It’s sad to say but I’ve found Chicago to be a dull city. Pleasant, clean, tidy and airy, but bland. You could argue otherwise—there are plenty of museums, galleries, theatres and miles of brand name shopping and fine dining; I just feel that the city is a little lacking in character, in soul. I may [...]
Watching the red sun rise in the East over the endless miles of Illinois crop fields isn’t the worst way to start the day, all be it a little early for my liking. From the large windows of our spacious, trundling Amtrak train the silos, farms, highway traffic and occasional gatherings of trees are silhouetted against the grapefruit backdrop, [...]
We’re down here in South Louisiana in the dripping heat of New Orleans. Over the past few weeks we’ve worked our way south via several states, over mountain and through cotton field to this melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, cuisine, music and history.
I don’t like arriving in new cities at night, it makes me slightly [...]
Leaving Memphis didn’t necessitate anywhere near the rigmarole of leaving Nashville. The Greyhound station was a convenient 2 minute walk from our motel an the check-in process was straightforward – no sniffer dogs, no full bag searches; just hop on the bus and away you go.
We met a couple on the Greyhound, Cam and K, [...]
We’d originally planned on spending close to a week in Memphis. It’s a damn good job we’ve left this trip open so we hadn’t tied ourselves down to such an itinerary. Everyone, absolutely everyone who we’ve discussed our travel plans with along the way has warned us off Memphis. The general consensus being that there’s [...]
It’s been a while since the last entry, nearly a week. It’s not so much because we’ve been too busy, even though we’ve been up to plenty, it’s more so because we’ve been enjoying ourselves and relaxing and simply haven’t got round to it.
Our stay in Nashville has been extended 3 times already; we just [...]
A further 2 days, long driving days, through the scenic Appalachians took us south to Nashville. Thank god for cruise control—the drive was uncomplicated and uneventful but thoroughly enjoyable. Between Roanoke and Knoxville we took a well earned detour off the Interstate along the stunning Blue Ridge Parkway; endless miles of smooth winding roads through [...]
Two nights in and I’ve already been smacked by an angry Russian (or maybe just a Russian). I suppose some disastrously drunken antic involving his suitcase and me not quite working out the location of the bathroom may have had something to do with it, although I genuinely have no memory of anything of the [...]
