Today we flew to another new city for us, Nashville. Plus, we flew with another new airline for us, Southwest Airlines, and that was an experience!
Morning
Not an overly early start this morning, but early enough. We had time this morning to grab some breakfast before taking a shuttle to the airport. St. Louis airport was pretty swift. We were through TSA in 30 minutes. Plenty of time for a pint before our flight and for Megan to purchase yet another teddy bear.
With Southwest, you don’t get a seat allocation. It is boarding by group, and then you scramble for a seat. We were in group C, which was squeaky bum time to get even 2 of us seated together. However, in the end, Megan and I got a seat together while Nicola sat a few rows behind. Everyone was happy.
Just as we were about to take off, the weather turned bad. Meaning we got an ATC delay until the weather passed. The delay wasn’t bad, just 30 minutes.
We knew we would be passing through a bad storm, so the seat belt light was on the entire flight. I was lucky and got a beer, which ended up being FREE.
Surprisingly, the landing was smooth, considering how bumpy the flight was. Nashville airport wasn’t big, so within 30 minutes of landing, we were on the shuttle to the hotel. Another great reason to only have hand luggage!
Afternoon
The weather was hot and humid, but not much in the way of the sun. As we had nothing planned until the evening, Megan went to the hotel swimming pool for a couple of hours. Then she lived out a “bucket list” moment and got a chicken burger from Wendy’s next door! One happy camper this afternoon.
Evening
We made our way to GEODIS Stadium for the MLS game between Nashville and LAFC. I had done some research and was told the tailgating in the park beside the stadium is class.
On arrival, we walked around the tailgate for a bit. We felt a bit of place as it was clear everyone was in the supporter’s groups and knew each other. However, I bit the bullet and just started talking to people. We were welcomed in and ended up with pizza, beer, water, juices, and buns for a couple of dollar donations to the supporter’s groups.
The people were so friendly, and Megan got to play football with the other kids. A wonderful experience and we saw how warm and welcoming the people of the USA are.
After a few hours, we decided to head into the stadium. The stadium is brand new and set up for football. We walked around the concourse, grabbed a beer, and enjoyed the live music.
It was nearing kick-off, and we headed for our seats. Well, so Nicola and Megan thought! I refrained from telling them they were for the safe standing area. I knew they liked the idea of standing for 90 minutes in the hot and humid stadium. The rolling of the eyes and comments under their breath was a giveaway.
However, once the drum and chants started, the complaining died out, or perhaps I couldn’t hear it anymore. We will never know.
The game ended 2-1 to LAFC, with Gareth Bale and Chiellini making their debut for LAFC. We really enjoyed the game, and the atmosphere was top class. Check out our YouTube video on it.
Night
Getting home from the stadium was an absolute nightmare. Any Ubers available in the area were charging double the price we paid to get to the stadium. I’m tight and refused to pay it, plus the traffic wasn’t moving anyway, so it was most likely the driver would end up cancelling. We waited for 45 minutes and got an Uber for not much more than we paid on the way to the stadium.
As we arrived back at the hotel, Nicola was huffing. She found out that Charles Esten (Deacon from Nashville) was playing the drums beside us as we left the stadium, and she didn’t know.
Straight to bed for us tonight. Megan has her eye on an early morning swim in the hotel pool.
Thanks for taking the time to read ‘Day 9 – Travelling across the USA.’
The Lewis Family.