#USA.

While living in Florida, I met Mickey Spillane in a downtown restaurant in Orlando.

I have lived and vacationed in the USA. These articles provide additional information about things I have seen and learned during my time in the USA.

Arguably one of the most awe-inspiring natural wonders in the world, the Grand Canyon is much more than a vast chasm carved by the persistent flow of the Colorado River.

Mendenhall Glacier, known to the Tlingit people as Áakʼw Tʼáak Sít, “the Glacier Behind the Little Lake”, is a striking mountain glacier located about 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Juneau, Alaska.

Monument Valley, known in Navajo as Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii (“valley of the rocks”), is one of the most recognisable landscapes in the world. 

I did a brief but tiring walk through the Tongass National Forest when the NCL Spirit cruise ship, which I was cruising around Hawaii and Alaska on, docked in Ketchikan, Alaska.

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

In the early 1990s, I stayed at my home in Orlando and decided to visit Clearwater Beach for the weekend. I met Hulk Hogan at his bar.

I liked the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and was disappointed we didn't have more time to spend there.

We toured around the swamp in the Atchafalaya Basin on a small boat made for about 2 dozen people. We saw hundreds of alligators our tour guide threw food to, getting them to come closer for our photos.

I went to Atlanta, Georgia, as part of my Southern States tour in 2012. As well as looking at many of the large homes in Atlanta, we also visited the CNN Centre and the Martin Luther King Memorial Visitor Centre.

One of the places I have always wanted to visit is the Augusta National Golf Club. I love golf, but I do not want to play golf there. Just walk around the course to soak up the beautiful location.

✅ I am in the lucky position to say that I have flown the Grand Canyon on three occasions.

✅ Since I was very young and used to watch Magnum PI, starring Tom Selleck, on television, I have wanted to see the Hawaiian islands. Some of my friends have been, and they have all said what a great place it was to

✅ 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 Falls.

✅ I think the first time I saw a Segway was on television. It was a policeman riding one somewhere, and I thought straight away that I had to have a go on one. I have now crossed riding a Segway off my bucket list.

✅ As a young child, like many others, I always wanted to be an astronaut. As this seemed out of my reach, I decided to go to Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and see a live rocket launch. I have done this many times and have crossed it off my bucket list.

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

✅ I have always been fascinated by the vast Whales I have seen on TV nature programs and the Orca I have seen at SeaWorld in Florida. I had always wanted to see them in their natural habitat and have now been able to cross it off my bucket

We didn't have very long at Carlsbad Caverns, but I did manage to get to the bottom of the main cave and back up.