GIRLS’ WORLD TOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 March 1939, Page 8

GIRLS’ WORLD TOUR

“"•ROUND THE GLOBE ON £l6O. ONE FOOT ON GIBRALTAR. “Round the world 111 eighty days” presented a weighty problem to travellers of another day, but its 'modern counterpart, “round the world on six hundred dollars,” is probably an even harder.nut to crack today. It is being attempted by Miss Helen Perrill, a vivacious brunette from Philadelphia, who has arrived in Sydney on a world tour, which began at New York. Miss Perrill, who is a free-lance journalist, says the “Sydney Morning Herald,” set out with the intention of proving that it is possible' with some ingenuity and a capacity for ignoring or overcoming difficulties, to travel right round the world on six hundred .dollars (£l6O in Australian money), and see just as much and have “just •as much fun” as luxury- tourists who spend thousands of pounds on the same ■voyage.

“I have travelled in liners, cargo boats, trains, lorries, and more nondescript conveyances,” she said, “and am quite willing to travel in anything else, from a dhow to a rickshaw. I have, had some rather anxious moments, especially at places where one needs a landing guarantee of £4O or £5O, but I have always got through somehow. So far, I have not had to descend to scrubbing floors or washing dishes to raise the necessary money for my fare, but I am certainly not above doing so-.- ' ' “I started from New York and proceeded to Gibraltar, and to save expenses stood with one foot practically on the rock, so that I should catch another boat straight away. From there I went to Aden, and had a delightful trip in a trolley-car with eleven Arabs, which cost about ten cents. I went on to Bombay, and from there went on a tour in which I saw ‘all of India in six days.’ You can ask me anything about India, and I guess I will be able ,to ■tell you as much as any other-tourist. For instance, I sat for two hours in front of the Taj Mahal, and there was even a moon to light it up for me.” Miss Perrill will proceed to Singapore, and then she hopes to go to Bali. “Everyone has to see Bali sometime,” she said with a smile, “although I shall probably be reduced to living on the famous beach under two palm leaves, for the sake of economy.” She will then return home across the Pacific, and (thinks she should reach New York at tire end of May, having left last October.

“I have only two pieces of luggage," she said, "a steamer trunk and an over-night bag. I have lots of black skirts, with changes of blouses, and I work miracles with coats ovei’ dresses, and so on. Also I have little gadgets like this,” and she displayed a cellophane umbrella which folds into half its length and lives ima six-inch fabric cylinder finished with a zip fastener.