Thrifting my way around the USA – Richmond, Virginia

I did some research and found out where all the Goodwill Warehouses are across America (haven’t even started with the Salvation Arm stores yet). The Goodwill warehouses are much cheaper than the stores. My first experience was in Richmond, Virginia. The locals in here are crazy. The best way to describe it is for anyone who has been to Battersea carboot on a Subday for the 12pm cars. The poor seller arrives and buyers are opening their car doors and going through the car without them even hitting the break. I have actually been one of these people and almost went crazy when I missed a Graham and Green deer head!!

Anyway, clothes are sold by the pound at $1.39 and homeware $0.59. I ended up with 7.5lb clothes Including 4 x dresses, 4 x tops, 1x pair of Vintage Levi boyfriend jeans, 1 x jumper and finally 1 x jacket. I paid $3 for a leather backpack as mine is nearly dead (so glad I did not buy that bag from Urban Outfitters in NYC).

Total £9.00 🙂

4 states and 600 miles

We now have 600 miles and 4 states including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia under our belts. I have done zero driving, it’s a relatively big car and my brain has only just begun thinking on the opposite side of the road. I will definitely drive soon….

New Jersey is known as the ‘Garden State’ (as listed on everyone’s bumpers). Leaving New York coming into New Jersey, this seems like a sick joke. For miles its disgusting industrial waste lands and we were very happy to leave that behind us! Apparently it does get quite nice further in, but we were keen to get down south so unfortunately missed all of that.

Our next stop was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Walking through the historical centre of Philadelphia was enjoyable and pleasantly educational. Having walked around big old national trust houses while on holiday with mum and dad over the years, I was a bit gutted to miss out on the tour guides of 3 replica houses of different classes of people. A short drive from there took us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Of course we didn’t go in, we just ran up the Rocky steps, stood on the converse marking the special spot and took some pictures, which was very fun! We did make a stop at Pat’s King of Steaks (where all the presidents go after inauguration) for a philly cheesesteak… I must say I was not impressed by it and not sure what the fuss was about. It is a must thing to do though and glad we went.

Our next stop was 120 miles to Washington D.C., Virginia. Due to it being out of season it was really quiet and we could easily walk around all the monuments, the White House and Capitol Building. The White House is a lot smaller than what was in my head. Forget trying to have a tour around the White House, it involves going to the UK Embassy in Washington and after seeing how small it was I don’t think I missed out on anything. I have watched Mars Attacks so have totally seen it before.

An hour drive south took us to Richmond. It was too wet and rainy to walk around but it’s supposed to be quite nice. On the plus side we found a bar called Captain Ales where it served great beers and $2 burgers. The absolutely bonus is the ice that runs along the bar which keeps your beer nice and cold… Bliss 🙂

Now we are heading west towards Memphis, although we are making a stop in South Carolina to hit a BBQ trail. The accents are about to get real thick!

Thrifting my way around the USA – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Our motel was around 8 miles outside of Philadelphia in a random little place called Runnemede. This was where I accidently found my first Goodwill store on our drive into the centre. It had loads of crap but a few good items, I actually found 3 shell suites… Oh the memories!

In the end I narrowed it down to:

Cardigan $4.99
Silk top $0.99
Bag $2.99

Not bad for £6. I even found John a Bob Marley t-shirt for 99c which kept him happy.

New York! New York!

And so the adventure begins…

We flew out with American Airlines and people were right, they do have to put the older air-hostesses somewhere! Although I’m not complaining as they were very good at bringing me beers, at 11am in the morning I decided it was too early for wine. I also managed to break at least 3 tv screens, luckily the flight was empty so could switch seats freely, of course John’s worked and he was not even using his.

11 days in New York were spent drinking at dive bars, eating and walking. I actually bought nothing the entire time we were there clothes wise (saving myself for the Goodwill/Salvation Army warehouses). The vintage shops had some nice things but very expensive.

A favourite of mine was Fette Sau BBQ, read John’s blog for more about this as he is the food guy. I also ate so much New York pizza, luckily we walked a lot so burnt off most of the calories. All the museums and galleries are expensive in New York so decided to sack those off as we have done many before and have 6 months of traveling to pay for. However for free and one of my favourite things we did was walk along The High Line, which I recommend everyone who goes to NYC to do. It’s an old disused subway line converted into a 10 block park/walkway with lots of art along it, plus it’s in the middle of the Meat Packing District which is a bonus.

Of course the East Village will always be a favourite, a nice afternoon stroll for a Crif (hot)Dog followed by a Big Gay Ice Cream… Heaven!

Bedford Avenue is definitely worth a visit. We spent literally hours at a bar, The Charlston, where the barman gave us free tequila and found out it won best dive bar in New York City in 2012. Lucky Dog was also very fun, playing a weird game with a random Mexican guy with salt and some throwy things, almost like curling. At Lucky Dog they let owners bring their dogs so it was fun playing with them for a while.

My advice to anyone planning on driving through America is either a) find someone with a car who can add you to their insurance premium as an additional driver (we had to do that in the end) or rent. Registering a car out here is a nightmare, it almost all fell through for us.

We left New York and are now on the road and I am very very happy.