Route 66 -Fulfilling the Dream

I can’t actually remember when I first read about Route 66 and decided this was a journey I wanted to take.
I’d always had a spirit for adventure and organised my own trips from 1999 onwards. I guess seeing the world was my ultimate dream. My parents had never been outside of the UK but I couldn’t limit myself in this way.
When I was twenty one I took a second job in a pub, working behind the bar, in order to squirrel away money to pay for my excursions abroad.
When I had my own children I wanted them to experience the world with me and took them abroad for the first time when my son was three and my daughter was eighteen months old, on my own!

When hubby and I reunited after 30+ years I found a kindred spirit, someone who also wanted to explore with me and when we first sat down together back in the Autumn of 2015 listing places we would like to go I added Route 66. The idea of driving across America, through eight different states, on a road that pioneers had once driven really appealed to me.
We had originally agreed to do it as our honeymoon in 2020 but Covid put paid to both the wedding plans and subsequent honeymoon. It then got postponed to 2021 but again Covid said no!
When we eventually married in 2022, knowing that the trip would need an overhaul, I felt it was too much to take on whilst also organising a whole weekend wedding in another part of England so we went island hopping in Greece instead.

As we are both celebrating a big birthday this year it seemed like a good idea to bring it back onto the table. As I suspected some of our previously planned accommodation, excursions and meals out at traditional Route 66 establishments were curtailed as they hadn’t survived covid.

When we first left Chicago neither of us really knew what to expect but we welcomed leaving the big city behind and heading out into the countryside of Illinois. Surrounded by fields of corn and soya beans we enjoyed the solitude.
The Route 66 navigation app by Marian Pavel and Jan Svrcek Sr plus the EZ66 book by Jerry McClanahan became our constant travel companions as we traversed this huge continent.

We had no idea, at this stage, that every state would be vehemently different and the greenery and crops we were experiencing at the start would slowly slide into a hot, desert landscape before hitting the outskirts of LA and the end of our journey along the “Mother Road”.
We didn’t know who we would meet, the places we would find or the memories we would make. Where do you begin to summarise this road of dreams?
Weirdly I’m starting at the end with a memory that will no doubt stay with me forever.

On our penultimate day we left our accommodation in Las Vegas, following a one week detour, and drove 108 miles, 1 hr 45 minutes south to rejoin Route 66 just north of Needles entering the hamlet of Goffs. 

We had learnt on our journey across the USA that the descriptions of populace is different to the UK. Everywhere is a city or occasionally a town in America regardless of size whereas in the UK we are accustomed to a hamlet, village, town and city based upon populous. Goffs was nearly a ghost town. 

From Goffs to our motel in Pasadena, where we planned to spend our last night on the journey, was 263 miles and 6 hrs 45 mins away. We planned to stop for a late breakfast en route and also looked forward to Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch just outside Oreo Grande. What we hadn’t planned for was the landscape of the Mojave Desert. 

Excuse the pun but it was desolate. A landscape of arid, harsh conditions. What habitation we did see challenged our thinking. Why on earth were these people out here, in the middle of nowhere, with no real food shops, the odd petrol station and just miles of scrubby desert between them and the next signs of life? 

They were living not just in solitude but often in what looked like poverty. We saw some nicely built bungalows where somehow land had been taken back from the desert, irrigated and green bushes and the odd tree had found a way to grow. 

Then there were large mobile homes sometimes in sets of two, three or four where maybe an extended family lived close together, moving down the spectrum we saw trailer park style homes standing alone and then ramshackle mobile homes and wooden properties that looked like they were falling down around the occupants. We even saw a tent with a bicycle dropped outside on the desert floor just before we turned right and meandered into Ludlow where we stopped for our brunch. I couldn’t decide if this was a fellow Route 66 traveller or some complete lunatic. You surely would have been able to catch the drops of condensation inside the tent in a saucepan! 

Cars, boats, RV’s and school buses had been abandoned on properties as if the land was so worthless that it was easier just to leave the automotives to decay amongst the wilderness.

We spent up to an hour at a time alone in this wilderness. Oddly, being British and unaccustomed to this climate, we were never afraid or concerned, we just revelled in the solitude. Route 66 had given us many lonely roads and quiet moments on our trip and this was the climax. 

We hadn’t expected to see the two Chinese statues outside of Amboy. Why were they there? We were going to pull over and take a couple of photos but I wasn’t prepared to venture into the landscape where rattlesnakes liked to bathe in the heat of the sun! 

The desert had an odd haunted quality to it and made me think about the people who had travelled west nearly a hundred years before, moving at maybe 20 miles an hour. What on earth did they think when they found themselves amongst this desolation? They would already of been on the road for probably several months and just as they could reach out and touch Los Angeles at the end of their journey they were faced with this: the heat, lack of water and facilities must have in itself been a real challenge. We were happily driving across in our air conditioned car with cold drinks tucked behind the seats! 

When we finally reached Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch and pulled off the highway we found it devoid of human life. Elmer had lived out here with his family and when he was young would go out into the desert and collect odd bottles with his Dad. When his Dad died and left Elmer his huge bottle collection, Elmer decided to make trees on which he could hang these bottles.
He fashioned metal stakes which he drove into the ground and somehow stabilised in the sandy terrain so he could place more metal spikes at various angles, springing out of the original central metal stem to resemble a tree. He then added more spokes to these branches so he could hang bottles on them. He then took great thought as to what he could place on top, a bit like a Christmas fairy. These ornaments from his vast collection included a bicycle, a set of typewriters and even a rifle.

Elmer unfortunately passed away on June 22 2019 at the age of 72 after a short battle with extremely aggressive lung cancer. Elmer was an inspiration to us all. Most importantly, those who met him talk fondly of how warm, friendly, and kind-hearted he was.

His son Ellsworth Hayes described him as: “A bad-ass Marine, husband, father of 3 boys, and of course, the ‘bottle tree man’ … He was my best friend. And it brings tears to my eyes knowing there are people out there like yourself dedicated to the love of his bottle trees.”
Using materials that would normally be discarded, with desert land as his canvas, he created a destination that attracted visitors from all over the world and garnered international media attention–amazing!

This was one of my favourite stops on Route 66 because it epitomised the individualism of the people we had met en route and all my photos on this post are from the ranch. My Instagram account contains a video I took out in the desert.
I really wish Elmer was still alive so I could have met him. I’m sure he was a great character. All credit to his son for allowing us travellers to stop by despite no one being on site. A couple of people stopped while we were there and were in n out in seconds obviously not understanding why Elmer created the ranch.

This is art in its most imaginative form, what an inspiration Elmer must have been. It’s lovely to know people show respect and take their photos leaving nothing behind except their thoughts.

When you leave Elmer’s patch of beauty behind you soon reach Victorville and the outskirts of Los Angeles and suddenly the journey feels like it is over. It feels like all the memories we have made together are left behind in those hundreds of bottles on Elmer’s ranch and civilisation has once again taken over.

I’m happy to share more of those memories of things we saw and people we met in future posts but for now I’m waving goodbye, with a tear in my eye to this dream that I’ve managed to deliver.

Las Vegas: From Sin City to Sophisticated Getaway

My History of Vegas:
I had last visited the “City of Sin’ ten years previously with my two children whilst still a single Mum. It had been part of a bigger trip when I had taken a month off my career to celebrate key milestone birthdays that we were all experiencing in the same year.
My son had turned eighteen that Spring and when given the choice of where to visit to celebrate he chose New York.

We had stayed there a week and then flown down to San Francisco. I wanted to celebrate by driving Highway 1 down the West Coast. I also saw Los Angeles as an opportunity for the children to visit Disneyland and Universal Studios one last time before they were finally grown and leaving home.

From LA we were originally supposed to fly down to Acapulco. I‘d always wanted to see the cliff divers and saw this as an opportunity to introduce my teenagers to a new culture but alas six weeks before our trip began all flights to that part of Mexico were cancelled due to issues with the cartel! I had, therefore, given the children the choice of our final destination: Yosemite, Lake Tahoe or Vegas and they had both chosen the latter.

Our journey across the desert wasn’t the greatest with a storm hitting halfway. My son and I, sat in the front of the hired car, could see the lightening hitting the highway in the distance and I inwardly panicked and wasn’t sure what to do but given everyone else was carrying on regardless I went with the herd!

After just 24 hrs in Vegas my daughter asked if she could fly back to the UK!
She hated it with a vengeance. I was forced to adjust our plans and find alternative opportunities that took us out of the city. This turned into a blessing as we discovered rafting on the Colorado River, amidst country that could easily have been part of one of my Western movie memories (see my previous blog)
https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/06/27/the-western-movies-lied-to-me/
and best of all the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

And now here I was again, having taken a detour off Route 66 from Needles and travelled north. It certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice of place to visit but hubby had never been and wanted to tick it off his “travel list”!

It’s often said “that it’s not the place you visit but the company that you go with” and following this particular part of our trip I would probably agree. Las Vegas had never been at the top of my agenda of places to revisit but ten years is a long time and places change, some for the better, others for the worse!

Vegas Seemed to be Changing:
In ten years more towering accommodation options had sprung up. Looking behind The Strip, on the right as you drive in from the south, there was little or no space left. What had once been scrub land and empty lots was now filled with an array of places to stay and stay they did in their thousands! Mainly weekenders arriving on Thursday night and departing on Sunday Evening or Monday Morning. Everyone desperate to grasp their freedom and return home hopefully that bit richer or at the very least thoroughly entertained. 

The Vegas I remembered had grown up in ten years. Gone were the showgirls during the daytime hours looking for business, hoping visitors would stop and pay for a photograph. The touts were no longer there in the day either, giving out their endless stream of cards inviting you along to various strip clubs after dark.The city had cleaned up its act.
Maybe because more families seem to be visiting or perhaps it was the clean up that made families feel safer to visit.
The constant stream of litter that I remembered from ten years ago was gone too. Maybe because the daytime the touts has disappeared.
People were still drinking on the streets, one of the attractions of this adult playground, but instead of beers and lagers most visitors seemed content with one of the extra long cocktails sold everywhere in long thin tubelike glasses and to be honest drinking was no longer in the majority as it had been back in 2013. Las Vegas in the daytime was definitely better!

Drawn into the city by the urge to play in whatever format appealed, the visitors came out in force once twilight arrived. They mainly chose to eat early as if by doing so they would have the rest of the night to play.
As the afternoon turned into early evening the showgirls and touts also reappeared as if they had been on a curfew but in nowhere near the amount of numbers as I’d seen previously. The showgirls in their outfits of traditional feather boas and wings with all in one leotards or thong bikinis, fishnets and high heels were now, however, being threatened somewhat by the female visitors themselves. 

Modern Style Dress:
I’d never seen anything quite like it. 
Millenials and Gen Z girls brought up in the world of social media were no longer willing to just dress for their partners or on the hunt for that illusive Mr or Mrs Right. They were dressing how the hell they liked and no one was going to dare to comment. Regardless of size, ethnic origin, current status or age these girls were out to strut their stuff. I saw braless boobs hanging out of deep v necked dresses, slits so high you could see the lack of underwear, minuscule bikinis covered with crochet dresses and short tops. And if that wasn’t enough, God forbid that you were behind one of them climbing one of the many sets of stairs up to a bridge that criss crossed the busy car filled strip below. Hemlines so short that a glimpse of bare bum cheeks and occasionally more was not unusual. 

It was like they were competing for some sort of prize for the most “outrageous, revealing outfit!”. Interestingly you didn’t see the “posing Instagram” crowd we had got used to and frustrated by in Europe. I’m guessing here the photos had been taken and posted before they even left their hotel rooms where provocative poses could be fully delivered sober until they were satisfied with the photographic result. 

Ladies visiting with partners or husbands weren’t going to be outdone by the youngsters either with some of the over 40’s joining in on this new trend.
Don’t get me wrong this parade of flesh wasn’t the majority but it was certainly a noticeable change.After all most of these young ladies were still in primary school last time I visited!

Call me old fashioned but whilst the old Vegas could be a bit “in your face” this made the city a worse place to be at night and certainly not one where I would want my teenage or young children present. I can only conclude that the skimpy outfits so often seen at film premieres, concerts and award ceremonies worn by the rich and famous and then broadcast across social media has had a massive impact and if you want to wear something like this to follow some Instagram idol where better than in the original City of Sin.  

Alongside the new accommodation blocks there were also new shopping areas and it seemed as if the developers had taken into account the often extreme summer temperatures, as we were experiencing whilst there, and made sure visitors had to walk out onto the pavements as little as possible. There seemed to be more indoor air conditioned connections between the casinos, something that I definitely appreciated and saw as an improvement. 
Interestingly some of the shop windows were full of the types of dresses aforementioned. Whilst offering additional choices to those visiting I couldn’t help but think they also provided outfits for those girls who maybe arrived in Vegas unprepared for the current trends.

Downtown Vegas:
This was still a bit of no go area when I’d last visited but with the advent of the Mob Museum and nighttime DJ’s and “light shows” in Fremont Street this seemed to offer another experience in the city. Along with the crowds we chose to jump on the “Deuce” bus and take a look.
The Mob Museum definitely added to my understanding of how the city had developed and the involvement of the then mafia. More poignantly it also gave me clearer insight into how today’s criminal gangs operate worldwide. How making money illegally has grown expotentially and is often hidden in clear sight.
Fremont Street was, however, like turning back the clock. Personally I felt like all the “old sleaze” had congregated in this roughly mile long stretch of covered street.
Single entrepreneurs dressed as shirtless cowboys, high heeled dominatrix and silent dummies advertised their wears in the hope of soliciting money for a photograph with them or in the case of the dominatrix maybe more? 
Girls danced on bar tops or on the DJ stages in skimpy outfits reminding me of the days when feminists called this out as degrading the sex. 

The homeless were present in greater numbers and the smell of cannabis, which had wafted daily in the visitor end of Vegas now pervaded the atmosphere. The majority of those crowding the pavements were either already drunk or swilling back the alcohol to achieve this state. 

The  “icing on the cake” was the old lady sat in her wheelchair holding a sign telling everyone she was needy and poor and if you paid her she would show you her tits! Money was obviously not as forthcoming as she hoped and so the sign was lifted anyway in an attempt maybe to encourage people to donate. I felt angry that she felt she needed to do this but also sad. Imagine if this was your granny!
This definitely wasn’t for us and we made a speedy exit! In making the visitor area better it seemed like those who no longer fitted in were driven to Fremont!   

Conclusion of Our Visit:
This was the first time I had been accompanied to Vegas by “a man” much less “a husband” and it definitely delivered a different experience. As two like minded adults we were able to experience the many facets of entertainment offered by this metropolis. We visited museums during the day, appreciated architecture, gardens and sculptures. At night we sampled the Wynn buffet, two Cirque du Soleil performances, opportunities to photograph the city lit up at night and the odd flutter on a blackjack table. 

It felt sophisticated and not sleazy as I feel Vegas had once been. Somewhere we could return to, if finance permitted, to sample more shows and entertainment and to properly relax during the day under the heat of the desert sun before venturing out in the evening.                                                                                               

As our visit drew to a close we retraced our steps back to Needles by car and set off on our final voyage along Route 66 towards it’s end point at Santa Monica.

Santa Fe -The Contradiction

As part of our Route 66 journey we entered New Mexico and having stayed at the famous Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari we travelled 195 miles north west to Santa Fe, following the original “Mother Road” as much as possible.

As you enter the city you are immediately struck by the wonderful adobe houses. History pours from the walls of these unique structures. Adobe is a mix of earth and straw, the walls are thick and thus work well with the desert climate storing coolness in the summer and heat in the winter. The American Indians started building houses with adobe in the 1400’s.
In the 1920s, Santa Fe officials ordered that all buildings in the city be built with adobe in the Pueblo Indian style. The city also retains beautiful examples of Victorian, Italian, and Spanish architecture. It is this combination of cultures that helped give Santa Fe its most popular nickname, “the City Different.”
You immediately get the impression that Santa Fe, America’s oldest state capital, is inviting your exploration, whispering to you to come and enjoy its history.

The following morning having settled into our accommodation we set off to do just that. The starting point has to be the Plaza. This National Historic Landmark is a gathering place for the locals and tourists alike surrounded by historical buildings such as The Palace of the Governors and the New Mexican Museum of Art. It’s a small central park lined with grass, trees and benches. It exudes peace and on both occasions that I was there you could sit and listen to traditional Native American music being played by a solitary figure sat by the fountain.

All around the plaza are more Native Americans. They sit on rugs on the stone floor selling their jewellery, crafts, pots and rugs. The tribal community of the Pueblo people are amongst the oldest in the nation.

We venture further into the streets surrounding the plaza and immediately our impression of Santa Fe starts to alter. This is a city made for shopping!
You can wander up Lincoln Avenue to the west of the plaza to explore the many shops there, turn onto Marcy and there are even more. The area south of the Plaza — including Galisteo and Water Streets host even more shops. But this is not shopping for the everyday folk this is high class shopping. The windows are full of traditional American Indian jewellery, hand made rugs and pots. But take a look in the majority of the shop windows and you will see that the goods on display have no price tags!
Immediately the old montage “if you have to ask the price you probably cannot afford it” springs to mind. It begins to make me uncomfortable, maybe this isn’t the city I at first thought. These shops are not teeming with customers in fact the exclusivity in some respects reminds me of the scene in “Pretty Woman ” when Julia Roberts goes shopping on Rodeo Drive and no one wants to help her.

Amongst all the expensive shops the city seems to have more than its fair share of art galleries and further exploration of Canyon Road, a must see we are told in any guides to the city, just underlines this fact.
Further research reveals that the city is home to over 250 galleries, 100 of which are located on the winding half mile of Canyon Road. Santa Fe was apparently named the world’s best city for galleries and museums by an independent study in 2021.

My mind then switches back to the Pueblo people sat on the floor in the plaza. Why are they sat on the floor? It makes me feel uncomfortable that I am in effect looking down on these people as I walk by. Is there a hidden message here?

Further into our journey we venture north from Flagstaff up into Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. This is the home of the Navajo who sell their goods on the side of the roads sat on chairs behind wooden stalls. They don’t chose to sit on the floor so why are the Pueblo people sitting on the floor around Santa Fe Plaza, why don’t they have stalls?

My inquisitive mind starts to question the disparity in Santa Fe. Is this another city where people are still not equal because of a default of birth? Where a shop owner gets to sell a Native American rug or piece of jewellery for thousands of dollars whilst those same Native American creators sit on the floor to sell their wares. This just seems like a city of contradiction?

Time is Our Most Precious Commodity

Time is our greatest gift, we cannot buy any more of it but we can waste it, give it away to people who maybe don’t deserve it.
We are all guilty of thinking we have time, time to do everything we want to, time to tell our loved ones how we feel, time to rekindle friendships, time to forgive those we feel have wronged us or time to apologise to those we have wronged.
The truth is no one has an infinite amount of time.

If you have read any of my previous posts including “All About Me!” or “The Philosophical Me” you will know that I learnt at a very young age that life is not forever. As you grow older and in my case move into midlife you read more and more obituaries of people you have known or even famous stars who are of a similar age and realise that whoever you are you cannot escape time.

In life we measure time in so many different ways.
There is the obvious, time ticking by on the clock.
Then there is the years that go by whether that is measured in calendar years or from birthday to birthday.
When we are young we often wish those years away waiting and hoping to be older so we can experience more of life.
When we are older we might well want to press pause as our children grow older or life seems to be slipping by.
The fact is none of us can control time.

Time for me is what drives my ambition to go out into the world and experience adventure. This quote by Randy Komisar gives me a perspective on time.

So why write a post about time?
Because I’ve just left Oklahoma and whilst there the aspect of time was brought home to me loud and clear.
In just one minute time can change your life, it can take away someone you love, it can throw your whole world upside down, it can leave you questioning why you changed your routine that day or maybe wishing you had.

On April 19th 1995 at 9.01 a.m. life is normal or as normal as it ever is. 
Tim McVeigh drives a Ryder van to the front of the nine story high Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in the centre of Oklahoma City. He parks the van and walks away.
At 9.02 a.m. the 5000 lbs of explosives inside the van go off.
By 9.03 a.m. life for the whole city has changed.

700 men, women and children are injured but survive, 168 die.
One half of the Murrah Building collapses, destroying nine other buildings nearby.
Inside the building was a children’s daycare facility.
Another twenty five structures are seriously damaged whilst three hundred and twelve additional buildings sustain other damage.
Nearby cars are incinerated.

The FBI investigation includes this narrative entitled “Where Are You Guys?”

“Florence Rogers, head of the Federal Employees Credit Union, was in her office on the third floor of the Murrah building that morning. Seated around her desk were eight credit union employees, some of whom Rogers had known and worked with for decades. Although they were having a business meeting, spring was in the air, and there was talk of the women’s colorful seasonal dresses.

When the bomb went off at 9:02, Rogers was thrown backward onto the floor, her desk and other office items landing all around her. When she looked up, every one of her colleagues had vanished. “I started hollering, ‘Where are you guys? Where are you guys?’” 

In the next moments, before building and car alarms triggered by the blast began to howl, before fire engine and police sirens wailed, and before cries rang out from the trapped and injured, Rogers experienced an “eerie silence.” Alone on a narrow ledge—all that was left of her office floor—below which was a deadly, open pit, she wondered where her colleagues had gone. She wondered why she could see daylight where walls and ceilings should have been. And later, after being helped to safety, she would wonder at the miracle of her own survival on a day when so many had perished.

One minute is all it took to change lives………………..

The story of this bombing is told in detail at the National Memorial Museum.
They make no excuses for the presentation. Utilising exhibits, theatre and interaction you learn about those who responded to the bombing from the emergency services, hear from those who survived, see how the city reacted and visit the Gallery of Honor to those who died.

On a more positive note you get to see how the investigation progressed and how those responsible were brought to justice.
You get to witness how such a tragedy brought the city together.

Then you get to step outside to see The OutDoor Symbolic Memorial.

You get to visit the Survivor Tree, the American Elm tree which is nearly a century old and somehow stood tall and resisted the effect of the bomb. It stands at the top of the memorial as a symbol of strength and resilience.

The Field of Empty Chairs is located where the Murray Building once stood. The chairs are arranged in nine rows which reflect the floor where those who were killed were at 9.02 am. Each chair is etched with the name of a person killed. The nineteen small chairs represent the children killed. All the chairs light up at night as a beacon of hope.

The only remaining walls of the building are etched with the names of those who survived.

Just one minute is all it took………………..

The Western Movies Lied To Me!

When I was a child we had a black and white television, I guess that was all my parents could afford at the time. I even remember a time when we had no television.
My mum worked as a part time cleaner when I was young and I remember the marriage of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips being televised. Apparently it took place on November 14th 1973 at Westminster Abbey.
One of the ladies Mum cleaned for, Mrs Bacon, lived in Friday Street, closer to the village than us and in an old Cotswold stone cottage. Even in her dotage Mrs Bacon liked to keep up with all the new ideas and she had a TV. I guess she must have invited my Mum to come and watch because I remember going there and trying to be dreadfully polite whilst the BBC broadcast the wedding. The living room was full of old fashioned chairs that were really uncomfortable and I was doing my best not to fidget.

Eventually television must have arrived at our house and my Dad took to watching the Western movies and so it was that Cowboys and Indians took over my younger years. I loved John Wayne in films such as Big Jake, Chisum and El Dorado, Clint Eastwood in a Fistful of Dollars and the emergence of his fellow actor Lee Van Cleef in For a Few Dollars More. Then there was Wayne alongside James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and of course film of films -The Magnificent Seven. I was only a child but these were the movies that influenced me into learning to ride when I was eight years old. I wanted to be one of those Indians tearing across the local common bareback on my horse.

That early introduction to how the west was won never left me throughout life and whenever a new film of that genre arrived at the cinema I would be there. The Oscar winning 1990 film “Dancing with Wolves” starring and directed by Kevin Costner still ranks in my Top Five ever movies and I couldn’t wait for the remake of The Magnificent Seven in 2016 to be released at cinemas.

And so to our current adventure driving Route 66 and our arrival in St Louis. This city sits on the border between Illinois and Missouri, across the Mississippi River, and this was where the exploration of the west all began. I couldn’t possibly travel through without going to the Museum of Western Expansion and this was where the real story of the Wild West came to light……………..

The museum tells us “that prior to the Louisiana Purchase, French merchant Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau selected an ideal site to build a commercial village, which they named St. Louis. Near the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi, St. Louis became a hub for trade with regional American Indian tribes such as the Osage. French officials, Spanish administrators, and entrepreneurial citizens arrived and built the village into a significant trading post and the political capital of the region. St. Louis quickly became an affluent and cultured place due to its natural advantages and the people who came here to make their fortunes.”

Trading with the Indians became common place. Contrary to what the Western movies had fed me the animosity between the “pale faces” and their native counterpart did not exist at this time. In fact the term “I bought it for a buck stems from this era”!

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803, when the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million from France changed the course of history. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward.
Thomas Jefferson, the then President, knowing that the Spanish and English had mapped a lot of the Pacific Coast and Canada, realised that in order to gain supremacy in North America he needed to fund an expedition to map this country west of St Louis.
And so it was that in May 1804 Meriwether Lewis headed this critical mission and left St Louis with a crew of about fifty including his fellow comrade William Clark . They didn’t return until over two years later in September 1806.

They didn’t find the NorthWest passage that Jefferson craved because there was no water route across to the Pacific but they did provide overland travel to the Pacific. Furthermore their journals and sketchbooks were filled with incredible details of the western lands. Lewis mapped rivers, traced the principal waterways to the sea, and established the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.


Today, the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia holds the journals kept by Captains Lewis and Clark. They consist of eighteen small notebooks, approximately 4×6 inches, of the type commonly used by surveyors in field work.

Amongst the crew Lewis and Meriwether took with them was a Native American woman called Sacagawea. Sacagawea was either 16 or 17 years old when she joined the Corps of Discovery. She met Lewis and Clark while she was living among the Mandan and Hidatsa in North Dakota, though she was a Lemhi Shoshone from Idaho.
She was instrumental in the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a guide as they explored the western lands of the United States.
Most of the land Lewis and Clark surveyed was already occupied by Native Americans. In fact, the Corps encountered around fifty different Native American tribes including the Shoshone, the Mandan, the Minitari, the Blackfeet, the Chinook and the Sioux.
The presence of Sacagawea, as a woman, helped dispel notions to the Native tribes that they were coming to conquer and confirmed the peacefulness of their mission.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark are readily available to those who wish to read them and I left the on site shop with my own copy to take back to the UK. These were the original explorers of Western America.

Moving on through the museum I was intrigued to find out when and how the settlers travelled west.
Again my Western movie viewing didn’t bear fruit because the first white Americans to move west following Lewis and Clark’s exploration were the mountain men, who went to the Rockies to hunt beaver, bear and elk in the 1820s and 1830s.
It wasn’t until 1841, that the first wagon train set out on what was to become the Oregon Trail to the north-west coast of America.
In the mid-1800s, many Americans believed the United States had a God-given right—a “manifest destiny”—to expand and so it was that between 1840 and 1860, from 300,000 to 400,000 travellers then went on to use the 2,000-mile overland route to reach Oregon, NW Washington, Utah, and California destinations. The journey took up to six months, with wagons making between ten and twenty miles per day of travel.  The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon.

Contrary to the scenes from the Western movies these pioneers did not ride in the wagons drawn by horses. They generally walked 10 to 20 miles each day and the wagons were used to store their meagre belongings but more importantly their food supplies.  A family of four needed nearly 2,000lbs of food supplies to sustain them along the trail.

It is estimated that as many as 1 in 10 emigrants died on the trail—between 20,000 and 30,000 people. The majority of deaths occurred because of diseases caused by poor sanitation. Cholera and typhoid fever were the biggest killers on the trail.
Indian attacks were relatively rare on the Oregon Trail. While pioneer trains did circle their wagons at night, it was mostly to keep their draft animals from wandering off, not to protect against an ambush.

Again books are available retelling the true stories of these pioneers, one of which is now waiting in my suitcase and my return home.

Alongside this emigration in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which empowered the federal government to begin the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in what became known as the Trail of Tears. The Indians were moved from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River – specifically, to a designated Indian Territory (roughly, present-day Oklahoma).

Some went freely, others fought to try and hold onto their ancestral homes but between 1800 and 1900, the American Indians lost more than half of their population.

Having learnt so much more about this era of American history I now realise that those movies from my youth were just stories. Stories that made movies, that in turn made money for the studios who made them and that entertained my father and many more like him. As for me I have a different view of those Native American Indians and an admiration for their survival.

There is also an element of sadness. It feels a bit like I was duped, that I was naive to believe what Hollywood was selling to me. I loved those films or stories as I guess I should now be referring to them.
Also looking back on my childhood history lessons, I realise, they were focused upon English and European history. I even have a History A’level but at no point did we ever follow American history so in that sense how was I to know that ” the West was never in fact won!” but stolen from those who had lived there for many generations?

Our First Route 66 Surprise

As we travelled alone across the flat farmlands of Illinois often alongside field after field of unripe corn, our thoughts often swayed to those who had travelled this road before us.

Route 66 was the first highway of its kind. Designed in 1926 this 2,448 mile road was the first trans-continental, year- round highway. It connected urban and rural America from Chicago to Los Angeles, crossing eight states and three time zones. Most small towns had no prior access to a major national thoroughfare.
People wanted to pursue the American dream and saw the idea of travelling west along Route 66 as an opportunity to turn this into reality. Like the settlers of the mid 1800’s before them this was their chance to make a better life for themselves.

We are following in their footsteps only life has progressed since then. We don’t need maps when everything can now be found written in a guidebook, on line or on an app. I bought the EZ66 book written by Jerry McClanahan, which I have to say in this world of sat navs and Apple/Google maps seemed somewhat archaic but I was prepared to give it a go. I did, however, whilst in Chicago, do a bit more research and found a Route 66 navigation app which has already become invaluable.

That being said as we neared the state line between Illinois and Missouri we found the app telling us to double back and take a fairly narrow road towards a dead end two miles ahead. There were moments where we nearly stopped and turned around but in the end we had faith that it knew better than us and following the road we entered Chouteau Island, eventually finding ourselves in a car park with about half a dozen other vehicles.

Leaving the car locked and secure we headed towards a barrier which was there to stop vehicles from entering. ‘The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge”, as we had now discovered it was called, was only open to pedestrians and pushbikes but had once been the Gateway to the West. A means for motorists to cross the state line from Illinois to Missouri, one state down and seven more to go!

We were definitely a bit tentative, not really knowing what to expect but could see people in the distance walking ahead and so off we ventured. At first we walk between woods of elm trees with the red iron tresses of the bridge towering over us. The sounds of nature are all around and then suddenly there is a faint roaring sound which gets louder the further onto the bridge we walk. It sounds like you are approaching Niagara Falls and then the woodland gives way to the most spectacular sight. This is the Mississippi River in all its glory. You just don’t expect to see this, it’s stunning, I am in awe!


To the left of us is a weir where the lovely still water suddenly turns into a raging torrent and this stretches right across from one side to the other. Beyond the weir where the water becomes still again there is actually a small beach and I can see cars in a carpark. I guess people come here to have a day out and spend the day on the beach. Just in front of me on the headland between the weir and the beach is a lonely fisherman standing on a small promontory ( you can just see him on the mid left of my picture) and no doubt hoping to bring home his supper.

The original roadway is still evident. You can see both lanes. The total width of the bridge is 24 feet and I learnt later that this is the reason the bridge was closed to motorised transport back in February 1970, after a second bridge was built to the north which could carry modern transportation.

Standing on the bridge looking down at the Mississippi, imagining the excitement of those motorists as they drove onto the bridge and crossed over to the state of Missouri is one of those moments in life that I’ll never forget.
Can you imagine how it felt to pack up your car, load your family and what little belongings you could fit in? You would be leaving your home behind and travelling potentially 2400 miles west to California with no knowledge of what lay ahead but with that fixation of a dream of a better life keeping you going. Back in the 1950’s when Route 66 was most popular, this journey would have taken more than the 2-3 weeks recommended for today’s traveller.

The last surprise is still to come. As you approach what your eye believes is the end of the bridge you realise it’s not the end. Instead the road turns a near 25 degree angle and bends to the right. It’s then you see the final end of the bridge on the other side of the river. The bridge in total stretches a full mile across the Mississippi. In that moment my mind goes back even further to the 1800’s and questions how those early settlers with their wagons and horses crossed over this mighty river? How incredibly brave they were. I wonder if we would have been that brave?

As you reach the Missouri side of the bridge you can look over to your left and see the arch of St Louis which is about twenty miles away. The sky isn’t completely clear but I imagine on a better day the view is spectacular.

When I researched the bridge a little later sat on my bed in my bed and breakfast in St Louis I discovered that they used to charge a toll for motorists to cross the bridge. The anticipation as the cars queued up waiting to drive onto the bridge having passed over their cash must have been immense.

Route 66 has given us our first surprise, I wonder how many will follow?


Welcome to Small-Town America

Many people have written books, made DVD’s and Youtube videos of their trip across America on Route 66. I have no desire to do the same.
What I’d like to do, however, is invite you into my world as I paint a verbal picture of our adventure. …..

As we take the keys for our rental car my mind is on high alert. This is it, no one is going to remind me how to drive on the opposite side of the road, how to use an automatic instead of a manual vehicle or give me a quick precis of the rules of the road. I’m in the centre of Chicago where my observations have told me that rush hour starts ridiculously early and, therefore, I’m not going to get the benefit of a slow introduction. I can only hope my previous experience of driving in America comes back to me.

Out on the open road with Chicago a spot on the rear horizon, I’m under no pressure. I have the luxury of getting used to Basil, that’s the name we’ve given him, the car that is, he is a Buick, as we follow Route 66 through the Illinois countryside. Around 11 o’clock we roll into Pontiac.

Ok dig deep into your memories and go back to the time when you were sitting in the local cinema watching “Back To The Future” , it would have been sometime around 1985 or thereafter.
Marty McFly and his friend, the eccentric scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown lived in Hill Valley, California. I remember that town. It felt like middle America, safe and cosy. A place where everyone knew each other, where people looked after each other, just a peach pie of a place.

Well welcome to Pontiac. We have arrived on what feels like the set of the film. There is no real connection to where Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd created the story but it feels like I’m there. Little do we know that we are about to learn about the “essence of Route 66”, that possibly indescribable pride people take in living on this famous road west. The friendliness they impart to complete strangers who wander into their town and the deep joy they leave you with when you leave to travel on.

We park up opposite the IL Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum.
Parking is free, after all these are gentle folks who want to invite you temporarily into their community.
In need of sustenance we pop into Pfaff’s Bakery and are immediately greeted by a friendly face behind the counter who welcomes us, tells us the story behind the bakery and allows us time to peruse the wonderful array of cakes behind the counter.
Armed with four Pontiac Danish pastries, two filled with apricot and two with blueberry jam, plus two cups of self poured coffee from a flask on the counter we sit down at one of the tables and start chatting to the gentleman at the next table. He is a local and equally as friendly, enquiring as to our journey thus far and where we are heading next.
The pastries are beyond good and while we are there a steady stream of locals come in to buy pastries and cakes for parties and birthdays. We cannot resist leaving with some cookies, a couple of turnovers (recommended by the young man behind the counter) and a chocolate cake in the shape of a large walnut whip.

The same friendly faces await us at the museum. Rose is only too happy to explain the layout of the museum.
I so admire her fortitude, she isn’t as young as she once was, but she is still there welcoming people through the door. Proudly keeping this place going to introduce the “mother road” to folk like us who are setting out with only a dream and a couple of guide books. What an absolute stalwart of the community.
She also explains to us that if we wish to view the murals for which the town is famous, we merely have to follow the red footsteps on the side walk outside! This town is so welcoming they make it super easy for us out of town folk and paint red footsteps on the pavement to follow!

At the rear of the building Bob Waldmire’s Land Yacht is parked up for viewing. Bob was a stalwart supporter of Route 66. I looked into him a bit more later and found this great video on Youtube which explains more about him “Bob Waldmire’s Ultimate Hippie RV Land Yacht – Route 66 Bus”.

Rose finishes her directions with a quick introduction to the model cars we will also see on our stroll around Pontiac.

Finally downstairs in the shop we find ourselves in a conversation with Robyn. She is a school teacher by trade but whilst on summer break she is working in the shop. We find ourselves chatting about travel and “as a self confessed nomad” she has real life experience of many places in the world she has lived.
Her excitement bubbles over as she explains her plans for next summer. Influenced by the many solo travellers she has met in the shop who are embarking on the mother road alone and also by a friend and her family who are currently out there sharing fabulous photos of their adventures whilst wild camping. Robyn is determined to go it alone next year and get out there herself. I really hope she manages it. Life is definitely for living and if you have the courage, determination and excitement to fulfil a dream, then why not?

Impressions of Chicago

What does the third largest city in the USA have to offer? These are my impressions:

O’Hare International airport ( the sixth busiest worldwide) is inconveniently nearly 20 miles from Downtown.
A journey that is made harder by major roadworks which will last until 2025 according to our taxi driver! It’s not cheap either costing us 60 dollars to our hotel!
To be fair you can hop on the blue line for just 5 bucks each but we like to remain fairly inconspicuous when travelling and thus avoid any chances of crime being perpetrated upon us. Given our two large and one medium suitcase that wasn’t going to be possible.

Chicago is the nation’s railroad hub and this is very evident wherever you walk around downtown.
Crossing over the railway soon becomes a walking habit and when you’re not doing that you are walking across the river! The Chicago River runs through the city of Chicago, starting 40 miles north of the downtown loop area and connecting into Lake Michigan. It adds another dimension to the city that I’d not expected.

The city is really clean!
It puts London, Paris, Barcelona and a few other European cities we’ve visited to shame.

People don’t walk!
We often saw people get on at one bus stop and then jump off two stops later. One bus stop is about one block which is 220 yards.
As part of the “Welcome to Chicago and our hotel” the receptionist told us to get a 5 day transport pass because “you’ll be getting buses everywhere!”. We averaged just over 5 miles a day and only used the bus when we needed to go to Lincoln Zoo in the north and the Museum of Science in the south..

Lake Michigan is huge!
When you first set your eyes upon it, it’s easy to think of it as a sea. It’s a 300 mile long freshwater lake with twice daily tides and if the city lives up to its name as being “windy”, waves can rise up to 20 feet! If we had the time we would have definitely returned to its grassy shores with a lovely picnic and a book to read on a sunny day.

The city is full of green spaces.
From Lincoln Park in the north, down to Millennium Park and south as far as Jackson Park.
The Millennium Park is where you’ll find the famous Cloud Gate sculpture by Anish Kapoor, the Cloud Fountain with its two 50-ft. LED towers and reflecting pool by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa and the Buckingham Fountain which is among the world’s largest, 3-level rococo fountain built in 1927 in Grant Park.

Grant Park is also where Barack Obama made his “Yes We Can”victory speech back in 2008. Check it out on Youtube and you’ll get some idea of how much it means to the citizens of Chicago to see not just a black President but the man from their city in the White House!

The weather, what can I say.
You know that old saying “she changes her mind like the weather”? Well now I know where that phrase comes from -Chicago! You can leave your hotel in the morning in the blazing sun in need of sunscreen and a hat. Then when you leave a museum after lunch, you can walk outside and be met by a strong wind blowing in off the lake and then head back to your hotel in the evening in the pouring rain and this is all in one day!
And if that isn’t enough it is not called the “Windy City” for no reason. When that wind blows it brings in the cold air like a gust from some other being sneaking it’s way down the streets of the city and making you shiver!

There is an insurmountable variety of things to do.
We left with a list as long as your arm of adventures we would like to do in the future. I would advice getting a Chicago Pass or GoCity Chicago Pass, it was well worth the money. We bought an all inclusive 5 day pass and saved a lot of money even without doing everything listed on their website.

We also managed to fit in a Cubs game. Watching a baseball game at one of the oldest stadiums- Wrigley Field which opened in 1914 is a must for any real sports fan.

The museums are huge!
I’d forgotten until we visited that the Americans have a tendency to do everything on a much bigger scale than us and their museums are no exception.
We allowed up to six hours to cover everything in the Field Museum (a bit like the Natural History Museum in London) but I’m beginning to realise that my midlife brain can only cope with about four hours before it goes into system overload which was the case here. It’s spread over three floors and I’m afraid I didn’t make it to the third floor.
You really need a full day for most of their museums. The Americans really get it right, though, with plenty of very clean bathrooms, places to buy everything from snacks to a proper lunch and above all else there is always somewhere to eat your own picnic to keep cost down.
They also cater for all ages. We saw plenty of interactive, educational but fun displays for kids to use.
Staff were all super friendly wherever we went.

Their tube/metro system called simply “L’ isn’t inviting.
This might be an injustice but as you walk past a lot of the entrances to go down to the underground train system the smell of urine is just overpowering. Sorry we gave it a miss.

Use the bus!
They are clean and efficient. The drivers are proficient, not as friendly as we are used to in the UK but they have to run to a tight timetable.
There are 1,864 buses operating across 129 routes and covering 1,536 route miles. Buses make about 19,237 trips a day and serve 10,768 bus stops.
By using Google Maps we were easily able to find bus stops, jump on board and follow the route to our destination. Strangely the Chicago Transit Authority or CTA don’t seem to accept UK debit/credit cards. We had to buy three one day passes with cash instead but again once purchased they were easy to understand and saved us money.

The architecture makes you feel like you are looking at a painting.
Whether you are taking in the view across from the Planetarium of the Chicago skyline which is really awe inspiring and reminded me of looking across San Fransisco Bay on the boat back from Alcatraz.

Or staring up from an architectural boat trip on the river or taking in the panoramic views from the Skydeck or the 360 Tower at night you cannot help but be impressed.

We have been positively impressed with the variation of food.
Whilst it is famous for its deep dish pizzas, Chicago style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches and popcorn you will also find healthy food on menus. There is a huge variety of cuisines, for whatever reason we didn’t expect this and would love to come back and explore Chinatown and Greektown.

Last but no means least it is a safe city!
Not once did we feel unsafe during the day or at night. Don’t be influenced by all the bad news spread across the media. I’m sure there are areas where you wouldn’t be safe but you find this in any major city and downtown is not one of them!


Chicago surprised us and we will definitely return!

How We Afford to Travel

Time for our next adventure………..
I should be excited but instead I’m sitting amongst the crowds at Heathrow Terminal 5 feeling bleary eyed and tired. If I still drank alcohol I would say it feels like a hangover but as I don’t I’m leaning towards the fact that the last three weeks of unpacking from the last trip and then getting ready for this one have been super tiring and at times stressful.

Before we take off to America I thought I would spend a little time explaining how we try to reduce the cost of our adventures during the planning stages. It’s a question that hubby used to get asked a lot when he was working and his standard response was “We don’t drink, we don’t smoke and we don’t gamble. We choose instead to travel. Plus I have a wife who has always found ways to minimise cost”.
So how do I do this?

Well firstly it’s historic.
When I was a single Mum for thirteen years (see my previous post entitled “All About Me”-https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/03/24/opinion-how-did-i-get-here/ ) and was also in the middle of a pretty hectic career I always ensured that during school holidays I took Wednesdays off.
My job worked over all seven days so weekends were not sacred. By having a Wednesday off my children always knew that we would do something as a family. I was also determined that they didn’t grow up thinking that the only way you could have fun was to spend money so I made sure we had a good balance.
We would go on Treasure Hunts in the local woods, take picnics to local Country Parks along with their bikes and kites, we would go to the beach and at the same time we would go to Theme Parks such as Legoland, Thorpe Park and Chesssington.

But I never paid for any of these, partly because they were really expensive and secondly because if you were savvy you could get in for free or at a reduced price. How?
Mainly by collecting Tesco vouchers which could be exchanged for three times their face value at the entrance to these places.
But I also did the same with Nectar points from Argos and Sainsbury’s.
I also used to collect the tops off cereal packets. Once you had so many you could send them in and exchange them for tickets or money off vouchers. There was always some offer to be had if you looked hard enough.

This then led to me looking at travel and whether these principals could still apply.

Do It Yourself versus Package Deals or Organised Tour Companies:
This is very much a personal choice and since 1999 I have opted for the former. However you do have to be prepared to put in the leg work whereas with a package holiday or tour company it is all done for you. You basically just turn up at the airport and meet your rep the other end at your destination.

We did use a tour company, once, back in 2019 when we went to Costa Rica (where all my photos featured on this post come from) mainly because I had concerns about not being fluent in Spanish and, therefore, worrying about arrangements getting lost in translation. The reality on the ground once we were there was completely different. Everyone spoke English. In fact in order to be employed in the tourist industry, the second most popular job after local Government, you had to be fluent in English!

What we had not envisaged is that we paid a UK tour company to organise our 21 day trip which was then sub contracted out to another company on the ground in Costa Rica. Straight away my financial brain questioned the cost of this. We were, in effect, paying two different companies to deliver our holiday. On the whole it all went smoothly but I did come back thinking it might have been cheaper to do it myself.

That said, package companies buy their accommodation and flights in bulk and in turn are able to pass part of these discounts onto the consumer. I personally do not like being shepherded onto a coach at an airport with forty or so strangers, driving around numerous other resorts while people get off and retrieve their luggage from the hold and then dealing with a travel rep who wants to sell me several other trips, excursions and experiences. I’d just much rather go solo.

Organising your own trip is time consuming and the longer you are planning on being away the more time it will take. You can, of course, opt for a pack n go outlook, which is how a lot of students embark on their travels particularly during gap years, which is something we are thinking about doing next year.
If you do decide to book your own trip it normally starts with flights.

Flights:
Over ten years ago I signed up for a British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card which has the following benefits (I’ve taken these direct from their website):

  • Welcome bonus: Get 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 in the first 3 months of Cardmembership. New Cardmembers only.
  • Earn rate: Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on purchases
  • Rewards: Get a Companion Voucher when you spend £10,000 each membership year which is now more flexible than ever
  • Go further: Collect 3 Avios for every £1 spent on British Airways flights and holidays

    We use our card to pay the majority of our monthly outgoings such as food, petrol, personal expenditure as well as for all travel costs. Spending £10,000 per annum is, therefore, not hard and we qualify for a companion voucher every year. This means we can fly abroad and pay for just one ticket plus only the taxes on the second ticket.

    There are a couple of drawbacks:-
    You need to pay an annual fee of £250 but this is more than covered by the savings on our companion flight without other flights we might take using Avios points (the new name for Airmiles).
    The interest is phenomenal but if you pay your bill off each month, as we do, you have nothing to worry about.

    The final plus factor is you gain Avios points by recommending friends and family to the scheme. They in turn benefit from a higher than normal introductory amount of Avios points than that mentioned above.

    Companion Voucher:
    The Companion voucher is growing in use and BA have recently upgraded how it can be used (again taken from a recent email I received):

    Travel with a companion – Receive a second seat for a companion travelling in the same cabin on the same flight as you for no additional Avios when you make a Reward Flight booking on a British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus flight when booked through British Airways.

    Choose to fly solo– use your Companion Voucher on a Reward Flight booking in any cabin, and receive 50% off the Avios price for the flight.

    You could pay as little as £1 in cash for your Companion Voucher Reward Flight within Europe and cover remaining costs with Avios. And remember your Companion Voucher is valid for 24 months from issue. Your trip can start from anywhere.
    As an example we have recently booked for a flight to Rome next year using a companion flight. Our seats are in Business Class and cost us just £2 return plus some Avios points!

    Choose to enjoy Club World – When you use your voucher on British Airways, you will have enhanced access to Reward seats in Business Class when booking a Reward Flight with your Companion Voucher. Solo or together, you can travel in style.

    Hopefully this illustrates the fact that flights don’t have to cost the earth!

    Collecting Avios points:
    Again I’ve been collecting since they were called Airmiles.
    I collect points whenever and wherever I can? There is a full list of companies who supply you with Avios alongside monetary purchase on British Airways shopping.
    I seriously don’t buy anything on line without checking out their website or app beforehand. I regularly collect Avios from Booking.com, Hotels.com, Air BnB, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Trainline to name but a few.

    I also still have a Nectar card so on the odd occasion I shop at Sainsbury’s, buy from EBay or Argos I accumulate Nectar points and have an auto convert to Avios in place.

    I buy my petrol at BP and again have a BP card which auto converts points to Avios.

    Every month I collect Avios through the purchases made on my BA credit card detailed above, again these convert over automatically.

    I book car hire through BA which also gives me points, a second driver for free and an all inclusive insurance. Thus when I pick up my car I don’t have to deal with the sales person trying to sell me all sorts of additional insurance when I’m abroad.

    And so it goes on……..

    Accommodation:
    Saving on accommodation is rooted in price comparison.
    I compare AirBnB, booking.com and hotels.com prior to making any booking.
    A friend of mine also advised me to always use the apps on my phone for the latter two companies as the deals are definitely better.
    Also don’t rely on one phone, if there are two of you and you both look at the same city, for example, and use the same filters you can often get given different prices per night.

    I also accumulate rewards on Hotels.com. Once you have 10 rewards you get a free night. I’ve just used this to book our final night at JFK airport prior to flying home from this adventure. 

    Another option with booking.com or hotels.com is to find somewhere you want to stay and then research their details on the internet. Telephone them direct and see what price they offer.
    I always make sure when doing this that they are willing to refund my money by an agreed date if I cancel. I give them my email address and ask them to confirm the price and cancellation in writing before booking.
    Often they are paying substantial fees to these companies to fill their beds and are happy to bargain with you. If they don’t offer you a reduced price you can still book on the relevant site and you’ve not lost anything!
    Another tip is if you go somewhere you like and are likely to return, always make a point of asking them if you can book direct next time.

    I also still use my Tesco reward points but I now opt to get money off Cottage hire for a staycation in the UK or I double up the face value to book via Hotels.com. It used to be treble the face value but this has recently changed. I used this facility to get £60 off a one night stay on this current trip.

    I also use my Avios points to book accommodation either in full or by reducing the cost price per night to be paid. I did this three years running to take my children on a four night cultural break in Europe when they were younger.

    Finally I have holiday ownership which is similar to timeshare. I’m sure many baulked at this statement but I bought two weeks back in 1999 in the Canary Islands and one week, to be used bi yearly, in 2015 in Grand Cayman. 
    I made the decision to do this based upon the fact I was a working Mum and wanted my children to have a decent holiday every year otherwise why was I working?
    I also wanted to take the anxiety out of the accommodation selection as the places you can book to stay in are of a guaranteed standard.
    What can I say? It worked for me and my children got to see not just the Canary Islands but also Barbados, Florida, The Cayman Islands and New York to name just a few.

    I pay yearly maintenance on these but this allows me to then visit my “home resort” without paying anything extra, for example I could spend a week in Grand Cayman. The maintenance fee per year is about half the amount the resort would charge me for a one week stay if I was to book it myself.

    OR I can bank these into an exchange company in order to then swap them for holidays anywhere else in the world. When I bank each week this is converted into points and I can then select somewhere to stay based upon the points I have. To swap currently costs about £200 per week, depending upon which exchange company I use. I add this cost onto the annual weekly maintenance fee to decide whether in fact I am then getting a bargain.
    I’ve utilised this option four times on the adventure we have just started with stays in Chicago, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale and Williamsburg.

    The exchange companies are also always looking for ways to enhance their product so I can also use my exchange points to reduce the cost of hotel stays per night, reduce car hire costs or get additional weeks away without using my banked accommodation. These are at a reduce rate per night or per week.


    So there you are….
    Hopefully I’ve given you some insight in terms of reducing costs on going away



Getting Ready for the Next Adventure

I’m aware that my posts have tailed off a bit recently.
I was in a nice routine while we were on our adventure in Europe posting on Tuesday and Friday but having finished our trip in Amsterdam, life has become incredibly hectic preparing for our next adventure…….

Outline:
We fly into Chicago on June 9th and have a full week to explore all the “windy city” has to offer before picking up our rental car and heading out onto Route 66. With a couple of diversions to see Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas we hopefully will arrive in Los Angeles four weeks later.
Then we fly down to Fort Lauderdale for a week of recuperation and relaxation before picking up our second rental car and heading up the East Coast of America. We drop our car off in Richmond, Virginia three weeks later and will be using the Amtrak train network to Washington, Philadelphia and finally New York before flying home in early September.

Making Plans:
Our trip to Chicago and out onto Route 66 was a dream that was created back in 2019 when we planned to get married in 2020 and decided this would make a great honeymoon for two midlife adventurers.

I had researched Route 66 utilising the following books:
Brits on Route 66 written by Vicki Graves
Billy Connolly’s Route 66
Lonely Planet Route 66 Road Trips
EZ66 -Route 66 Guide for Travellers by Jerry McClanahan
Dining and Lodging Guide to Route 66 printed by the National Historic Route 66 Federation

We had also watched the series that Billy Connolly, the comedian, had made on DVD about his adventure along Route 66 and also another series made about the same trip by “The Hairy Bikers” -two famous chefs from the UK.
Armed also with the Rand McNally Road Atlas of America, my normal on line planning website and my proverbial travel notebook I planned the trip including things to see, places to stay and some suggestions of where to eat.

Alas the wedding was postponed due to Covid and the honeymoon cancelled.
Having rebooked our wedding for 2021 I set it all up again but again Covid caused a postponement. I seriously could not muster the energy to rebook it all alongside our long awaited wedding for 2022 and thus it was shelved until this year.
We had been looking for a way to celebrate our “big birthdays” and this was how the European tour had evolved followed by Route 66.
Unfortunately Covid caused some places of interest, accommodation and eateries to close and so the “off the shelf” package I had sat waiting for me had to be altered but by the time we embarked on our European tour everything was in place for this to follow on.

We then, maybe crazily, decided to extend our American adventure to take in the East Coast. Whilst half of this was planned prior to leaving for Europe there was still stuff left to do whilst we were there.

Planning trips is something I’ve been doing since 1999 but it takes time to do it properly and, therefore, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Also as I said in my last post ” Lessons Learnt on our European Adventure” it’s important to learn from our travels so we can continuously improve our enjoyment of them. Some places of interest have been taken out and accommodation, particularly Air BnB places, have been re-examined to check they meet our needs.

Budget:
When you go on holiday, whether it is a package tour or a self planned trip the majority of folk have an amount of money they can spend which somewhat dictates where they can go, for how long and often what type of accommodation they will stay in.
This is is even more important when you are travelling. If you run out of money the likelihood is you are going to have to come home sooner than you anticipated.
To this end I have a habit of keeping spreadsheets to budget in advance of leaving the cost of my top three items which are transportation (flights, car hire, train fares etc), accommodation and daily expenditure.


Not forgetting arrangements to and from our UK airport. We nearly missed a flight a few years back due to a bad accident on the M4 which leads into London and meets with the M25 at junction 4B which takes us to Heathrow. Nowadays we don’t take chances and often book accommodation at the airport the night before.
Also in terms of travelling to the airport you can usually find some deal for car parking if you are heading off for a couple of weeks but when you want to go for extended periods you have to rethink this process and budget in for actually getting there and back without a car.

En route I like to keep this budget up to date with our actual expenditure. In Europe we calculated this every time we were about to leave a city so we could see how we were fairing. Don’t get me wrong we have credit cards on us but unlike when we were both working we are no longer in a financial position to arrive home and then have to pay off a massive bill.

Once completed these figures can also guide us, in future, in terms of estimating how much we need to budget per day depending upon the type of place we are visiting. For example large cities including capital cities are always more expensive than outlying regions. This is also where you are likely to find most of the key attractions on your trip.

This might all seem a bit “serious” but it gives me peace of mind now we are both retired. We still enjoy ourselves but we are mindful of the fact we are no longer going on holiday but travelling. A holiday is something you do maybe once a year for a couple of weeks but we are setting off on an adventure that in America will be for 85 days.

Packing:
I am old enough to remember the days when there was no limit on the weight of your suitcase! I took my first trip as a single Mum to Fuerteventura when my son was three and my daughter about eighteen months. My two suitcases were laden with not just clothes for the three of us but some toys, nappies, baby formula, bottles and six hard back books for me!
I had a bottle steriliser, at the time, and believe me if I could have fitted it in a suitcase I would have done. The idea of having to sterilise them in a pan of boiling water didn’t enthral me!
However I managed and over the next thirteen years we took many trips together and until the weight limits were introduced I brought all manner of mementoes back with me including two porcelain lamp shades from Spain!

These days everything is different as 23kg is the normal weight limit in the UK if you are flying off abroad. I have to say the European adventure tested my skills in this area as we needed to take layered clothing as the weather was likely to range from five degrees up to thirty degrees.
I’ve learnt to limit footwear particularly with Phil. He loves trainers and has quite the collection at home and would literally take a pair to match every outfit if he could but he managed in Europe with a black pair, a white pair and a pair he travelled in!

I have also always taken a first aid kit. Phil makes fun of me about it but again in Europe, after he had persuaded me to minimise the contents, we came unstuck. I’m not saying that paracetamol and cold and flu remedies, for example, are not available on the continent but they are seriously more expensive than England!
We can buy paracetamol, for example, from Lidl for less than £1 a packet. In Europe we were paying at least double that. Cold and flu tablets in the UK can be purchased from Lidl for about £1.60 whereas in Europe we were paying six times that amount!
It was the same for toiletries. The same bottle of shower gel in Europe was at least twice the price it is in the UK.
Toiletries do add to the weight, however, so it is a case of balancing everything to ensure we don’t go over on our weight limit whilst also not incurring additional expenditure whilst we are away on items that are expensive abroad.

Everyone packs differently and I’ve tried a few different ideas that I’ve read about on line. For example I can’t get on with packing cubes. I find they take up more room than packing individually, maybe I’m doing something wrong. They are useful I guess when you unpack at your destination as you can just pop them directly in a drawer and all your socks , for example, are in one place in their own cube. But if, like us, you are moving around a lot they don’t have the same benefit. I only unpack what I need for that particular destination. The rest stays in the suitcase.

One of my absolute stay safe methods is not to pack for us individually. We take two suitcases currently one red and one blue. In my head the red suitcase is number one and the blue suitcase is number two. Each suitcase contains everything we need for a seven day period. In this way if ever the airline loses a suitcase en route we have enough clothes, toiletries etc for a week until hopefully the second suitcase appears.
Additionally when you are travelling you only have to open one suitcase at each destination until seven days have expired. If we are using car hire I quite often leave the second suitcase, that I’m not currently using, locked in the boot of the car rather than lugging it into every single accommodation. After seven days we then swap to the other suitcase.

When I am travelling I try and ensure, when securing accommodation, that we have a washer and a dryer at fairly regular intervals. This way I can wash the clothes from the suitcase we have used whilst wearing the clothes from the second suitcase.

I fully understand that travellers with rucksacks who are basically carrying all their worldly possessions on their backs would be laughing now at my strategic planning but we are no longer youngsters and whilst we enjoy travelling we don’t really want to rough it.

The amount of clothes we take, as previously mentioned, varies depending upon the destination. If we are going to a hot climate and living in shorts and t-shirts we can pack more changes of clothes than if we are going to a colder climate where jeans, jumpers and sweatshirts are the order of the day.
I also pay attention to the description of the accommodation regarding towels being available and for summer resorts- beach towels. Again these can take up extra weight if we need to include them.
I have to be honest though the provision of toiletries and a hairdryer at accommodation is wasted on me because I like my own hairdryer and can only use certain shower gels and shampoos.
The final point I would make which has again only just sunk in with Phil is I also make sure I have some room to bring gifts and mementoes home. It’s no good ignoring this because when you do, you can land up spending money at the departure airport for excess baggage. Weirdly I’ve often found the airlines are more strict with your excess when you return to the UK than when you leave.

Whatever I am packing there has to be a packing list. I’ve always had one since the children were small mainly so I didn’t forget something they might need, wanted to take or which I could easily leave behind when departing. Now it’s more about my forgetful menopausal mind!

Hand Luggage:
Our hand luggage is always two rucksacks complete with any IT equipment, cameras or other valuables that we wouldn’t want to go into the airport baggage system in case they never came back.
I used to print off every piece of paper needed for each journey for example pre booked tickets, airline boarding passes etc but I’ve started to finally trust my iPhone and keep all the information on this. However this is only because I also carry my iPad and/or Mac with me which can act as back up.


Last year we met a couple of Irish ladies on the Greek Islands who had all their information on one iPhone which unfortunately then got left on the aircraft. This caused them no end of issues when trying to sort out their various ferry and accommodation bookings. It’s a stress I can definitely do without.


The one item I still print, which my son finds amusing, is the complete itinerary of a trip from my on line planner. It just makes it so much easier when there are two of you needing access to what we are doing tomorrow or where we are driving to next. It also means we always have somewhere to write notes and we often just detach today’s sheet and include it with our day sack or in the car. In the European cities it became a useful quick referral for detailing how to get to certain destinations if we were using public transport.


There is a huge reliance upon mobile phones these days but we found on our last adventure when using them constantly for mapping, audio guides, photo taking etc that batteries can deplete and not necessarily last if you are out for a long period of time.
With a lot of attractions requiring timed entry tickets and not accepting these on paper we found ourselves being ever mindful of battery life.
To remedy this on our next adventure we have invested in a portable double charging pack.

With a week to go until we set off again my to do list thankfully shortens by the day, my packing will be complete this weekend and America is on the horizon.