For the first time ever, Alice and I have access to more than one computer so instead of putting two posts in one, we're doing it simultaneously, so expect redundancy!
Anyway, right now we're in Chatanooga, Tennessee, and it's quite nice, although we've only just got here.
We left the ship Saturday morning and we walked into the car park with only an idea of driving up. We hopped on a shuttle and after a while of messing about with going backwards and forward trying to get a good deal we finally got a big Dodge Grand Caravan to drive up north in. We got on the road and out of Miami as quickly as possible. We ended up driving out through the slums and they looked far worse than anything I had seen in LA. We drove up and stopped and got some cheap food and then continued and got to Daytona Beach. We weren't really planning on stopping there but it's a cool place. A massive long beach that you can drive on and it's really like going back to the 50's, so much more so than South Beach in Miami, and we went to a mall and shopped! I really liked Daytona, and we saw the race track, which was HUGE. We got back on the road and found a rest area which is basically designed for people to park up and sleep in, and stayed there.
Sunday we woke up, and drove to St Augustine which is the oldest permanent settlement of the country, and visited the oldest house in the country and looked around the "olde tyme stores" but they were quite commericialised (as you probably expect) and everything costs money to go visit here so we didn't go to too much more. Got on the road again and went to a Wal*Mart which was an experience. Not as nice as target but a bit cheaper and generally big and holy crap it would be cheap to furnish your house (albeit, not necessarily nicely) over here. We got some gas and drove onto Atlanta, Georgia, which is one of the nicest looking cities I have ever seen. Either that city is all fancy and tidy and clean or we somehow drove through the entire city only sticking to the rich parts. Anyway it's so nice and we went to the Movies. We drove onto another rest area and made our beds. We have an airbed in the back of this Mini-Van which cost us $10..
We got on the road today and drove here to Chatanooga, and soon found a library in which to internet on, and now we're going to the Jack Daniels distillery, which ironically is in a dry (no alcohol) county, and then up to Nashville, TN, and then who knows.
Got some great news today that Tim Anderson got engaged, congratulations, and I'm quite priviledged to have been able to meet Christine and give her my approval so that Tim could commence with the engagement activities. CONGRATULATION
Keep in touch everybody!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Road Trip USA
Feels like ages since we've been in touch here. We're in Catanooga now (choo choo) but heres the storey so far.....
After Jamacia we had one more day onboard and enjoyed a few last meals of fillet steak, quail and escargo before we reverted back to crackers for breakfast. On the last night at dinner all the waiters (about 40 of them) in the dining room lined up and sang us a goodbye version of Leaving on a Jetplane (they sang leaving on a funship). Our waiter was really nice, Lama from Nepal. He told us that he works from 0530 till 1100 with 3 hours break in the middle, 7 days a week for 7 months! They had a huge show in the Rome Lounge with lots of dancing, better than the one we saw in Vegas I think.
Anyways we didnt do much that day, mostly say around a had a few pina coladas. My wasp sting swelled up the whole side of my body though so we had a wee visit to the ship doctor.
The next day we were up early with the idea to hire a car and drive up north. We managed to jump on a courtesy van to the rental car place and hook ourselves up with a Dodge minivan (almost the same as we had in San Fran with Doug and Becky). We've kitted it out with an airbed and pillows (and some extremely indulgent 800thread count pillowcases) and have spent the last two nights sleeping on the side of the freeways. Its actually pretty good to do that here, they have rest stops with bathrooms and one the first night there was security there to keep us safe also. Stupid Georgia law says that you cant actually sleep at a rest stop but we did anyway. So we drove first up to St Augustine, stopping at Daytona and the space center on the way. (Actually the space center was nearly closed so we just went to the gift shop.) St Augustine was recommended to me by Jason at work and its a really lovely old settlement. We took a tour of a house from the 1500s and had a walk around town and the fort. Yesterday we found ourselves in Atlanta, Georgia. Beautiful city! We kept thinking we were in its Fendalton but everywhere we drove was equally as nice. We decided to do something special and went to see Fracture at the movies (I liked it). Kinda a bad idea to see a scary movie when you are lost in a city and about to sleep illegally in your car. To get over the feeling we stopped in at a truckers stop and I had a big bowl of chilli.
Today we are heading up to Linchburg pop316 and the center for the Jack Daniels distillerly. Interestingly it is in a dry county! Tonight we hope to be in Nashville and might even treat ourselves to a cheap hotel.
Miss you all, Thankyou for your messages!! Nana I hear you are getting internet savy- thats great!! Hope you are enjoying it.
After Jamacia we had one more day onboard and enjoyed a few last meals of fillet steak, quail and escargo before we reverted back to crackers for breakfast. On the last night at dinner all the waiters (about 40 of them) in the dining room lined up and sang us a goodbye version of Leaving on a Jetplane (they sang leaving on a funship). Our waiter was really nice, Lama from Nepal. He told us that he works from 0530 till 1100 with 3 hours break in the middle, 7 days a week for 7 months! They had a huge show in the Rome Lounge with lots of dancing, better than the one we saw in Vegas I think.
Anyways we didnt do much that day, mostly say around a had a few pina coladas. My wasp sting swelled up the whole side of my body though so we had a wee visit to the ship doctor.
The next day we were up early with the idea to hire a car and drive up north. We managed to jump on a courtesy van to the rental car place and hook ourselves up with a Dodge minivan (almost the same as we had in San Fran with Doug and Becky). We've kitted it out with an airbed and pillows (and some extremely indulgent 800thread count pillowcases) and have spent the last two nights sleeping on the side of the freeways. Its actually pretty good to do that here, they have rest stops with bathrooms and one the first night there was security there to keep us safe also. Stupid Georgia law says that you cant actually sleep at a rest stop but we did anyway. So we drove first up to St Augustine, stopping at Daytona and the space center on the way. (Actually the space center was nearly closed so we just went to the gift shop.) St Augustine was recommended to me by Jason at work and its a really lovely old settlement. We took a tour of a house from the 1500s and had a walk around town and the fort. Yesterday we found ourselves in Atlanta, Georgia. Beautiful city! We kept thinking we were in its Fendalton but everywhere we drove was equally as nice. We decided to do something special and went to see Fracture at the movies (I liked it). Kinda a bad idea to see a scary movie when you are lost in a city and about to sleep illegally in your car. To get over the feeling we stopped in at a truckers stop and I had a big bowl of chilli.
Today we are heading up to Linchburg pop316 and the center for the Jack Daniels distillerly. Interestingly it is in a dry county! Tonight we hope to be in Nashville and might even treat ourselves to a cheap hotel.
Miss you all, Thankyou for your messages!! Nana I hear you are getting internet savy- thats great!! Hope you are enjoying it.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Grand Cayman & Jamaica
Well, we're in Jamaica right now and it is hot, but it's really nice. We got off the boat at 8.30 and started to walk to these famous water falls instead of taking a tour and half way there we stumbled onto some other falls which may or may not have been as nice but they weren't full of tourists and we met some rastas and spent most of the morning with them, they're pretty nice people and we got photos and they showed us some cool stuff and we swam in the ocean and sat under some waterfalls, it's seriously like something out of a catalogue, probably one of the more authentic and unique experiences we're going to have this trip!
-Andrew
I really liked Grand Caymen. Its a small British Island and very pretty. We walked along and found a nice place to snorkel and spend most of the morning doing this. They have stringrays you can swim with. I got a bit freaked out after being stung by a Jellyfish though so it took a bit to get back in the water. We had lunch at a resturant on the beach and they looked after our stuff while we went back out into the ocean. It was heaps deeper here, we swam out a bit and found an old shipwreck. I got scared again when we saw sharks (just little ones) so that was the end of snorkelling for the day.
Jamaica is AWESOME! I love it here, the people are so beautiful. We hung out with our new rasta friends Andrew and Rowan for the morning it was fun. They showed us how to break open and almond and coconut shell. Really nice guys. I got stung again here by a massive Jamacain wasp, its 4 hours later and still stings like crazy but they tell me its ok. Rowan got some special leaves to rub on it and then some garlic a bit later (?). We are back on the boat soon heading back to Miami.
-Alice
-Andrew
I really liked Grand Caymen. Its a small British Island and very pretty. We walked along and found a nice place to snorkel and spend most of the morning doing this. They have stringrays you can swim with. I got a bit freaked out after being stung by a Jellyfish though so it took a bit to get back in the water. We had lunch at a resturant on the beach and they looked after our stuff while we went back out into the ocean. It was heaps deeper here, we swam out a bit and found an old shipwreck. I got scared again when we saw sharks (just little ones) so that was the end of snorkelling for the day.
Jamaica is AWESOME! I love it here, the people are so beautiful. We hung out with our new rasta friends Andrew and Rowan for the morning it was fun. They showed us how to break open and almond and coconut shell. Really nice guys. I got stung again here by a massive Jamacain wasp, its 4 hours later and still stings like crazy but they tell me its ok. Rowan got some special leaves to rub on it and then some garlic a bit later (?). We are back on the boat soon heading back to Miami.
-Alice
Monday, April 16, 2007
Mexico and beyond
Today is the first day we can use email without cashing in our savings. We left San Fran sadly last thursday, our flight was delayed and the hotel pickup took an hour so we didnt get in till about 1am, such a shame too cause the hotel we booked was prob the nicest we´ve stayed in yet. Miami was nice, lots of people and ugly old buildings. I could take or leave south beach myself. Cruise started a couple of days ago and we´re loving it. I love the gentle rocking of the boat, epspecially at night. Our cabin is really nice, they come and make it up twice a day. The best bit is all the free stuff. You can pretty much eat whatever you want whenever you want and its all free. We like the fine dining lunches, you can sit where you want and they serve you really quick. The table we´re assigned to for dinner has all
Isrealies and we cant speak any ´Hebrew. Today we are in Mexico again, Cozumel this time, its much nicer than Tijuana. We have hired a car and have been to some ancient ruins (that they let you walk all over, crazy eh) and had a swim. We{re gonna find a nice place to snorkel after this.
-Alice
The cruise is pretty mint, they have everything on board including a casino, which when I walked into it, reminded me just of Las Vegas. I´m not a fan of the rocking myself, tends to make me a bit sick, but I can deal with it. Cozumel here is quite nice, the water is warm, we´ve already been for an ocean swim and hopefully another soon! Miami was interesting, it just proves that different parts of the US are just so different to other parts. So much dining, the most I´ve personally seen anywhere, and it´s all art deco which imo looks pretty ugly, everything is 80´s pink and blue.. Apparently South Beach is one of the very top party spots in the world, along with Ibiza, but we never really got a chance to check it out, I don´t really feel like we missed out though.
- Andrew
Isrealies and we cant speak any ´Hebrew. Today we are in Mexico again, Cozumel this time, its much nicer than Tijuana. We have hired a car and have been to some ancient ruins (that they let you walk all over, crazy eh) and had a swim. We{re gonna find a nice place to snorkel after this.
-Alice
The cruise is pretty mint, they have everything on board including a casino, which when I walked into it, reminded me just of Las Vegas. I´m not a fan of the rocking myself, tends to make me a bit sick, but I can deal with it. Cozumel here is quite nice, the water is warm, we´ve already been for an ocean swim and hopefully another soon! Miami was interesting, it just proves that different parts of the US are just so different to other parts. So much dining, the most I´ve personally seen anywhere, and it´s all art deco which imo looks pretty ugly, everything is 80´s pink and blue.. Apparently South Beach is one of the very top party spots in the world, along with Ibiza, but we never really got a chance to check it out, I don´t really feel like we missed out though.
- Andrew
Thursday, April 12, 2007
More SF
So we've just spent the last 2 days in San Francisco and are about to leave to fly to the horrible horrible LAX and onto Miami.
I love San Francisco, this city rules, it's not too big that you can't walk across it in 3/4 hour but there is so much, and it's relatively clean and today it was sunny and there are lots of shops! They have a Westfield just like at home only this one is classy. I liked sitting in Union Square, it's a nice square, equal in it's proportions, and I quite like the liberal/tolerance of this city, so many people just doing what they want.
I want to come back here and maybe even move here but it is so expensive to rent or buy!
-Andrew
Today we had our first lazy, nothing on the agenda day. For the most part we sat around in Union Square and watched all the people go by. There was a school band that marched past and I enjoyed it so much I gave them all my pennies. I think travelling helps me put my life into perspective. We found out today that our tenant wants to move- usually this would stress me out but I didnt really care too much, there are heaps of people with much bigger problems than this in life. Anyone need a place to rent???????
Anyways we're off with our packs to the airport. We already have too much stuff.
Miss you all
-Alice
I love San Francisco, this city rules, it's not too big that you can't walk across it in 3/4 hour but there is so much, and it's relatively clean and today it was sunny and there are lots of shops! They have a Westfield just like at home only this one is classy. I liked sitting in Union Square, it's a nice square, equal in it's proportions, and I quite like the liberal/tolerance of this city, so many people just doing what they want.
I want to come back here and maybe even move here but it is so expensive to rent or buy!
-Andrew
Today we had our first lazy, nothing on the agenda day. For the most part we sat around in Union Square and watched all the people go by. There was a school band that marched past and I enjoyed it so much I gave them all my pennies. I think travelling helps me put my life into perspective. We found out today that our tenant wants to move- usually this would stress me out but I didnt really care too much, there are heaps of people with much bigger problems than this in life. Anyone need a place to rent???????
Anyways we're off with our packs to the airport. We already have too much stuff.
Miss you all
-Alice
Monday, April 9, 2007
San Francisco
Yesterday was easter sunday, our first one in LA. We went to this HUGE church with Marsha and had a lovely easter service there. They have a massive organ, one of the biggest in the world. After church we did a wee tiki tour of LA and saw the new catholic catherdral which costs $12 to park!!! It smelt like cinnamon and is made out of mexican marble. Marsha made us an amaing and huge easter meal. Over here is it quite traditional to have a family meal for easter, like we would for christmas. We had our first proper artichokes- yum!
Today we got up really early and found our way back to LAX. We were very glad that we got up early because it took over an hour waiting in line to get checked in. I marvel at how LAX can work properly!! We arrived here in San Fran and were meet by Doug, Becky, Caelia and Amy. We all went into town and had clam chowder in real sourdough bread bowls, very good. After that we went to Muir Woods and had a walk around the redwoods, some of them 1000 years old. We saw a chipmunk that looked a bit sick, poor wee chipmunk. San Fran looks like a great city- we really like it here.
Alice
I know Alice mentioned it, about how stuff is so cheap over here, but she didn't really give it justice. I bought a new pair of DC's for $40 and some were at $20. Levis $30, label t-shirts, $12. It's so cheap to dress nice. Bottle of JD, $17 at the supermarket! And this is us not even shopping for deals, just buying stuff when we see it. Subway is more expensive though, which I guess is to counteract McDonalds being about half the price it is at home. I guess the 99c Double Cheeseburger wins again! And capatilism reigns here. There is nothing you can do that doesn't come with the optional t-shirt. As I'll mention later we went to a forest today, and just to show the world you went, why not buy a t-shirt or cap or grey hoody with "MUIR WOODS" written across the chest. It's great to be able to show your support for trees in the face of the evil global warming corporation.
Anyway, onto more recent things, San Francisco is awesome! It's a pretty city but property is expensive. Actually that doesn't get in the way of me enjoying the city, just my desires of moving here. We went to a redwood forest today, those trees are tall! We're going to do some more tomorrow and then tomorrow night is our first night in a youth hostel which should be simultaniously fun and disgusting!
I'm missing all the keeping in touch with friends stuff :( I'm having a great time but I do miss my friends. You know who you are.
Today we got up really early and found our way back to LAX. We were very glad that we got up early because it took over an hour waiting in line to get checked in. I marvel at how LAX can work properly!! We arrived here in San Fran and were meet by Doug, Becky, Caelia and Amy. We all went into town and had clam chowder in real sourdough bread bowls, very good. After that we went to Muir Woods and had a walk around the redwoods, some of them 1000 years old. We saw a chipmunk that looked a bit sick, poor wee chipmunk. San Fran looks like a great city- we really like it here.
Alice
I know Alice mentioned it, about how stuff is so cheap over here, but she didn't really give it justice. I bought a new pair of DC's for $40 and some were at $20. Levis $30, label t-shirts, $12. It's so cheap to dress nice. Bottle of JD, $17 at the supermarket! And this is us not even shopping for deals, just buying stuff when we see it. Subway is more expensive though, which I guess is to counteract McDonalds being about half the price it is at home. I guess the 99c Double Cheeseburger wins again! And capatilism reigns here. There is nothing you can do that doesn't come with the optional t-shirt. As I'll mention later we went to a forest today, and just to show the world you went, why not buy a t-shirt or cap or grey hoody with "MUIR WOODS" written across the chest. It's great to be able to show your support for trees in the face of the evil global warming corporation.
Anyway, onto more recent things, San Francisco is awesome! It's a pretty city but property is expensive. Actually that doesn't get in the way of me enjoying the city, just my desires of moving here. We went to a redwood forest today, those trees are tall! We're going to do some more tomorrow and then tomorrow night is our first night in a youth hostel which should be simultaniously fun and disgusting!
I'm missing all the keeping in touch with friends stuff :( I'm having a great time but I do miss my friends. You know who you are.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Impressions of the USA
Some things I have noticed in my first week here
1. Some stuff is very very cheap ie fast food, clothes and soda
2. Some stuff is very expensive ie healthy food and theme parks (well, no wonder really)
3. People are alot more friendly and tolerant than I had assumed they would be
4. New Zealand doesnt know how lucky it is with it's lack of waiting in lines
5. Personal space is different over here, its quite ok to stand so close to someone that you are actually touching them
6. Noone cares when someone jumps the line, well they might care but not enough to do anything
7. Americans dont usually understand a New Zealand accent- it is very weird not being understood in an english speaking country
8. Life flies by unless you stop to smell the roses
Some things I have reflected on
1. The difference in social welfare systems here, in Mexico and New Zealand and how freakin blessed kiwis are to be born into a world where they are taken care of
2. The difference in levels of personal responsibility that are expected in different places
3. The advent of advertising and its impact on a community
4. How lucky I am to work in a job that is interesting, not repetitive and helpful to people in need rather than in want.
1. Some stuff is very very cheap ie fast food, clothes and soda
2. Some stuff is very expensive ie healthy food and theme parks (well, no wonder really)
3. People are alot more friendly and tolerant than I had assumed they would be
4. New Zealand doesnt know how lucky it is with it's lack of waiting in lines
5. Personal space is different over here, its quite ok to stand so close to someone that you are actually touching them
6. Noone cares when someone jumps the line, well they might care but not enough to do anything
7. Americans dont usually understand a New Zealand accent- it is very weird not being understood in an english speaking country
8. Life flies by unless you stop to smell the roses
Some things I have reflected on
1. The difference in social welfare systems here, in Mexico and New Zealand and how freakin blessed kiwis are to be born into a world where they are taken care of
2. The difference in levels of personal responsibility that are expected in different places
3. The advent of advertising and its impact on a community
4. How lucky I am to work in a job that is interesting, not repetitive and helpful to people in need rather than in want.
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