The final part of our trip actually started just across the border from the US in Vancouver, following our flight over the Pacific Ocean from Auckland. Here we had a fun few days exploring some of the city highlights like Stanley Park and Granville Island market, before boarding our coach over to Seattle.
Seattle might well go down as my favourite city of the whole trip; it had such a vibrant atmosphere, there always seemed to be exciting things to do and see, and the people were very friendly too. The underground tour of the city was excellent and we had a nice day trip taking the ferry over to one of the nearby islands (I felt like Dr Shepherd, in Grey’s Anatomy !).
We then flew down to Las Vegas to pick up our RV, which would be home for the next 20 days. Without any experience of Campervaning/using an RV before, it was a little bit of a daunting task initially. We had to acclimatise ourselves with all the tech, and driving the 30 foot monster, which we affectionately named Arnie, was certainly no mean feat. I did have a little accident scraping a wall, by after a quick repair, we all settled into it, and loved the experience. Our first major stop was the stunning Yosemite National Park, a huge valley filled with forests and lakes, surrounded by amazing mountain ranges on every side. On one of the days here we hiked up to above Yosemite Falls and the views off the top of the mountain were incredible.
For our next port of call we headed north to pretty Lake Tahoe, here we had a relaxed couple of days, before heading down to San Francisco. We stopped off in Napa Valley along the way, and had merry afternoon of wine tasting at a couple of the vineyards there. We got fully into the American spirit whilst in San Fran, watching the Basketball finals and going to the Baseball. Sadly San Francisco’s local team the Warriors didn’t win the final which put a bit of a damp squib on the night we were there, but we still had a good wander around the city and particularly enjoyed the trip over to Alcatraz Island.
Our party had grown by 2 at this point, as Liam’s good friends Chris and Hamish joined us. We headed down the coastal road which was stunning, if a little tricky to drive through at times, but we made our way safely to Los Angeles, with a stop off in the lovely seaside city of Santa Barbara. In LA we had a last big night out with the boys, seeing Maya Jane Coles and explored Hollywood. I have to say I was a little underwhelmed by it, once you get over the stars on the pavements it just seemed a bit flat.
We then journeyed to San Diego, which was a much more welcoming city, although apart from a visit to the world famous zoo, we had to have a quiet few days here. Mr Wong was sadly involved in a car accident and needed some recovery time, but don’t worry all, he is back to fighting fitness now!
The next leg of our road trip took us through the desert wilderness, stopping at Joshua Tree National Park, before arriving at the Grand Canyon. We had all previously seen the Grand Canyon in a helicopter ride on our last trip to Las Vegas, however being right at the edge of it, gave it much more scale, and made it an even more impressive spectacle. Following a final drive past the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, we bid a tearful farewell Arnie and headed into Las Vegas.
Going back to Las Vegas, part of me wandered whether it would live up to the previous holiday we had here, well it certainly did. Turning 26 seeing Martin Garrix at Omnia Nightclub was awesome, followed up by a pool party the next day with Tiesto DJing wasn’t too bad either. We had a fun filled 5 days; I managed to keep my lucky streak going in Vegas winning pretty well in Poker and Blackjack, we watched the beautiful Beatles Love -Cirque du Soleil and had some amazing meals out.
Our next flight took us to another party city, New Orleans. We were there for American Independence Day, and the city was buzzing the whole weekend with live music and excitement. Amongst our nights out in the lively French Quarter of the city, we sampled some delicious Creole cooking and did also visit the interesting if sombre World War II Experience Museum.
The last leg of our US trip took us to Florida, where we split our time between Orlando and Miami. We turned back the clocks for a few days in Orlando and had a hilarious time running around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure on all the rides and rollercoasters. The particular highlight was definitely Harry Potter World, which rather like the UK based film set, for any fan, was a truly magical experience! We finished the journey in Miami, and despite the excessive heat (43 degrees at points!!) and high price of everything, we had a great last couple of days.
Looking back on the trip, I feel very lucky that I have had the chance to travel for such a long time, meet so many people and see so much. For anyone considering going abroad or exploring somewhere new, I would say go for it! It is so not to take that leap of faith, but much more rewarding to try.
I will leave this blog with a nice, if a little cheesy, travel quote, one of my best friend’s sent to me a year ago:
“Travel as much as you can, as far as you can, as long as you can. Life’s not meant to be lived in one place”
Over and Out
Chris
thereandbackagainaslumdogtale 