We continue to be amazed at how affordable travel here is.
Let's take today for example.
We filled
up White Knight (our Jeep for those of you who missed yesterday's update) with
his first tank of "gas". A full tank was $60 - to fill up a
car that size in Australia would have probably cost around $80.
While we
were at the service station, we bought some snacks: water for me, two 600ml
softdrinks for Daren and Logan, and two packets of chips. The total was $6.27.
The 600ml softdrink bottles were $1.85 each - at home at a roadside servo I
would guess they charge close to $3.
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| Logan admires the breakfast table at the B&B this morning |
No lunch
today for us - it was too generous a breakfast when we left the B&B this
morning. I can't say I have warmed to the grits they eat at breakfast yet (sort
of like a runny polenta), but Logan is now eating maple syrup on his bacon!
We are staying at a Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Memphis for the next three
nights (rated 4th best Memphis hotel on Trip Advisor). The rate per night is
$149 with free wi-fi, tea and coffee, newspapers and parking. Buffet hot
breakfast tomorrow is $9 for adults, $5 for children. A load of washing in
their self-service laundry is $1.50 per load, and $1 for the dryer. Washing
powder sells at reception for $2.
This
afternoon we walked over to the large shopping centre nearby to take a look
around the shops. Logan and I shared a soft-serve Dairy Queen ice-cream cone
(like Mr Whippy, but tastier). It cost $2. At the cinema, the tickets to the
movies were $8.50 for adults and $5.50 for kids.
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| Daren with his "side"salad - check out the size! |
As we hadn't had lunch, we had an
early dinner at the Texas Steakhouse just up the road from the hotel (sort of
like an upmarket Hog's Breath but Texas themed). Dinner was a hot dog and corn
on the cob for Logan, BBQ pulled pork, Caesar side salad and a baked sweet potato
for Daren, and a small steak, house side salad, and baked potato for me. To drink, I
had a very large margarita (of course), and the boys had a couple of softdrinks
each. The manager heard it was our first visit to the steakhouse (and Tennessee)
and came out with a free sample of their BBQ pork ribs for us to try and then he spent about 15
minutes talking to us and giving us suggestions about what to see and do
locally. The total for dinner: $30.70 (a little cheaper than normal as we got a 15% discount for ordering
before 7pm). Even allowing for the customary 15-20% tip on top of this amount, you can still walk away with change from $40 for a relatively sensible and and
tasty dinner for three.
I guess wages are the big
difference. The average hourly rate for most waiters is around $7 an hour, so
tipping really isn’t optional - they rely on it to bring their wage to a decent level. In fact, the IRS (tax office) assumes that
waiters are earning 15% in tips and taxes them accordingly. I haven’t minded
tipping once as the service has been so damn good.
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| The four-poster bed at the B&B (blogging for your enjoyment) |
The other thing to remember is
that there is no ongoing welfare system here. You get 2 years and six months to
find a job – then your social security payments stop. So a lot more people are
working here then they probably would be in Australia. Another interesting
thing I read in the newspaper this week is that the authorities can order social
security recipients to take a drug test if they suspect they are using
their welfare payments on drugs. If they are, they get referred for treatment
and don’t get social security again until they pass the drug test. I can’t
imagine this getting past the civil libertarians in Australia.
At the rate we are going in
Australia, it will soon be more attractive to get a cheap flight to the US and holiday
here, rather than at home.
Off to Graceland tomorrow - can’t
wait!
[PS Check out Logan's blog about the tornado that hit Vicksburg that we narrowly evaded this morning.]
Melissa and Logan - we are loving your blogs!!! great work! Look forward to catching up with you when you're back in the office Melissa. Kathryn xo
ReplyDeleteThanks Kath - the blogging is actualy a nice way to end each day and remember all the things we have seen and done. It makes for a nice dinner coversation too - every night Logan has to list 5 or 6 things he wants to put on his blog. Hope the pricing is progressing well (and you will still be there when I get back?) Otherwise we will have to catch up for lunch seperately. Cheers - MA
DeleteMel, you are definitely taking that arts training of yours seriously with those portrait/landscape shots!
ReplyDeleteYou are so getting the hang of this blogging marlarky - your posts just get better and better. Loving it!
ReplyDeleteYou've sold me on visiting the States - sounds fantastic. All we need to do now is line up a babysitter for a few weeks to really let our hair down :) Keep having a blast! - Kiara :)
ReplyDeleteHi My first ever blog communication.. inspired by the wonderful stories of your escapades and adventures and especially parts of the US of which I know so little and you describe so vividly Thanks for taking us along onthe ride
ReplyDeleteCheers Deb
Hi Deb - lovely to hear from you and glad you are finding some of the blog interesting. I thought I should reply so you know the technology works! You wouldn't believe how easy it is to set the blog up and enter the text and photos - this sort of technology isn't usually my thing (I don't even have a facebook account) but thanks to some tuition from the lovely Pita Norris, even I can do this now.
DeleteThis is my first visit to the US so I can't say with any certainty how the South compares with the east or west coasts, or even the more cosmopolitan parts like New York or Chicago, but the people sure are friendly and the travel is easy and enjoyable. Look forward to a coffee with you sometime when I get home (or rather a decent cup of tea - I haven't had one of those since I left Australia three weeks ago!)