I'm normally a sociable person and don't mind talking or meeting new people, but I was nervous about this trip. Meeting complete strangers and having to spend 24 hours a day over 2 weeks was pretty daunting... But I soon found out I had no reason to be nervous.
Little did I know at the start of the trip that the 12 strangers I met at 8am on the first day would become best friends and my own little camping family. The tour was led by Ryan Foley, he's one of the coolest guy's I've met and his knowledge of every area we visited was outstanding! He soon became part of our little family.
We started the trip by going to to San Diego, where we were thrown into our first WOW moment (this quickly became a group meme, Owen Wilson style). But before this, we stopped off at the first grocery store where we were split into Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner groups for the first big food shop. This is where my love for wraps started to deteriorate... haha! So with food taken care of and a couple bottles of Gatorade to combat the jet lag, we were taken on a tour of San Diego featuring Seals, amazing panoramic views of the area and a nice little campsite. The first night camping... So I was wondering why we had such a big trailer... It was for tents, this is where the first sighting of the great group we had came to light as everyone helped everyone to set up camp while others cooked.
The second day we were up early and briefed on the days activities, Free beach day in San Diego and sunset with food? This was a great start to the holiday! The beach day included surfing, tips from Ryan helped us find the best surf hire place. This gave us all time to sit down, sunbath and get to know each other which helped. And everyone got to laugh at me trying to surf... But I managed to tick surfing in California off my list. Later that day we were driven to the first sunset spot of the trip and grabbed some food on the way. I thought to myself "surely this trip can't get any better, it's only the 2nd day of 14." I was wrong.
Another early get up, tents packed and I was the trailer loader aka "Trailer Trash", we were packed in the van and on our way to Arizona (Colorado River). This was the first taste of how big america was travelling by car. But the trip flew by as we were all too busy chatting and harassing the daily DJ to put songs on our awesome playlist. We finally arrived at our second location and sadly we were only here for 1 night. We also got our first taste of the hot american sun as it was over 40C at 6pm! We quickly set up camp and ran to the the river to cool down. Sitting in a river with the mountains behind was an amazing view. So it got to 11pm and the temp was still too warm for sleeping bags or tents. So this is the first ever night I have slept outside and saw the Milky Way has clear has it was, easily another WOW moment!
Morning arrived and with it the heat! So we quickly packed up and headed for the Grand Canyon and another day of Minibus Karaoke, with cheesier songs being added to the playlist. We stopped by Joshua Tree on the way and had wraps for lunch... which was great! So we arrived at camp and the routine was in motion, before being taken to the Grand Canyon for a surprise. The next morning was another free day at the Grand Canyon and followed by the best place i've eaten pizza, grand canyon sunset anyone? Yes!
We headed to Las Vegas for a "rest" even though a comfy bed was a relief, the rest didn't happen... It's Vegas after all! This was a great 2 days with a lot of activities happening in a short amount of time. Before I knew it I was back on the bus and on our way to the next destination. We stopped over at a small town with amazing natural hot springs and more views of the amazing stars.
We finally got to my favourite bit of the trip. Yosemite! This place was breathtaking. How we went from the coast to cities to desert to massive forests and mountains in the same trip was unreal. While in Yosemite I was breathless the whole time (might have been something to do with the hiking...) but the knowledge from Ryan of the trails that would give us the best views was invaluable! This was my highlight, natural beauty everywhere! On the way to Yosemite, we stopped off at a beach for lunch (Yes more wraps) and swimming surrounded by granite hills at 3000m altitude.. you read that right, sounds perfect right?
So we made our way to San Francisco, my favourite city of the trip, I recommend attending the city tour. Unfortunately Karl the Cloud (Yes that's his name) was lingering over the GGB the entire time we were there but didn't make the visit any less amazing! Also you got to find the XOX cafe! It's worth it!
To finish off the tour we headed down the Pacific Coastal Highway, which has the best coastal views I've seen, this was the last big trip before the end of our amazing 2 weeks. We ended the tour at the famous Venice Beach/Santa Monica. Bit worse bit of the trip was coming next, I had to say goodbye to the small family I had made with the amazing people on the tour! I never would have thought at the start that leaving for the UK was going to be so difficult. This has without a doubt been the best experience of my life, I've gained life long friends and shared unforgettable memories with amazing people!
If you want to see America/California and make new friends along the way, this is hands down the best way to do it. Choose camping as this gives you more time to mingle with the people and bond quicker which will enhance the experience.
