“Phoenix?”
“Why on earth do you want to stop over in Phoenix?’
This was a question put to me by a guy cuing at the airpot in Cancun Mexico.
Phoenix won out as we booked the trip home to Brisbane via LA on points. So really we didn’t plan to go to Phoenix, it just worked out that way.
Yay another desert, as if I hadn’t seen enough in South America over the last 2.5 months. I wasn’t sure If I was going to enjoy this city or not.For us now we were resigned to the fact that in a couple of days time we’d be returning to our jobs and leaving behind3.5 months of traveling.
Landing into Phoenix and catching the city light rail to downtown seemed simple enough, the CBD seemed deserted but to be fair it’s holiday season between Christmas and New Years so most of the offices were closed.
Still Phoenix portrayed a Ghost Town persona.
With space traffic and only the homeless crowding into Mc Donalds it seemed to us Phoenix had been forgotten by the rest of the painted picture that the media machine pumps in movies about the USA.
Personally it’s the only place I’ve felt unsafe in my last 3.5 months of travel. And we’ve been to Colombia and Cuba, countries that the USA seem to give a bad reputation to. I felt like everywhere I had to look over my shoulder and that I was being watched.
Locking up the hotel door I mentioned to Elena that there really is no security between us and the outside world as the hotel was on a corner and open to the general public. Despite all my reservations the room was cosy as the afternoon temperature plummeted.
We only had one full day in Phoenix and rising early to Waffles and coffee in the small lobby that doubled as the reception area I battled with space between a group of asian tourists and the cleaner who had decided that it was 8.30am and it was time to close down the kitchen area for the days trading. “No more waffles for you” I felt like I was in an episode of Sienfield.
Grabbing what I could before the plug was pulled on the caffeine giving life support machine, I wrestled the 2 flights of stairs playing juggler to coffee, tea, waffles and a bowl of fruit and cereal (and judging by the look of the cleaner.) I was lucky to escape with the tray!
Our days outing was hatched by Elena who had grabbed a handful of brochures from the reception the night before. Our plan was to take the bus to the Phoenix Zoo and the surrounding desert parklands. It seemed that everything else involved hiring a car and driving out of town. Honestly the Phoenix CBD had nothing to offer. But like I mentioned it was holiday season.
I seems that America has fallen victim to the “Life in the Suburbs” syndrome. Where everything you want is close to home and the CBD is only for “work”. So anyone planning an overnight in Phoenix id going to be disappointed.
Grabbing a bus was as relatively simple process and as the bus was almost empty I felt safe. My constant thoughts were where are the people?
The Zoo was the last stop for the bus, so there really was no way we’d miss our stop. The driver advised us he’d be resting here next bus wouldn’t be available for at least a couple of hours (holiday hours applied). So we set off to explore the Zoo and Parklands. Well that was until we discovered the cost for entry in to the Zoo and decided it was a little steep. The desert Parklands its was then…..
Looking at a map it didn’t seem that far to the nearest shopping centre so we set off walking ……. and walking…… and walking. Everyone else was driving. We asked a lady out jogging and she gave us a vague direction and a couple of street names. 12 km later we reached our destination. Blistered feet and aching legs the thought of shopping now was exhausted. A quick bite to eat and wandering into a target store for a couple of shirts for our little nephew was the total prise for our mammoth efforts.
We were done, and it was getting late. the thought of negotiating our way back to the bus 12km away was mental torture. We discovered a bus lane in the large carpark and approached a lady bus driver who was standing out front of her bus on a break. After a small chat we discovered that she had a daughter who had visited Brisbane (Australia) our home town as an exchange student a few years ago. She also helped us negotiate a way back to ur hotel by taking us on her bus to the light rail system that would return is (via the airport) back to the CBD.
Iv’e never enjoyed running hot water from the shower onto my swollen feet so much as I did that night. Tuning into American sitcom comedy on TV and a few snack we bought at the shopping centre we crashed for the night.
I’m sure Phoenix has a hum of business somewhere, sadly we never found it. I felt underwhelmed almost robbed of opportunity to enjoy one stopover in the states.
Tomorrow…. we’re homeward bound Via Los Angles.
