Big Ben's Travelogue Blog

Today was the last day of our trip and we had not really made any firm plans, other than we had to definitely get up early to watch a couple of episodes of the office before we left.  I decided to take charge of breakfast to make sure we didn't end up in a vegetarian tofu bar or whatever fruit salad based dirge the others would pick.  We loaded up the Yukon and headed for the German Town district of Nashville where Trip Advisor assured me we would find Nashville's fourth best breakfast (never go top three, they get complacent). The restaurant in question was Monells and promised good old fashioned Southern Fayre, it did not disappoint.  On arrival we were told there would be a 45 minute wait for a table, in absentia anything else to do we decided to wait and sat on the terrace enjoying a coffee in the sun.  In actuality it was about ten minutes before we were called in to our table.  By our table I mean the table for 14 we were to share with several other groups.  The restaur

We had no plans but it was the penultimate day of our holiday so it was vital we got off to a strong start.  This strong start mainly involved watching a good few episodes of "The Office - An American Workplace."  For those who are unfamiliar with this series it is the US version of "The Office" but can be considered inspired by rather than a remake of.  It's great. Once we managed to stop we set off for a local shopping mall to pick up a few items.  In my case new pants and jeans.  The latter being particularly important as I was down to a single pair.  I also enjoyed looking for some new shoes and spotted the following, but sadly they didn't have a pair in my size.: high fashion Nashville Style Once again Nashville was a total let down when it came to breakfast, despite arriving well before the normal breakfast curfew of 11:00AM not one of the many restaurants was able to serve breakfast.  This was a terrible situation only made better by the fact

Today was a sad day, instead of doing group activities I was cast aside like yesterday's garbage (American for trash) to make my own way in the badlands of the Southern USA.  As an eternal optimist I decided to make the most of my situation by planning the most awesome day I could think of, to this end I got up early to make sure the car was mine for the day and headed South for Huntsville Alabama. It is important to start any busy day with a good breakfast, to this end I sought the closest branch of Denny's.  Amazingly there is not a single branch in Nashville so I survived on a diet of hot tamales and luke warm Pepsi Max until I arrived at the Huntsville branch of Denny's some 120 miles away. a coffee cup At this point it was lucky M and E were not with me as Denny's proceeded to deliver the kind of quality and service that they think is the Denny's norm, rather than this terrible exception.  It started with coffee taking ages, then a spillage on my tab

This morning we all woke up relatively early and were out of the house by 8:30 on our way to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee.  But first breakfast.  Despite its huge local influence the Elvis Presley estate could not secure a Denny's franchise anywhere near Graceland so we went to somewhere called "the Rock n Roll Diner."  It was shit.  Whilst we were eating it was raining rather a lot but luckily it had stopped by the time we finished and rolled into Graceland car park. For Christmas 2018 I got us all "Ultimate VIP tour" passes which got us our own tour guide and access to some rare Elvis artifacts, more on those later.  The tour started at 10:45 when we were greeted by our guide, the interestingly named "Ecstasy."   I knew we were running with the cool kids when not a single member of our group took took the opportunity to pose for a theme park photo against a fake background. The tour of the house was fantastic with our guide giving us s

An early start today, mainly driven by a need to escape Jimmy Buffett prison but also because I wanted to get on the road to visit a car museum in Tupelo.  Before we had even left Vicksburg it was made clear to me that my family were once again going to stamp on my dreams and insisted that we drove directly to Memphis to go to a civil rights museum instead.  FFS.  The only saving grace was we were able to visit Denny's for breakfast. The family truckster outside Denny's Breakfast was everything I dreamed it would be and I was delighted to note that Denny's has not given up on serving the pun based 'moons over my hammy' breakfast sandwich.  The cherry on the cake was they even do a discounted menu for the elderly so mum's food was a bargain.  As was the rest of it. Next we hit the road for Memphis (and not the car museum) this was quite a good drive with what traffic there was happy to cruise at or around the ton for miles on end.  The Yukon is ideal for

Today has ended up being quite annoying, mainly because I have been spoiled for choice of appropriate song titles for the post title.  The obvious one was Janis Joplin - Bobby McGee as we were at one point "busted flat in Baton Rouge."  By busted flat I mean having a row about how to get into a Starbucks car park.  However in the end for reasons I will explain later Margaritaville was victorious. I accidentally woke up rather early today but declined to move until 9:09 when it was a more civilised time to be up.  After the debacle of yesterday morning Mum and Emma followed the strict instructions I had given not to disturb me under and circumstances and as such had already gone out for breakfast.  This was great because I was free to go to the low rent diner adjacent to our hotel where I enjoyed an utterly fantastic steak and omelette based breakfast. Even though breakfast steak is a tough act to follow the day actually improved, on returning to my room I was delighted to

After a long day's travelling yesterday I was able to overcome any traces of jet lag and sleep solidly through the night.  In fact the sleep I was enjoying was of such high quality I was more than a little annoyed when Emma selfishly rang my room to say that she and mum were ready for breakfast at 8:30 (IN THE MORNING.)  I am now writing this blog whilst they enjoy an afternoon nap, necessary because they got up so early. We started the day with a walk to New Orleans' famous French quarter for breakfast, I was rather annoyed because the cafe that Emma had chosen was not Denny's.  In her defence there is not a Denny's anywhere near our hotel.  On the other hand I was quite prepared to drive to one.  For as long as it took.  All that said it was a pretty good breakfast, offering almost Denny's quality for only four times the cost. A breakfast menu - yesterday As we finished our meal the weather took something of a turn for the worse, given we were in the Frenc

Day One – John Denver – Leaving on a Jet Plane Welcome back to my travelogue blog.   This time I am going on a musical tour of the American South where I hope to enjoy both kinds of music.   I am travelling with my mum and sister or Jean and Emma as those who are not their child / sibling know them.   The week starts in New Orleans then arcs North East to Nashville via Memphis.   It is a trip we have discussed for a long time but have only just managed to find the time for, Emma adding a new focus by pointing out that mum isn’t getting any younger. As per the beginning of many of my travels I started the day with breakfast in Green’s coffee shop, which is conveniently located underneath my flat.   Things didn’t get off to a great start when they informed me the coffee machine was broken, then again prior to a week in the land of coffee perhaps a pot of tea wasn’t such a bad thing. Due to not really being terribly organised, and perhaps not hinting strongly enough to friends