North America

In 2019 I sold one of my apartments in Florida & looked at what the cheapest way to send money back to invest in my pension fund would be, flying to America turned out to be cheaper than wiring the money.

In 1996, I left the UK and lived in Orlando, Florida. I had left the employment of British Gas, taking a redundancy package that would help me live in America. This story is about what happened on my flight to Florida.

While I was at home watching the movie Karate Kid, I remembered meeting Pat Morita in Los Angeles, California.

In 2011, my Mum was told she couldn't fly due to an ulcer on her leg. As she wanted to go away and see my apartment in Cape Canaveral, Florida, I booked two return trips on the Queen Mary 2 to New York.

When I lived in Orlando I went to see Rod Stewart at the Orlando arena & I spent the evening with his wife Rachel Hunter.

In the mid-1980's I stayed in Los Angeles and went to Universal Studios for the day. When I got there, I met Renate Blauel and spent a morning with her on a backlot tour.

I went on The Maid of the Mist when I went to America in the 1990s with my friend Alistar Parry. We flew to New York, hired a car and drove through the state of New York to the Canadian and American border, where we stayed on the American side of Niagara

When I lived in Orlando, I went to watch Duran Duran live at The House of Blues, in Walt Disney World & I met the groups' drummer Roger Taylor.

We didn't spend much time at San Diego Zoo, and for that, I was grateful. At the time of our visit, the zoo was looking very old and in my opinion, needed closing down.

I added a stopover in San Francisco, California, to my Monuments & Parks tour in 2011 and went there after visiting Las Vegas.

We stayed in Savannah for two nights. After we took a guided tour of Savannah in an electric tram, I went on a Segway tour of the Historic District and walked around the River Street area.

I met Shaquille O'Neal when I was living in Orlando, Florida, he had just signed for the Orlando Magic basketball team.

Today, I went on an escorted tour in Skagway. Madam Shirley Wood from the Red Onion Saloon showed me around the small town.

I guess swimming with dolphins would be on most people's bucket lists. I managed to swim with dolphins at Discovery Cove, Sea World in Orlando, Florida, in 2004.

The Tatanka Story of the Bison Visitor Centre had a few things to look around on my visit. There were native Indians on hand to tell you their history & give more information about the story of the bison.

I thought The Alamo was a fantastic place and would have liked to have spent more time there. 

I have met Tom Jones several times in America & the UK & have also seen him perform in Spain.

While in Tombstone, Arizona, I visited Boothill Graveyard and the OK Corral. 

Today, the NCL Spirit docked in Vancouver, and the cruise part of my trip came to an end.

Unless you were an Elvis Presley fan, you probably wouldn't know who Vester Presley was, but he was the Uncle of Elvis Presley.