin forever imprinted as one of your best vacations ever. Once aboard, you’ll experience the best service, the finest
Your Rail Map: There are so many options to travel by selection of South African wines, gourmet cuisine, and
By Jessica Flores. Jessica has worked rail all over the world. One of my favorite travel partners interesting excursions. You can even play a round of golf at
in the travel and tourism industry for are the Belmond train experiences. Belmond’s portfolio of some of the best courses in this country.
well over a decade. She holds both hotels and train adventures are some of the most luxurious Wheels Down: I’ve only mentioned a few of the greatest
Bachelors and Master’s Degrees in in the world. train adventures you could enjoy. But the destinations are
Hospitality & Tourism Management. For travel in Europe, you can’t miss the experience aboard endless for this mode of transportation. If you are eccentric in
As owner of AWAY Travel in Boca the Venice Simplon-Orient Express. It’s quite simply the most your travel desires, the rails can take you to places like Siberia,
Raton, Jessica and staff bring 25 years storied set of carriages taking you from London to Venice and Mongolia, China, Croatia, or even India.
of personal travel experience to an other destinations in between. Or imagine a magical Alpine Any one of these train experiences will have you
exclusive clientele looking for luxury journey past soaring mountain peaks, dramatic heart-catching reminiscing back to a simpler, more elegant era encompassing
travel planning. ravines, and quaint villages aboard the Excellence Class on the timeless grace and high romance of train exploration. So,
Pack Your Bags: I’ve always enjoyed traveling by the Glacier Express through the Swiss Alps. here’s your chance to step out of the movie set and step aboard
railroad. Whether it’s traveling to Tampa on Amtrak or riding Or, if your compass points in the direction of South a luxury train that will have your wheels turning with memories
the Rovos Railroad in South Africa, there is something deep America, you could board the Hiram Bingham train from for a lifetime.
inside of me that finds it both adventurous and satisfying. If Cusco to Machu Picchu. Settle in for the night at the
I had to guess my affinity for trains, I would bet it stemmed Belmond Sanctuary Lodge right at the door’s entrance to Wishing You Safe Travels,
from my Dad’s prize possession: his old Lionel train set! this ancient Inca site. Jessica
The Arts

Book Review... “The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of

War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History”

By Nils A. Shapiro the pointer would One day, another group of prisoners arrived that included
This true story is certain to be “mysteriously” an Australian who had enlisted in England’s Royal Air Force.
made into an exciting major movie. roam around the Cedric Hill, as it turned out, was an accomplished sleight-of-
But read the book first. The book is Board, touching hand artist who had entertained many with his magic tricks.
always better than the film. letters that spelled The meeting of Jones and Hill was a fortuitous coincidence:
You know the old saying: “Truth is out the answer to Together, over a period of months, they used their separate
stranger than fiction.” I cannot recall the question. but related skills to convince the camp’s stern Ottoman
when that has been demonstrated It was widely Commander that the spirit who answered Jones through the
more vividly than in this difficult believed by Ouija Ouija Boar—the “Spook”—knew of a treasure buried miles
to believe—but absolutely true—vivid account of how Board devotees that from the camp by a wealthy man who had been a victim of
two British military officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, the answers were the earlier Armenian massacre by the Turks.
prisoners in World War I, escaped from their Ottoman captors. responses from the The extraordinary and complex psychological steps by
What makes this book so difficult to put down once spirit world, which which Jones and Hill slowly, and excruciatingly carefully,
you start reading—I finished it in two sittings despite a was why so many worked their ruse on the camp Commander—at one point
busy daily schedule that includes my role as editor of this of the questions even pleading with him not to make them leave the safety
newspaper—is the way in which author Margalit Fox presents were directed to of the camp to lead him to the treasure as one part of their
her story, taking us on a remarkably detailed and fascinating loved ones who had trickery—is a story told in gripping detail.
journey through every step of how Jones and Hill conceived, passed away, in the But even the remarkable accomplishment of convincing
developed and executed their escape plans over a period hope of being able the Commander about Jones’s ability to communicate with
of many months, and then explains clearly what made it to communicate the spirit world, and to appeal to his greed as a way of being
successful—a critical component of this book when you with them. This was the same era in which group séances able to escape, almost pales in comparison to a key part
realize the nature of their outlandish plan! were popular, led by mediums who claimed their own of the plan: the need for Jones and Hill to be diagnosed
Some readers of this review column are not old enough to personal ability to communicate with the spirit world. as certifiably insane so that the Commander—for his own
know what a Ouija Board (pronounced wee-jee) was during How was it possible for so many to become believers? greedy purposes—could officially authorize them to leave
the heyday of its popularity in the latter decades of the 1800s The author explains: the otherwise strictly guarded camp in order to be examined
and early decades of the 1900s. The Ouija Board was, for “The technological marvels of the age (radio, wireless at a distant Turkish mental hospital. Carefully acting out
millions of adults around the world, about as popular as telegraph, telephone) that had buoyed spiritualism were their parts, having been coached by a doctor among their
computer games are to the younger generation today—but likewise lending support to the possibility of transmitting fellow prisoners, Jones and Hill anticipate two weeks at the
they had a more serious purpose. It was basically a wooden thought: If person-to-person discourse via telegraphed hospital—only to find that their stay extends to six months,
Board with the letters of the alphabet arranged—not in messages, radioed voices, and telephonic speech was a during which time they must act the roles of madmen 24
order, but randomly—around the outer edge. One person, reality, then why not direct communication from mind hours a day! It is a horrific test of their determination and
either alone or from a group seated around the Ouija Board, to mind, without the intervening technology? Many endurance, and one of the most compelling sections of the
would ask a question; then the leader, with eyes closed or investigators of spiritualist phenomena, including the book.
blindfolded would rest his or her hand very lightly on the Society for Psychical Research, were busy exploring thought Finally, we learn what awaited both Jones and Hill
I’ll help to make your home dreams come true
pointer (or an inverted glass if no pointer was available), and reading as well.” after this historic experience, and through the rest of their
The astounding worldwide spread of belief in the Ouija lives. The author’s voluminous research is attested to by
Board was its convincingly high record of accuracy in the 188 pages of reference Notes and Index at the back
Jim Buividas answering many of the ordinary kinds of questions asked of the book, plus several maps and photos of the leading
RealtoR
by those present at group sessions. characters.
(C) 561-829-7722 After Harry Jones had been captured, force-marched Author Margalit Fox takes the story one important step
(H) 561-409-2011 a staggeringly long distance, and then held in an isolated further in her closing chapter, “Persuasion,” which—with
(E) JimBuividas@yaHoo.Com prisoner of war camp surrounded by desert and mountains in the help of comments from noted psychologists and other
Turkey, he made a make-shift Ouija Board to help pass the experts—describes how con men are able to fool enormous
40 years Experience time with his fellow prisoners...and carefully memorized the numbers of people into believing what their own common
complex order of alphabetical letters around the edge of the sense tells them is not true—because they believe what they
Board so that he could spell out answers even blindfolded, want to believe. It is an especially relevant read during this
to the amazement of the others, who began to suspect that time in our own nation’s life.
LocaL • TrusTed • Proven he could in fact commune with the spirit world.