Our trip to Memphis was long... it took 2 movies a mcflurry and picnic along with 10 hours to reach Eileen's house, thankfully we didn't have to take the bus as planned Ted and Lil saved us that misery!
(Emer has been humming the Memphis song since we arrived!)
We travelled through another time zone which wasnt half confusing but enjoyed having dinner and drinks with new friends.
After a long day travelling (about the length of Ireland!) the drinks and a relaxing night was just what the doctor ordered!!
On Thursday we went to Graceland it took 5 hours but the house was fantastic, unfortunately the rest of the site was so commercialised it was very disappointing but we learned so much about Elvis!
The following day was great we saw the city of Memphis, one thing that you may not know is there is a hotel the oldest in the South The Peabody, there is a fountain in the lobby that has 5 little ducks and every day the ducks go from the fountain across the lobby on a red carpet to the elevator and up to the roof to the duck palace where they stay til around 11am and come back down to spend the day in the lobby...they even have a duck master!! this has been a tradition in the hotel for 85 years after some guys went boozing and thought it would be a great gag!!
We then went to mud island and had a lovely surprise awaiting for us... dinner aboard a private yacht sailing along the MISSISSIPPI river with friends of Eileen's Tom and Cathy, who are an amazing couple still very much in love after 32 years married and 7 kids! She even volunteers in Sierra Leon helping children with severe cataracts! Amazing people on our trip so far but this couple were beyond welcoming and friendly.
The night was amazing watching the sun set, watching the city light up... dont get too jealous a lot of mosquitoes!
Thank you Eileen for letting us crash and for allowing us to become part of your life for those few days but friends for life too we hope.. we will be back!!
We have lots of photos but the availability of internet cafes are few and far between, trying to find a "Government Accountabilty Department" in Ireland would be easier... one exsists in DC!!!
The following morning was the Greyhound to Dallas at 8.15am... long story!!
Sunday, 10 July 2011
South Carolina
We arived into South Carolina on the amtrack at 5.00am absolutely wrecked from the train ride of coarse emer managed to get some sleep even tho she was frozen from the Ac on the train.. we forgot to bring a blanket! i was awake the hole time. We were met at the station by my auntie lil and the cousins Kirby, Jamie and ross it was so great to see them, were very thankful for them for collecting us.
Spending time with the family was the biggest highlight of our trip so far, not just the comfort of the house which was beautiful, or the ease of relaxing on the sun deck with a few drinks or even the ample amount of mouth watering food which was prepared for us every night. it was just spending time getting to know each other again.
We spent a week with my American family which went to fast, that is the only regret we have. we got to go to BMW spartanburg which was fully booked out for the next six months, thanks Caroline you were so wonderful for pulling a few favours. Spartanburg BMW factory was absolutely unreal we got to see the cars start as pieces in a box to completion, every X3,X5 & X6 tat is made in the world is produced here so cool.
Lil and ted made sure there was lots of things for us to do, we couldn't have asked for a better time, we went to see Transformers 3 in the imax theatre there was 10 of us, "drinks" were smuggled in, brilliant !! we were introduced to ihop, emers favourite place to eat, International house of PANCAKES ('if it has it in the title they cant be bad'!). we were stuffed.
Lil and ted gave us full use of the cars which was so good of them, it was great to drive again i was having withdrawal symptoms. Kirby introduced us to her boyfriend Taylor, sound out and great fun a bit of a messer like me which annoyed Kirby, imagine two of me !!!!!! We also met Aj, gas character had a few great laughs.
Ted & lil drove us and the kids up to the lake for the day it was so beautiful up there, the heat was causing us to melt, literally. There was so much going on there with people on jet skies, speed boats and BBQ'S. We had all the usualy supplies to last a few hours and when it was late headed home. Awsome day
We spend fourth of July there aswell it was great fun there was a big get together with lil and teds friends which were lovely at the house with BBQ and lots of drink afterwards we went to the local golf coarse for planned events the fire work show was hugh.
Then we got to use the fireworks which emer and i bought, well worth the dollars they were all mortors, big and noisey, there must have been 50 different types took a while to set them all off. Threw a few into the drain massive explosion echoing throughout the neighbourhood - not our fault - cohersed by ted!!
On Wednesday we left for memphis ...
Spending time with the family was the biggest highlight of our trip so far, not just the comfort of the house which was beautiful, or the ease of relaxing on the sun deck with a few drinks or even the ample amount of mouth watering food which was prepared for us every night. it was just spending time getting to know each other again.
We spent a week with my American family which went to fast, that is the only regret we have. we got to go to BMW spartanburg which was fully booked out for the next six months, thanks Caroline you were so wonderful for pulling a few favours. Spartanburg BMW factory was absolutely unreal we got to see the cars start as pieces in a box to completion, every X3,X5 & X6 tat is made in the world is produced here so cool.
Lil and ted made sure there was lots of things for us to do, we couldn't have asked for a better time, we went to see Transformers 3 in the imax theatre there was 10 of us, "drinks" were smuggled in, brilliant !! we were introduced to ihop, emers favourite place to eat, International house of PANCAKES ('if it has it in the title they cant be bad'!). we were stuffed.
Lil and ted gave us full use of the cars which was so good of them, it was great to drive again i was having withdrawal symptoms. Kirby introduced us to her boyfriend Taylor, sound out and great fun a bit of a messer like me which annoyed Kirby, imagine two of me !!!!!! We also met Aj, gas character had a few great laughs.
Ted & lil drove us and the kids up to the lake for the day it was so beautiful up there, the heat was causing us to melt, literally. There was so much going on there with people on jet skies, speed boats and BBQ'S. We had all the usualy supplies to last a few hours and when it was late headed home. Awsome day
We spend fourth of July there aswell it was great fun there was a big get together with lil and teds friends which were lovely at the house with BBQ and lots of drink afterwards we went to the local golf coarse for planned events the fire work show was hugh.
Then we got to use the fireworks which emer and i bought, well worth the dollars they were all mortors, big and noisey, there must have been 50 different types took a while to set them all off. Threw a few into the drain massive explosion echoing throughout the neighbourhood - not our fault - cohersed by ted!!
On Wednesday we left for memphis ...
Washington DC
Its been so long since we have been on line that i hope the new york blog was ok and that i can pick up where we left off. We went onto Washington DC after we left New York a bit of a delay with the train leaving Penn Station it was tough waiting with the bags on the back in terrible humidity underground... eventually we got on our way !
When we arrived in DC it was a Sunday evening,very quite incomparison to new york, with the temperature cool we made our way to the HI Hostel, it was a very comfy hostel with the room we were in had 2 others a brother and sister from Sydney (hiya Hayley may look you up in Sydney!!) The one thing about DC that we did was this city bike share scheme, take a bike bring it back to any dock the first 30 mins are free after that the cost increases... A little tip take a photo of the map with the docks they are difficult to spot.
DC was so proud of their history it oozes "American Pride" with the monuments, tours and museums. The best thing about it is the main monuments are all very close together, my personal favorite was the Lincoln Memorial. The White House is smaller than you'd imagine and the Capital building is much bigger.
We met some lovely people had good chats lots of pointers and the facilties in the hostel we very good, including a TV room and good kitchen. During the day the heat in DC was hot but bearable, we first encountered thunder storms here and fireflies!!
Not as expensive as we thought but the hostels facilites made it easier on us...one thing tho mind your food my pizza was stolen!!! Only 2 hours after I putting it in the fridge.
We left DC after 3 days it was enough time here for what we saw... we got the train to South Carolina to Alfie's Auntie Lil's house... coldest train ever but fab time with all the lads...
When we arrived in DC it was a Sunday evening,very quite incomparison to new york, with the temperature cool we made our way to the HI Hostel, it was a very comfy hostel with the room we were in had 2 others a brother and sister from Sydney (hiya Hayley may look you up in Sydney!!) The one thing about DC that we did was this city bike share scheme, take a bike bring it back to any dock the first 30 mins are free after that the cost increases... A little tip take a photo of the map with the docks they are difficult to spot.
DC was so proud of their history it oozes "American Pride" with the monuments, tours and museums. The best thing about it is the main monuments are all very close together, my personal favorite was the Lincoln Memorial. The White House is smaller than you'd imagine and the Capital building is much bigger.
We met some lovely people had good chats lots of pointers and the facilties in the hostel we very good, including a TV room and good kitchen. During the day the heat in DC was hot but bearable, we first encountered thunder storms here and fireflies!!
Not as expensive as we thought but the hostels facilites made it easier on us...one thing tho mind your food my pizza was stolen!!! Only 2 hours after I putting it in the fridge.
We left DC after 3 days it was enough time here for what we saw... we got the train to South Carolina to Alfie's Auntie Lil's house... coldest train ever but fab time with all the lads...
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
NEW YORK CITY
After 6 nights in the big apple we have to say this city was just Awesome.
Bright lights big city...
On our first day there we kinda wandered around seeing what we could, then stumbled upon the tallest building in the city, Empire State Building. So we decided to see what we could see... it was amazing the view the whole way around the city, apparently you can see as far as Jersey on a clear day.. guess who was listening to the tour guide. Price not bad would recommend skipping the sky-ride part just the observation deck ticket, the queues are huge get off one elevator then queue some more before getting on another!! All in all not a bad start too our trip.
From here we wandered aimlessly in hope of discovering another gem accidently and we were not disappointed when we found time square. Now this is where our bad sense of direction comes into play instead of "wandering" for a half hour and discovering this gem we ought to have looked at the map from when we left the front door, walked 1 avenue over and 5 streets down we would have seen this after 7 mins walk. Literally 7 mins from where we stayed.
After over coming this directional booboo we picked up the lay of the land quite quick, the traffic was crazy, the driving was worse and cyclists took their lives in their hands every time they rode the bike, pedestrians well accustomed to this just walked out, whether a little white man was there or not...
The days were long and humid, the money was not stretching very far (FYI) but we did the touristy thing and got a hop-on hop-off bus for 3 days which was great, get off where you want, be it Financial district, Greenwich, SoHo, Chinatown or Little Italy... and discover the parks, visit museums and sites...they were fabulous but be sure to get a better map of SoHo, they dont do the "grid" system ie streets and avenues...
We did a lot a lot of walking, but a lot a lot of photos(which hopefully we can put up were trying to find a decent internet cafe with the capabilities..) Some of our highlights were the Statue of Liberty, as part of our hop on hop off tour we got the MISS LIBERTY boat out to the island walked around and then onto Ellis Island.(a lot of construction here .. it was the building that the Corleone family was introduced to us) history note the first Immigrant registered here was a women from cork named Anne (if you do intend to visit try and book tickets to the enter the crown, they only have a limited number at the gate so try and book on line at least 2 weeks in advance) Battery Park, Ground Zero in the Financial District.
to be continued...
Bright lights big city...
On our first day there we kinda wandered around seeing what we could, then stumbled upon the tallest building in the city, Empire State Building. So we decided to see what we could see... it was amazing the view the whole way around the city, apparently you can see as far as Jersey on a clear day.. guess who was listening to the tour guide. Price not bad would recommend skipping the sky-ride part just the observation deck ticket, the queues are huge get off one elevator then queue some more before getting on another!! All in all not a bad start too our trip.
From here we wandered aimlessly in hope of discovering another gem accidently and we were not disappointed when we found time square. Now this is where our bad sense of direction comes into play instead of "wandering" for a half hour and discovering this gem we ought to have looked at the map from when we left the front door, walked 1 avenue over and 5 streets down we would have seen this after 7 mins walk. Literally 7 mins from where we stayed.
After over coming this directional booboo we picked up the lay of the land quite quick, the traffic was crazy, the driving was worse and cyclists took their lives in their hands every time they rode the bike, pedestrians well accustomed to this just walked out, whether a little white man was there or not...
The days were long and humid, the money was not stretching very far (FYI) but we did the touristy thing and got a hop-on hop-off bus for 3 days which was great, get off where you want, be it Financial district, Greenwich, SoHo, Chinatown or Little Italy... and discover the parks, visit museums and sites...they were fabulous but be sure to get a better map of SoHo, they dont do the "grid" system ie streets and avenues...
We did a lot a lot of walking, but a lot a lot of photos(which hopefully we can put up were trying to find a decent internet cafe with the capabilities..) Some of our highlights were the Statue of Liberty, as part of our hop on hop off tour we got the MISS LIBERTY boat out to the island walked around and then onto Ellis Island.(a lot of construction here .. it was the building that the Corleone family was introduced to us) history note the first Immigrant registered here was a women from cork named Anne (if you do intend to visit try and book tickets to the enter the crown, they only have a limited number at the gate so try and book on line at least 2 weeks in advance) Battery Park, Ground Zero in the Financial District.
to be continued...
Friday, 10 June 2011
BEFORE
After 7 months of waiting, organising and planning, both Alfie and I are nearly ready to head off... just counting down the days and the number of bags of stuff being thrown away.
The trip we have ahead is a mammoth journey across America via Fiji and onto Australia for 12months or so.
America consists of 55 days, stopping in 7 states travelling coast to coast, long bus trips, flights and trains car rental but thank god no hitch hiking!!
Destinations: New York, Washington DC, South Carolina, Memphis, Dallas, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, a 5 day road trip, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, 12 day road trip including San Diego and LA
Staying along the way in family homes thank you LIL and TED, friends of family thank you Eileen who is kindly putting up with us for 3 days in Memphis, in New York courtesy of Airbnb, hostels in Washington and San Francisco and my favourite spot Planet Hollywood in Vegas just from the great outdoors of the Grand Canyon.
The next few days will be crazy, mad, busy organising the last bits and pieces including money transfers, international drivers licences, dam swine flu jab :( and lots of tea to drink with family and friends.
We hope to meet up with a lot of people but unfortunately time restrictions may apply, sorry to sound corporate!!
The fab thing about Conor and Ber, Mary and Noel was the going away party we had 2 weeks ago!
It was a great night and had a lovely time catching up with you all!
I hope the "DURING" blog will be just as long and informative as this one and hopefully, with the help of computers along the way, lots of photos!!
Looking forward to keeping you updated via our blog,
Toodles for now,
Alfie and Emer
The trip we have ahead is a mammoth journey across America via Fiji and onto Australia for 12months or so.
America consists of 55 days, stopping in 7 states travelling coast to coast, long bus trips, flights and trains car rental but thank god no hitch hiking!!
Destinations: New York, Washington DC, South Carolina, Memphis, Dallas, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, a 5 day road trip, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, 12 day road trip including San Diego and LA
Staying along the way in family homes thank you LIL and TED, friends of family thank you Eileen who is kindly putting up with us for 3 days in Memphis, in New York courtesy of Airbnb, hostels in Washington and San Francisco and my favourite spot Planet Hollywood in Vegas just from the great outdoors of the Grand Canyon.
The next few days will be crazy, mad, busy organising the last bits and pieces including money transfers, international drivers licences, dam swine flu jab :( and lots of tea to drink with family and friends.
We hope to meet up with a lot of people but unfortunately time restrictions may apply, sorry to sound corporate!!
The fab thing about Conor and Ber, Mary and Noel was the going away party we had 2 weeks ago!
It was a great night and had a lovely time catching up with you all!
I hope the "DURING" blog will be just as long and informative as this one and hopefully, with the help of computers along the way, lots of photos!!
Looking forward to keeping you updated via our blog,
Toodles for now,
Alfie and Emer
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