Letter from New England ( USA) ...Sept. 2010

 White Mountains region

My special year 2010 continued to celebrate my big 60 (I am only young once!) when I booked an expensive guided tour with group from old England (UK) all the way to New England (USA) for ten whole days. Making sure that it was one of the journeys I will not forget, I had door to door service of chauffeur driven car all the way to Heathrow airport and home again. When a very posh car came to collect me and my not very posh rucksack taken care of all the way to the airport, I felt like the Queen of England on a journey to her New World across the pond. I am ashamed to admit that the journey was sheer luxury, sheer indulgence, sheer decadence but I am pleased to say that my husband would have approved of it all with his big heart, I can hear him saying “ you are worth it”!

 This one and only luxury continued all the way to New England, where guides had their own guide books and jokes for my entertainment and when it was too much for me to be listening to a lot of well rehearsed, regurgitated crap, I simply put my ear plugs in and read my own book . Mind you the American guides, all well dressed for the job were very entertaining, like most Americans they could talk and talk a lot! It was such a relaxing experience for me to have somebody else making the decisions for my pleasure and putting things right when they went wrong. I was never short of American company in the bars or out in the streets, all very friendly, polite and welcoming. My accommodations were in quaint country inns and my final stay night was in boutique type of B&B which provided poster bed, cosy in-room fireplace and private whirlpool bathroom.

 

New England (USA) is nothing like the old England (UK) I left behind but the names of the cities and towns kept reminding me of my old England I shall be returning to; I loved the whole experience so much that I wanted it never to stop. Anyway it did stop after 10 days and I must now spent time writing about the places I visited and what they have to offer to all those who live in old England and want to retire or just want to visit a paradise called New England?

 

New England is a region in the north eastern corner of USA consisting of six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island (and Connecticut which I did not visit). There are rivers, forests, mountain ranges, farmland and country side, dramatic coastline and sandy beaches all reached by your own gas guzzling transport. Any public transport is non existence and my two 5W members I met up in a little town called Stowe, said that we, in old England were lucky to have such a good public transport net work for travelling. So for those who love the public transport of old England think twice about retiring to New England? The vast and beautiful landscape founded by earlier English settlers in search of religious freedom,  have over the years been home and inspiration to many literacy giants like Mark Twain, Stephen King and Dan Brown. There are lots of art & craft shops and workshops in most towns and cities I visited all wanting your hard cash, after pondering for days and hours over what not to buy, I finally fell for a hand made patchwork bed cover to bring home. Due to its diverse landscape, New England is also popular with Hollywood film makers and actors alike. The great and the mighty presidents of USA (Bush, Kennedy, and Obama) and lots of very, very wealthy Americans have homes, palaces fit for Royalties and  spend their holidays in New England. So if you do decide to go there, you will not be alone!

 I planned my journey to be in New England for autumn, the season the American call their “fall” when the fall season paints New England's maple trees red . However due to the climate change there were only very few red autumn maple leaves on the trees or on the ground. Friendly people I spoke to were still waiting for some miracle from Obama as the economy of New England was not going up hill! Time will tell if New England continues to retain its beauty for all to enjoy?

 My tour took me to Plymouth, Bath, Lincoln, White Mountains, Cape Cod, Province town, Rhode Island, Newport, Stowe, Vermont, Kennebunkport, Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.