UNBELIEVABLE SIGHTS AT YOSEMITE || USA TRAVELS

DAY 8

So we started today with an early start of 6am, checking out of the hostel and heading over to Emeryville Amtrak station. We were so confused with buses but managed to get help from a local passing by. Eventually making it to the station, we had a 40 minute wait until our train, meaning time to top up on food! We got on the train easily and ready to head to Yosemite!

30 minutes into our journey there was a trespasser incident. This left us on standby for 3 HOURS! Because of this hold back, they were offering free food bags with snacks in. We took advantage of this and managed to get 8 bags in total for snacks over the next couple of days (smart thinking right?) Finally arrived in Merced to catch the bus to Yosemite. However, because of the train delay we had to get the last bus at 5:30, we got to the train station at 2:30, so quite a wait. We decided to go and explore the town a bit. We didn't get far as it was very hot, and not much around. When we got the bus, we realised we were only a few more blocks from the town centre but hey ho! 

After a long whole day of travelling, we finally arrived in our amazing accommodation located in the Yosemite valley with the mountains surrounding us. Our tent wasn't too far away from the communal places so we were very happy! Because it was late at night when we arrived, we explored around the area and took an early nights sleep so we could get up early the next day and see as much as possible of the the national park.

DAY 9
An early start of 6am, we got up, showered and headed to breakfast where we both had pancakes. The first time I've had pancakes this year and they did not disappoint!! We started to set off at 9am and took the shuttle bus to the first stop which was Mirror Lake. Nothing to say about it apart from how beautiful and breathtaking the views were...

We then headed onto Yosemite falls which is probably the most spectacular waterfall I've ever seen. You would get to the viewpoint and feel the water lightly on your face. With it being quite busy, we didn't stay too long as we wanted to get onto the next location for a big hike up to the top of the mountain.

We had a few snacks before the start of the hike up the John Muir trail, 3 miles long. It is estimated for people to do this hike between 2-4 hours and they say the hike is strenuous so we HAD to get prepared. Half way through the hike, we got to the half way point which gave a beautiful view of the top of the mountain where you could see the people at the top overlooking the national park. Little did we know, the final part was a challenge! With steep steps, and a shower on the way there from the waterfall, we finally got to the peak of the mountain.

We were in slight shock from the views and the photographs don't really do it justice. We were so exhausted after stupidly deciding to do this hike at the hottest time of the day, it was about 34 degrees on the day. BUT, WE MADE IT! Overwhelming sceneries, we both felt so lucky to have made it here.

This wasn't the end of the hike as we had to trek all the way back down the mountain which was a lot more challenging. Especially during the first part as the steps were incredibly steep so the queue was very slow. Overall, the hike there and back took us roughly 3 hours, including a big break at the top. I would do it all over again if I could. Maybe I will when I come back one day.
We made it back to camp in time for dinner and then headed out at night for a walk through the meadows. I may have got slightly scared that we would run into a bear so didn't make it that far!!

DAY 10
I'm actually amazed we woke up alive this morning as Lia decided to leave a piece of cake in our tent (all food has to go in the bear proof box outside your tents), how lucky were we?!
Anyway, time to leave and we couldn't be any more sad about it. We wish we did more than 2 nights but it just got expensive and travellers have to budget and fit everything else into their schedule (boring but it's reality).
The trip back home was unexpectedly smooth. No delays, no accidents, nothing...weird knowing our luck!
We arrived back into the transbay terminal and got whistled at for trying to run across the terminal instead of taking the pedestrian crossing all the way round (it was actually signposted everywhere but we chose to ignore it).
Back to the same hostel...although our roommate this time around isn't very talkative which is always awkward but we're happy we made it back to the city!

 

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CYCLING SOUTH INSTEAD OF NORTH || USA TRAVELS

DAY 7

What a surprise, I have woken up at a ridiculous hour again...jet lag is a nuisance. I've been in the lounge since 5am and it's now 8am...Lia is still asleep, so lazy. I've been bombarded in the lounge by college kids so my silence has been ruined!
We got a free breakfast from the hostel and then headed on to the bike shop where we rented bikes for  the whole day to cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge. Clearly from the picture we were so excited and ready to go, however, we weren't prepared for what was ahead of us.
We had a briefing about the journey which was roughly 12 miles to the Golden gate bridge and a few more miles to get back. The route was all over the place, we were bound to get lost.



What were we thinking, of course we got lost, and it was much worse than you can imagine. Instead of heading North of San Francisco, we managed to head South and end up cycling around 15 miles off the route. The funniest thing is we were originally heading North and were following the route correctly but for some reason we thought we were going the wrong way half way there so decided to head back and just guess our way there (NEVER DO THIS!!) After realising we had gone the wrong way as we ended up nearly cycling over the freeway, we decided to ask people, all who couldn't believe how far away we were from it.
To add to the bad luck we've had so far, we were crossing a road and something decided to puncture my tyre (of course it had to be me). So this added on about 15 minutes to our journey of waiting for another bike to get to us. We were still laughing at this point from the biggest mistake we made.





Eventually we got back to where we were 3 hours ago and managed to get to the Golden Gate Park which eventually led us onto the Golden Gate Bridge about 40 minutes later. Words can't describe how amazing this experience was. Even though we were so worn out and had low energy levels, we walked up to the top of the hill to get a better view overlooking the whole bridge.
A while after taking in the views of the Golden Gate Bridge, we continued to head down to the town of Sausalito which was so pretty and right by the sea with a beautiful view of the whole city of San Francisco opposite us. We had a beautiful dinner and treated ourselves to an ice cream which we well and truly deserved.
The whole journey lasted about 8 hours, and we figured out we cycled about 25 miles or more in total (our legs and bums are aching soooo much now).

We were yet to find out, after a ferry ride across back to the city, that we had another few horrible hills to climb. We had so little energy that we walked our bikes most of it. No normal person would be able to bike it anyway, IT'S SO STEEP! 


We finally got back to the hostel and passed out not long after.

Tomorrow we are heading to Yosemite National Park for 2 nights. Knowing our luck, the journey will not be smooth so wish us luck!!

 

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GETTING LOST IN SAN FRANCISCO || USA TRAVELS

DAY 6 




After the most painful and possibly worst 15 hours ever, we have made it to San Francisco and wouldn't be happier! I almost cried when we touched down I was so overwhelmed. Arriving at the hostel 5 hours before check-in, we quickly had showers and went out for the day to explore, leaving our bags with reception. If people know how much sleep we had in the last 48 hours, they'd be amazed with the energy we had. 



Our hostel is in the perfect location, right next to union square and the cable car corner. We decided to climb right to the top of the city so we saw the other side where Fisherman's Wharf is. However, we stopped there as we have planned to do all of that, and the Golden Gate Bridge, tomorrow! 

We explored near enough the whole city and found some beautiful gardens and the high end stores (SAKS FIFTH AVENUE!) Honestly, the people here are so kind, why aren't us British like this?! 

I went out alone while Lia caught up on some sleep and went to find a camera charger as I had stupidly left mine at Penny's house in Colorado. I ended up doing a massive circle and ended up in the same place. I'd say I was meant to do that but I got very lost. Eventually, 30 minutes later, I ended up in the beautiful Chinatown. Chinese men would be playing music on the streets, there were cute little souvenir shops, and beautiful buildings...all so amazing!




Also, the FOOD...IS AMAZING! People aren't joking when they say the portions are ridiculous! If you want normal sized portions then just don't come to America, they don't exist! There are so many cute diners which we will definitely be going in, I mean how can you go to America and not go to a diner?!

We have an action-planned day tomorrow; Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39...the WHOLE SHEBANG!!

 

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HEADING WEST || USA TRAVELS

DAY 5
Today is the day we head off to the West Coast for 2 weeks. Cali Cali California we're coming for you!!



We started this morning off by eating our delicious cheesecakes we got the previous evening which filled us up for a good few hours.

Before going to the airport, Penny took us to the Green Mile, a.k.a the mile of weed stores. It was actually incredible how many there were, nearly every other store were weed stores!





And so the journey begins venturing off to California. The day started off with warm and decent weather which soon turned to be the worst storm I have ever witnessed. Full on hail stones, the size of small rocks which sounded like they were denting the car, and thunder and lightning every few seconds. Cars would be stopping under the bridges, something you would not see in England. We made it to the airport with an hour spare hoping we would make the flight. No surprise, ALL flights were delayed so the airport was heaving. We had a few hours to kill so we contacted our parents to update them and got a few snacks. After many announcements clashing, I had a bad feeling what had happened...yes...WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT!! Considering we were a few meters away from the gate door, we were so annoyed. They didn't call our names, do repeated announcements..nothing! We found out we would not make our connecting flight, what a surprise! However, what was not expected was that the next flight was at 6am the next day, ahhh a nice night spent at the airport. Even though we were so frustrated,  and our bags would get to San Francisco before us, we couldn't help but laugh away over this...we were waiting for the bad luck to come at some point during our travels.

Anyway, we have landed safely in Los Angeles with the beautifully lit up city view as we were arriving at the airport. The picture above is obviously very bad quality but it just shows how lit up the city was, although it definitely doesn't do it justice! Just a long wait until our next flight now. We have literally spent the last hour exploring LA airport to find food and as we can't check in yet, it is proving to be very difficult. But we managed to find a Starbucks which has saved our lives!!

 

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PADDLE BOATING & HIKING || USA TRAVELS

DAY 2
Today is the day Lia arrives!! Before heading to the airport, I had to be introduced to the main part of Penny and Joshes life; their dogs. Sally, Ollie and Lew arrived in the morning after spending the night at Grandma's, I had plenty of warning beforehand but I was unprepared for what was ahead of me. I heard them come in and immediately they could sense a different person in the house and they managed to follow my sense into my bedroom. I was bombarded by two of the most excitable dogs I've ever met. Stupidly, I had worn white jeans that morning and Ollie had just been in the lake so of course she jumped up at me and made marks all down my white jeans (it was my fault, I should have been more aware of what was going to happen haha!) They are so cute but it took them a good while to settle down.

After a few minutes of mayhem, we headed off to the airport to pick up Lia. We got to her baggage claim, found her bag but not Lia; it took a while to finally find her (we probably crossed paths at some point in the airport). Arriving back at the house, we gave Lia a tour of the house and, fair to say, she was just as overwhelmed as I was. It still seems too good to be true! 

After a long day, we ended the night with a BBQ with the whole family and a dip in the nice and warm hot tub :)



DAY 3
Still jet lag and waking up at the crack of dawn. Deciding to stay at the house today, we managed to do every possible activity there was around the house. Tennis, Basketball, Canoeing, Paddle Boarding, Badminton; the WHOLE lot! Fair to say, at the end of the day we were exhausted and I ended up looking like a tomato from really bad sunburn (I guess it was my fault I didn't put sun cream on...).

In the evening, we went out for a beautiful Italian in downtown Denver and explored around the city a bit. Denver is such a clean and peaceful city, I'd love to live here.

DAY 4
Setting off at 10am this morning, we drove an hour and a half to Vail, up into the Rocky Mountains. On the way our ears kept popping as we were getting higher and higher (I'm still ill so it was agony but totally worth the pain). After the most scenic journey I've ever done, we arrived in Vail and ventured around the village and had lunch by the river. At this point, the altitude wasn't affecting us too much. We found a few trails to walk down after lunch, me and Lia would get out of breath after climbing about 10 stairs, that's how bad the altitude was!! I wasn't too bad overall; Lia felt her hands tingling so she got a bit altitude sickness but not too much. We did quite well considering we went from 5000ft to 9000ft!

Vail is a small, french looking, ski village which is set in the heart of the Rocky Mountains and is just beautiful. If you go to Colorado at some point in your lives, you HAVE to go to Vail!

After a small hike across Vail, we decided to head to the Red Rocks on the way back as we had half of the afternoon left. The Amphitheatre is where some of the most famous bands have played; the Beatles, Sting, U2, and SOOO many more! It was an incredible experience.

We hiked up another trail which took us up the top of the hills to an amazing view of Denver. It was so hot which made the walk 10 times harder with the altitude being so thin as well. We walked for about 40 minutes and then had to head back as we were heading downtown for dinner.

Tonight, we went going for dinner at... THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY! I completely forgot they had them all around America so I couldn't let this opportunity pass by. The food was amazing, and the portions were beyond ridiculous! We couldn't manage dessert there and then but we all took away cheesecakes to enjoy the next day. But now... I can say that I've been to the Cheesecake Factory! Apparently in San Francisco they have a Cheesecake Factory overlooking the whole city so we may have to make another visit to that one.

I'm indecisive about bringing my laptop to California, so I'll either see you on the other side or in 2 weeks time, back in Colorado!

 

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I'M MOVING TO ICELAND || USA TRAVELS

PART 1 

After 6 long months of waiting, the time has finally come for my America travels. The excitement has been building every hour of every day.

It's my first time flying completely alone which is terrifying but I'm currently in Iceland and nothing has gone wrong so far (although I nearly got flushed down the toilet in Iceland, DAMN YOU AUTOMATIC FLUSHES). 

I've arrived to Iceland and absolutely fallen in love with the scenery. Although Reykjavik isn't near any of the glaciers, flying into the airport you could see the glaciers in the distance (although I was sat on the wrong side of the plane, annoyingly). Also, the majority of the airport passengers are American, I guess I'll have to get used to the accent anyway. All in all, I'm happy my layover was in Iceland, even though I'm only here for 2 hours, I've been lucky enough to see its beautiful surroundings and I'm definitely going to have a trip back up here in the next few years! 

The pictures are using my iPhone camera so they are not great quality.

PART 2

First stop is Denver to see my family and be reunited with my best friend after 5 months. They have the nicest house and I'm honestly so lucky to have them let me stay for 2 and a half weeks! I arrived around 7:00pm with my family awaiting my arrival at the airport. I was so happy to see their two thrilled faces as I walked out to see them. 

Being overwhelmed by the views of the rocky mountains right ahead of us in the car was one thing, but the family house is on a whole other level... it is insanity! Not only is it massive, but they actually have everything you could want; a swimming pool, a lake, tennis court, speed boat... you name it and they will most likely have it. I also got two bedroom options, both of which were ridiculously huge with en suites and walk in wardrobes; so there won't be any arguments between me and Lia (I got here first anyway, first come first serve right?) 

I'm finally reunited with Lia tomorrow morning so I am mega excited to pick her up from the airport. It's just going to be a relaxing day tomorrow paddle boating in the lake and then hiking and more adventurous exploring on the other days.

I will put up photographs of the house tomorrow as it was dark when I arrived so couldn't get a clear image. 

I will be posting as much as possible on this trip, when I have wifi, (most likely late at night as I'll be busy doing lots of amazing things in the day). AHHH I still can't believe I'm actually here now!! 

 

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