The City of Brotherly Love

A photo of the Liberty Bell
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And also the murder capital of the US! Bit ironic, don’t you think? Luckily we didn’t run into any trouble, although we did have to drive through a few shady areas in the three hours that it took us to find a hotel! In the end we found a motel out in the boon docks near the airport that would take us in for the night.

The only problem with staying so far out was that we would have a problem getting back into the city to do all the touristy stuff. A lot of the hotels offered free shuttle buses but unfortunately the fine establishment we managed to get into didn’t offer any such service. After stressing out trying to find a place to crash at, we decided to sleep on that one for the night and work it out the next morning.

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In the morning we decided to go with a tip that we received the night before from a guy we met in the lobby of another motel and try and hitch (in disguise as a guest) on the Holiday Inn shuttle bus to the airport, then catch the train from there. Luckily before we sacrificed our honesty for a free ride, we noticed that the double decker tour bus company that we were going to be taking a tour with offered free pick ups from your hotel, phew!!

The bus was a great option and although it was an express visit to Philadelphia we managed to fit in all the main attractions of this great city including the Liberty Bell and, of course, the main attraction - the ‘Rocky Steps’! I even managed to make it all the way up without stopping! I admit I did have the use of some performance enhancers, not the Sly Stallone type though. I went with the Philly cheesesteak option instead, another great Philly institution!

The real Liberty Bell
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Next we are heading up the Hudson River on our way to Boston, notching up a few more states along the way when we pass through New Jersey and upstate New York!