http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States en-us Wed, 14 May 2008 00:23:15 BST Wed, 14 May 2008 00:23:15 BST One of the best things about preparing for longterm international travel besides developing an intimate acquaintance with the entire REI website is going out for a lot of bon voyage dinners lunches happy hours and hey it's 245 on a Sunday and no one has had a beer yet gatherings. Granted the advent of Skype Facebook international cell phones Gchat and blogs has removed a lot of the e http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-275918.html Once we decided on Egypt there were many questions. Which cities Nile Cruise If so 4 nights or 7 nights What are the most important things to seeFor Sis her only request was a library. She loves them...so...Alexandria it is.For me my top three must sees are the Giza Pyramids Abu Simbel and the temple of Ramses II and the Valley of the Kings. Oh and the Cairo Museum.So after much d http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Missouri/St--Louis/blog-275879.html Residing in Missouri is pretty basic so my theory to why I am an obsessive travel planner is that I need some excitement since the only excitement Missouri offers is whether or not it will snow this year on Easter. And that answer this year was YES yes it will snow on Easter.My main obsession is Disney World although Disneyland also satisfies my compulsion. I am a Disney World expert okay http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Missouri/St--Louis/blog-275871.html Another day in ParadiseVentured futher around the island today. It's easy driving once you get out of Waikiki which is mostly one way streets.Feel quite at home really what with McDonalds KFC Burger King all within walking distance. However we have resisted so far Ate at planet Hollywood last night al fresco. Went to the Sea life park as seen in 50 first dates. Not huge but still ent http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Waimanalo/blog-275864.html Hey I'm just trying this out. I'm supposed to be studying for my Spanish final tomorrow but this is the best form of procrastination I can find. I'm so excited to go. I don't really know what to expect which makes it even better. I know I'm going to have an amazing time I can't wait to speak Spanish meet all of the people see the land ride the cable car ride a freezing cold bus...everythin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Minneapolis/Nordeast/blog-275862.html Here we are starting our second day in beautiful Hawaii. Have been sitting on the patio having coffee. It is so nice. Yesterday we started off driving downtown to the palace. Finally found a place to park walked a ways only to find the palace was closed on Mondays We did go into the courthouse and it is very pretty and interesting. Left there and went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Had lunch http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Waikiki/blog-275857.html Well we did a three day trip to the mountains to take advantage of 'all that snow'.Day one went to Iceface err.. I mean Whiteface the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and theoretically some of the best skiing this side of the Mississippi. We managed to get to the top of the gondola where it was blizzard winds and honestly I could have spread my arms at the top of the steepest http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/Adirondacks/blog-275836.html For those of you who don't know me I am an avid 'SouthernerAmerican girl' traveller wishing hoping for a RTW trip but in the meantime I'm doing what I can when I can. Here are my stories Ever wonder what its like in a New York City snow storm This moment the snow is stinging me in the face and sticking to my overcoat as I walk down the deserted 19th Street at 1245am. In New York t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-275828.html I skipped out of Huntingdon early Saturday afternoon for Martinsburg WV. My apartment is clean and shut down I saw most of the people I had on my list of course it was a last minute whirlwind tour and PanThar is carefully stowed with Mom for the summer.Jay's parents gave us their beautiful house to have a going away party. I wouldn't have recommended that but they're generous people. They mad http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/West-Virginia/blog-275826.html London again. It's a bit like coming home really it's certainly the closest thing we've had to a home in 2 months anyway. Only the whole place has changed. Just a week earlier we'd left London for our Scottish and Irish experience and it was still very much a city in early spring. We arrive back on the 7th of May to find summer has definitely arrived while we were away galavanting around the hig http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Jersey/Jersey-City/Newport/blog-275786.html Greetings from NYC.....My first day went like this. Breadman was early yes early I wasn't ready still needed to shower. We got going i thought it would be a breeze getting to the airport no traffic 7am. Sometimes its just lies as there was and to beat that we missed the Airport turn off by 2 junctions...... It was laughing though as we still got there for just after 8amI go to check in and this http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-275785.html I had originally planned on being in the States for 23 weeks. I have since learned not to make plans. Everything is evolving as it should just as everything that is meant to be happens. I needed this time home. I had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family take care of my medical needs take time out for my own spiritual retreat and I even had a couple road trips. This was time http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-275719.html Today we had lots of tears.... we had to say goodbye to Winnie Tom Marilyn and all the family..... I wish we just lived around the corner not the other side of the world.It was time to head back to the big smoke... Chicago we have an early flight out tomorrow morning. We had a couple of stops on the way the first was at St Josephs... a pretty town on Lake Michigan. A little further on in nor http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-275717.html Every morning there is a nature show going on outside the window as we have breakfast. Rabbits squirrels chipmunks and too many different birds to name. There's also ground moles... but we can't see them..... only the mounds they leave behind The hummingbirds haven't arrived yet but they soon will be back. Marilyn has put their feeding dish out hoping they will arrive. I've been trying to fi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-275714.html Beach Party 8 People 1 Car 5kg Chips Dips and plenty of other things to eat and at least 60 bottles Beer and 1 mission not to take any of them back home FULL... http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Honolulu/blog-275705.html One additional day at HIMB Hawai'i Institute for Marine Biology at Coconut Island http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Honolulu/blog-275701.html Today was a big day for Winnie it was Circle Circle is a group of about 15 ladies that meet monthly all very close friends who get together for friendship and to help the community. They raise money through raffles and silent auctions etc most have an interest in quilting and sewing. Marilyn also belongs to the group. Winnie is the president. I got to draw the raffle..... too bad I didn't pu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-275676.html Today was the day..... a big adventure down the river to Rockford Tom had a day off work and after a hearty breakfast to make sure to keep the energy levels up..... Tom and Geoff put on gumboots a warm top and took along a rain jacket and headed down to the river which runs along the back of Tom and Marilyns property. The skys were heavy but the course was set..... and it would take about 3 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-275661.html I am ready oh so ready.. can't wait for Wednesday afternoon. My friend is SO overpacking it's not even funny. For those that know her please feel free to laugh. Love ya Ardis.What actually made it in my packClothes3 socks4 underwear2 regular bras1 sports bras1 hijab 4 shirts2 pair pants1 pair jeans1 pair capris1 skirt may take it out now that I think about it1 pair flip flopsToiletries1 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-275648.html Hi everyone firstly let me just say thanks to all of you that has emailed me so far. It's been a bit hectic and sorry I haven't yet managed to reply I will do so once I get settled on the organised part of my trip.On the second leg of my bus journey to Memphis I encountered Michael Crawford a 52 year old guy from Ohio. He was quite funny and managed to keep me awake chatting from 11pm to 1am http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-275643.html And the big trip's gonna start out...Kurze Zusammenfassung Sind am Samstag Nachmittag in L.A. angekommen haben Tanja getroffen. Yeah ein feeeedddes Wiedersehen Dann gleich auf zu unserem rental car und ab gings zu unseren ersten Couchsurfern. Ohne unser Navigationssystem wren wir verloren no way to get anywhere without the navigation system. Leider hatte ich keinen Fotoapparat dabei... Aber http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Orange/blog-275637.html There was an earthquake in Chengdu. 7.9. 8500 people killed. Schools collapsing. I wonder if these were some of the schools we were supposed to visit. I wonder if these are friends of Martha. It's horrible. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arkansas/Little-Rock/blog-275628.html We had two more days with us to visit places we hadnrsquot been to in Oahu. We were somewhat tired from previous two really hectic days. So we decided to take the day little bit lightly.We walked around the area in the morning and had a nice breakfast. We signed up for a guided halfday tour rdquoNatural Highlights of Oahu Adventurerdquo with Oahu Nature Tours. We thought it would be nice t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/blog-275626.html We finally made it home. We left Saturday morning from Sequoyah Caverns and decided the distance required we take interstates to keep on schedule. So we hit I59 just south of Georgia and traveled around Chattanooga up to Knoxville and over to I81. We kept at 55 MPH as planned to conserve gas and chugged along in sunny weather the whole way. The damaging storms never came near us and we he http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Fredericksburg/blog-275621.html Since today was our last day in New Orleans we decided to set out on our already exhausted feet and do one last historical walk around the city. After a lot of miles and a few new blisters this is a summary of what we saw today...St. Louis Cemetery 1 This is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans built in 1789 to replace the St. Peter Cemetery. Many of the tombs from St. Peter's were moved to the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/New-Orleans/blog-275618.html