Sunday 29th April - Tuesday 1st May

Time to start travelling again and we are booked to travel with Amtrak Trains at 2.30 pm, catching the Sunset Limited journey to New Orleans, the trip was scheduled to arrive into New Orleans at 4.00 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday. Andy and Jan drove us to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, it was fairly easy to find the station as it was just off Interstate 10. We checked in our luggage and said our goodbyes, we couldn;t thank Andy and Jan enough for putting up with us for 3 weeks. After we had got our boarding passes we went and hired a portable DVD player which had a choice of 12 films and several TV shows, this would help to pass the time. On boarding the train we found our sleeping car, we were surprised at how small the space was, just two seats facing each other which formed the bottom bunk and yes you?ve guessed Ron is sleeping in the overhead locker again, this was to be our home for the next 2 days. The train left Los Angeles on time but as we were soon to find out it doesn't keep on time as freight trains seem to get priority, there were also major track replacement along much of the route, by the time we had reached Palm Springs we were already running 1½ hrs late. We had enquired 2 weeks ago if we could change our starting station to Palm Springs but were informed that it would cost us another $240 to change our tickets. All our meals and soft drinks were included in the cost of the tickets so we made our way to the dining car for our first meal at 6.30 p.m. The staff in the dining car always sit you opposite another couple so you get to meet your travelling companions which for most of the time was really interesting. By the time we reached Arizona it was dark and we settled down in our sleeper to watch the first movie (Flags of our Fathers - directed by Clint Eastwood), it was very cosy sitting together on our bunk! Sleep is not very easy when you sway from side to side and listen to the clickety clack of the train. On waking at 5.20 we found that we had missed Arizona and we were now in New Mexico. We passed over the Rio Grande River and were soon stopping at El Paso, this is where we could get off the train for 10 minutes to stretch our legs (and anything else that needed stretching). The day passed fairly quickly and we were now running at 4 hours late and to make matters worse we had to backtrack a couple of miles to one of the stations as we had a medical emergency aboard and an ambulance was waiting to take the person to the local hospital. Our last stop before we settled down to sleep again was at Del Rio on the Texas / Mexico border and whilst we pulled into San Antonio at 2 a.m. the last two carriages were un hitched and they would be picked up by the train going to Chicago later on. Sunrise saw us at Houston and surprisingly we were now only 2 hours behind schedule. The landscape had changed considerably and as we headed towards Louisiana cypress swamps dominated the landscape (Linda spent the next few hours looking for alligators). We crossed the 4.4 mile bridge across the Mississippi River before we finally pulled into New Orleans at 5.30 p.m. (only 1½ hours late).

we then took a taxi to our Creole House Hotel in the French Quarters. What a disappointment, the photos on their web page showed an elegant looking hotel but reality showed a rather run down building (to be fair it was a very old building). Our first room had the air conditioning unit for the whole building on the back wall, and the room shook, we soon changed rooms and were put in a slightly less noisy room. A shower was our first priority as the one (and only one) on the train did not work! When we felt refreshed we headed out to sample our first meal in New Orleans, Linda had a Roast Beef Po Boy - which is a large roll full of meat and gravy and Ron had Jumbalaya which is a mixture of rice, chicken, sausage & seafood. As we wandered around the streets we found out that Bourbon Street is noisy at all times of year, not just at Mardi Gras.

Wednesday 2nd May

Setting off with our map we headed down towards the Mississippi River, firstly passing St Louis Cathedral and walking through Jackson Square. We decided to take a carriage ride around the French Quarters, the female driver gave us a good narrative as we passed all the old buildings and explained to us why this area was not damaged by the floods after Hurricane Katrina (the only part of New Orleans that is built above sea level). We then headed towards the Riverside Walk where there are shops and restaurants that are geared up for the cruise line visitors. By now the sun was beating down on us so on impulse we took a steam boat trip up the Mississippi. Here we saw more of the damage that Katrina had inflicted on New Orleans, most of the dockside area was completely destroyed by fire and we could see the infamous districts that were flooded when the levees broke down. A lot of the areas are still derelict as the families that were made homeless have simply just not returned to New Orleans. After a short rest at our hotel room we headed back to the waterfront to have our meal and then walked to the casino (to spend our usual $5) before we headed back to the French Quarter and the infamous Bourbon Street where we found a fairly quiet bar to have a drink (Ron was really worried that he might get propositioned).

Thursday 3rd May

Moving on again we took a taxi to the Greyhound Bus Terminal (next to the railway station) to catch our 9.30 a.m. coach to Pensacola. The route took us through Gulfport and Biloxi in Mississippi, both towns having been badly affected by Katrina, the devastation is still clearly visible although nearly 2 years have passed. When we pulled into the bus stop at Gulfport we had a border control officer come and check all "alien" passports. At Mobile in Alabama we had to change busses and had a wait of approx 1 hour, we pulled into Pensacola (Florida) and then took a 12 mile taxi ride to the airport where we picked up our car rental. By now it was 4.30 and we headed towards Fort Walton Beach - about 45 miles away, hooray we found the Ramada Hotel quite easily. On checking in we had mail waiting for us and a message from Travis (Andrew's old school friend) who had moved to the area just 2 days previously. We rang Travis and he came over and shared a meal with us. The hotel this time lived up to all our expectations.

Friday 4th May

Happy birthday to Ron, we had the usual stack of birthday cards, emails and text messages (thanks to everyone). We had a leisurely breakfast and then started a marathon walk along the beach which is lovely soft white sand with an emerald green sea, although it was quite overcast today the temperature was still in the 80's. This area is definitely the forgotten Florida, we only passed a couple of people in the 2 hours we walked along the beach, it was great. Back at the hotel we sat around the pool, reading books and drinking cocktails (well it is Ron's birthday). Later on we walked the other way to the pier and watched the fishermen / fisherwomen catching huge fish before we had another cocktail. Back to the room to pack as we have an early start tomorrow.

Saturday 5th May

Checked out of our hotel at 7 a.m. to start our 420 mile drive to Indian Rocks, which is just past Clearwater Beach. Linda drove the first 3 hours until we passed Tallahassee where we left Interstate 10 and started to head south. By now we had passed another time zone and we were now in Eastern time (5 hours behind the UK). As we had not yet had any breakfast we found a Huddles restaurant and had a huge plateful of eggs and hash browns. Eventually we arrived at our hotel in Indian Rocks at 5 p.m., checked in, swimmers on and in the pool, the temperature was 92 degrees even at this time of the day. The hotel suite we had booked was the biggest we had stayed in during the last 6 months and the wardrobe space was bigger than the sleeper car on the train. After our meal at the hotel restaurant we went onto the beach and watched a beautiful Florida sunset.

Sunday 6th May

Late breakfast (but not as late as yesterdays) and then we started another marathon walk on the beach, another day, another white sandy beach, but this time there was a lot more people about. We definitely like swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Gulf, sure beats the North Sea or English Channel back home. Another lazy afternoon sitting around the pool and then time for a spa bath in our suite before our evening meal. We chose a restaurant overlooking the harbour side of Indian Rocks and whilst we were there we heard two tones and sirens, and much to our astonishment it was an emergency boat on the inland waterways. Back at the room we settled down to watch the second part of Lord of the Rings on the TV.

Monday 7th May

Left Indian Rocks Beach behind and headed south towards the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, at Naples we turned East towards Miami, the total distance driven today was 270 miles. The drive was not too bad until we reached the perimeter ring at Miami Airport, we knew where we wanted to go but getting into the right lane of traffic is a different matter. Eventually though we did pull up at our designated hotel, unloaded our luggage and started the next part of the journey by returning the car to National car rentals on the other side of the airport perimeter! So far, so good, now we needed to get back to our hotel, the shuttle bus from the car rentals took us to the airport where we rang the hotel and they informed us that the hotel shuttle bus would be along in about 45 minutes, just to wait outside the American Airline Concourse. The whole of that area was totally chaotic with cars, taxis, shuttles all trying to pull into the same space, with nobody caring who they blocked in. By the time our shuttle bus arrived our lungs were full of car fumes, ugh!! By now it was nearly 4 p.m. (we had arrived at the hotel at 1.30) we made a much needed cuppa and then went to a local Italian restaurant for a well deserved meal. Time to sort out our cases, update our journals and prepare for the last episode of our adventure - 10 days all inclusive in the Bahamas.