Just back from a month in the USA - flew into NEW ORLEANS first, had 2 weeks driving around seeing parts of LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA, flew out of Atlanta to LAS VEGAS then flew to MAUI. Had 5 nights each in New Orleans, Vegas and Maui. Some stuff like flights were organized with our travel agent, some accommodation etc I organized myself via the internet. The only problems we had (which were minor) were with the stuff the travel agent organized. It pays, in more ways than one, to do bookings yourself.

Stayed at the Bon Maison Guesthouse in New Orleans. Great location, friendly people, nothing like a hotel (which we liked). We were there for the French Quarter Festival which was a fantastic time to be in NO, lots happening and most of it free.

Loved seeing some of the plantation homes, we stayed in one in Natchez which we'd recommend - Elgin Plantation. Had grits for breakfast, we?d wondered what they were like! Must be an acquired taste, we?d rather have vegemite on toast!

Enjoyed seeing Gracelands, the Biltmore Estate, Dollywood and the Smoky Mountains.

Stayed at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, booked it via their website. Great central location, pool area is really nice. Saw the show Splash at the Riviera, got half price tickets at the booth in Showcase Mall.

We love Maui, last time we were there on our honeymoon and Lahaina hasn't changed at all, still has a lot of charm. Stayed at the Maui Islander, good location but rooms are very worn, parking is $5 a day for hotel guests and staff were not very friendly.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions if anyone is interested in details. We had a wonderful time, the hardest bit was the 33 hour journey from Melbourne, Australia to New Orleans, but we'd do it again!

Kay

Hello KayF

I've also travelled to the USA from Oz, and have flown to New York City from Brisbane via Sydney/L.A. . This was approx 24 hrs in total. Can I ask your flight schedule to New Orleans. I'm considering another visit to the USA next year, starting in Orlando?

Thanks

Sounds like an amazing trip!! You've now seen more places than lots of people who live in the States. May I ask for more details about the Flamingo? I'm staying there in two weeks. How are the rooms?

Kay, glad you had a great trip! FYI, the thing about grits is that they are not good without fattening stuff on them (think plain baked potato). You have to load them up with butter, salt, cheese, etc. The best ones are made with heavy cream.

Thanks for your trip report. It's fun to read about a foreigner's trip to the US. As someone mentioned, lots of us have not seen all the destinations you saw. I, for example, have yet to visit Louisiana and Mississippi. In Tennessee I have only been to tri-cities airport, so it reall doesn't count. I have been to North Carolina, Vegas, and Maui.

And one of these days I am going to get to Australia!

I'd like to hear more about the Great Smoky Mountains-Asheville-Atlanta leg of your trip. What did you think of the mountains as you passed through? See anything of Asheville other than Biltmore -- but while we're at it, what did you think of Biltmore? Where'd ya stay? Where'd ya eat?

Lol -- was it all you had hoped it would be and more? Don't spare the details!

Kay....thanks for coming to visit the United States...hope our hositiality extended to you was commensurate to that which you folks extend to us..

come see us again.

Can some one please tell me what grits are?

Marg:
(This is from a nothern girl who has only had grits in the mid-west, so take it with a grain of salt.) Grits are a traditional southern side dish made primarily out of corn meal. The key is getting the texture right, something like soupy mashed potatoes or an undercooked pancake. If they are made right, with lots of butter, they are great! If not, like the previous poster said, they are boring. Grits is a traditional southern American dish that is rarely eaten in the north.

I returned from a visit to the US just last weekend. Flew into Phoenix, rented a car and drove through Arizona and So Cal. This was my 3rd trip to the US Southwest which I love. US hospitality is second to none IMO, even US drivers seem to make reasonable allowances for errors that we in the UK would not.

Although it's unlikely that the folk concerned would hear of this, I would like to thank the lady server in the Family Diner south of Cas Grande, Arizona, who found my shoulder bag containing my passport, traveller's cheques, return airline tickets etc., I thanked her profusely at the time and gave her the biggest tip she probably ever had in her life! Also, the true gentleman cowboy in a white truck who saw me fall over on the roadside whilst walking back to my motel one afternoon just outside of Tombstone. He picked me up, cleaned my wounds as best he could and returned me safely to my motel, leaving his card to call him later and tell him I was ok. Owzatt for hospitality and good neighborliness? Tell you what, it's highly unlikely that anyone in England would stop and help someone like that, they would assume that I was drunk and drive on. Thank you sir, I shan't forget your kindness.

The rest of the holiday went smoothly and I just loved the desert in springtime. I'll be back, of course.

Best wishes all.

Great stories from Joan and Kay. It's really interesting to get feedback from overseas visitors - tho just for the record, Joan, we found great kindness and hospitalitity from the Brits on our visits there. (But given that flight time to "Oz," I don't think I'll ever see it, much as I'd like to...)

A thousand apologies for not replying earlier - a combination of computer problems and organising our life at home again after a month away!

To TRACKER - we flew direct from Melbourne to LA which is 14 hours. Then we had an 8 hr layover in LA. We couldn't check our baggage in with America West until 4 hrs before our next flight so hung around and eventually caught a cab to Venice Beach for a look around, some fresh air, and a bite to eat. Cab back, then we flew to Phoenix, less than an hour on the ground, then flew to New Orleans, arriving about midnight. We were up at 5am at home to get to the airport on time. We would have preferred not to have so much time in LA but the extra cost of travelling with a different airline was quite substantial. We were lucky to get the direct flight to LA, most flights out of Melbourne go via Sydney or New Zealand which takes longer.

To JENSEN - The Flamingo was fine, very good location, opposite Caesars and within a short walk of Paris, Bellagio, Aladdin, the Venetian, Mirage, etc. It's not as new as some of the other hotel casinos and this is obvious once inside but then it's not as expensive as those newer places either! The pool area was lovely, a few pools to choose from, a waterfall, you have to show your room key to be allowed into the pool area and we did find it difficult to find lounges at the pool one day, it seemed particularly busy. Our room was just a hotel room, nice enough, bathroom was average, view over the pool area and the distant mountains, king size bed, etc. All the usual stuff, a little worn looking in places. We ate at the coffee shop, Lindy's, twice, it was quite good. You can check in at Las Vegas airport which is supposed to be quicker than checking in at the hotel.

Hope this helps.
Kay

Hi GOTRAVEL - it was fun to see some of the southern people really enjoying their grits, while we had our teeth gritted at the very thought of them! We had 2 different types at the plantation home we stayed at but couldn't really get into them. In Australia they are unheard of, we've been describing them as sort of like gritty mashed potato, made of corn.

To LAUREN - hope you do get to visit Australia one day, it's quite different from the USA but has a lot to offer the tourist. Lots of Americans say they want to visit here but are put off by the distance involved. It sure is a long way!

To HAUNTEDHEAD - We didn't stay in Asheville, we stayed at a little town called Dillsboro just south of the Smoky Mountains. We wanted to visit Biltmore one day and the next day go the other way toward Atlanta so it seemed a good choice. We stayed at the Applegate Inn, a guesthouse, which was lovely and we'd recommend. We went into Asheville for a short time, went to 2 bookshops and had a coffee, it seemed a bit funky / alternative lifestyle, but it may have been just the bits we saw. We quite liked the vibe! We ate that night on the way home at Cracker Barrel, a southern chain we'd discovered and just loved.
We stayed at Gatlinburg before Dillsboro and then drove through the Smokies, it was very green and pretty but not spectacular. We have countryside the same here so I wouldn't say it's a must-see for visitors. We've seen Yosemite, Bryce Canyon and the Rockies in Canada, all of which were much more interesting. We enjoyed the Smokies but were a bit disappointed not to see many animals. We saw deer at Cades Cove.
Biltmore was great, a real highlight for me, I love grand old buildings. We were there nearly all day, we had a 'timed' visit to the house because it was so busy and it took nearly 2 hours to go through the house, shuffling in the queue the whole way. We had a quick (and pricey) bite to eat there for lunch and visited the winery as well. I think the whole place is extremely well marketed. I got hugged by a guide there - he said it was 'Hug an Australian Day' - I thought he was kidding but we did see it later in the Asheville newspaper. Very strange!

Kay

To CIRCA - we found people in the USA very polite, friendly, helpful and generally conservative. We were also surprised at how religious some areas are, in a supermarket in the south we were told 'here's your change and god bless you'. That would never happen in Australia in a million years. It certainly didn't offend us, we were just surprised. The service in restaurants etc was outstanding. We don't have the tipping culture here in Australia so perhaps waitstaff are extra helpful in the US in the hope of bigger tips? I don't care why it is, we loved the good service everywhere. You can sometimes ask for a glass of water 3 times in a restaurant here before you get it. Everything in America came promptly and courteously.
People in the south were different from the west coast people, more gracious and perhaps more relaxed? We loved the southern accents and they changed from state to state which we didn't expect. Some of the young black people could have been speaking Greek for all we could understand!

This was about our 8th visit to the USA, we love it there and it has so much to offer the traveller. We'd like to come back one day and see some new places but I think I'll wait until the memory of that long plane ride has faded from my memory!
Kay

topping for anyone wanting a reply...

Kayf,

Thanks for the reply. May i ask the difference in airfare costs not having the 8 hour stopover in L.A. and which airline(s) you flew with?
Thanks again

Hi Tracker - difference in cost was about A$600. For that extra money we could have flown with American Airlines out of LA to New Orleans but even with the AA flight we still would have had about 4 hrs in LAX.
We flew with Qantas to LA, America West within the mainland, American Airlines to Hawaii then Qantas home.
We also had the situation where we had to fly from Las Vegas to Maui on 3 different airlines on 3 different flights when we knew that all those airlines flew direct LV to Maui. Our travel agent told us on our ticket it wasn't possible to fly this sector direct. Very annoying as it took us all day and then some to get to Maui.
Kay

KayF, what a great report! I'm so glad you had a terrifci trip to the US. I have a suggestion for the grits--mix sugar into them. It is SO yummy!! My husband is from Louisiana and he taught me that little trick. I grew up in Arkansas and used to mix them with butter. No more--only sugar! Thanks for your compliments about the South. I love living in the South and do find a bit of a difference as far as manners and friendliness go; however, I agree that my county as a whole is pretty friendly. I've heard the same of Australia and hope to experience it for myself one of these days.

Thanks KayF for your trip report. Glad you enjoyed the south (along with the rest of the USA). From the people I know who have had vegemite, it was disgusting -- but they love grits. I guess food is based on regionality.

Thanks for the 'grits tips' but it's unlikely I'll ever have them again. Australia has a great range of food but not grits!
One of the highlights of our trip was the food in the south - we had so many terrific things that you just can't get here. We found once we were back in the west, it was back to burgers.
I've found anyone not brought up on vegemite from a babe thinks it's disgusting. Vegemite soldiers (toast with vegemite cut into strips) was a favourite breakfast for kids when I was growing up.
Kay