Elvis has left the building

We’re already on the cruise as I type this, we’ve just sailed out of New Orleans or Nawleans as it’s pronounced. I’ve been unable to type up this blog because we’ve either been driving, touring, sleeping or eating which of course means drinking as well!!

So, from what I can remember, we went to Graceland, of course, that was the whole reason for the ‘deep south’ road trip. We were all very impressed with the ‘estate’ . The house is quite large, people have said it’s not as big as you’d imagine, but it’s plenty big enough. Some of the rooms look pretty dated, but because of the fashion trend, maybe not so. We were not allowed upstairs, the family want to keep this bit private, also it’s where Elvis passed away.

We decided on driving to Graceland ourselves rather than paying for a tour which would have rushed us around in two to three hours. Can you believe we were there for seven!! There is so much to see … car museum, two jet planes, clothes, records etc etc.

Elvis and his parents are buried in the Meditation Garden and everyday flowers are sent from around the world, some are chosen for display.

We stayed in The Peabody hotel whilst in Memphis, this is where ducks are marched down from the ‘roof palace’ at 11am to splash about in the fountain in the lobby until 5pm when they are marched back upstairs!

Our hotel was just two blocks from Beale St which comes to life on Wednesday evenings. The road was blocked and dozens and dozens of Harleys and Goldwing bikes roared up the road and parked up showing off their designs and lights. An amazing site and we were thrilled to have been part of it.

We left Memphis behind us as Phil drove the long straight road to New Orleans. It took about 7 hours but we stopped quite a few times for coffee breaks and lunch.

I didn't complete this blog because I had no free access to the internet and found it an intrusion into the holiday.

We're home now and currently undergoing renovations, so have decided to give a weekly blog on our new garage and dining room extension instead. Starts tomorrow!

Nashville but no Opry!

One of the main reasons for coming to Nashville was to see the Grand Ole Opry, I think that would be most people's first stop, hmmm! It was CLOSED! To be fair, it was flooded in May and opens in about two weeks time, so we've just missed out. We headed out to The Hermitage, which was on our to do list anyway. This was the home of the 7th President Andrew Jackson. The mansion house is really well preserved and stands pretty much how it did back in the day. There was no photography permitted inside the house but the rooms were large, well furnished and reminded us of Gone With the Wind. Andrew Jackson went to war with us Brits in 1812 and won! The big house is the rear of the Plantation Mansion

He kept a quite a few slaves these are the outhouses they lived in

In the afternoon we took the city trolley tour for an hour but the trolley was being repaired so we were in a small bus. It's not a particularly large city so we were able to visit the park which has a replica of The Parthenon and the Chattanooga Train.

Both evenings we went to Broadway which is downtown and had very good food and enjoyed the live bands in the Honky Tonk and The Stage bars.

It’s 9-11 and we’re flying to the US of A!!

Security was fine at Heathrow but it took us two hours from landing at Atlanta to getting in the cab to the Holiday Inn for the night. Atlanta airport is definitely one to avoid in the future, unfortunately, we have do it all again tomorrow.

Photo is Phil's dinner on the plane, roast beef and yorkshire pud!

The hotel was fine, a standard Holiday Inn Express just outside the airport, no bar though, so that’s a minus! Beds were comfy , air conditioning noisy, shower was great, breakfast was mediocre but all for $108, can’t be bad.

Sunday 10 September

Back to the airport in the morning for our flight to Nashville, it was marginally better at security but we weren’t happy to find that we had to each pay $25 for the privilege of having a suitcase and Phil was overweight which cost $90. I’ll leave you readers to make your own comments on that!

Arrived in Nashville, picked up our hired car with Sat Nav and found our hotel very easily. Just going for dinner at a place called J Alexander’s which is just next door!

One more sleep!

Sue and Tommy have arrived which can only mean we're flying tomorrow! Our flight to Atlanta Georgia is at 3pm tomorrow and Heathrow's Terminal 5 is just an hour's drive away. We usually get a lift or a taxi but as there'll be lots of suitcases Phil's decided to take our car and we've booked valet parking which makes for an easy day. We hope!

See you in Atlanta (or maybe just wait until Nashville on Sunday!)

Almost time for the long awaited birthday road trip

Just another 15 days to go and we'll be on our way to Heathrow airport with my sister Sue and her hubby Tommy. Sue has just had a significant birthday and has always wanted to visit Graceland, the home of the late Elvis Presley. Our trip will start on September 11 when we fly to Atlanta. The following day we fly to Nashville for two nights, pick up a hire care then drive to Memphis for two nights before two nights in New Orleans where we embark Carnival Triumph for a weeks cruise to the Bahamas. I have a new little notebook that I'll be taking with me, I'm just trying to get used to it now!

The animals of Shamwari

Shamwari Game Reserve

Finally, here's the last post of our trip to South Africa ....

We left St James of Knysna and headed back on the N2 towards Port Elizabeth. Three hours of driving was ahead of us so we started out just after breakfast. This part of the route was really breathtaking because we were closer to the coast. It seems after each bend we took there was another beach with waves crashing to the shore and mountains to our left. Along the way, we had to slow down for a family of baboons crossing the road!

We also saw a lot of shanty towns. I guess the shacks are maybe refugees, but they're all self-contained with washing hanging on lines and TV aerials up.

We didn't feel threatened at all, unlike in the past whilst driving in some parts of America or even in the UK. A lot of locals were hitching a lift, even holding out money.

There is no local transport heading down this route so it's the only way they can get about. Having said that ... we did follow a red double decker bus, which was a bit strange to say the least.

We arrived at Port Elizabeth airport, handed over our Avis car and went to find our driver to take us the hour and a half drive to Shamwari Game Reserve. We stayed at Bayethe Lodge, a tent, but a tent like no other. We were in number 12 and had just about the best view. Antelope roamed around outside as we unpacked for the next two days. We had a huge bed, plunge pool on the decking outside with hammocks surrounding it, an outside shower, brrrrrr, and a really nice open plan bathroom.

Because we arrived in the afternoon, we were able to make the first of four drives into the park. Our jeep had six seats, apart from the driver's who was called Headman. We shared our first two drives with four Germans from Frankfurt or as Phil called them, Franfurters. The last two drives, we shared with two Austrians. We noticed other Lodges had jeeps for nine, so we were really lucky. In the evening we had dinner with our driving mates, including the driver. The food was not as good as Cape Town but was plentiful. All meals, drink and game drives were included in the price.

The drives were absolutely freezing because of the wind chill factor.

So if you ever want to go, November, December or January is just about the best time because it's warm in the day, just take appropriate warm clothes for the drive. You get an early morning wake up call from your driver at 05.30am ready to set off at 06.00am. In the evening you go out at 16.00. The drives last about four hours and there's generally a pit stop for coffee in the morning and wine at sunset. In the Game Reserve, we saw just about everything we needed to see, it was a fantastic experience.

We also went to the Born Free Foundation which rescues big cats from zoos and circuses. There was a mix of lions and leopards with very sad stories but can now roam around in huge spaces, unfortunately, they can never be released into the wild as they just wouldn't survive.

So, although we feel we don't need to do another Safari, we definitely will return to South Africa. From what we saw in our very short time there, it's beautiful.

I'm going to put the Safari photos on separately, because uploading photos onto Blogspot is a nightmare! If anyone out there knows how to do it differently please tell me. They don't appear where the cursor is, all photos jump to the top of the page and you have to drag them into place!

Hope you've enjoyed our trip to South Africa.