Tempe, AZ (home base)
USA
Kicking Off The New England Road Trip
We finally made it! After a month of planning, we are officially in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The trip started out as most do, an ungodly early wake up for a typical trip to the airport thanks to Discount Cab. The normal check in: give the airline (Northwest in our case) all of your money, plus extra for a checked bag, go through security and hope you didn’t forget to take your sunglasses off the top of your head, board the airplane and watch to see who is going to sit down next to you. You know, we’ve all been through the hoops.
This morning though, I was strangely awake for our 5:30am boarding time, because I knew we were headed into another new adventure. Both Katie and I are New England newbies, and a trip into the unknown usually perks my senses even more than usual. After watching the circus of passengers board the plane (no sir, your bag won’t fit that way…isn’t it painfully obvious!?), we settled in to our seats (next to a perfectly normal woman, lucky us) and when I opened my eyes again it was pouring rain in Detroit. After another short hop, we landed in Manchester, New Hampshire. Not a particularly great city by any means, but only $270 for a roundtrip ticket ($200 less than any other airport in the area).
After collecting our luggage from baggage claim, we labored over to the Thrifty Rental Car counter. It’s odd how we can both travel Europe with only a backpack and a small knapsack for a three month excursion, but give us a 2 week trip, and we somehow pack 5 bags between us! Anyway, slightly out of breath, we arrived at the rental car counter. We were joking the whole way because we opted for the “Wild Card” car choice with Thrifty. This deal is when you pay a discounted rate for a car, but you don’t know what it is until you arrive. We thought this would be a good story to tell, “An orange minivan? Perfect!” “An SUV? Score!” Sadly, humor was not what we found in our car assignment…instead, I think we both just said “oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Our ride for this road trip is a Mercury Grand Marquis. Yes, it’s the car a 70 year old would shed a tear for, but not exactly the stylin’ ride we pictured ourselves in. Now however, after cruising a few miles in the big ol’ brownish-gold boat, it’s starting to grow on us. We have a little joke going now: “Gee Katie, I’m sure glad your uncle bob could loan us his car.” “Ya, it sure was nice of him.” “Thanks, uncle Bob!” Then we ram it in gear, make frivolous u-turns, and drive super-cautiously slow, and say “I’m old, I’m from Pennsylvania, and I’m comin’ in!”
There’s not much to report on the cities yet. Since we flew into Manchester, and immediately drove to Portsmouth as the sun was setting, we haven’t gotten a chance to get out and stretch our East Coast legs yet. We did catch a glimpse of the downtown district of Portsmouth though, and it looks like it promises lots of fun, food, and stories for upcoming blogs. We’re looking forward to tackling that tomorrow morning. As of right now though we are settling into our Fairfield Inn on the outskirts of town (cheapest rate we could find at $142 + tax), and letting our delivery vegetable lo mein digest.
Really we’ve had only one real adventure so far, and that was to the hospital! Hooray! Yes, that’s right, one of us is sick, yet again, on one of our trips!! I don’t know if you remember our London, England Blog, when I Katie and I were both hit with acute bronchitis, but it looks like the curse lives on! Katie now has Tonsillitis. She’s in good shape to recover by Monday though, so we are pressing on with all of our plans, and she’s handling it like a trooper!
We’re off to hit the pillow now, so we can awaken bright and early to officially start the trip. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way!
Picture Slideshow
Countdown to...
Get More Info
- Get There Guide
- Get There Gear
- Get a Destination
- Get There Classifieds
- Get Your Tickets
- Get a Hostel/Hotel
- Get Going
- Get Your Blog Posted
- Get This!
Get More Updates
