Our trips out to the states started a few years before we first boarded a plane to New York. During the late nineties my brother was offered a job in the US, based in the Princeton area of New Jersey and the family made the brave decision to move there.

Wind on five years from them leaving, and settling in their new home, to me boarding a flight from Heathrow to Newark, NYC for my first trip to the USA. I made the journey on my own with Neil taking a week off work to show me around.

During that first week we visited Atlantic City, New York, Washington DC, Princeton and a small town called New Hope in Pennsylvania. They all left an impression because we’ve been back to all those place numerous times on subsequent visits. If I have one overriding memory from that week it would be climbing the steps out of Penn Train Station, NYC up onto 7th Avenue. The smells, noise, high buildings, traffic, people and general bustle was just incredible.

Following that first visit, Linda and I went back at least once a year up until the time Neil and Sharon decided to move back to the UK in 2017, after twenty years living in New Jersey. We planned all our visits for October or November (the later date for Thanksgiving or the Holiday Season). We did lots of touring during those trips, most times returning to Washington DC for a few nights, riding in to New York, time and time again but, also driving further afield to Nashville and Memphis.

New York

We always enjoyed a trip in to New York whilst we were staying with Neil and Sharon. For the first few years we would take the New Jersey transit from New Brunswick into Penn Station but latterly we changed tack, taking the bus in to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

We never strayed too far from Manhattan although we did normally take a walk across Brooklyn Bridge and then into Brooklyn. There’s little you can say about New York that’s not already been said. We always found something new to visit or a new area to explore. Just walking down to Brooklyn Bridge from Times Square was enough to keep us happy.

Washington DC

We both really like Washington DC. We found a nice hotel in the suburb of Springfield and used that as a base for catching a Metro train in to the National Mall area. We explored that central area pretty comprehensively but, over the years, we’ve visited Arlington Cemetery, Washington Zoo, Georgetown and the Springfield area near our hotel. If we ever return to the East Coast I would probably choose to fly in to Washington from London rather than New York.

New Jersey Shore

We always enjoyed a drive down to the shore with Neil and Sharon. Being late Autumn, when we always visited, the area was pretty quiet but it was nice to walk the boardwalk behind the beach. Belmar was memorable for the nice houses and expensive cars. From there we would normally take a drive further along to Asbury Park, for another short walk and coffee.

Nashville and Memphis

This was one long drive from Princeton. We set off at 7am on the first day and drove down, through Washington DC, The Blue Ridge Mountains and across several states until we reached our overnight hotel in Knoxville at 9pm. After another early start, the following day, we arrived in Nashville by lunchtime.

We were in Nashville for a long weekend and it was really busy on Friday and Saturday. All the bars on Broadway were packed. We just enjoyed the general vibe and the buzz walking around during the day and evening. Ironically we spent some of our time sat in a bar listening to a band playing heavy metal covers.

On Sunday things became a lot quieter and we were able to get into some of the bars with bands playing live country music. Neither of us mind country music but it’s not something I would choose to listen to. However, these bands had amazing musicians and we both really enjoyed listening to country music being played live.

The band in our bar passed a bucket around the crowd and asked the punters to write the name of a favourite song on a slip of paper and then put it in the bucket. When the bucket arrived back at the stage the vocalist would pull a slip of paper from the bucket, check the song request, and the band would then play it – incredible!

A long weekend was enough time in Nashville and we then drove on to Memphis. I don’t have a lot to say about Memphis because I really didn’t like it. We did visit Graceland which I did enjoy. We went to the National Civil Rights Museum | At the Lorraine Motel, we spent an evening on Beale Street, had a few drinks in B.B. King’s Blues Club and saw some Mallard Ducks in the Peabody Hotel! All were good attractions but the Memphis we experienced seemed quite rundown and felt really edgy. I was glad to leave.

Princeton

I really like Princeton. It was about ten miles from Neil’s and a really nice place just to wander around. You can walk around the university campus (we went in one afternoon to watch a college football game), but the town itself is full of smart artisan shops, eateries and micro brewery bars. We were able to get an Uber in to town and enjoy an evening sampling lots of different beers and lagers and eating some great bar food.

Philadelphia, New Hope

We visited Philadelphia, as day trips, a few times and did the normal touristy thing; visiting the main sites, i.e. The Liberty Bell etc. I do remember having a very tasty Philly Cheesesteak, worth a trip in itself to try the real thing.

New Hope is a nice little town on the New Jersey/Philadelphia border although there isn’t much there. We combined it with a long walk along a canal into town and I can’t think of any trips where we didn’t visit New Hope whilst we were there.

Other than flying in to Miami to pick up a cruise ship, we haven’t returned to the states since Neil came home. I’d like to think we would go back to Washington at some time in the future, if just to get a proper Nathans and for Linda to re-stock at Bath and Bodyworks.

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.