31/10/18 In Jackson I went to the supermarket to get some groceries and drove to Memphis where I took some ideas at the tourist info centre. I explored the main street downtown and I was just on time for the Ducks Walk at the Peabody hotel. Ducks are trained to walk out of the fountain inside the main hall and walk on the red carpet to an elevator. They do this twice a day since 1939, when an animal trainer did it for the first time.
I stopped by the Waffle House for dinner and had a chat with the 2 waiters as I was the only customer. It seems like everybody had plans for a rainy Halloween night.
01/11/18 I woke up at 9.30 and drove to Graceland, the house of Elvis Presley for a tour. All the ticket options were very expensive ($39 to 169$) depending on how much of the land you want to explore. They have 14 exhibitions (costumes, his career, his service at the army, the records’ house, his cars and motorbikes, his customised planes etc), you can visit the house itself with interactive ipads, there are multiple merchandising shops and 2 restaurants on site. The audio guided experience of the property was great. It was not busy so I had the time to explore all I wanted. Elvis bought the property for $100,000 when he was only 22 and as it was the place where he felt home, so this is where he stayed. The domain is really big (storage buildings, horses, cars garage, meditation garden, cemetery…) and this is where he is buried next to his family members. No doubt he influenced many music stars of today, and was such an icon.
In the afternoon I went to the Pink Palace museum to see some natural history and a 3D movie on the history of music in America narrated by Morgan Freeman. Only 3 of us in the theatre and I was the only one in the museum area. The mansion was closed for renovation, probably why it was so quiet.
02/11/18 I went to a popular cafe for breakfast, the Blue Plate for some eggs benedict (served with 3 massive pancakes). Then walked to the Cotton Museum. I could get in without any control and when I got out, I realised there was a second room for the museum where the control check was located. I rushed through the second room which was more kid friendly and drove to a fast food to be on time for a Skype with Lori, to discuss our plans for Colombia.
I drove to Tupelo in the afternoon and stopped by Elvis Presley’s birth place, which is a little white house tourists can visit. But there is now also a chapel and a museum. I didn’t plan to visit this one as I saw Graceland in Memphis, and it was closed when I got there anyway. Later I parked for the night. As it was still early, I turned on my phone data, confirmed my arrival to the airbnb planned for the day after and while I was checking my emails, I realised I received my invitation from the Australian immigration, regarding my citizenship application. Awesome news but very bad timing – they request me to be there on the 5th of December, in the middle of my booked trip with Lori to Colombia, which was finalised literally a few hours ago. Luckily there was a link to change the interview date, and the only available dates were in November or December. Considering we are the 2/11 at night and the only appointment that does not mess up too much with my travel plans is on the 6/11 in the morning, and considering it would take me 2 days to get to Sydney with a flight (thanks to the time difference), I could cancel my visit of Atlanta and Miami, return the car early, cancel my accomodation bookings, cancel my domestic flight to Miami, book a flight from Atlanta (nearest airport) to Sydney to get there on the 5/11 and leave Sydney on the 7/11 to come back to Miami at night, sleep in a hotel near the airport and be on time for my flight to the Bahamas the next day where I am supposed to meet Charlotte for a week, where we also have a hotel booked. This means I have to drive straight to Atlanta tomorrow, find tickets and re pack for a flight.
And that is what I did.
I looked for the cheapest flights to Sydney and Miami, American Airlines was the winner and I booked my tickets. I put the alarm at 7am to have enough time, there is a 4.5h drive to Atlanta airport and my flight is at 6.23pm.
03/11/18 As I was driving I started to realise I was on my way home. Then thought about all the stuff in the car I have to get rid off, as my road trip was supposed to end only in a few days. I have to take the food and rubbish out, maybe I have time to stop by Ikea to drop the mattress and get a refund on a few items I haven’t unwrapped.
I still have to refill the fuel tank, go to Ikea and queue for my refund (the longest 15 min of my life! All of that for $20 back ? – 3h left before the flight), pack my suitcase (the car was like an open wardrobe, 2.5h before the flight), drive through Atlanta hoping that the traffic would not be too bad on a Saturday afternoon, and when I dropped the car off I still had my trash and things I could not take on the plane in the car (bottle of gas, pillow, cooler, ice packs, 5L of water, a bottle of milk, 1/2 pack of cereals, rubbish bags, a blanket and the chiro accessory for my back). At the car rental drop off, 2h before the flight, they told me I could leave my rubbish in the car for the cleaners (they could make money with everything I left!) and that I still have to take a train to the domestic airport. I ran through the hall and the train doors closed just behind me, I was on the train.
At the check-in desk, I required assistance as the self service machine did not like the fact that I was flying international (they have to check passport and visa). The hostess took her time before coming to help me. Then the machine did not print the bag tag. So I needed assistance again. Tic toc…
I finally dropped my bag, hoping they would not be too picky about the weight (I think I am slightly over). And I still had to go through security. I remembered a few years ago in New York it took me 1h to go through, but I was lucky the domestic gates of Atlanta were dead quiet.
Don’t ask me what the duty free looks like, I literally ran through. My shoelaces were not even tightened.
I reached the boarding gate 11 minutes before boarding, so just had time to buy a bagel and a bottle of water and here I am, on seat 21C, on my way to Sydney. Phew!