After yet another overnight bus (hopefully our last) we arrived in Savannah at 8pm.
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.
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.
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.
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!).
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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| All "bussed out"! |
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| 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.
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| Our first Couch Surfer hosts, Kelley and Sam |
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!" |
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!).
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| One of the numerous Confederate commemorations around Savannah... |
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| 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!
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| Isle of Hope |
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| Wormsloe Plantation road |
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| Sam, Chester and I chilling out on River street next to the Savannah River |
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.
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| Good ol' Southern Comfort! |
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| Savannah, it's been a pleasure! |
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