Re: Just bak from 6 Weeks in the US
I was born in San Antonio, Texas but was an airforce brat and moved continually - Dad retired to Australia when I was 14 - I've been back a couple of times for quick trips but never with my husband - it was a 35th wedding anniversary trip - our first big trip overseas. A week in San Francisco, ditto Texas (fantastic) then 3 weeks driving through the north eastern states. We thought it would be the trip of a lifetime but now find we will be saving madly to do it again - Mr Driver says there's at least 3 more trips he wants to do with driving holidays in the US! I'm thrilled!
We were lucky and unlucky $$ wise. We bought travelers cheques at 75c and 80c. The only $ we put on the mastercard were hotels and hire car. We were able towards the end to pay some hotels with travelers cheques. Pity we didn't buy again at 90c! We'll be watching the $ and buying over the next couple of years if it rises again.
Planning was the key to the success of the trip - we arrived at airports with around 2.5 hours spare. We politely asked someone if we could weigh the bags before getting in line (we bought heaps). Then we could easily redistribute weight. Going through security, we put everything on the conveyor belt, I went through while my husband watched (made sure there would be no reason for me to be held up - even the gold bracelet was off the wrist and in the handbag). Once I was through comfortably, Mr Driver would go through with nothing. Every time he was put through a thorough patdown. We knew this would happen and planned for it. He simply has a knee replacement. This caused us no problems as we were prepared. Agents offered to help him with baggage and were pleasantly surprised that we were so organised.
A GPS is invaluable in a hire car - we stuggled without one in one area - and it's not like we didn't make wrong turns and get lost with one, however there was always this voice patiently saying, 'recalculating'!!
All our accommodation was prebooked using Trip Advisor as the guide. All but two hotels were excellent. One had cigarette smoke floating down the hall and the other had closed. Can't win them all but certainly won most.
I gave myself an extra week off work when I got home - we've only been home 3 days and I am surprisingly jetlagged. I wasn't jetlagged at all going over to the US, nor through the whole of the internal flights. I'll keep that in mind next time. However, can't wait to start planning the next trip!
