• Nolene DE LUCA
  • Nolene DE LUCA

Graduation trip to the USA

A 122-day adventure by Nolene Read more
  • Trip start
    April 30, 2017

    Houston

    April 30, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Long flight from NZ. Only one hiccup when going through US Immigration, the little machine would not accept Mark's fingerprints so the little man took him away. Waited 15 mins and out came Mark, all smiles😀no big deal, thank goodness. Now in Hotel getting ready to hit the town!!!Read more

  • Norman

    May 1, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Just been out to dinner with Lawrence's USA 'mother' & her two sons, great night out. Off to Lawrence's college tomorrow. Great waiter with a wonderful sense of humour.

  • Tishomingo

    May 2, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    The lovely Courtney (Lawrence's American Mum) picked us up & drove us to Murray State college to visit with Lawrence. All the NZ boys were pleased to see us. The college is much bigger than we thought it would be. Big thanks to Courtney for a wonderful day.Read more

  • Boston via Denver

    May 3, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Up early this morning to catch a plane to Boston. Flight from Oklahoma to Denver OK, flight to Boston crammed in like sardines for 3 hours with one very loud American who liked the sound of his own voice!! Thanks to Julie and her map App we found our Apt. easily. Out to dinner not too far from the Apt. great meal. Looking forward to seeing what Boston has to offer tomorrow. Weather is JOLLY COLD.😔☃️Read more

  • Boston

    May 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Full on today playing tourists in Boston. Hop on Hop off bus around the City. First thing Julie & I did was buy a sweatshirt as it was JOLLY COLD and we were doing a harbour cruise. Old city but very pretty. Caitlin you would have loved the squirrels! they were in the park just across the road from us. On the road tomorrow to New London in New Hampshire.Read more

  • New London

    May 7, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Sorry for the delay folks , no coverage where we were. Arrived in New London, pouring with rain and very cold. Met by Andrew and taken on a tour of Colby Sawyer Campus, a real lovely college. Our accommodation was an old villa well maintained in the old style. Dinner with Andrew and his girlfriend Jackie was lovely.Read more

  • Back in Boston

    May 7, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Sorry folks, no wifi in New London, back on deck now. Rained most of the time in New London unfortunately but we managed to have a good time. Lovely to see Andrew and where he has been living for the last 4 years and to meet his mates. Andrew & his girlfriend Jackie had lunch & dinner with us on Friday. Our accommodation was an old villa kept beautifully, shame it was so wet outside. Graduation was awesome and Andrew looked so good in his gown & cap. Went to graduation party in the arvo & met some lovely people. Andrew has some wonderful friends. Thanks to Peg, Tuckers Mom for driving us to the bus this morn.Read more

  • Night out

    May 9, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Dinner with the lads & their partners at their favourite bar in Boston called Yard House. Mike & Mark even joined them in half a yard. Sad to say goodbye to Andrew & his fantastic group of mates. Shame they couldn't all make it. Ryan liked his NZ beanie!!!Read more

  • Train to New York via the coast

    May 10, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    As usual arrived at station well before time!!! Train on time, comfortable seats with plenty of leg room. Picturesque coast with lovely homes, especially New London, CONNETICUT where we nearly ended up instead of New London, New Hampshire after a botch up with our reservations, thank god we figured it out and made the graduation.Read more

  • The Big Apple

    May 10, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Wow, this is massive, getting out of Penn Station a mission and a half, thank goodness for Mr Uber and IT Manager Julie. Our apartment is 'long and narrow ' but has everything we want. First on the itinerary was Ground Zero, a real highlight with great tour guide. Very moving and well done, in fact, very humbling. A must do for anyone who comes to New York, it is hard to describe our individual feelings, you need to experience this yourselves in order to appreciate the gravity of the event.Read more

  • Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

    May 11, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    6.15am start this morning, uber to Battery Park to catch the ferry with MANY others, fortunately only twenty in our tour group. Tour guide knowledgable but bit long winded. Lady Liberty is a massive structure, one can only wonder, and with the knowledge we have now it is an absolute miracle that they achieved the build with no loss of life. Left there & ferried to Ellis Island where so many immigrants arrived for their new life in the US.Read more

  • Central Park

    May 11, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    After quick uber from Battery Park to Central Park, and a quick lunch nearby we took a horse and gig ride for 45 mins through Central Park. Our horseman was a typical Irishman with an accent we picked immediately. He was a chatty Irishman pointing out all the movie sites in the park and where the celebrities reside.Read more

  • The Bronx

    May 13, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Today we travelled to the Bronx and went to the zoo, believe it or not!! Arriving at the gate we were confronted by around 100 school buses and hundreds of kids - just our luck but the zoo is over 200 acres and we hardly saw the kids, 😊 The zoo was great, we did an enormous amount of walking, also taking the monorail for a short time. Good to get home and put our feet up. Julie and I have become adept at going out to the local grocery store for provisions.Read more

  • Wet New York

    May 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Yesterday was one of those days, caught up on sleep then decided to get out of our cramped quarters, out into a very wet & windy day, even had my umbrella turn inside out. Very cold too. Thank goodness for Starbucks on every second corner. The four of us made an executive decision to go back home. Julie and Mark ventured again and bought provisions and the most needed pack of cards, pity they did that really as they anhilated Mike & I at 500.Read more

  • Hop on Hop off - Washington

    May 16, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Great hop on hop off bus today sussing out what we want to visit the next couple of days. Arlington Cemetery to visit JFK gravesite & the eternal flame. Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown was amazing. Next stop Lincoln Memorial. Well worth the climb up the steps (with millions of others) to look down on the reflecting pool and across to the Washington Monument.Read more

  • Capitol Hill

    May 16, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Little walk down our road is Capitol Hill so off we toddled this morning to join the crowds. We managed join a tour immediately, right time, right place!!! Architecture is amazing, no words can describe it really, absolutely beautiful. Our guide was great, passionate about the history of his country and worth listening to. From there we went to the Museum of American Indian History, fascinating. A short stroll to the Space Museum which was amazing, so many exhibits, plus so many people . Think everyone was inside for the air conditioning as it is so hot here. Tomorrow is going to be worse - 34degrees.Read more