Polar Pops, Cicadas and Chili Cheese Coneys

I’ve always been intrigued by America, whether it’s the patriotism, the over-enthusiasm, the idea that everything is bigger, the cars, the houses, the theme parks, the food, the weather, the sports, and so on… but I guess that’s not much of a surprise when you consider that I’ve only really lived in Durham City…

Don’t get me wrong, Durham is a beautiful historic city with a Cathedral that is 644 years older than the United States of America… Just let that sink in for a second… A Cathedral that is over 3.5 times older than one of the most developed countries in the world… Crazy. When I’ve lived within a few miles of it for my entire life, I do sometimes take it for granted… But it’s not always the most exciting place to live…

Until a couple of years ago, I had only been on holiday to the US a few times, visiting Florida and New York. Nowadays, I call it “tourist America”, having had the privilege of visiting “real America” three times in the last 24 months, thanks to my now fiancée. The reason I call it “tourist America” is because I’ve realised that it’s a different world when you visit a place like Manhattan. The people aren’t as welcoming, the food isn’t as great, everything is 100 miles an hour and there’s barely an American accent to be heard… So this blog is all about what I experienced on my first trip to what I call “real America”, back in April 2018.

Throw me on a plane for 8/9 hours and I’ll keep myself amused, but one thing that really stresses me out is having to go through security at an airport… I’ve got nothing to hide, yet EVERY TIME I walk through airport security I get searched… Stood there in my shorts, socks and t-shirt…

“No officer, that’s not a gun in my pocket…”

Maybe I just have one of those faces…

But nothing beats that feeling of stepping off a plane in a hot country and feeling that waft of hot air… We landed in Orlando, and if I remember rightly it was nearing 30°C (86°F for my American readers). It felt amazing, and also quite bizarre knowing that we had to pick up the rental car to then drive 7 hours from Orlando, FL to Augusta, GA. Yes, more sitting down, but at least this car had Bluetooth for Spotify! #godsend

“No officer, that’s not a gun in my pocket…”

The next day we ventured out for a look around Evans and came across a Circle K, so we popped in for a drink only to come across what could only be described as a drinks bucket! These XXL Polar Pops hold nearly 1.5 litres so I nearly drowned in root beer for the entire trip!

What made it better was that every cashier was so nice… We must have heard “Have a nice day!” more times in that holiday than I’ve had fish and chips!

A highlight of that trip was when we went to the shooting range. Holding a real firearm, something I never thought I'd do, felt awesome! In my mind I expected the recoil to be painful and for it to be much harder than it looked, but it felt so natural…

Even with the ear protectors on the noise was immense, but the power you feel when you pull that trigger! We haven’t been to the shooting range since but I might have to mention it to the other half when we’re next over there… and maybe take a bigger gun next time!

Speaking of loud noises… those damn cicadas were EVERYWHERE!!! If you’ve never heard of a cicada before and have no clue what one is, just imagine a fly but the size of your THUMB. Yup, a 2 inch long “fly” with a wingspan the length of a standard sized pen. And the reason they make so much noise is apparently to repel birds, or anything else for that matter. If you’re wondering how loud they actually are, they can reach in excess of 100 decibels, so similar to a lawnmower or a chainsaw, but constant… If you’re there long enough then you don’t hear it as much, but once you arrive back in the UK the silence is something us Brits really take for granted…

“Speaking of loud noises… those damn cicadas were EVERYWHERE!!!”

Not the best transition into food but I guess it’s still smoother than going from Barack Obama to Donald Trump…

So yes, the food… oh the food! Everywhere we went was amazing, and that includes Sonic, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Taco Bell, IHOP, Chik-fil-A, Dunkin’ Donuts, Moe’s, Bojangles’, Cracker Barrel and Little Caesar’s. The highlights have to be “The Baconator” (Wendy’s), “Crazy Bread” (Little Caesar’s) and “The Chili Cheese Coney” (Sonic). The latter is simply a hot dog with chili and cheese on top, but it’s so good! Especially with chili cheese tots on the side… God I’m so hungry right now…

Then to finish the trip we drove back down to Florida and went to Disney World and Universal Studios, which was amazing…

In a nutshell, it was an amazing trip, and we’ve made trips like this one every 8 months since… I just can’t get enough of America… I’d probably live there if I could, but which state to live in is another thing… Maybe not Hawai’i, it’s a bit too far out, and maybe not Alaska, it’s cold enough here as it is!!!

I took plenty of videos of our trip and mashed them all together, so feel free to watch the video below.

Over and out!