Road trip

Alright, so I left you last time when I was heading to Houston. Well, there's nothing much to say about this city. The only cool thing there is the "underground"-city. There are tunnels leading from one building to the other, so most of the people are underneath the ground and that's why you're almost alone as a tourist on the streets :) it was funny going underground and see all the business people walking from one place to the other, you can even get a barber, a dentist and a lot of restaurant down there! ... Also I had the best hostel experiene EVER! The HI-Houston: The Morty Rich Hostel. It's a big mansion made into a hostel, with a pool outside, great free breakfast and it was all very clean and the staff was sooooo nice! If you ever go to Houston (even though the city isn't really exciting), stay at this hostel! ;) I also met a lot of nice people, I hope to stay in touch with some of them, but I became good friends with Allie from Australia and Anne from Denmark. They were heading to New Orleans as well and I couldn't wait to see them again....

Last Wednesday I drove from Houston to New Orleans. It was a long drive, so I decided to stay in my first night and get some rest. The India hostel was alright, but compared to my last one really dirty and the house needs some more attention! Allie was in my room again and I was really glad to have a friend there. The first day I went to the Garden District and looked and one of these cool, "new orleans styled" cemeteries. They are really nice, not just stones. 

We also went down to the river and walked around the French Quarter! I loooooove New Orleans. The vibe is just extraordinary, so many people, great music and everybody had a great time. After a quick nap back at the hostel, Allie, Zoe (from France) and I went to Fritzel's at Bourbon Street to see a real jazz band. It was awesome! I loved the music and the atmosphere, it was indiscribable! We also met up with Anne, who was staying at another hostel. After that we went to some other bars and listened to a few more bands until we went back to the hostel. Allie and I booked a swamp-tour for friday and we needed to be up and ready by 10.15am. A bus picked us up from the hostel and drove us to the swamps. We headed to a little boat and spent the next 2 hours out there. It was soooo cool. We saw aligators, birds (don't ask me which one, I'm really bad in those things) and snakes! We fed the aligators some marshmallows and hot-dogs! ;)

I had so much fun in New Orleans. The last day it was raining very bad, so Allie and I went to the movies to see Iron Man 3! I loved the movie, it was really good :)

On saturday I drove to Montgomery, Alabama and stayed in a motel for one night. I had a double bed, a tv, my own bathroom and a kitchen. Compared to my five weeks staying in hostels this felt like a 5-star hotel :D

On Sunday I then head to Atlanta, GA! Since I could sleep at my friends sisters house in Buford, I went to Atlanta first and tried to do some sight-seeing. There isn't much else than the biggest aquarium in the world and the Coca Cola Museum. I went to both of them and I actually have to say that I liked the World of Coke more :D the aquarium was cool though, they have a few different exhibitions with different kind of animals from the sea. penguins, whales, sharks, fish, crabs and even frogs. the coke museum showed several different spots from all over the world, a 4D-"movie" (that was actually bad ;)) amd you can taste all kinds of different coke brands from over the world. and you even get a bottle of coke for free :D

I went to Roberta (Ancas sister) afterwards. She and her husband have a beautiful little house 45min outside from downtown Atlanta and I was and still am very grateful to stay here. I'm so happy to have people I can talk to and have longer conversations with :) today we went to a HUGE baking-shop with lots of supplies that I can use for my hobby-bakery ;) I had a great time here and I can't wait to get to Midlothian on Wednesday and see my relatives!

But first I need to drive to Charlotte tomorrow and get another motel room :) 

U

Rain, boredom & the Southern charm

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I just didn't know what to say...

I left Hawaii, the sun and warmth all in one 9 days ago. In Seattle it was rainy, windy, grey and cold :( but it was nice to be back on U.S. main land and in a city I haven't been before! Seattle is great, but I have to admit I chose the wrong hostel for the first time... The city hostel was cool, don't get me wrong, but it was just too big, with too many people and no way to get to know people, so I was kind of doomed to be alone this time and to go sight-seeing by myself!! I went up to the Columbian Tower, Public Library, Pike Place Market, EMP (Experience Music Project), Space Needle, Woodland Zoo and I even did a day-trip to Victoria, BC! I've seen great things and I had a good time, but doing it all alone is quite boring and it never took me long to look at things, so I had a lot of time and nothing to do! Oh well, I decided to make the best out of it and enjoyed my alone-time reading, watching series on my ipad and just laying around! Some REAL holidays and not always chasing sight after sight :)

On Thursday I left Seattle and headed for Dallas, Texas! I've always wondered how the Southern US will be since I only knew it from movies and TV shows. First I had to pick up my rental car at the airport.... The woman asked "Kia? dodge? VW?", well that was an easy decision: VW Jetta please ;) the car is great and my GPS let me stright to the hostel! It's okay, but the worst I've been so far. It's just a house that someone doesn't use anymore so he decided to make a backpackers out of it! It's dirty, small, overbooked, has plastic around the mattresses and it's just totally falling apart. Other than that it's alright for 3 night. There were 6 other people here when I came and they all wanted to go out to a local country club, and one of the men here at the hostel was driving us, so I decided to go too! It was Ladies night, so we got in for free and had to pay less for drinks. It was really cool seeing real cowboys and seeing them dance the typical country two-step! :D at midnight they dropped balloons with money in it and only women were allowed to catch them! I managed to get 6$ out of it ;)
Yesterday I went sight-seeing in Dallas. There isn't much to see, but we went to the Pioneers Plaza, Farmers Market (that was a joke), JFK Memorial, Old Red Building, some nice parks and in the evening we went to the Forth Worth Stockyards to see the Rodeo! It was absolutely awesome!! :) I had a lot of fun and it was cool to see a real rodeo wirh the bull riders and horses etc! After the rodeo we went to Billy Bob's, a famous country club at the Stockyards and the pretty well-known country band The Band Perry was performing! It was great, but unfortunately we had to leave after an hour already, because not all of us could sleep in today ;)
Well I could and I did ^^ today was another lazy day, but I loved it! I could wash my clothes, catch up with my parents on skype and talking with some of my relatives in Virginia....oh and write this post ;)

Tomorrow I'm heading to Houston with my pretty car :) ... All the cities and sights are starting to be a little bit overwhelming and I can't wait to get to good old Virginia and Maryland and spend the time with my family and friends :)