‘Hear it for New York’.
Today I’m jetting off to the big apple for a week with my family, and I am so excited. We’ve been calling and emailing back and fourth for a few months now, planning what we want to do, see, and eat. I’ve scheduled some posts for whilst I’m away, so I hope you don’t all miss me too much! See you on the other side!
Do you follow me on instagram? If not, you might have missed this:
In case you didn’t guess, I’m going to New York baby! I’ll be going at the beginning of March with my family and we’ve already planned a concert, a show, a Nicks game, a Rangers game, places to eat, places to shop, and so much more. Expect some New York themed posts coming up over the next couple of months, and I’ll be asking you all for any tips and recommendations! I’m so excited already!
By the time we got to Las Vegas on the trip I remember being really excited about all the fun we were going to have. We stayed at a hotel off the strip, but it was a long, hot walk or short taxi ride over to all the glitz and glamour I expected.
We spent one of the days in an outlet mall just outside main Las Vegas, although I don’t think I bought anything. On the first evening we had dinner at our hotel and then took a party bus through the city. It was great to see it all lit up at night and it was everything I expected! We saw all the main sights, including Fremont St, lots of wedding chapels, the main Las Vegas sign, and the beautiful fountains at the Bellagio. There was lots of drinking and having fun too, although it didn’t get as out of hand as you might expect!
The second day in Vegas we went to IHOP for breakfast, which I had been looking forward to for the whole trip! I remember having this huge stack of strawberry pancakes, but unfortunately not long after having them I started to feel unwell. So whilst my friends headed off to see the sights of Vegas in the day, I headed back to the hotel. I was pretty gutted as I missed out on seeing some of the huge hotels like the Wynn, which I wanted to see since knowing it used to be the Dessert Inn from the old Hollywood days with Howard Hughes.
The second evening we went out for dinner at a big hotel on the strip. I don’t remember it being anything special though. I remember how hot it was considering the time of night, we definitely were in the desert!!! We walked through all the main hotels, at least it was a bit cooler. I loved the Venetian, the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and all the things to see out on the streets. It really is like Disney for grown ups!
I really enjoyed Las Vegas and I definitely don’t think I saw anywhere near enough of it. I really want to go back and do Vegas properly!
I think everyone was pretty excited about LA on the itinerary of the trip. I remember it felt like a long time to get to LA, especially travelling through famous LA traffic! We stayed in a hostel in Santa Monica, which I loved, and travelled round LA during the day and evening. Here’s some memories!
From LA and Santa Monica we headed further South, stopping off on route 66 to Seligman, the birth place of route 66.
Our itinerary around the West coast took in lots of National parks, including Joshua tree park, Grand Canyon, death valley, and Yosemite. Here’s a few more highlights, and yes, another picture heavy post!
In the Grand Canyon we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a helicopter trip over a zone of it, which was absolutely incredible. We also spent a day hiking around an area of it, which whilst hot, was spectacular and something I really enjoyed.
Death valley was seriously hot. So hot that we couldn’t have the air con on within the van for risk of it overheating. So hot that there was no running water in any of the toilets, which was not pleasant. Ew.
Yosemite was at the end of our trip, our last stop. It was strange because it was a bit cooler than the desert and death valley, but so green. I wasn’t all that excited about Yosemite, but it was one of the most beautiful places, especially when we went went on a really challenging hike and saw a real wild bear!
It’s not long until I go on holiday again, and although I’ve enjoyed the summer, and a trip to Italy, I’m definitely ready to get away again. So, waiting for my holiday to arrive, I thought I would take a trip down memory lane and post a few recaps of one of my favourite holidays, travelling around the west coast of America.
After we left San Francisco bright and early we headed down the West coast, headed for San Diego. Here’s a few of my highlights from our stops along the way!
I’m currently looking ahead at this year’s summer holidays and it got me thinking back to my awesome summer holiday last year where I spent three weeks travelling the West coast of America. I hope you don’t mind if I share some memories with you all!
For the first part of my epic America holiday I spent four days in San Francisco, the city of so many wonderful and exciting things. After an epic journey including 3 very unexpected flights (!!!) and 30 hours later I finally made it to SF. My friend “wifey” and I stayed at the HI-International Hostel Downtown. The location of this hostel was amazing, very close to the centre where all the shops are and all the links for public transport. It was perfect for everything we needed. Including free breakfast. Fisherman’s Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz arn’t far either! The rooms were fairly sizable, clean sheets, quiet, good breakfasts etc. My only complaint would be how noisy the beds were, man they needed some oil, they were so creaky!
San Francisco has so many wonderful things to offer, and I’m pretty sure wifey and I saw the whole bunch!
Pier 39 Alcatraz
Amazing Ghiradelli Chocolate Ferry Building and home of the famous farmers market!
The windy golden gate bridge
San Francisco viewed from Alcatraz The room made famous from Escape from Alcatraz
So so cold on Alcatraz! A fantastic free music festival in Yerba Buena!
My favourite part of San Francisco was the fact that the city was so accessible. Everything was so easy to reach. I also loved the shopping in the city! Westfield is amazing! Wifey and I particularly got carried away here, so much so we had to budget for the rest of the trip!!
My only regret is that I had researched more exciting places to eat. San Francisco is meant to have the most amazing foodie reputation and I don’t really feel like I got to experience the best of it!
Would I go back to San Fran again? You bet!
Stripes and Snapshots 