Tuesday 13th September

Tom and I are travelled on the AMTRAK train to Santa Barbara from San Francisco today. The train ride was 9 and a half hours long and left at 8:50am! We had quite an adventure this morning just to get to the station. We left our hostel at 7am after packing in the dark- I hope I didn’t leave anything there! We walked with our suitcases this morning to the Bart (the tube type train) about 15 blocks, then went down the escalators with our cases. We crossed the bridge on our train over to the outskirts of San Francisco and we had to walk a few more blocks with our cases. We eventually found the AMTRAK station and finally could relax a bit! I am looking forward to Santa Barbara definitely.

We made it and I got a cab to my hotel, it is a beautiful hotel and I ordered in a Dominos pizza all to myself, yum!

Monday 12th September- Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

Today we all met up to go to Alcatraz even though the trip was over, we all love to hang out together! After getting halfway to the meeting point and realising I had left the tickets behind and we had to go back we walked the fairly long walk to the Green Tortoise hostel where Mike and Mark were staying and we were all meeting for Alcatraz. True to its reputation San Francisco has some pretty steep hills! By the time we got there we were fairly hot and sweaty. Whilst cooling off Tom and I were approached by a man with no shoes and no teeth called Rob who offered us a joint and told me I was beautiful, delightful! We walked to Pier 33 where the boat left from and I got my first Krispy Kreme donut of the entire American trip, yum. It was pretty windy on the boat and there were sea gulls scouting around. In the end Mike had to surrender his hot dog as a sea gull tried to steal it too many times.

Alcatraz was a really interesting place and great to go to with Stefano, Mike, Mark, Tom, Carolin and I. It was also a beautiful sunny day which of course made it better! I can’t imagaine the prison was a very fun place to me, there was a quote on one of the billboards- “prison is for those who break the rules and Alzcatraz is for those who break the prison rules!” After we spent several hours there and took lots of pictures we got the ferry back and walked to Pier 39 where we met Sebastian, Alex and Helena and had an early dinner in the Hard Rock café. After we left Helena left the group and we caught a tram into the city. We had to get off early as there was an accident between a Porsche and a bus. We walked for a while and ended up in a giant shopping centre with curvy escalators. We found a little café/ bistro bar at the top of Nordstroms and after Caroling came and dragged the boys away from the hand cream stall and me away from the hair straightening stall we enjoyed fruity lemonades as the sun went down. Stefano kept disappearing during the drinks and none of us knew where he was, I thought he must have been sick or something but he returned, wearing a new shirt (his had got ketchup on earlier). His new shirt was just for going to the Golden Gate Bridge and had cost him $200! Tom had bought a new hoody for $90 for the bridge but $200 had us all laughing! Once we left the shopping centre our group minimised a bit more as Mike decided to head home as he was tired, then there were five. We walked and bused to the Golden Gate Bridge and saw it lit up at night. We weren’t allowed to walk across it unfortunately as the footpath was closed for roads works but we stood right by the entrance and took photos and I made a wish on the bridge. We walked and got buses home and said our goodbyes. Carolin and I will see each other again in a few days in New York which is nice but I’m not sure the next time I will see Stefano and Mark… Vegas 2012 perhaps! Tom and I got back to the hostel and went to sleep.

Sunday 11th September- San Francisco and the 49ers American football game

Today we once again got up early in order to leave at 7am to make it to the big football game in San Francisco- the San Fran 49ers versus the Seattle Seahawks. As always we all slept on the tour bus and poor Mike had to drive! We made it to his hotel with plenty of time, locked up the trailer and got a very very expensive taxi to the game. On the way there we stopped off the a gas station to get beers so we could join in the tail gaiting party pre- game. Michelle had decided not to come to the football game so she was continuing on in the cab into the city. There was a slight mix up with cab fares but after we dealt with that we got to the parking lot and couldn’t find the other so we rang them… they had already gone inside because they had been waiting ages and didn’t know what else to do! Once you’re in you can’t get out so Mark, Mike and I were left with 24 beers to drink between us! We put in a good effort and made friends with a guy called Dan who had a couple. It was a fun tailgate although the others did miss out big time. We tried to smuggle some beers in but they all got taken away unfortunately. Their security checks are pretty intense. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and we had all had an amazing trip. This was the cherry on the cake to watch most of ours first American football games together. We had quite a few beers more and had a fantastic afternoon. The boys highlight was definitely when the Bud Light girls came and sat in the row behind them and they got to have pictures with them. I honestly can’t say who won the game but I know we were all happy regardless! After the game we went back and found a couple of beers which Mark had stashed and then headed to a very long cab queue where a guy tried to convince us into getting a limo… I don’t think so buddy. We got back to Mike’s hotel out of the city and had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. After this we cleaned out the van, all grabbed our luggage and waited for the free airport shuttle. Saying goodbye to Mike was really sad, he was such an awesome tour guide! We got the airport shuttle and once we arrived there someone organised a bus into the city which dropped us all off at each of our individual hostels and hotels. I got dropped off at the Encore Express and said goodbye to everyone until tomorrow. After some nice strangers called Peter and Lauren helped me up the stairs with my luggage my friend Tom from England and I were reunited! I checked into my room and dumped all my stuff then Tom took me on a walk of San Francisco. He is studying in Santa Barbara for a year so we are heading down there together. The hostel was nice enough although when I walked in and said hi everyone just stared at me! I slept really well that night after a week of sleep deprivation! I woke up in the morning to Spanish speaking and one of the girls in my room was from Guatemala- CAN THE WORLD GET ANY SMALLER! The other were from China and Portugal and there was a Russian hanging out there too.

Saturday 10th September- on the way to Yosemite

Today we left very very early to get to Yosemite. We all felt a bit better today thankfully and I really enjoyed Yosemite, it was incredibly beautiful and we climbed a big domed rock and could see all the way out for miles including El Capitan the sheer climbing rock and the Nevada and Yosemite falls. We also saw the most beautiful thing- a bear and her bear cub. It was pretty fantastic! The sky is Yosemite was black and grey with rain clouds, it was amazing. That evening we headed to a place outside of the national park, a Hostels International which had cabins. As it was the last summer we had a delicious Italian dish cooked by our very own Italian and by Mike our tour leader. It consisted of spaghetti carbonara, a tomato and mozzarella salad and a pork and bacon delicious kebab type thing. It was certainly yummy! There were some guys there from Doncaster in England who had just arrived in the States and are staying until April and travelling around along with doing the rest of the world, I was very jealous!

September 9th- leaving Vegas and Death Valley- recovering!

We finally left the casino at 7:30am as our tour bus was driving away at 9am. As we left the casino Mark had to go look for Carolin as we had lost her. I was still finishing my Heineken whilst waiting for the cab. It was crazy! I can absolutely see how people stay in the for days and days, we couldn’t believe it was 7:30am and the sun was up and everything. Once we got back to the hotel we had a mad, drunk packing adventure in which Carolin, Mark and I literally threw everything into our suitcases and zipped them shut. Carolin managed to squeeze a quick shower in but Mark and I just got changed and I went out with the makeup from the night before on, we looked quite a treat. After packing the next big challenge was fitting it all into the tiny elevator! Mark and I crammed my two suitcases and my rucksack, his luggage, Carolin’s luggage and the beer cooler box plus ourselves into it. When we got downstairs we could hardly unload because upstairs the girls kept pressing the call button so we kept getting stuck in the door! Once we finally made it towards the trailer I decided to climb in and try and load all the suitcases up, one of the sober members of the group took my place instead pretty sharpish! Our leader Mike soon appeared and said he had never had a group like us where people stayed out all night. We couldn’t find Mike and Stefano, they were still sleeping as Mike had decided to have a little nap before we left and had overslept! Our tour leader Mike had bought some water guns for us to use on the other intrepid travel group who were doing the same trip as us but camping, he told us to go and fill them up so Helena, Mike (tour guide), Carolin, Mark and I did so. Mike gave Mark and I an opened beer to drink we seemed pretty reasonable at 9am when we were still buzzing from Vegas. We ended up having a massive water fight in his hotel room which Helena fled from and eventually Mike did too whilst the three of us soaked each other as much as we could within the space of two minutes. We came out and fought with the other travel group and then got on the bus to go to Death Valley. It was very sad to say goodbye to Vegas as it had been such an awesome couple of days! The back two rows were Mike, Carolin, Mark and I- the people who needed to be together and sleep off our heavy night! (Pictures to follow!) Got to Death Valley, very hot, nothing there, had half a sandwich, slept a lot! Very long drive, everyone pretty sombre. Got to the hotel, speed shower and Mexican for dinner.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas- Wednesday and Thursday September 7th and 8th

Wednesday- We arrived in Vegas this afternoon and after hanging out in the pool we all showered and got ready (Carolin and I dried my hair with two hair dryers as I only left 30 minutes to shower and get ready!) We had pizza with another Intrepid travel group around the pool and then hung out in Mark’s room (king sized as ever!) We then went outside to go on the tour bus our leaders had arranged for us… I thought it was just a normal bus but in fact turned out being a party bus! We visited the Las Vegas Sign, Fremont Street and the Bellagio fountains. It was a crazy and wild night on the party bus and we all did a lot of drinking and crazy dancing and made lots of new friends with people from the other tour group. Afterwards we went into The Bellagio and some of the guys gambled at the tables whilst I played a few slot machines. After a while we decided to go to a strip club as a big group but unfortunately our two different cabs ended up different places and we all got separated. Carolin, Stefano and I returned to the strip and walked it and went into all the casinos until 5:30AM. When we went to catch a cab home Stefano told us he was in fact now heading to a strip club! Once I got in I went to see Mark and see if they had had a good night, he was asleep and pretty confused as to when I had arrived and sent me on a search to find him some juice with two blocks of ice, demanding! I didn’t end up sleeping until 8AM and work up the next day at 12, nobody needs real sleep in Vegas!

Thursday- After waking up at 12PM and showering and dressing we cabbed onto the strip and Carolin, Mark and I went to the Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York and several other casinos. We went to a wedding chapel and Mark and I pretended to get married. Mark had to make a sick stop after drinking too much the night before. We played in the arcades too. After lots of casino and slot fun we got a cab back to meet the others for dinner at 6pm. We madly changed and went to a buffet in the Luxor, it was delicious, there was SO much food and even though I wasn’t massively hungry I still had a lot, the boys ate insane amounts of food! We decided we all wanted to see a show so we walked down to the ticket box… it rained whilst we walked, hot Vegas air and chilling rain, lovely! We got tickets for Burlesque which was taking place in MGM Grand. Carolin and I really wanted to go to the Venetian but we knew we wouldn’t make it all the way there and back in time so we hung in the MGM. The boys and Caolin played roulette and I watched and tried to learn! Eventually we went off to get some beers and I managed to buy one without being ID’d!! The show was good, definitely unlike anything else I’ve ever seen although I was pretty tired throughout. Stefano didn’t come to dinner with us or the show as he was supposed to be having a date with one of the girls he had met the night before at the strip club! After Burlesque everyone went their own ways and Carolin, Mike, Mark and I went back to the hotel, met with Stefano, had a few drinks and I got changed and did my hair. We then got our cab… to the strip club! Carolin and I couldn’t quite believe our eyes! There were semi- naked girls walking everywhere! It was the weirdest place I have ever been. Stefano instantly disappeared and sat on his own to attract girls instead of sticking with the group, ha what a funny Italian guy. We stayed at the club for a couple of hours perhaps and were even approached by a girl called Thea who asked if I wanted a lap dance with Mike too, we politely declined. The bathroom was pretty nice though and we made friends with the guy in there who gave us hand cream. After the strip club we headed back to the strip and went to our favourite casino New York, New York. The boys instantly decided to play roulette and jumped on a table so Carolin and I decided to get some beers. We had a few beers and during that time we spoke to two guys from Holland, four people from Ireland and three guys from Scotland, it was an interesting few hours for sure! After they all left we headed to find the boys and because it was about 6am the casino was pretty early so I ended up playing roulette with Mark’s chips! IT WAS SOOO FUN! I won him quite a lot of money too haha, it was great and was one of the best nights, we played for ages and had drinks bought over to us and had a really good laugh.

Tuesday 6th September- Grand Canyon

Today we headed to the Grand Canyon and made a few stops on the way including a town called Seligman on Route 66 which has been preserved and kept how it used to be originally. After the Route 66 stop and going to a supermarket to pick up lunch we arrived at the canyon! Seven of us decided to take a trip on a helicopter into the Grand Canyon. It was breath-taking! I knew the Grand Canyon was vast but flying over it and really close to it showed me the full extent of it. It was HUGE! After the copter ride we went into the park and walked along the rim. On the way we some three elks and some deer. Everyong on the trip has discovered now that I talk a lot, have a lot of stories and am very gullible, today at the Canyon Mark took an opportunity and ran with it. My camera battery was running low so I told him if I ran out I would have to take pictures on his camera but he said his was running low too but he had heard if you lay batteries out in the sun they gain a little bit of extra charge. I asked him if it would work where we were given the sun was getting low in the sky and he said it probably would and I should hold it up towards the sun so I took my battery out of my camera and held it up pointing towards the sun. He also told me to point the gold connector part of the battery directly at the sun, so I did. He then started laughing and told me he was just kidding but it was good to watch! Cheeky!

We watched the sun set in the Grand Canyon, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and when I get home everyone can also see it as I took a couple hundred photos of the sun setting and the helicopter ride. I met some lovely women from Manchester at the sun set who were road tripping for three weeks. This evening we stayed at a place about 45 minutes from the canyon in cabins. A few members of the group cooked dinner- spaghetti bolognaise Aussi style, it was really good and we ate it around our camp fire with beer. After much convicing Mike played us some songs on his guitar and we made smores, delicious! Afterwards I went on a little adventure to try and find a coyote. I didn’t find any on my own and when Mark decided to join in on the animal hunt we still didn’t find any but instead got wet shoes walking through all the grasses and plants and mud. We did however find an interesting plant that was kind of furry and felt like a bunny ear. I slept really well in the cabin this evening and it was so great to be based out in the countryside where we could see so many stars.