Sweet Carolinas!

As even the most hardened traveler would attest, after an extended period of traveling through foreign places it is only natural to yearn for something familiar, something that resembles home...and after nearly four months abroad we have finally been afforded such a rare possibility...

The next stop on our American adventure was a 10 day visit at my cousin Le Roux's home just a short drive from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trip through the South: New Orleans to Charlotte

As cousins we've always had a close bond and since it's been just over five years since I last saw him and his wife Kim, I was really looking forward to seeing them again and to meet their young daughter Olivia (and Baxter and Hank!). More so I really wanted them to meet Kristi and to get to know her!

Le Roux picked us up from the Greyhound station in Charlotte, and after a long bus ride and our couch surfing shenanigans he must have looked twice when he saw the two weary South Africans! It was great to see him again - after 5 minutes it felt like hardly any time has passed since we last saw each other - you just seem to have that with certain people in your life!

We headed to their lovely home just across the state border, in Fort Mill South Carolina, where we were greeted by Kim and little Olivia!

The Pelsers had, without our knowing, planned a whole lot of things to do for our visit...and after months of us planning every little obscure detail of our trip it was such a relief to just go with the flow!

Ons gaan nou braai!

That evening we were treated to something we've sorely missed on our travels...a braai! Words cannot describe the overwhelming joy that such a simple gesture provided! 

We had a lovely evening catching up and reminiscing about the good old days...

I'm going to mention this a lot, but it's remarkable what the simple, comforting feeling of home can do to one's soul, it was definitely a long overdue re-acquaintance!

No wonder we slept well past 08:00 the next morning!

Our first day mostly comprised of doing washing, clearing our backpacks and cleaning ourselves up for a change! Kristi also jumped at the opportunity to help out with little Olivia, who has to be one of the sweetest, happiest and easiest toddlers we've met, which is a clear testament to how well her parents have raised her!

Best buds...

That evening we had a surprise outing (the first of many!), to something I've always wanted to experience...a live baseball game! 

"Take me out to the ballgame"...

They say you haven't really experienced America until you've been to the nation's most treasured pastime! We went the whole nine yards or innings I suppose - hot-dogs, cold beer, cracker jacks and literally front row seats! 

The taste of freedom...

Plus the stadium is in the heart of the city, so every-time you look up you gaze directly into the impressive Charlotte skyline, which made for quite a surreal experience...

Awesome setting!

It was a great outing, the Charlotte Knights won which was a bonus and we came really close to catching some of the stray foul balls - which you get to keep...We also got the opportunity to meet some of Le Roux and Kim's close friends, Steve and Tracy, a really friendly couple, who kindly invited us to their house near Lake Norman on the weekend!

Now coming to America one usually has somewhat of a prejudiced view pertaining to the food on offer...big macs, fries and gallons of sugary drinks...but that couldn't be further from the truth, yes the portions are relatively big but when has that ever been a problem for someone coming from South Africa!? 

Le Roux and Kim treated us to all their favorite dining spots during our stay - en ek weet nie of ons net heeltemal uitgehonger was nie want ons het regtig soos konings geëet! We enjoyed everything from tapas, to tasty tacos, classic Carolina BBQ, healthy salads, Southern fried chicken and the deliciously strange burgushi (burger/sushi - only in America)...

'Good food on Montford'...more like Great food on Montford!

Needless to say I think I have regained my fighting weight so to say! It was such a treat!

Burgushi!

That Saturday we all headed to the Old Mecklenburg brewery just outside Charlotte, where Kristi and I got to meet some of Kim and Le Roux's other friends, and their little ones. It was really festive and the type of environment that the two of said we can easily envision ourselves and our friends in within the next couple of years, which was great because it really felt like something to look forward to! Oh and the beer wasn't half bad either!

On the Sunday we had the luxury of going to the lake, Lake Norman, to visit Steve and Tracy, and wait for it...go out on their pontoon boat! 

The lake is massive, with the classic American greenery adorning its shoreline and loads of small islands bobbing on its surface! The sun came out just as we arrived and it ended up being a lovely day for being out on the water. After parking off for a quick swim, Steve took us to one of the small uninhabited islands for a beach braai! 

Beach braai Lake Norman

He popped on some Boars Head sausages and beef patties which along with the ice cold beers and sunny sky just melted into what can only be described as a good old Sunday afternoon!

Takin it easy!

After a couple of optimistic attempts at wake boarding by the two cousins and being properly schooled in the end my endlessly talented wife, we made our way back to the docks...

Kristi showing how it's done on Lake Norman

Dit was so lekker om net 'n salige Sondag saam met familie en vriende te kon geniet!

As if we haven't been treated enough, Le Roux and Kim, surprised us with probably the biggest treat of our stay...A spa day at the Ballantyne resort just outside Charlotte with a couples massage, saunas, luxury pool, the works!

Some much appreciated R&R at the Ballantyne!

Now I am so proud of Kristi for all that she's had to endure on our adventure, and we've hit some pretty rough patches along the way...and through it all she's always made an effort to look her best, to do her nails (usually on an overnight bus!) and all those things despite the very limited resources we've had at our disposal. Thus I've always wanted to just give her some semblance of luxury again, this is our honeymoon after all, but as you can imagine, in South America that's not an easy fix! So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Pelsers could not have given us a more timely and appropriate gift, which we are truly grateful for and if I have to say so myself, that massage did do wonders!

The one morning we also got to go to work with Le Roux, and got a glimpse of the behind the scenes workings of the retail food industry! 

Good to go!

We visited Le Roux's factory where his trucks were loading up the morning's shipments (cold meats, cheeses and various condiments) that had to go to all the different stores that they supply. I even got to help out with the sorting of some of the products...number 3566, three units of Smoked Turkey - check!

It was a fun morning outing with the boss, and good to see him action!

All in all we really could not have fathomed in our our wildest dreams the overwhelming joy and hospitality that we received during our stay at the Pelsers. It really felt like home, and we can honestly say that we feel fully recharged for the final leg of our journey! 

In fact after all the good food and luxuries I am worried about how we are going to return to the backpacking lifestyle!

Ain't nothing like family

We cannot say thank you enough to Le Roux, Kim and little Olivia, for all that they did for us and all the great experiences! We hope that we will be able to return the favor sometime in the near future!

Baie liefde Pelsers! Ons mis julle al klaar!

Good times!

Savannah, Georgia

After yet another overnight bus (hopefully our last) we arrived in Savannah at 8pm.

All "bussed out"!

We had decided to visit this town as it is on our way to Charlotte and a good place to get a feel for a typical Southern town.

Our "Southern Road Trip"

The USA is not a cheap place as we all know, especially if you're a backpacker on a budget! We had decided to attempt to save some money by signing up for Couch Surfing...

Couch surfing is where you stay over with a person or people who have also joined the 'couch surfing community '. You literally sleep on their couch, mattress or whatever they have available.

The whole idea is that you then also have your couch back home available for when people want to stay over. The underlying perk of couch surfing is that you don't pay for accommodation, and you get to meet new people and get a much more intimate experience of a place.

So...our first couch surfing hosts were a couple from Savannah. Kelley and Sam and their dog Chester. They are a super friendly, laid back, easy going couple.

Our first Couch Surfer hosts, Kelley and Sam

Kelley picked us up from the bus stop and took us to their apartment. It was TINY! (But free remember). We had a really comfortable air-mattress to sleep on in the living room. Once the mattress was inflated there literally was not space for a mouse in that room. Chester also sleeps under the table next to you. The tiny bathroom is through their tiny room. And then there is a tiny kitchen.

I think you get the picture...Kelley works for the American girl scouts, and had gotten over a thousand of these cookie boxes that had expired but are still edible - so everywhere there was just boxes and boxes of cookies. It was all a bit bizarre! That being said, we were blown away by their hospitality and opening their tiny apartment for a couple of South Africans who didn't even have a reference on couch surfing yet.

"Yes for the most part life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get, but sometimes life is like a mountain of free cookies and you can just take as much of it as you'd like!"

Our first night we all had some wine, which was great, ate cookies and went to bed. Sam gets up at 5:30 for work and has to climb over our bed to get out. So we were up and awake before the crack of dawn.

We spent the next day walking around beautifully serene Savannah. This is just about the only big town in the South that got spared from destruction during the civil war and is thus extremely well preserved. (Apparently the Union army's General Sherman was so struck by the town's beauty that he couldn't get himself to burn it and instead gave it to President Lincoln as a Christmas present!).

One of the numerous Confederate commemorations around Savannah...

There's a litany of beautiful parks that you stroll through on the way to the river, with big confederate monuments, and grand old oak trees festooned with Spanish moss all around. We even got a chance to take a selfie at the spot where Forrest Gump sat on the bench telling his story for most of the movie (Albertus' request!).

A little later we had some take out food from a place that's supposedly serves South African food, in Savannah Georgia! Their South African food compromised of just Rooibos Tea and boerewors rolls but their normal sandwiches were actually really good!

The beautiful fountain in Forsythe Park...

In the afternoon, after a quick post-lunch snooze in Forsythe park, we borrowed Kelly and Sam's bikes and cycled to the outskirts of town, along the waterways surrounding Savannah, the setting was right out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, I was just waiting a thousand white geese to fly off into the sunset! 

Isle of Hope

We headed to a place called the Isle of Hope where there's a beautiful old plantation road lined with massive oak trees that have now completely covered the road, making a beautiful tunnel draped with spanish moss! A very cool outing!

Wormsloe Plantation road

The evening we walked with Sam & Chester down to the Savannah river while Kelley was at her rugby practice. She has just joined the Savannah woman's rugby team.

Sam, Chester and I chilling out on River street next to the Savannah River

Later Sam made us some dinner back at their place, Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches served with a beer. It was really good!

All in all Savannah is a beautiful and scenic place, with a peaceful rhythm and all the charm that you'd expect from a Southern town, but our hosts definitely added some zest to our time there. We are grateful that they shared their place with two complete strangers and made us feel at home.

Good ol' Southern Comfort!

Next we head to Charlotte to go visit some family for a change! Albertus' cousin Le Roux, and his wife Kim, plus little Olivia will be hosting us for a while! We are really looking forward to meet up with family once again, going without it has got to be one of the most difficult things about prolonged traveling!

Savannah, it's been a pleasure!

New Orleans, Louisiana

After a tough and pretty dismal day of traveling - we waited for almost three hours at immigration in Fort Lauderdale and had the bad (and expensive) misfortune of missing our flight the next morning - we were slightly bemused at the thought that this was suppose to be the easy, travel friendly part of our trip! Blinde sambok!

Regardless, we still managed to get to New Orleans in time and headed straight to our hostel, the NOLA Jazz House, which was situated just north of the famous French Quarter. The hostel staff are really friendly and helpful, actually just in general we found people around New Orleans to be extremely friendly and helpful...

On our first night in the Big Easy we decided to go to a traditional New Orleans creole restaurant that was within walking distance from our hostel, a place called Neyows. Not even ten minutes after getting our seats and going through the menu, an elderly African-American couple at the table next to us struck up a conversation about what's best to eat. They highly recommend the famous grilled oysters...Then barely ten minutes after that the waiter came and handed us a plate of grilled oysters and said it's from the couple next to us! When we looked over they were smiling ear to ear, saying "oh y'all gotta try them grilled oysters"! The oysters were delicious but we were mostly just blown away by the good old southern hospitality! It was a really cool way to start our New Orleans adventure!

A streetcar not named desire...

New Orleans has a very nifty and convenient tram system which they call streetcars, and our hostel was situated very close to the one of the lines that runs both down to the French Quarter and up to other parts of New Orleans. So after our very American breakfast of waffles with peanut butter and Nutella we jumped on the streetcar and headed down to the historic centre of the city, for yet another free walking tour - we can't get enough of them!

America...land of choice and loads of sugar!

Before our tour started we were greeted by another amazing site, which actually served as a great intro to the historic tour that was about to start, we saw for the first time the breathtaking view of the mighty Mississippi River!

The mighty Mississippi

Now we've become very much familiar with the free walking tour rigmarole after South America, but as one would expect, the Americans just know how to take something to the next level. Our guide firstly knew the colorful history of the city like the back of his hand but then delivered the stories with such zeal and theatrics that us two South Africans were literally hanging on to his lips!

Jackson Square

The city was founded by the French, way back before the American Revolution, but since New Orleans is literally surrounded by a massive swamp, they had trouble convincing people to come much less settle down...So they then did what any country does when they want to colonize a hostile place at the other end of the world...they sent the prisoners! Which didn't really make things better, so after a few years of disease and general unlawfulness France decided to cut its losses and sell it to the only other colonial player in the area, Spain. They actually gave them Louisiana for free! So the Spanish came and did a much better job than the French, they brought with them the experience of colonizing similar climatic regions in Latin America and thus knew how to yield better results, by planting sugarcane, and how to better utilize the powerful asset of the Mississippi River! Thus when you walk through the "French Quarter" the beautiful buildings you see are actually of Spanish colonial descent and not French. The French did get involved once again at a later stage when Napoleon demanded the state Louisiana back from the Spanish, and as he was then already in his ascent to European power he managed to get it back for free. He then kept Louisiana for an entire three weeks before he went on sell it to the Americans for $15 million in what became one of the biggest land deals in history - back then the Louisiana state stretched all the way up to what's now Montana!

The city had a lot of very colorful characters in those days, which is probably what you'd expect from a place situation in a swamp! You had the French ex-convicts, the cajuns, the Spanish, African slaves and free persons of colour which was the term for French mixed race children, and then off course the Pirates!

There was one famous pirate captain in particular, John Lefiet, who now has half the city named after him (again...a pirate!). The reason for this is that back during the American Revolution when the British attacked New Orleans, Lefiet, who, along with his crew, was in jail at the time for trying to kill the Governor, but got released to help in the fight, which he did, and pretty much saved the day! He provided most of the gunpowder that eventually defeated the Brits in a victory that many say turned the war in favor of the Patriots! Crazy!

Street Jazz artist

Anyway it was a really fun tour around a city which is also the birthplace of Jazz music, started by the slaves, which you can hear playing on most of the squares, and clubs around town - day and night! We would literally just go park off at a street bench and listen to a street jazz band play the iconic melodies of the South! 

Afterwards we enjoyed another New Orleans specialty at the famous Le Mond café, some very good coffee and beignets which are basically vetkoeke with a thick layer of casting sugar dusted over them - they're really delicious, my sister told me Kim Kardashian flies to New Orleans specifically just for them and we can understand why!

That evening we went to have another popular New Orleans meal (the place is renowned for its food) called a Po' Boy which is just a massive baguette sandwich - basically the result of the Americans taking a traditional French loaf of bread and super-sizing it! It was delicious though! After that we hit Frenchman street to go listen to some more Jazz and walked through some of the late night local art markets...

The next day we got to experience another iconic part of the South which is its vegetation, especially its massive Spanish Moss covered oak trees and the very lush swamp-like terrain around the waterways...We decided to go for an afternoon picknick in New Orleans' city park and just relaxed under the comforting shade of the giant oaks, the Spanish moss looking like big draping chandeliers as shreds of sunlight pierced through the thick canopies...

City Park

It was a great way to balance out the busy and vibrant atmosphere in the city!

On our last day we just strolled around the French Quarter one last time, took in the beauty of Jackson square with the backdrop of the mighty Mississippi and took every last streetcar we could find to see the other parts of town...It's really a great city to experience with a very unique history and culture, and a great place to start if you're doing a tour of the Southern states!

We had a midnight bus that night to Tallahassee, Florida, where we would take another connecting bus to another jewel of the South, Savannah, Georgia...

We had to walk a couple of blocks with our backpacks from the streetcar stop to the bus station and about halfway we passed a group of people chilling on the street corner at 23:00 at night. In these situations my South African instincts would kick in immediately, and we kind of veered away from them to the other side of the road...but in a very apt closing act to our wonderful stay in New Orleans, one of the guys shouted, "Hey y'all, you guys going to the Greyhound station? Well you're going the right way! You have a good night!"

You gotta love that Southern Hospitality!

Merci beaucoup New Orleans!