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Chris and Charly's mini trip to The States

a travel blog by chrischarly

As our world trip was cut short by 4 months, we have decided to leave England and the rubbish weather behind us and enjoy a mini 3 1/2 week break to Washington and Florida!!

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All packed and ready (ish)

Rayleigh, United Kingdom

So excited about going to America!! But how come when we have finally finished packing at 10pm tonight that we have more stuff packed for a 3-day trip to Washington (as the folks are bringing the rest of the stuff out with them) than we did for 2 years travel?? Makes no sense to me. Maybe it could be the hair straighteners I have smuggled out with me or all of Chris' cosmetics? :) Anyway, early start in the morning!

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 16, 2012 from Rayleigh, United Kingdom
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4 airports in a day

Frankfurt Airport, Germany

Woke up at 4:40am, quickly got dressed ad ready before Chris' parents gave us a lift to Stansted airport for our first flight to Frankfurt. Got there in plenty of time before queuing to take our Ryanair flight.
After speaking nicely to the stewardess she gave us Emergency Exit seats once on the plane so although the flight was merely an hour long, it was a comfy one.
Then, once we'd landed in Germany we got the bus from Frankfurt Hahn to Frankfurt International, a nice bus ride of 1.5 hours. It was packed so we couldn't sit together, but Chris managed to make friends with a bloke
who was a aircraft spotter, and was coming to see the new Dreamliner depart (glad Chris got that one!). We then went and checked in using the self service and Chris managed to get us extra legroom seats (bonus) for our Condor flight and with plenty of time to kill we went for some lunch.
We boarded and got chatting to our neighbour Margaret who was lovely and had a nice flight, making sure Chris went for regular walks. After arriving at Baltimore Washington we went and found our super shuttle service and were soon on our way to DC. The (not-so-super) shuttle seemed to take forever, about 1.5 hours actually and he managed to drop off the other two passengers first before finally dropping us at our hotel. The hotel room was lovely and we chilled for a few hours before falling asleep.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 17, 2012 from Frankfurt Airport, Germany
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Doing the touristy thing

Alexandria, United States

Happily surprised that we had breakfast included in our room rate we went to Jackson 20 next door after being awake for a few hours struggling with jet-lag.
As we only have 2 full days here in Washington we decided to make the most of our day by going to see as many tourist sights as possible, heading to the Smithsonian on the metro, which is a cluster of museums in one area.
Our museums of choice were the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museums, which we thought to be the most interesting. Unfortunately the weather was miserable and we did get caught in a few downpours so we tried to spend most of our time inside before we had had enough and took the metro back home again.
One thing we were amazed at is that so many things here in America are free.

Such as all the museums and a free bus service (trolley) that runs all the way down King Street between 11:30am and 10pm, which is nice and unexpected.

Once we got back to our hotel we got ready to go downstairs as our hotel offers complimentary wine between 5 and 6 which we made the most of before taking a walk to 'Brabo Tasting Room', highly rated and recommended to us as a cheaper version of the main restaurant next door.

It was well worth the money and we had a great evening sampling the food and supping on wine before taking the trolley back to the hotel.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 18, 2012 from Alexandria, United States
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To the White House

Washington, United States

After breakfast Chris and I took a walk to the waterfront a few blocks up King Street and spent an hour walking around
enjoying the lovely Sunshine before taking the free trolley to the other end of King Street right outside the metro station.
After a short ride we arrived on 17th Street a bustling square with lots of locals and tourists hanging out in the park also enjoying the nice weather. We took a walk to the Whitehouse,
firstly taking photos of the back of the building before walking around and taking photos of the back. Although we thought we could get a tour of the inside,
this wasn't the case, so admiring the grounds was the only option. We then walked around for a little while longer taking the obligatory tourist photos before walking back to the square,
eating some yummy street food and relaxing in the park, before catching the metro back to King Street.
Once back at hotel we went for a swim on the 3rd floor of our hotel before showering and dressing up for our free wine hour downstairs.
After having a look at Trip Advisor we decided to take their advice and go to their Number 2 restaurant choice, 'Vaso's Kitchen' , just over a mile's walk from our place. Food was ok, but nowhere near as tasty as the previous night, leaving us a bit disappointed and surprised by the generous reviews it's received online. Either way though, we left full and wandered back to the hotel, put on the T.V. and had an early night excited about tomorrow!!

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 19, 2012 from Washington, United States
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Meeting up with the family

Atlanta, United States

After packing we went downstairs for some tasty brekkie for checking out and leaving Hotel Monaco Alexandria for our 20 minute walk down King Street to catch the metro. We arrived just in time to catch the delayed rush-hour train all the way to Green Belt, the last of the day which was perfect for us as this meant no changes.
Then, just a short walk to the bus stop which would take us straight to the airport. Easy and in fact faster and a lot cheaper than our shuttle to Alexandria. No queues at security so time for a quick coffee stop before boarding the plane bound for Atlanta.
We sat right at the back of the small aircraft and I was surprised at just how polite Americans were letting all the other passengers off the plane in order with no pushing in. Quite a pain as we were in a rush though. Then we ran through the airport, caught two shuttle trains to the hire car companies running the whole way as we knew Chris’ family would’ve been waiting for us; exhausted having flown from London. We then collected our two cars and took the two hour drive to Auburn with two very tired yet excited children. Once we’d arrived in our hotel, time for a quick change and shower before a tasty dinner down in the restaurant before we all collapsed in bed.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 20, 2012 from Atlanta, United States
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And to the lazy river!!

Florala, United States

We drove down to the coast and checked in to our lovely apartment, and very quickly went to explore the pool, including the lazy River, where you get in a big ring and float around, very nice and relaxing... We pretty much did this for the rest of the day and had yummy pizzas for dinner.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 21, 2012 from Florala, United States
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A nice chill day

Destin, United States

I got up had brekkie to discover that all but Chris’ Mum (and myself, of course), had gotten up early and ventured down to the beach for an early morning dip, so had a quiet hour chilling.

Then, once they’d returned we went to the outlet malls, which sells designer clothing at discount rates.

We went back via the Shrimp market and Chris bought 6 pounds of Golf Coast shrimps- huge prawns, which he cooked up and we had a yummy dinner, after lounging around in the pool.



permalink written by  chrischarly on September 22, 2012 from Destin, United States
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And another day of relaxing... just what holidays are for

Destin, United States

Went to the beach early morning, then went to the other pools across the road enjoying the lovely Destin Sunshine, before return back to the lazy River, had a light lunch, went to the mall and wandered around for a while, then went and had lunch at Fokkers Pub and watched some American Football.

Then once we returned, took the kids for a late night swim which they absolutely loved!!

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 23, 2012 from Destin, United States
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A lot of shopping!

Destin, United States

Got up, had brekkie before going to the pool and then went shopping at the discount mall.

We then had a lovely seafood lunch at Mitchells Seafood Market and then went home and went in the pool again before chilling and having a light dinner.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 24, 2012 from Destin, United States
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Last day of relaxation

Destin, United States

It’s our last day in Destin today so we woke up early and went to the beach to play some Frisbee, attempted and failed to teach the kids how to snorkel, (something we later achieved easier in the swimming pool) and built sand castles before walking to a resort near ours for a swim. Then after some lunch back at our apartment we cruised around the lazy River for a while and then did a little shopping, went for some drinks, had dinner at the infamous Pandora’s and rolled back to the apartment and relaxed for the evening.

permalink written by  chrischarly on September 25, 2012 from Destin, United States
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