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Atlanta & Nashville

October - November 2017
A 13-day adventure by Bex's Travels Read more
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  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 1

    Day Before Departure

    October 22, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    So tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for! Need a holiday so cannot wait. Thought I best test using this app first.
    It is going to be a bit scary as Mel & I do not have a tour guide this time organising us & making sure we are where we are meant to be. But i’m sure we will be fine. We have a good mix of planned tours & plenty of free time to decide what we want to do on the day.
    Things i’m looking forward to:
    Atlanta :
    1. Walking Dead Tour - we have upgraded to the VIP tour, will be great to see the sights of Woodbury & where they film in Senoia.
    2. Walking Dead to Hunger Games Tour - another tour but set primarily around the Atlanta filming locations.
    Nashville :
    1, Grand Ole Opry - VIP tour, we did the back stage tour last time so this time we thought we would book the VIP.
    2. Nashville Tour - will be fab to see the filming locations of Nashville!

    Obviously we have other stuff in the pipeline too, it wouldn’t be right for Mel & I to not have some kind of itinerary to follow!!

    Need to pack this afternoon, that is the worst part as i’m paranoid i’m going to forget something!!    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 2

    Airport Bound

    October 23, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    6.40am
    Only had about 4 hours sleep last night as the excitement was finally beginning to kick in! Was up at 4am this morning, Mum & Dad got up to see me off. Dad moaned about the weight of my suitcase, but it is only 16kgs, plus both Mel & I have packed our small cases into our large ones so plenty of room for additional items coming home.

    I’m so tired that this is taking ages to write this & I keep making loads of spelling errors, plus I deleted a whole chunk of text! If synchronised yawning was an olympic sport, Mel & I could be on track for the gold medal! We didn’t shut up talking for first 90mins of taxi ride, the driver must be relieved that he now has a bit of peace. I must say that the taxi is very comfortable & spacious though!

    8.50am
    Already checked in & sat in departures! Journey here was much quicker than expected, arrived at airport 7.30am.
    Check in was painless, I made a point of checking that my nut allergy was recorded. As Virgin cannot guarantee nut free food I got a voucher for £20 to buy food in departures. Boarding is from 10am so time to chill & stock up on food. Once again I have been randomly selected at boarding for a special security search, luckily at least I only have a handbag this time. That is the second time since coming to America that I have been selected, how come Mel has got away with it that is what I want to know!    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 2

    In the air & arrival into Atlanta

    October 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    12.30pm
    In the air! Our flight was delayed by 30 mins, not bad considering this is our first delayed flight.
    Spent my £20 voucher on plenty of drinks & snacks for the flight, so Mel & I won’t starve!
    Have a banging headache so have just had a drink & taken some painkillers, it is probably because i’m overtired, not sure if I will be able to sleep on the plane, so will probably read or watch a film.

    6.10pm (UK time)
    I have actually managed to get some sleep on the plane, which makes a change. Attempted to watch Spiderman: Homecoming but found I couldn’t keep my eyes open, plus I think it is a film you need to see on a bigger screen. So instead I have been watching some stuff I downloaded onto my tablet before leaving.
    Mel is actually having a kip next to me! In what I believe is a first, Mel is actually colder than me & had to get her blanket out! 😮

    I spoke too soon, Mel has just woken up so we have decided it is snack time, cheese sandwiches it is!

    Don’t think we will be doing too much in Atlanta tonight, depends how long it will take to get through customs & get a cab to our hotel. We need to try & watch the new episode of Walking Dead before our tour tomorrow.

    4.30pm (US time)
    In a cab to our hotel! Going through customs was much quicker than expected, we were through in about 5 mins, then just had to wait for our luggage.
    Weird to think it is 9.30pm back at home, been up for around 17hrs. Will be nice to get to hotel & get checked in.    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 2

    Hotel shenanigans

    October 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    So in my last post I said it would be nice to get to hotel & check in.

    I spoke too bloody soon, got to Sheraton hotel & guess what....no record of our booking. Mel was close to breaking point whilst I was staying fairly calm, we balance each other well like that. One stresses, one holds it together.

    We had all our booking paperwork from Virgin but nope, no booking, no mention of us on their system. Whilst at reception we tried to call the rep, but no answer. So we had to pay a $50 hold on a room for one night to try & get things sorted. Got to room, I video called my sister, then we took to social media, e-mail, FB, twitter, messenger you name it!! Thank god Mel brought her mobile, but not looking forward to the bill!
    Finally got hold of rep, who is now trying to make contact with Sheraton to get things sorted, so fingers crossed whilst we await a phone call.

    I came on holiday to take a break from all the stress, not to bloody add to it!!
    On a plus side the room is very nice, hopefully we get to stay in it!!
    Now, perhaps an alcoholic drink would calm us down...........    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 3

    The morning after & Walking Dead tour

    October 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    11.30am
    Thankfully we managed to get our accommodation sorted. Mel finally got hold of our rep who said she would get on the case straight away. She phoned us back within 30mins to say she had spoken to the hotel & everything was sorted. We went back down to reception to confirm & they added the nights on to our room keys, phew!!!

    We then decided to go for a stroll to get our bearings & to get some fresh air to calm down. We passed the restaurant we ate at on our last tour & thought we might go there another night. We didn’t go in anywhere as we were tired, so we went back to hotel.

    We tried to find the new episode of Walking Dead to watch, but none of our UK apps would work & we couldn’t download the USA apps. I’m sure there are ways around it but we couldn’t be bothered to look. Think we were both in bed with the lights out by 9.30pm, we did watch some of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ but all the bloody ad breaks got annoying so we turned it off. We fell asleep listening to the rain (not actual rain, the TV had a sleep sound channel!), it was very calming but I did wake up in the middle of the night & thought bloody hell it is raining hard out there!!

    I was awake just after 7, caught up on my messages from where we we sending help to Virgin about our accommodation! Then had nice shower & got changed. As we are on the Walking Dead Zombie Tour today we decided we would have to watch the new episode of the Walking Dead somehow so I paid to download the ep to iTunes, which we watched before leaving the hotel.

    Actual spoiler free conversation whilst watching the episode:
    Mel: How does Father Gabriel keep his dog collar so white?
    Me: He must use Daz

    We are currently sat in the Atlanta Movie Tour shop, waiting for our tour, we got here an hour early as we walked & we didn’t know exactly where we were going! But as a plus it is a beautiful day out, bright sunny day & blue skies. So should be a great day!

    5.15pm
    Current sat in Nic & Norman’s bar in Senoia waiting for food & drinks, we are starving! 🍔🍟🥛

    The Big Zombie Tour 2 was fun, we paid to upgrade to the VIP tour which meant that Cooper Andrews (who plays Jerry from the Kingdom) was on our bus, plus the meal & transport to & from Senoia. I think we were possibly the only people on our bus not attending Atlanta Walker Stalker Con which is being held this weekend!

    On our way from Atlanta to Senoia the bus showed an episode from S3 of Walking Dead as we would be visiting some of the locations in the episode.
    We got to Senoia aka Woodbury with about 45mins to spare so we were able to explore & we went to see the outskirts of the Alexandria set.
    On the bus, Copper & our tour guide (Hilltop) Josh were happy to answer questions & tell us about their experiences of filming the show. We pulled up by several filming locations, & got out at two. The first was the building where the walker fighting ring was set up by the Governor & the second was where Rick & The Governor meet, plus where *spoiler without giving too much away* Daryl & Meryl say a final goodbye. We got some cool photos with Cooper!
    Plus it was just interesting driving around as it is such a beautiful scenic part of Georgia.

    Senoia is lovely & quaint, although you can see all of the Walking Dead influences & tourists it doesn’t seem to have lost its charm which is lovely to see. I do wonder how all the residents feel about it all though.

    Just eaten & the food was lovely, we both had chicken burgers & fries, and we were starving! We didn’t eat a proper meal yesterday so was good to have some decent food.

    9.15pm
    Back at the hotel, absolutely shattered! The tour was well worth it though, i’m glad we finally got to go on one! Copper signed photos for us all & made an effort to come & chat to us all. The tour was very organised & I would recommend the company to anyone visiting Atlanta.

    Right hot chocolate & sleep as we have another tour in the morning.    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 4

    Another tour & being tourists

    October 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    9.30pm
    Had a busy day! Just got back to the hotel.

    I was awake by 7 so spoke to mum,dad & Nic back home, then read for a bit. We were out of out of our room by 9.45am and got to the lobby in plenty of time to wait outside for our lift. We had arranged a private 3hr tour with D-Tours, who would take us around Atlanta & show us locations from Walking Dead/Hunger Games.
    Our guide Dan was really chatty & friendly. Our first stop was the bridge with the iconic skyline from the first ep of WD where Rick rides the horse into the city, we then proceeded to visit Rick & Morgan’s homes, the alley where Glenn rescued Rick, the intersection with the tank scene, the building where Meryl was handcuffed, Terminus (which was all set up for ready for filming of the new AntMan - sadly I did not see Paul Rudd ☹️), Goat Farm - District 12 from Hunger Games, the hospital where Rick woke up, Sherifs building, CDC building, President Snow’s mansion. We managed to get photos in most locations & Dan was very informative with his knowledge.
    I was surprised to see how much filming is currently going on in Atlanta, we passed several places where production trucks & trailers were set up. But Marvel are doing a lot of filming. Robert Downey Jnr & Benedict Cumberbatch were seen filming only this week but unfortunately not by us!

    After our tour which finished at 1pm, Dan kindly drop us off by Centennial Park. We went for some lunch in a cafe then decided to visit ‘The World of Coca-Cola’. This was actually really interesting, we found out all about the history of the drink, how it started & developed through the years. There were several exhibits such as: The Vault, Bottling, Advertising, Cultural impact, 4D cinema, Meet the polar bear. Probably the most interesting room was the tasting room, here you could taste around 100 varieties of drink from all around the world then have been developed by Coca-Cola, some of the flavours were lovely. Others were hideous, especially one called ‘Beverley’ from Italy, it really was vile! Mel nearly wet herself when she saw my reaction after tasting it, especially when I said ‘God, I need something else to drink, to get the horrible taste of Beverley out of my mouth’!!
    We must have spent a good 2.5hrs there.

    The next stop was the ‘Georgia Aquarium’, we didn’t get there until 4pm but as it is open until 9pm we knew we would have plenty of time to get around and actually we were really luckily as it was quite quiet. Wow, what an aquarium, I can quite understand why it is rated one of the best in the world. It isn’t often i’m speechless but the huge tank housing the whale sharks really is a sight to behold. There are different exhibits such as: Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, River Scout, and Dolphin Tales. We were able to see the dolphin show & the sea lion show, you could see how hard the trainers work & the bonds they build with their animals.

    After leaving the aquarium we walked through Centennial Park to make our way back to the hotel but we decided to stop for food at ‘PittyPat’s Porch’, we ate here 2yrs ago and it was really nice, hence why we decided to eat here again. We both had cocktails (had to be done right?!), I had a steak & Mel had chicken. Was really nice but we were too stuffed to get pudding!

    Can’t believe we have to leave Atlanta tomorrow already, however i’m looking forward to Nashville and what we have planned there!    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 5

    Last day in Atlanta on to Nashville

    October 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    11.20am
    Currently sat in Metro Cafe Diner waiting for breakfast or should that be brunch?! We have both gone for our old favourites: Buttermilk pancakes for me & waffles for Mel.
    We were up a bit later today as we knew that we weren’t in a hurry. Had a panic when we saw a bill for the room had been put through our door, then realised it said it had been charged to an agent.
    Was time already to pack our cases, little ones still in the big cases as we haven’t had a chance to properly hit the shops yet. Our flight is at 4.50pm but we will make sure we get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, our cases are in left luggage at the hotel. So we will just wander for a couple hours.
    I did Facetime Sally (Hi Sal!) for a quick catch up, nice to speak to her, Amie & see Honey.

    12.00pm
    Feel so stuffed!! Pancakes were lovely but I couldn’t finish it all although I did give it my best shot!

    3.15pm
    Sat in departures. Was good to get here nice & early so we could relax without rushing.
    When we finished our brunch we went for a wander as it was another beautiful day in Atlanta. I’m glad we got to do the tours & tourist bits that we didn’t get the opportunity to do last time. Atlanta you were great, now looking forward to Nashville 😁

    9.15pm
    Got all checked in at ‘The Inn @ Opryland’ ok. Got ourselves settled in our room which is directly opposite the swimming pool which means we might actually have to try it out! We went for food at the ‘Opry Backstage Grill’ which is in our hotel. The drinks were lush & my food was nice but we did say we would try other places for food & maybe just go there again for drinks.
    We are now back at our room watching ‘Hairspray’ & enjoying a sing song.
    We have the Opry tomorrow night but think we might go to the mall during the day, we will see where the day takes us when we get up I suppose!    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 6

    Nashville - Tussauds & Grand Ole Opry

    October 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    5.30pm
    I had a good nights sleep & was awake by about 7.30am. We didn’t rush to get ready as the only plans we had were for this evening.
    We caught the complimentary shuttle over to the Opry Mills (a huge shopping mall!), we went to guest services first to pick up our passports of offers, looked like there would be a few we would be able to get use out of!

    We decided to go to Madame Tussauds first (it only opened earlier this year) & as we are staying at the Opryland we got free entry - bonus! It was quiet which meant we had plenty of time to pose & do stupid poses with the waxworks. We went into a recording booth & now have 2 songs of us singing on CD. We had fun! As we got in for free we decided to buy the photo package.

    After leaving Tussauds we were hungry so went to the food court for lunch, i’m somewhat ashamed to admit we went to Burger King! We then wandered around the shops some more but didn’t actually buy anything (we are saving that for tomorrow/Sunday!). Mel bumped into her friend from back home who is also on holiday in Nashville (small world!). We then came back to the hotel to chill for a few minutes before getting ready for the Opry tonight.
    We are currently waiting for the shuttle, it better hurry up as we have the VIP tickets for before the show!

    11.20pm
    Been back at the hotel a while now. Wow, what a night at the Opry! Thankfully we got there in time to pick up all our tickets, we then had to wait in the designated place for our VIP ‘Behind The Curtain’ tour. Our guide Judy was great as she took us back stage & explained what happens before a show. We got to see some of the artists arriving & in their dressing rooms getting prepared for the show. Just before 7pm we were ushered onto the stage, it was an amazing experience to actually be on the stage & witness the red curtain rise, to look out & see the audience and see an artist perform.
    We got to be on the stage for the first couple performances, then we were escorted back to our reserved seats where we watched the rest of the show from the audience.

    There were a lot of acts on the line up, if i’m honest, Mel & I weren’t particularly impressed before hand as there weren’t really any contemporary acts like last time, however, it was a great night. Admittedly there were several bluegrass & older artists but they were all so talented & you could see they loved being up on the stage.
    There was even a comedienne called Jeanne Robertson who was very funny, she had spoken to us all backstage & seemed really nice & down to earth. The artist I really liked & would check out is Mark Wills, I loved both songs he performed.

    We left the Opry to find that the heavens had opened & it was pouring down with rain (it was just like being at home!!), we got soaked walking to the shuttle.

    It was a fantastic night, now looking forward to sleeping & seeing what tomorrow will bring.    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 7

    Shopping & General Jackson

    October 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    6.50pm
    Currently sat on the General Jackson showboat waiting to set sail for this evenings ‘Nashville Nights’ cruise.

    We have had quite a leisurely day, spent most of it at the Opry Mills, shopping!! We found a fab clothes shop called ‘Maurices’ it catered for both our sizes which was perfect as we both saw lots of stuff. The assistants set us up with changing rooms with our names on. I don’t think I have ever liked every single item I have taken into a changing room before! I thought bugger it, i’m on holiday, I have the money on my travel card so lets treat myself. We must have been in there way over an hour. Mel bought a lot of stuff too.

    After our splurges we were both hungry so we decided to eat at the Aquarium restaurant. We had a lovely meal, both of us decided on fish & chips, then for desert we shared key lime pie, all washed down with cocktails!!

    From there we went over to the Grand Ole Opry shop as we didn’t have much of a chance to look properly yesterday. We both got a few items there.

    Then we just wandered around the mall again, just browsing shops. We spent a bit of time in one of the shoe stores just trying on cowboy boots, I was very tempted buy a pair & may have to go back!

    We didn’t go back to the hotel to drop stuff off, we just walked straight over to the General Jackson to board.

    10.45pm
    Been back at the hotel 30mins or so.

    So, review of General Jackson, we weren’t overly impressed, to be fair on a summer evening &/or if you were eating it might be different. We didn’t eat because surprise, surprise we weren’t overly keen on the menu, so we were up on the balcony looking down at the stage & those dining below. So for us there was a lot of waiting around as we left just after 7pm & the entertainment didn’t start until about 8.45pm. We did wander outside on the deck but was too cold to stay there too long, we also popped to the gift shop, but for the most part we were sat around drinking our huge & bloody expensive daiquiris!

    The entertainers were talented & sung a wide of songs but we struggled to make out the words to most of what they were singing, whether that was down to the audio or where we were sat I don’t know. I swear there were so many costume changes their wardrobe backstage must make Carrie Bradshaw’s look tiny!!

    So it was a good experience but i’d choose the Opry over it any night of the week.    Read more

  • Bex's TravelsAtlanta & Nashville
    Day 8

    Nashville TV show tour

    October 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Sat in bed writing the blog for the day! Today has been a fairly quiet & relaxed day. We were going to get up & go for a swim but it was a bit cold & we couldn’t be bothered!!

    I had emailed them, but not heard back so we tried to ring the Gray Line tour company to confirm all was ok with our tour today but none of the numbers worked. We chucked on some clothes & went to reception, the lovely lady there phoned the company on our behalf & even arranged for them to pick us up here rather than the Opryland resort. Bonus!

    We then came back to the room to shower & change, we decided to go out for brunch before the tour. We walked over the road & went in the Cracker Barrel store/restaurant but it was heaving so we decided to go there another time. We then found some shops to have a look around. One store had lots of cowboy boots so we tried loads on & both ended up buying a pair! As we were in there a while we were running out of time for food so went to McDonalds (it actually had a live singer inside!). We got food to go & legged it back to the hotel as we only had 20mins to eat before having to be outside ready for our tour pick up.

    We were picked up about 1.10pm & our driver/guide Brian had to make another couple stops to get other passengers. Brian was a great guide with lots of Nashville knowledge & facts about the show. He drove us all around Nashville pointing out loads of filming locations & the scenes filmed there. We saw the homes used for those of the characters: Juliette, Rayna, Deacon, Gunnar etc. We had a 45min stop at the Ryman Auditorium - which used to be the home of the Grand Ole Opry, was interesting to find out history of the building. We also stopped at The Bluebird Cafe but unfortunately did not get to go in, still it was fab to see it, looks tiny from the outside & you wouldn’t think so many big country stars were discovered &/or play there regularly. The other stop was Two Old Hippies, a rather expensive store where apparently most of Scarlet’s clothes come from.
    It was a great tour & we were out for over 3 hours.

    When we got back to hotel we chilled & faffed around trying to decide what to do! In the end we went back to Cracker Barrel & had pancakes for tea! They were yummy!

    The next three days we plan on buying the 3 day shuttle pass & spending our time in Downtown Nashville, we just have to decide what attractions to see!    Read more

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