Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale

My alarm was set for 4.30am but I woke at 4.15am so I got up and had a shower and a cup of tea. I left at 5.00am and drove the 2 miles or so to return my car.

I had checked in and passed through security by 5.45am ready for my 7.20am flight. Thankfully Atlanta Airport had a few places open to eat even at that time in the morning so I had a bagel and cream cheese and read until we were called for our Delta flight. I'd booked another window seat and read some more on the flight as there were no movies. It was a really clear day so the view (especially over Florida) was beautiful!

We landed on time at about 9.00am and, sod's law being as it is(!), because I had lots of time, my suitcase was one of the first off the plane! I'd had the choice of either having a hire car for two days cost or staying at the airport for an extra 90 minutes and only paying for one day so I'd opted for the latter, my reasoning being that I was only going to my room to work so I must as well do that at the airport and save $50. Much to my delight Fort Lauderdale Airport has free wireless Internet so I could get online too.

At about 10.45am I caught a bus to the car hire centre which is a massive building. Unfortunately the queue for Alamo was really long and the automatic machines wouldn't recognise my paper driving licence so it took half an hour to queue to get a car! As I was hungry by then, I typed Ruby Tuesday into my SatNav and had a gorgeous lunch there.

The weather was really sunny and was about 78 degrees which was just wonderful as I'm used to the UK winter, although we have had one of the mildest that I can remember!

I then checked into my hotel. As I was only staying one night I'd opted for a cheapo Motel 8 - the most surprising thing about the room was that the shower was actually in the bedroom! I suppose if I was having a bath it would have been nice to have laid in it and watched TV.

Kasim Sulton gig in Atlanta, GA

The gig was better than I expected! Kasim's voice sounded really strong and the 3 guys played well together. There's quite a detailed review (as always!) on KasimInfo.com here.

The parts I didn't put on a public website like that was that the gig seemed a bit forced to me. Kasim didn't seem very relaxed (like he didn't at the other gig that was filmed for a DVD on Staten Island back in about 2004). It probably didn't help that it was the first gig of the "tour" either! We were also warned that the microphones were very sensitive and would pick up any sound so most people kept very quiet during the gig and even Kasim said that we weren't giving anything back to him!

Unfortunately there weren't many people there. I counted about 40 and I was told that only about 30 of them actually paid to get in! If all 129 tickets had been sold they could have taken $7,740. The rental of the hall was only $700 so there could have been some good money made. The irony is that the day before the gig was officially announced, I received an e-mail saying that people should book early or they may not be able to get a ticket!

When I first got to the area I didn't think it could be the correct road as it looked like a little track but inside it was quite decent. We didn't go in until about 10 minutes late but it finished by about 9.30pm. By that time I'd been up for 22 hours and I was shattered (plus I certainly did not want to be filmed at a meet and greet!) so I left straight afterwards.

I got back to my room by about 10.15pm and had a cup of tea before I got to bed at about 11.30pm as I have an early start tomorrow.

GA to GA (Gatwick to Georgia)

I really didn't sleep too well last night (got to be at 11.00pm and was up at 2.00am for half an hour) so when my alarm went off at 4.30am (11.30pm US time!) I already felt shattered! The taxi arrived 10 minutes early so I had a 20 minute wait at the station and then had to change trains at London Bridge. There was only 4 minutes between the trains but thankfully I made the connection and got to Gatwick Airport by 7.10am. Check-in and security were relatively quick so by 8.00am I was having breakfast and relaxing!

My 10.00am flight took off about 20 minutes late and as there were headwinds they said that it was going to be a nine and a half hour flight! I'm quite used to 7 hours to NYC (or sometimes 6 flying home) so that seemed quite a long trip. I haven't flown Delta before but the staff were great and there was lots of food! The downside was that there were no screens in the back of the chairs so we were limited to a couple of films, neither of which I was interested in.

We landed only 15 minutes late at 3.00pm (Atlanta is on the same time as NYC which is 5 hours behind London) but it wasn't until 5.00pm that I actually left the airport! There were really long queues at Immigration and they had 4 people checking our forms were completed correctly but nobody directing which line people should join so it was a total mess! Thankfully the guy didn't give me the 3rd degree today - I've travelled to US so often that sometimes they really quiz me. He did say that he hadn't heard of Kasim Sulton and then asked me if he played Christian music which isn't the first type I would have thought of with that name!

After I'd collected my suitcase and gone through the agriculture part I then had to recheck my suitcase and go through security (including taking off my shoes) to enter the airport! How I could have got any weapons whilst flying over the Atlantic is beyond me! I then had to travel to another terminal to collect my suitcase again! I collected my car and drove to my motel which was only about 2 minutes away. I'm just staying at a cheap Motel 8 as it's only for one night. It's quite a good standard and has wireless Internet so I'm happy! I was supposed to be meeting some people for dinner but I don't really have the time now so I may see them afterwards.

I hope this gig isn't the zoo it sounds like it will be....