Our Road Trip Honeymoon through the Deep SouthIt sounds a little nuts when we initially tell people that we decided to do a road trip of the Deep South for our honeymoon. As a lesbian couple it's not really the first place that comes to mind when you think of LGBT friendly honeymoon/holiday destinations. However we're hoping that this blog will help other LGBT travellers possibly navigate a trip of their own, because it turns out it was totally worth it. Before we get into it we should probably explain my rationale for this blog. When we initially decided to get married in New York (due to it not being legal in Australia where were residing) it made sense to start off our epic honeymoon doing parts of America we'd always wanted to visit. For me (Riv) this was the Deep South namely New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta. The south conjured up images of iced tea, peaches and long hot summer days as well as soul and music. The only problem being that it is also known as the Bible Belt and not a particularly welcoming place for us. This led me to attempt to research travel tips for lesbian or the more inclusive LGBT umbrella for the Deep South. Turns out there isn't much information out there. To make things a little worse, at the time we were really starting to finalise our plans, North Carolina and Mississippi both decided to bring in different discriminatory laws targeting the LGBT community. Initially I have to admit this made me want to change our plans but after some extensive discussions Dani and I decided that it was important to stick to our plans. My research came up with a route that seemed relatively friendly and this was it: Newark, NJ - Philadelphia, PA - Baltimore, MD - Richmond, VA - Raleigh, NC - Charleston, SC - Savannah, GA - Atlanta, GA - Montgomery, AL - Mobile, AL - New Orleans, LA - Natchez, MS - Jackson, MS - Memphis, TN - Nashville, TN - Asheville, NC - Roanoke, VA - Shenandoah National Park, VA - Washington, DC - Princeton, NJ - Newark, NJ Why did we start our road trip loop in Newark, NJ? Useful little tip here, it’s almost always cheaper to rent cars in smaller cities, and considering we were looking at paying a daily rate for 31 days, the difference between hiring in New York (where we were actually leaving from) and Newark was nearly $300USD. The car hire came to a total of $1048.08 USD ($1379.05AUD) for the 31 days. We did find that hiring a car for a week/month dropped the price from a daily rate by a substantial amount. Also make sure you have a credit card that has enough credit to freeze the entire hire cost. You don't have to pay on this card when dropping the car off but you do need it to drive out of the rental company. Our first stop was Philadelphia, which is an awesome city with interesting architecture (haha we are now that old), street art and a lot of history. It also has the Reading Market, which is probably only second in it’s sheer foodie gloriousness to the Central Market in Adelaide, Australia. It has amazing quality food and it's all very cheap. In addition you can find a delicious vegetarian Philly cheese steak (oxymoron I know) at George's. While staying in Philly we had a private AirBnb double room, costing us $53 AUD ($40.28 USD) per night. Our next stop was Baltimore, which has got a great food market of it’s own called Lexington Market. This is where Dani claims to have had the best crab cakes she's ever eaten at Faidley’s (See the food album for pictures). We decided to stay in Petersburg for the night, as the accommodation options were a lot cheaper. We stayed at the Econolodge for $59.60 USD ($78.40 AUD) per night. Our next 2 stops we're exactly that...stops. We stayed in Richmond at the Econolodge for $49.71 USD ($65.40 AUD) and a Microtel in Raleigh for $49.71 USD ($65.40 AUD). While neither of these cities have much to offer we did do an interesting tour of the State Capitol building in Richmond which is free and very well run. If you have an interest in universities (American ones are pretty cool and the stuff of movies), Duke has a beautiful campus and is not far from Raleigh. From here we entered South Carolina and what really began to feel like the south. Just past the North/South Carolina border is a fantastically cheesy roadside stop called South of the Border. If you, like us, are looking for some seriously quirky American roadside attractions, this one has got to top them all. Originally started as a fireworks stand (when you couldn't buy them in North Carolina) it has now turned in to what can only be described as a 50's Mexican themed park. It has multiple attractions, gift stores, food and a petrol station. Sounds ridiculous but absolutely worth a stop! Our destination in South Carolina was Charleston, which turned out to be one of our favourite places of our whole trip. We were staying in another AirBnB here which was a great find (message us if you need the details) for $84 AUD ($63.84 USD) per night. Charleston is steeped in Southern charm, from it's Spanish moss draped trees, to it’s friendly locals smiling a "Hey y'all!". It's a great town and totally worth the visit. For food you have got to try Jestine's Kitchen. You may have to queue outside for a short time during lunch but this should not deter you! Jestine’s has some amazing food, all cooked home-style with soul and love. It cost us $50 USD ($65.70 AUD) for a meal for 2 and it was worth every cent. Also of note if you have time head to the Charleston Tea Plantation ($10 USD/13.15 AUD pp for the tour). It's the biggest tea plantation in North America and the tour includes all the tea you can drink (of various types), a 15 minute factory walk with information video and a bus tour with guide around the plantation. After 2 glorious days in Charleston it was off to Savannah in Georgia. We've got to say that Savannah after Charleston was a little bit of a let down. It felt to us much more of a tourist trap and not in the good or funny way. We did manage to spot a Forrest Gump impersonator and we sat in the spot where Forrest famously uttered the words “Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates…”. We checked out the museum where the bench is kept and got roped into a historical reenactment of the civil war there. But overall we weren't really enamoured with Savannah. It was a bit lacklustre in the shadow of it’s older brother Charleston. We stayed in the Econolodge for $66.50 USD ($87.50 AUD) per night. We set off early for Atlanta and we were so happy when we arrived at our amazing accommodation ($82.50 AUD/62.70 USD). We were staying with a great couple and their gorgeous cats and dogs. In fact it was Karen their cat who convinced Dani that she really is a cat person (insert lesbian cat joke here). Atlanta is a fantastic city. On recommendation from Tiffanie (our host) we walked to Fox Bro's BBQ through some of the funkiest neighbourhoods we've ever been to. If you're here, you have to check out Cabbagetown and Little Five Points. There is plenty of street art and a really fun vibe. It was in Little Five Points that we met the half-Kiwi half-Australian young gay guy who was promoting an LGBT art/film celebration with his high school LGBT club (just to give you an idea of the vibe of this area). Fox Bros BBQ (1238 DeKalb Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, United States) – if you want BBQ and you are in Atlanta this is where you have to go! Highly highly highly recommend the ‘Frito Pie’ side. Dinner for 2 set us back $54 ($71.05 AUD) including tax and tip. Or you could try Thumbs Up Diner – good, hearty southern diner breakfast (grits, biscuits, fried catfish) at a very reasonable price. Another thing absolutely not to miss in Atlanta, is the Martin Luther King Jr Historical Park opened by Martin Luther King Jr's wife (Coretta Scott King) in his honour. The whole complex is beautiful and a very honest and informative tribute. There is no entrance fee for any of the complex but there are plenty of opportunities to make donations or to buy memorabilia. We were reluctant to leave Atlanta but we had a trip to complete and our next stop was Montgomery in Alabama. We had been warned we needed to be careful in Alabama, but honestly, we were as welcome here as we were anywhere else. People continued to be warm, friendly and inviting everywhere we went. We did however get to experience Sunday in the Bible Belt. Just a tip, plan nothing on a Sunday because everything is shut at least before midday if it opens at all. We stayed at the Quality Inn for $51.50 USD ($67.70 USD) per night. Of note in Montgomery there is the Rosa Parks Museum ($7.50USDpp for the basic entrance which covers all of the civil rights movement from the 1950s onwards) and is fantastic. There's also the Southern Poverty Law Centre housing a moving Civil Rights memorial and we were lucky enough to have a friend show us around. Our final stop before the destination I'd (Riv) had on my bucket list forever was Mobile. We stayed at another Econolodge $49.69 USD ($65.38 AUD). We didn't do much in Mobile because by this point we were pretty tired and really looking forward to New Orleans the next day. Continued in Part 2 (including budget breakdown of a month long road trip in the US)
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