Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993 TAG: 9307310230
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
OK, OK! So they had to take their motor home - Ford sedan in tow - to Russia (where the exchange rate is awesome) to find these deals of a lifetime, but they also were part of the trip of a lifetime for the Hirschfields, retired New York City transplants from Ventura, Calif.
Relating the "nuts and bolts" of their journey to fellow motor coachers has become Irwin Hirschfield's "schtick," and the couple's first stop when traveling from one motor home gathering to another often is the local newspaper.
A savvy and insistent publicist, Hirschfield has discovered what works, and his clippings are spiced with nearly identical quotes and anecdotes, probably because he's found reporters use them. He's also got photos by the dozen.
Hirschfield tells it all as if for the first time, with obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm. And, oft-told or not, some of his tales bear retelling.
At a toll gate in Turkey, a soldier had him by one arm and a policeman by the other because Hirschfield refused to pay $50 for a $20 toll.
"I didn't want to argue, but I asked for a receipt," he said. "But they couldn't get the [toll booth] machine to lie, so I ended up paying $20."
But Russia was a real hit for the Hirschfields, and it wasn't just the rock-bottom prices. It also was the to-whom-it-may-concern letter from Intourist - the official Russian travel agency - that got them primo service throughout the country.
"Be good to them. Don't break their impressions about the country and about perestroika," it read, in part. Hirschfield said it carried more clout than any Gold Card.
Even before the Gulf War cut short their attempted global circumnavigation by motor home, avoiding hostilities and possible trouble made for an interesting itinerary.
To reach Israel - where the couple spent five weeks about two months before Desert Storm - they went to Turkey, took a ferry to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean (where Hirschfield saw a salami larger than any he had seen before), another ferry to Cyprus and a third to Haifa, Israel.
A Lions Club member, Hirschfield used that organization's international network to his advantage. "You pick up the phone and you got instant family," he says.
The war frustrated plans to hit Spain and Portugal and, eventually, Asia.
"It's not worth my life to drive down the road in a place where people are demonstrating against my presence," he said of Spain, where anti-American violence erupted.
The Hirschfields would like to get the three that got away - Mongolia, China and Japan - to make it an even 30 countries.
Maybe next year, Hirschfield says. Or, maybe not. It would mean traveling through Russia, where things now are a bit shaky. Crime is on the rise and the fuel supply is unpredictable.
At their motor coach convention seminar Thursday, the Hirschfields will tell you everything you need to know about it, and more. With pictures.
And about the accordion, worth several hundred dollars, Hirschfield bought his wife at Moscow's world-famous GUM department store for just $12. About dinner for four, including champagne splits and caviar, for only $12. (Hint: The infamous Intourist letter got them in.)
But, hey! We'll let you hear it from Irwin Hirschfield himself.
by CNB