We're in Memphis. Then to the place that stole my heart Nashville.

1st-

Welcome to Memphis, woke up on our bus this morning in Memphis.

Managed to get an uber to our hostel, where we were able to do early check in- very nice. Definitely would have had a nap but had a lot planned today.

Made our way by bus to the National Civil Rights Musuem. It was very good and creative. Definitely a lot of information and on little sleep we struggled through a bit. But it was interesting to read New information that I hadn't learnt I history lessons at school. We were there for just over an hour.

We then made our way to Renees sandwhich shop and I had a nice Turkey sandwhich and Carys chicken. Before making our way to Graceland....

The Elvis Presley musuem was like a theme park. But as soon as you entered one exhibit it connected to all the others. It was a lot of information that by the last one about his life growing up I honestly couldn't read anymore. My most interesting exhibit was the one about how Elvis had shaped the music artists we now know today and so many artists had a display and quotes they had made about Elvis Presley. Cary's favourite exhibit was the one about Elvis joining the army.

After we walked to the outside of Elvis Presley's mansion before heading back to the hostel for a nap.

I then caught up with my mum which I hadn't done in a while properly. It was nice to catch up before Carys and I walked to the closest farmers market for some dinner and desert to cook.

We then met a guy from South Africa, Cape Town who has also just finished camp. We shared stories and experiences before heading to bed.

2/9- It was then a mad dash this morning as I did not want to get out of bed but we're now continuing our Journey to Nashville.... Country music here we come!!!

It took what should be been 4 hours to get to Nashville took about 7 as our bus was delayed... we met a lovely couple in New Orleans that had followed us to Memphis and were now on the same bus again to Nashville who we almost got a joint cab into Nashville. But the Greyhound bus finally did arrive and we made it in time to collapse in our bed!!

3rd-

Yeeha we're in Nashville.

For the last 2 years of travelling with Carys I have planned 90% of the entire trips. So I decided today Carys could plan it all....

We started the day in the free National African American music musuem.

It was very interactive starting with a movie, ability to rap, dance and create music. Plenty to read and learn about the history of music.

We then went in every store on broadway to find the perfect cowgirl boots- which I did!!

We then had a Burger at a place that looked very dodgie on the outside but was pretty cool and very Dolly Parton on the inside.

After that we went to Nudies Honky Tonk sat on the roof and had beef sliders and a vodka cocktail.

We then went to a different bar with live music by Kenna Elpers which was really cool!! We ended the night watching Camp Rock 2 as Carys had never seen it!

4th-

I planned today, we got up 11am and went straight to the Country music musuem and hall of fame. This was a fantastic musuem and I enjoyed learning about all the country artists. I also loved seeing my favourite John Denver and his awards he had won.

There was a really big display about Lainey Wilson which was interesting and even more interesting when I read she used to dress up as Hannah Montanna and do kids parties. She even started opening as Lainey Wilson for Hannah Montanna and then would come back out as Hannah.

We then headed to 12 South, we had lunch and enjoyed some of the local Murals. We then went to a cereal bar where Carys had a Milkshake with cereal in it and I had an ice cream with cookie crip cereal!

We then went back into broadway and went to a place called play playground which had fun mini games and challenges to play. We also enjoyed a cocktail. I beat Carys at all the games! We then headed to the famous catergory 10 bar where Luke Combs started his fame. We were supposed to do a free line dancing lesson but we had missed it being in the playground so enjoyed some live music.

5th-

11:30am we got up but we didn't leave the airbnb until 3pm. We watched Hannah Montanna the movie as it was filmed in Tennesse and Carys again hadn't seen it. We then headed to the Parthenon. It was a Greek building that was pretty cool and we saw a Quincinetta and wedding photos being done. I had a snowcone and then we found Taylor Swifts bench- wasn't very exciting.

We then headed to The Hard Rock Cafe for a big dinner before learning line dancing in Catergory 10. I thoroughly enjoyed the line dancing and watching Carys have absolutely no idea what they were doing. I was then approached by this cowboy that was really a man asking me to dance. I don't think he'd seen me do the line dancing as I hadn't a clue what I was doing. He had to lead me and help me a lot but it was good fun and we ended up dancing together twice. He then moved on to someone a lot more able which was good with me as my feet were hurting. We then did one more lesson before ending the night with a cookie skillet and ice cream.

The day we will never forget... the 6th of September. We'll today was our travel day and a travel day it was.

Plan:

Up and leave airbnb at 9:30am.

Get to the airport

Take off at 12pm

Land at 3:30 in New York

Book bus to Boston preferably the cheap one at 5:30.

Get bus and arrive in Boston at 9:30 to then eat, get in the hostel and sleep.

The reality:

Well the first 3 steps happened. We did take off at 12pm... but we landed at 2:30 in Rhode Island but New York because there was a massive storm.

Now Rhode Island is actually closer to Boston then New York so we thought we'll just leave here and get a bus to Boston. But they wouldn't give us our Luggage as they weren't removing anyone's as we would be "up and running shortly" we'll 5 hours after landing we took off again. Back to New York. Where the next bus doesn't leave until 1am and it is currently 10pm. We will then get into Boston at 5am where we will collapse into bed!

Our 2 days in Boston result in 1 day in bed and 1 day running around Boston!!