America here i come

[DougL]

Well its twenty five years next month that my good lady and I have been a married couple so to celebrate we are heading accross the Atlantic, calling at New York, Vegas and Florida. if you see a hire car driving eratically it could be me! lol

By the way how long does it take to fly to Vegas from NY. I need to be in vegas on the 19 Jan our anniversary.

Doug

[rjfvillarosa]

From one Brit to another.... Welcome to the Americas....Bienvenidos a los Estados Unidos.
Happy aniversary....Felicedades aniversary feliz.

[mbossman2]

NY to vegas is about a 5 - 5.5 hour flight (non-stop)

have a nice visit.

[raftero]

congrats, you will see parts of US that i haven't even seen, being a southwestern boy, i have seen almost all of dixie but not much up north, just
Washington DC and a little of Maryland which might be considered southern by some.
don't forget which side of the road to drive on.HA

[DougL]

thanks guys, looking forward to it.

[ric449]

Remember: those crazy yanks drive on the other side of the road .

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by ric449 Remember: those crazy yanks drive on the other side of the road .

Hey Ric.... I have actually managed to get myself a right hand drive car over here, you should see the looks I get driving it around.

[glc]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Hey Ric.... I have actually managed to get myself a right hand drive car over here, you should see the looks I get driving it around.

That's not hard - just go to the post office auction and buy an old Grumman delivery truckster.

[rjfvillarosa]

GL... there were two of these Subaru's and they were actually imported to sell to the post office, but they said no thanks, the two cars were then pushed off to the auction and a friend of mine bought one and I got it from him (strangely enough he is a Brit to, obviously we Brits cant get away from our right hand drive)

Originally Posted by glc That's not hard - just go to the post office auction and buy an old Grumman delivery truckster.

I cant see me taking the wife to Wallymart in that she would kill me.

[glc]

First time I ever drove a right hand drive was in the military in Okinawa - and it was a full size Nissan bus. What was really strange though was driving a left hand drive Dodge pickup on the wrong side of the road. I can imagine how you feel driving that Subaru on the right side of the road.

[rjfvillarosa]

GL.... One of the biggest things I miss about not living in the UK anymore is the ability to get to France (and the rest of Europe) so easily. About 250 miles east of where I am from is the town of Dover and from there you can take a "Roll on, Roll off" ferry to Calais in northern France, these ferries are huge enough to carry eighteen wheelers and the like so taking your car over with you is very easy, but, we drive on the left with right hand drive cars and the rest of Europe drives on the right. I have done it many times and I really enjoy it. The first time was in 1979 and it was strange just how natural it felt driving on the right.
I have a lot of friends in the USA who find the fact that within a few hours of driving in Europe you can find yourself in another country, obviously with the USA being so big it doesn't make sense to them, but on the other hand to me the people who live in the mid west, how can they live so far from the ocean??

[hobey19]

i drove on the left side of the road with a right-side car for the first time this summer when i went to england with my dad. i love to drive stick shift, and all my buddies do too. we had figured out that talking on the cell phone while driving stick can be difficult, but if you have a passenger who knows how to drive a stick, you can just have them shift. so i was sort of used to shifting from the right side. despite this my "previous experience" it will still wierd driving the focus zx3. i loved it, tho. i made the trip from winchelsea to dover, and that was a ton of fun

craig

[glc]

Well - I live in the Chicago area, which is about as "midwest" as it gets. It takes me about 16 hours to drive to the East Coast, gas, tolls, food, and one night lodging runs close to $200 each way. It's twice as far to the West Coast. Well - I can buy a round trip airfare for less than that (to EITHER coast) and get there in a few hours. It's actually cheaper (and a lot faster) to do it that way and rent a car there than to drive my own.

Actually, if I just want to see water as far as I can see, I'll just go down to the Lake Michigan shore and sit on the beach. It's 90 miles to the other side - below the horizon. You almost have to go to the top of the Sears Tower on a crystal clear day to see the other side.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa I have a lot of friends in the USA who find the fact that within a few hours of driving in Europe you can find yourself in another country, obviously with the USA being so big it doesn't make sense to them, but on the other hand to me the people who live in the mid west, how can they live so far from the ocean??

we dont need oceans in the midwest...we have the Great Lakes . i live in Michigan, so im surrounded by water. the county my aunt and uncle live in has 66 lakes alone. there is so much water around here it isnt funny. even though our elevation is low we never get any serious flooding. if youre ever going to move to the USA move to MI, we dont get earthquakes or hurricanes...but sometimes we get the occassional tornado, blizzard, or a minor flooding .

[rjfvillarosa]

Tin.. One day when I am disgustingly rich, it is my intention to travel all over the USA and just about anywhere else for that matter, but for now my meagre pennies take me home to the UK to see my folks. I am going back on the 15th of December for two weeks, it is my first trip back in fourteen months and I cannot wait. Should you feel benevolent enough to accomodate myself and my wife up there, then I would be more than gratefull.

[DougL]

Hey rjfvillarosa

talking bout driving i visited the states when i was in the military, i too got some funny looks when i was driving a land rover! UK weather quite mild at the mo but i'm sure it'll be colder nearer christmas. Don't forget to buy your lottery ticket on your return, you never know you may go back richer!!

Doug

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by DougL Don't forget to buy your lottery ticket on your return, you never know you may go back richer!! Doug

Win the lottery!! yeah rite.........I couldn't win an argument

Doug where did you go with the military? my brotherinlaw was REME and he was always going to a place called Medicine Hat in Canada, I think they used to race the tanks about up there, either that or he was chest deep in mud in Sennelager in Germany.

[DougL]

know what you mean, been trying for years, once won £90, next day my fridge packed up cost me £85 to fix!!

Its more of a case of where haven't i been (no bragging intended) as an ex navy man i was fortunate to travel the world with many notable highlights. most travelling i do these days is around Dorset as a IT Officer for the council.

Doug