Wednesday, August 17, 2011

"I have a dream"

... well okay, a loose plan ... Which may very well get amended by:
  • my travel agent
  • my bank balance
  • advice given by you, dear reader!
I have a fair whack of leave up my sleeve and going by recent precedents at work, I may be able to cash some in, in conjunction with taking a bit more than a month off. So I'm planning a trip. A big trip in July 2012. Itinerary (until it's amended by one of the above points) is:

Fly to Dallas (or New York depending on costs, but I'm probably more interested in Dallas) to spend a few days and then fly on to my first main destination which is Nashville, to take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry.


Drive from Nashville to Memphis ... well you know why:


Continue driving to Jackson, stopping in for the night at Clarksdale to make a deal with the devil at the crossroads and then keep on heading south until I hit New Orleans.


From there fly to Miami, although I'm open to keep on driving depending on time/cost factors


and then take a four day cruise of the Bahamas,

  - possibly take in a side trip to Havana while I'm in the neighbourhood, then fly on to LA.

I'm planning for this stage of my trip to be around the 4th of July to spend it in an non-traditional or totally traditional manner, I'm  open to ideas on how to do this on either coast, maybe you know someone around these areas that I could share this with?

DRIVE ROUTE 66 TO LAS VEGAS, BABY! to be there for my birthday on July 9th.


While I'm on the west side, I'll probably do a tacky celebrity tour, check out the sign and head up to San Francisco to buy a pair of jeans and drive over the bridge.


 From LA fly to Hawaii and check out the main island, volcanoes, surfing, general tiki stuff, the Maui flying fox, etc. and then head home having missed a large chunk of the Melbourne winter.


So, dear reader, what have I missed? Am I trying to fit too much in? I'd really like your advice and would also appreciate you sending this on to anyone who lives "state side" or has been there who may have some practical advice for me.

I'll be travelling solo and would obviously like to keep the price down without twin-sharing where possible.

I'll keep you posted ...


Posted by Max at 4:14 AM
Location: United States Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 comments:

  1. Considering my birthday is on the 5th the only logical conclusion that I can draw from this is that you should take me too and we spend from the 4th to the 9th in a state of semi-coherent PARTAAAY!! :P

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  2. Hmm, I am not sure about your progression of geography here (didn't you know that I drove from Reno to Florida in like 3 days).

    I think you should start out in LA and then re-group and fly to Florida and start there. Then make your way up the south through New Orleans to Nashville (or the other way round) and then make your way to texas and then to Las Vegas and then LA.

    Best thing I did in 2003 was pick up a little voucher/tourist book which had discount coupons for motels. And we just stayed in those.

    Motels were about $60/night for a decent one.

    The car rental was more $100/day or something? (I am pulling this figure out of the air) but there are some limitations - like you have to drop it off where you picked it up from or there is a limit on how many miles you can drive it/which states you can drive it in.

    The less limitations, the more the rental price. You'd have to look into it I guess.

    But saying this.... sometimes the best thing to do is just go with a rough plan and see what happens!

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  3. Get in before the empire crumbles, huh? Great idea! I think you might need more time if you want to cram in all you plan to cram in. My advice: drop the Bahamas and make Cuba happen. Your money will go a lot further in Cuba and there's going to be waaaay more great photography to get into there. You don't want to miss out on all those classic 1950's cars!

    What's more... Jackson? Clarkesdale? Just 'cos Johnny Cash has a song about Jackson doesn't mean you're going to really want to go there, seriously. I think you'll need to tighten things up a little to get the good stuff done, I'd be dropping the chaff, starting with Jackson and Clarkesdale.

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  4. Starting with a rough plan is how all good trips start out. Just remember to swap your left with your right and get your ESTA application sorted out and all should go well.

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  5. thanks for the comments so far everyone, lots to think about!

    Sheri, you wanna road trip along route 66 around celebration time? the more the merrier ... can hire a BIIIIIG caddie! Although this could be cool: http://route66tours.rtrk.com.au/?scid=57666&kw=4674330&pub_cr_id=5681545666

    Sharnee, I love the idea of cheap motel vouchers, and maybe I don't need to hire a car for this part, I could take a greyhound coach... means I can't stop along the way though.

    Johnny, I am keen on Cuba and you're right, I should try to make this happen. I do want to go to Clarksdale to see if I can get my soul back!

    Andrew, I am a bit worried about driving on the wrong side of the road ... but a mixed up guy like me should be able to get it right ... eventually!

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