Having never been to the U.S before I have a bit of spare holiday and thought I might spend a week there. The area that interests me the most is the deep south and Mississippi seems to reprisent that pretty well. Knowing nothing about the geography of the region I would like to know if it is realistic that I could fly into Jackson, rent a car for a just a week yet still have time to see a lot of decent sites, experience Southern life, sail down the river etc? p.s what are the main things to go see in Mississippi?
The Lousiana state line on the way to New Orleans. I'm not a big south-basher but I wouldn't recommend Mississippi for a person's first visit to the US, unless you think you'll be coming back often.
if you want to come to the southeast, i'd recommend atlanta, new orleans, nashville, anywhere in florida, or charlotte...they're the cities in the southeast with "the most to do"
Savannah & Charleston would be good choices, too. Better than Atlanta, if you're looking for a real southern experience. I don't really consider Florida the south, culturally.
If you're looking for poverty then Mississippi is a good place to start. It's a seriously depressing place from my experience.
I would try Charleston and/or Savannah ( im a bit partial to Charleston) Both have numberous walking tours, carriage tours and boat tours as well. culturally, i think you might have a hard time beating either one for historical "Southerness". Great food too; She crab soup, shirmp and grits, pulled pork, and Benne wafers are just a few local specialties. tons historically espeically Charleston, with Fort Sumter, (the place of the first shot or the civil war began) Ft Moultire(Edgar Allen Poe penned several poems while there) several museums, The Battery (after which the local soccer team here is named) and over 3000 historic homes in Charleston alone. You can still see people hand making sweetgrass baskets to sell on the side of the road. Not to mention it is Reading midfielder, Bobby Convey's home away from home. He owns a house here and is a frequent visitor, my local, the Madra Rua Pub, has a couple auotgraphed Convey jersey (one Reading and one US jeresey) on the wall and he was a regular watching the Charleston Battery while he was recouperating from his knee injury. the link in my signature takes to you a thread with quite a few links to things "all about Charleston" Good luck and enjoy your holiday
For all their posturing, Austin hasnt been interesting (or weird) for 30 years. New Orleans baby. New Orleans.
How are things going down there. I was there a couple of months after the storm and was blown away. Are the traffic lights working on Carrollton Avenue yet?
hmm, I used to live in Mississippi; in general it is a poor and not very desirable state, except for some thriving patches mainly around the metropolitan areas. some basic answers to your questions: Flying into Jackson realistic? Straight from England, no, but it has flights to most U.S. hubs such as Atlanta, Newark, Charlotte, O'Hare, Detroit, etc. Also the coast has some decent connections, though not as many as Jackson. Rent-a-Car? Easy, although venturing on Mississippi back roads can be an interesting experience. A week is more than enough time to see the whole state if you want, its about a 5 hours drive from one end to the other. Sights: I agree with most people here tha most of Mississippi lacks any real tourist things unless you want to do some blues music tour or gamble. The Coast has a booming casino industry that is transforming into a full scale resort (taking advantage of former blue-collar residential areas that Katrina destroyed ), but right now its just casinos. Gambling is basically the Mississippi tourist economy; Jackson is all business and government with little night life and only small patches of cultural things. Also when you say the deep south fascinates you, do you mean the Antebellum "Gone with the Wind" crap, because Mississippi doesn't have much of that except Natchez which is small and remote. Mobile, Al; Savannah, Ga; or Charleston, SC are the "Old South" themed tourist places. New Orleans is traditionally a cool three stop trip going N.O.-Biloxi-Mobile would cover a wide range of tourist activites, but I don't know how recovered the area is.
Everything within a block or two of the water on the MS Gulf Coast was basically flattened. I was standing in the parking of the convention center in Biloxi in November of 2005 and next door was a hotel that was destroyed because a casino barge - an enormous ********er - had crashed into it. From what I understand recovery efforts are proceeding better there than in New Orleans. However, much of the groovy NOLA stuff is in the Quarter and Garden District and those areas are basically fine.
Maggie and I spent a night in Biloxi back in April on our way to New Orleans. It still pretty much desolate. A few of the hotels and casinos were open but not too many. I would add Brunswick, Ga to the list of places to visit if you want to experience the Old South. Only an hour south of Savanah and lots of neat things to see and do there.
North Florida is definitely "the south." I live in a small city, and recently rented a Uhaul van from a Uhaul place / convenience store / bait shop / adult video store -- in the middle of the city. If that's not the south, I don't know what is. The southy parts of Florida are Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Jacksonville / St. Augustine is a pretty cool place; they have some touristy stuff tied to 16th century European exploration; Kennedy Space Center (NASA) is close by; and of course there are amazing beaches, including Daytona which is about an hour south of Jacksonville. I also share people's recommendation of New Orleans.