retirement trip of a lifetime whilst there's still some life left :) Part 1 - getting there!

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Well, the time has come for our month long trip to the Southern States of America! We've been planning it for such a long time and it's hard to believe the time is actually here now.

But first, the journey - you would think that it would be simple to catch a coach to Heathrow Airport, pop into Terminal 3 to get our Travellers Cheques from Travelex, pop upstairs to Arrivals to get some sneaky treats from M&S to have in our hotel room, then catch the ‘regularly running’ free bus to the hotel. We did get to the hotel eventually but..... NOT IN TIME TO WATCH STRICTLY COME DANCING!!!!!! Not impressed! We seemed to walk miles through underground walkways, down scarily fast and steep escalators with all our luggage (why wasn’t there a sign saying ‘ there’s a LIFT, you know’) and the hotel shuttle proved the saying that you wait for a bus for ages and then three come along at once. The bus number was U3 which of course we kept accidentally calling U2 and wondering if the driver was in fact Bono. Oh, we are SO witty!

The Arora International was just the job, especially as from our window we could watch planes taking off - silently, as very impressive soundproofing!

Everything went well on the journey.........Air Canada was fine and we caught the connection easily. Toronto Airport is the height of efficiency for processing you through US Immigration and we had no hairy moments about visas or anything.The highlight for me was watching ‘Bridesmaids’ - and yes, Chloe, it isn’t really a film you’d want to watch with your mother and yes, I did LOL a lot! Must say it's slightly disconcerting watching the seatback TV's and being able to see several other people's screens from your seat with many of them showing scenes of an 'adult' nature.

And at last we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee!!

I was very thrilled at the airport to see several people wandering about in tight jeans and boots, wearing stetsons and carrying guitars. Honestly!

And now we’re in our hotel in the area called Music Valley having had a meal at a bar called John A’s which seemed to be a regular with musicians as people kept joining the resident band (who were really good) to sing or play keyboard or guitar for a song or two. They were all SO good and it was a perfect way to start our holiday. Good food too.
YEEHA!!!!!

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Comments

[Jane]

I'm on the journey with you!