Neverland Travels | The Southeast

            I honestly don’t think I could love New York any more than I do. Clichéd and predictable, my absolutely adoration for the city where I spent most of my childhood is practically inexhaustible. But as most New Yorkers can attest to (and I believe this holds true for really anyone north of the Mason-Dixon line), it can be a hard place to love come the middle of January. Not wanting to tarnish my renewed metropolitan status I decided it was time to head south for a little bit. Step outside, clear my head, and remember what it is that I loved about it in the first place and all of that good stuff. Conveniently coinciding with a break in my schedule I made good on these aspirations and took a little southeastern jaunt and hit up Orlando, FL; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; and Raleigh, NC.

 

What king of self-respecting Potterhead would I be if I hadn’t spent the first day of 2014 enjoying a pint of butterbeer at Harry Potter World? Not a very good one, I will tell you that. And to further prove myself I spend about a year’s worth of college tuition on merchandise and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans.

            If you have ever read those statistics that are like “over 99% of Americans are obese” or whatever, and thought to yourself ‘Where are these roly-poly-olys?’ I can tell you they are all hiding out at Disney World. I spent just day at The Magic Kingdom and became an instant vegetarian after observing what seemed like the entire state of Kentucky sucking on those giant meat pops they call turkey legs. (That is until I noticed that there was bacon at the buffet the next morning.)

As a town, Charleston literally epitomizes Southern Charm. From the brightly colored carriage houses to the smell of warm pecan pralines seeping out of the myriad bakeries, it is a town I have always been drawn to, despite my natural aversion to the mall culture of Lily Pulitzer and Sperry’s. Even on a dreary day (as unfortunately they all were) it’s still incredibly pleasant to just stroll around the graveyards, historic homes and Civil War museums you will find on nearly every corner. And of course: the food. Ah, the food. You would have a hard time going wrong anywhere you decided to eat, but if you ever do end up in Chucktown, do your stomach a favor and go to S.N.O.B. and Husk.