• Ron's Odyssey
  • Ron's Odyssey

USA 2021

Enobong's Jefferson drop-off Läs mer
  • BestBuy >> Dollar Tree >> IKEA

    1 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Visited Bestbuy to get a replacement for my stolen laptop, they didn't have what I wanted in the store, so I placed order for it to be brought in on the 7th of Jan for store pickup. Got a JVC Bluetooth headset, production is decent for the price but doesn't even come close to Enobong's skull candy vibrating headset, now that is a headset like no other.

    Spent some time in the adjacent Dollar Tree store but found nothing interesting to buy.

    Final stope was IKEA, lots of lovely things I would have loved to buy but considering the weight and cost of extra luggage on the flight home I had to decline and walk pass.
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  • Museum of the American Revolution

    2 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Quite an interesting museum which told the story of the American war of independence, what led to the revolution, how the war was prosecuted, main actors and heroes of the war. It also touched on the assistance by the French and alliances formed by Native American Indians and African slaves. It is a must visit museum for history buffs. However not much attention was given to the contribution of African slaves I the revolution and I mentioned this to a.musuem staff who sought my opinion at the end of the visitLäs mer

  • Penns Landing

    2 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Penns landing which was advertised as.a beehive of activities was kind of dry to me. They had an ice skating rink, a ferris wheel as well as an arcade hall and lots of places to sit drink and eat nothing more.

    I was expecting to see a lot of kiosk and stalls along the waterfront selling various items but surprisingly there was none. The seaport museum I had visited in 2012 was undergoing renovation.
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  • Snow at last

    3 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ❄️ 0 °C

    The girls were excited to see their first snow. It started as snow flurries but by 10:20am it had increased and real thick snow started falling. I walked in this condition to the Amazon hub at 7 Eleven to pick up some things we had ordered onlineLäs mer

  • Account opening

    3 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C

    Visited BOA to open an account for Enobong. Since we didn't book an appointment we were asked to wait till all those on appointment have been attended to. Thereafter we were ushered into one of the officer's office where a student checking and a savings account were opened for Enobong. They needed 2 government issued passports so I gave them her USA and Nigeria passports. Being a minor I was made a signatory to her savings account.

    The entire bank visit took about an hour and I was able to transfer $400 from my account directly to Enobong's Savings account from which $200 was then transfred to her checking account. Her debit card is tied to her Checking account and the card will be sent to my friend's house in the next 5 days as I used his address as her contact address.
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  • Picking up a rental car

    4 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Went back to Enterprise Rentals at the airport to pick up a rental car. The same nice Indian man attended to me. Finding a GPS was a challenge as I had requested for one after a long wait I was offered a CX5 with an inbuilt GPS. For thi trip I had reserved a standard SUV, with increasing snow and ice I felt a bigger car with better traction was best for the road trip.

    The GPS device took some time to figure out, it wasn't touchscreen like in the previous car and involved turning a knob to choose the characters and pressing down on the knob to select. A weird mechanism to operate
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  • Adventure Aquarium

    4 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

    After picking up the car we drove back to the apartment to pick our prepacked boxes for the Washington trip and then headed up to New Jersey to visit the Adventure Aquarium.

    We practically breezed through the Aquarium taking in the sights. It is a nice compact Aquarium and we were through in 45minsLäs mer

  • Off to Washington D.C

    4 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    We left the Aquarium at 3:01pm and commenced the trip to Washington D.C after entering our destination into the car's GPS which estimated our drive time to be 2hrs 52mins.

    Journey was smooth, we saw a lot of snow ❄ pilled up beside the road and in the fields. It must have snowed heavily along the route, much more than it did in Philly. Later on Fox TV reported that the snow storm on I95 the previous day was so bad that a lot of people were stranded on the I95 road for hours. We were lucky we didn't travel the previous day or we would have been trapped as well.

    We eventually go to the hotel in Alexandra at 5:31pm after a 2hr 30min drive. Some cars in the hotel were covered in snow and the car pack was snowed in.
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  • Holiday Inn, Alexandra

    4 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Checked into the Holiday Inn at Alexandra on the outskirt of Washington at about 5:38pm. Check in was quick and smooth. We were assigned a room with two Queen beds on the upper floor.

    After checking in we drove off to Mcdonald for a burger dinner and then to walmart to buy some thermal wears for the girls and some water and snacks.Läs mer

  • IHOP for Breakfast

    6 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Uddy wanted us to have breakfast at IHOP so we drove 15mins to find one on Rickmond Highway where I ordered the Breakfast Sampler with hot chocolate drink.

    The breakfast was nice and filling and appropriate for the long walk we plan to undertake later in the dayLäs mer

  • Walking Tour of Washington Memorials

    6 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    This was my third visit to Washington D.C and the first time I would be visiting with my daughters, I had to make it a special and memorable experience for them so after some research and planning on how to see all the memorials and monuments in a structured order I decided we should start-off with the Jefferson Memorial. Union Station has become our start off point as they have a large paid garage with capacity for over 2,600 cars. Parking for 10hrs cost $20, shorter durations are cheaper but most sight seeing visits will fit into this range.

    Just opposite the the Union Station is a bus stop where you can board the Circulator NMC bus for $1 per rider. It takes you round the mall, monuments and memorials. so we hoped on one and stopped beside the Jefferson Memorial from where our walking tour of Washington D.C Memorials and Monuments commenced, the route we followed is shown in the map below. We visited the following sites in the following order:

    1. Thomas Jefferson Memorial
    2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
    3. Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
    4. D.C War Memorial
    5. Korean War Veterans Memorial
    6. Lincoln Memorial
    7. Vietnam Veterans Memorial
    8. The Lockkeeper's House
    9. The White House
    10. Washington Monument

    The entire walking tour is about 4kms and took us roughly 2hrs as we stopped at each site to admire the monument/memorial, read the inscriptions and take some memorable pictures.
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  • White House

    6 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    You can't visit Washington D.C without taking the traditional and iconic picture in front of the White House. There were few tourist snapping pictures probably due to the winter season. Secret service officers were all over the place acting casual but very observant. Over 10 were seen on the roof of the white house.

    The walk to the White House took me through the front of the Eisenhower Executive office building which houses the Vice President's office along with other White House executive officers.
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  • Natural History Museum

    6 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    We arrived at the Natural History Museum after a long walk from the White House, the route was quite scenery as we got to catch a glimpse of Trumps International Hotel which was the former post office building built in 1897, also passed the famous Willard Hotel a 200 year old hotel, where important visitors to the white house tend to stay or socialize.

    We arrived at the museum at about 4:00pm, could only cover the exhibits on the ground floor which covered Mammals, Ocean creatures and the origin of Humans before we were asked to leave at 5:30pm as the museum was closing. The museum is definitely worth another visit in future.
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  • Snowed In and drive back to Philadelphia

    7 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

    There was a heavy snowstorm at night which started at about 3am and lasted till 7am covering our car along with all the cars in the carpark in a sheet of snow. Uddy was quite excited to see the whole place covered in snow and took up the task of scoping the snow off the car, which was made a bit challenging by the breeze which blowed it in different directions.

    Eventually we left the hotel, stopped over at Starbuck across the road, which didn't allow dine-in, so we ate in the car before commencing the drive back to Philadelphia. The route took us from Virginia, which was where our hotel was, through Maryland, Delaware and finally into Pennsylvania state. Average journey time was 2hrs 30min, a journey of 260 kilometers. The roads were free of snow and traction was also good.
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  • Target

    7 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ 🌙 -3 °C

    After resting for about 2hrs from the long drive back from Washington D.C, we dashed off to the nearest Target Store to but some back to school provisions for Enobong. spent over 3hrs at the store before returning to the apartment fully worn out.Läs mer

  • Enobong checks into Jefferson's

    9 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Got to the school roughly about 13:40, located the building she would be staying in temporarily. The international students coordinator was already waiting for us in the house her room is located in.

    It is a typical town house with a palour and kitchen on the ground floor. A bathroom/toilet and 3 rooms on the 1st floor and finally 2 rooms on the 2nd floor.

    Her room is quite small and had a bed, reading table, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. This is where she would be staying for the next 10days before relocating to the new students residence.

    Shortly after we dashed off to King of Prussia to buy some items before returning to Jefferson to drop her off.

    Stopped at an Amazon locker hub to pick up a package and buy bread and some food for the house
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  • Finding PreDepature Covid Test Centre

    10 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    For the past 1 week I have been trying to book a COVID-Test appointment. All the centres seem to be fully booked till after my departure date. Spent the whole on it.

    Eventually decided some days ago to search for paid test centres. There is a paid centre a Philadelphia Airport which advices 3 days to await for result with a disclaimer that they can't be held responsible for disruption to travel plans. Tried calling their number but couldn't get through.

    Finally found a paid testing site Passport Health, was able to book a test on the 12th in their one of their New Jersey clinic for $288 per person
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  • Rittenhouse Square

    10 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    Went to Barnes & Nobkes opposite Rittenhouse Square to pick up a book Uddy had ordered last week. After which we strolled through the square taking pictures, the weather was so cold that we didn't spend much time before dashing off to the bus stop to take a bus back to the apartment.Läs mer

  • At Jefferson's

    11 januari 2022, Förenta staterna ⋅ ☀️ -4 °C

    Drove to Jefferson East Fall, hoping to visit the bookstore and get a branded lanyard as the navigator in the car couldn't locate the main campus bookstore in town but alas the bookstore had been closed due to a covid incidence.

    Spent some time with Enobong in her room before heading off to Five Below store, from there we headed off to my friend's place for a lovely Chinese dinner. Left a few minutes after 7, dropped Enobong off in school and headed back to the apartment.
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