grand southern – Page 2 – ThePassportPrincess

Day 30 – Raleigh

September 14, 2015June 13, 2016SarahLeave a comment

On Thursday it was off to Raleigh!
It’s the capital and the second most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city.

raleigh_march_2013_raleighskyline.com_11

As I’m writing this blog 3 days after being in Raleigh my memory is pretty shit. We arrived late in the afternoon at our hotel and all got our room key. For some reason a few of us had our own rooms so I was one of the lucky ones who got my own king sized bed for the night 🙂

When I got to my room I had a shower and quickly put my washing in the washing machine.
After my last attempt at washing them with no powder they weren’t smelling the greatest.

web1_golden_121813jh_001_0

We had an included dinner at a buffet restaurant called ‘Golden Corral’ just before 7pm so after getting ready we all met on the bus and headed off there. I thought since it was a buffet it’d be pretty average but I was surprised at how good it was. There was just so much to choose from.
They had a hot buffet set up with all your Beef and Chicken dishes. They had Enchiladas, Fish dishes, Macaroni & Cheese, Meat loaf, Onion Rings, Pork Chops, Pork Steaks, Ribs, Potatoes either fried or mashed or made into fries. They even had rice dishes and Sandwiches, some Turkey and Hot Vegetables you could load your plate up with. They had a Salad Buffet set up too with vegetables and fruits.

My favorite part was the Dessert though. Cheesecake, Soft-serve Ice-cream, Scoop Ice-cream, Candy to put on top of it, Cookies, Chocolate Pies and Tarts. Yum!!

one-big-buffet — Took this picture off Google to give you an idea of what it looked like

After dinner, we headed out to go bowling. I’m not the best bowler, but after a few drinks I was doing pretty well. Still ended up loosing though!

Bowling finished about 10pm. Me, Jonathan and Robert thought it was too early to go back to the hotel so headed across the road to a bar and had a couple of drinks after the bowling.
Nothing was really happening so we headed back to the hotel after wards.

Raleigh was a pretty quiet time for me. Hence why this blog is so short and my memory is shit.
I do however remember my key card not working for like the 100th time on this trip. I always put it near my phone and it deactivates it which makes it impossible to get into my room until I re-activate it at the Reception area. Grr.

Day 29 – Savannah (Georgia)

September 10, 2015June 13, 2016SarahLeave a comment

I want to live here!
Savannah, Georgia is just the nicest little town.
When we arrived on Wednesday we had a walking tour organised but as we were early we had to wait around in Forsyth Park for a bit.
The park was just beautiful. The sun was out and even though it was probably a bit too humid for me, I defiantly appreciated the beauty of Savannah.
We took a big group picture under these tree’s but I unfortunately don’t have the picture to show ya!

Savannah is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia with people here being know for their Southern charm and hospitality. The city’s former promotional name was actually “Hostess City of the South”
When we started our tour, our local tour guide took us on a walk and showed our Contiki group lots of statues and monuments while explaining the history behind them all. Scenes from the movie ‘Forest Gump’ were actually filmed in Savannah. If you’ve ever seen the movie, you’ll remember Forest sat on a bench saying the famous quote “Life is like a box of chocolates”. Well that bench was on the north side of Chippewa Square in Savannah but now resides in a Museum here.

Chipewa-Square

Savannah’s historic district has 22 squares surrounded by beautiful homes, churches and huge live Oak trees. Our tour guide only took us to a few of them otherwise we’d be there all day.
Calhoun Square is just two blocks from Forsyth Park and was once a place for schoolchildren and a bit of a backyard for those in the heart of Downtown Savannah.
Crawford Square is the only square with a fence surrounding it. It also has it’s own basketball court for anyone to play in and it’s very own gazebo
Greene Square is great for having a picnic whereas Lafayette Square is home to the ornate Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which has the highest twin steeples in all of downtown.

cathedral-st-john-baptist

When our tour was over, we had over 2 hours until we were allowed to check in to our hotel so a few of us went and got food from this restaurant called Wild Wings.
They had 1/2 price flat breads on Wednesdays so that’s what I got haha.
Our meals weren’t the nicest but I think we’re starting to realize that lately with cheap burger and pizza joints.

We still had lots of time after lunch so we went for a walk and I bought a magnet to add to my collection. We also came across a candy store! (My dream)

I bought some candy and the boys bought iced drinks as it was so hot.

To be honest I think I just bought candy as I was in a Candy store and felt like I should. I’m usually such a snack person and I’d rather have little meals throughout the day, but ever since I’ve been here I barely eat snacks. I just have lunch and dinner and sometimes breakfast if I feel like it.
Even yesterday on our coach stop I bought Twix bars and some pringles but struggled to eat them. Maybe I just don’t really like American snacks (everything is just way too big for one person)

After our Candy stop we went to the hotel and was finally able to check in.
As I still hadn’t slept properly, I had a bit of a nap until my room mate woke me up at 6.30pm to get ready for the night out.
She’s so good to me haha. Honestly, she’s like the perfect room mate. She knew I’d need over an hour to get ready so made sure I was up before 8pm 😀

When I was ready, everyone on Contiki headed off to this Karoke/gay bar for some cheap drinks.
I was there for just over an hour and was a bit bored so me, Marisa, my room mate Amy and Paige went down the road to get some super late dinner.
I got some nachos which wernt too bad!

Amy and Paige headed off home after that but me and Marisa stayed out and met up with everyone else at this club called Treehouses. It’s in the center of Downtown Savannah and has two large balconies over-looking City Market.

treehouse1-1 We danced there for a bit and had some more drinks then eventually stumbled home around 1am.
There wasn’t really much else happening and I was sooo tired so it was probably probably a good thing I went home early.

Day 26. Miami #2

September 8, 2015June 10, 2016SarahLeave a comment

On the Second day of Miami I lay in bed and had a great snooze until 11am.
I was slightly worried that I was actually the only one on the whole tour who had decided to sleep in and everyone else was out exploring the highlights of Miami.
In my head I had visions of the group at the beach, shopping at DASH or eating breakfast at some yummy cafe.

When I emerged all ready for my day and went downstairs, I was mistaken as everyone else had literally just gotten up as well. We all caught up on the previous nights events and people lay their head in their hands to nurse their hangovers.

I had brunch with Paige and Marisa at the hotel restaurant. It would have been nice if I had ordered something savoury. Instead I ordered the strawberry and banana waffles and the whole time I just craved some scrambled eggs and some fried potatoes or something!

After Brunch I walked down to Walgreen’s Pharmacy to try and get myself a Ventolin Inhaler. I know in Australia you don’t need to have a prescription to get one (in NZ you do) so I assumed here would be the same.
Turns out I’d need to see a doctor to get anything to help me breathe better.
😧😧
Every year I get Bronchitis and I thought I’d skip it this year(hence why I didn’t bring anything) but here I am coughing away on the Contiki Coach every day and feeling like I have the airways the size of a straw.

After I bought some Jandals (or thongs as Aussies call them) from Walgreens I went and met up with the girls again where we went to the beach and had a swim.

We were there for about an hour before the thunder started so we decided to go back to the hotel and swim in the pool with some of the group.

When it got later in the day, I headed down the road and bought a Twix ice cream 💕 and some Doritos. I was in such a snack mood! Haha

After munching on them, I had a shower and begun to get ready for my night out. We had a Miami party cruise boat booked and then we’re heading to the club Nikki Beach afterwards.

I was prepared this time and bought my poncho. I got some laughs but I was the one laughing when everyone had to run to the bus in the rain!

When we got to the boat, we all took some photos outside and then boarded.

We all got 3 free drinks each. And they wern’t stingy on the alcohol either!
There was lots of dancing and drinking. Plus Marisa and Paige didn’t feel like drinking so they gave me their 3 free drink coupons. Woo hoo! I was loving life.

After the boat cruise, we all went to Nikki Beach.
We skipped the line and hit the dance floor. It was soo much better than Mansion.
I think there was another tour type thing there so there were heaps of people our age and I talked to other people from NZ which was cool.
By 3am my feet were killing me, I’d gotten free drinks in VIP all night from some guys that were having a party, I then Ubered home with another great Uber driver and I had an hour hang out with the concierge at the hotel.

When I got back I said to the hotel guy I was going to bed but I was hungry so he gave me the rest of his dinner he’d gotten from the restaurant as it was now closed. He even microwaved it for me haha. We chatted for ages about my travels and how I want to move to America but didn’t know how to go about it etc… He recommended working at the Hotel but I’m pretty sure I have to get sponsored for something like that.
It was a pretty all good end to my night.

When I got back to my room I ended up calling my best friend back home and sat in the bathroom talking to her for ages on Facebook messenger calling haha!

Miami, I will defiantly be back! (Maybe when I have more money)
💳💲💰