#noregrets

CONTIKI

And yes I imagined typing 'Contiki' how our trip manager says it!  So as you guessed it, I have spent the past two weeks on my 'Wild Western' Contiki tour of part of the west coast of the USA.  I've seen so many great places and have met some awesome people, and most importantly, I've been exposed to the Aussie accent again!

Day 1 - Los Angeles, California

I was up bright and early to head to the beginning of Contiki (which was fine with me because I was still running on New York time at that point).  We began by doing a city tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Venice Beach.  I'm glad that I have more time in LA so that I can go back and spend more time at each of these places.  That night we enjoyed a group dinner just across from our hotel and the next morning it was bags to coach at 7.45am.

Venice Beach

Californian sunshine!!

Day 2 - Los Angeles --> San Diego

Our drive to San Diego was enjoyable and once arriving we jumped into a city tour.  We drove over to Coronado Island where you had great views of the San Diego city skyline and was a cute little place to walk around.  Afterwards we spent the next few hours shopping and exploring the streets and the pier.  That night we headed into Old Town San Diego which was so nice and then had Mexican (I had salad) for dinner and it was so good!

San Diego skyline

Day 3 - San Diego

I got to go to the San Diego Zoo!  What an awesome zoo.  Like seriously.  I've been to many zoos around the world and this one is up there with one of my favourites.  We headed to Mission Beach after the zoo and explored that area for a little bit before going to the Coyote Ugly bar for dinner.  But of course, we couldn't just settle for dinner.  No, we had to dance on the bar because we were at Coyote Ugly!  Then with just my luck, as we were climbing up onto the bar, I ripped my favourite pair of jeans.  It was totally worth it though.  And now I have a top from a Coyote Ugly bar and I can say that yes, I have danced on the bar.

Day 4 - San Diego --> Scottsdale, Arizona

It was time to leave California and head to Arizona!  We got to drive through the Sonoran Desert with all of those stereotypical cactus.  We could see the Mexico border which was pretty cool as we were driving along.  The group did introductions on the bus and there was some pretty funny stories that came out of that.  For the majority of the group, their first Walmart experience came up.  And like my first time there, going in a big group is the best way to do it.  I bought some new jeans (since I'd ripped mine the night before) and snacks for the road.  You hear Arizona and you think desert, but it poured rain the majority of the time we were in Scottsdale.  And weather soon became a common annoyance on our trip.  We took golf buggies to and from dinner and on the way home, we got absolutely soaked.  I walked back into my room dripping.

Golf buggy!

Day 5 - Scottsdale --> Grand Canyon
It was an early morning on the 31st December as we were going hot air ballooning at sunrise over the desert.  We made it out into the desert only to be told that they had to be cancelled due to bad weather.  At least we got to see wild donkeys on our drive.  My favourite activity of the entire tour came next when we got to Sedona.  We went jeep four wheel driving in Sedona through the rain, but that wasn't a problem because we had heated seats and blankets to keep us warm.  It was so much fun.  And the scenery in Sedona is just gorgeous.

It started snowing after we left Sedona and we encountered a lot of it on the rest of the trip.  Our next stop was the Grand Canyon.  We were finally getting our first view of the canyon.  You've seen pictures, you've imagined what it would be like, but nothing prepares you for that first glance at pure beauty.  Walking up we were so excited.  And there it was; our first view of the canyon.  There is one word for it; fog.  You literally could not see anything through the fog.

First view of the Grand Canyon

Even though that night was new years eve, it was quite cold (although not compared to Vermont standards) and I was very happy to stay curled up in bed after dinner watching the ball drop in Times Square on tv.  Also as the Grand Canyon is a national park, there was a curfew (who knew!).

Day 6 - Grand Canyon
We woke on the first day of 2017 with the excitement of being able to go on a helicopter flight through the canyon.  We met up after breakfast annnnd helicopters were postponed due to bad weather.  The morning was then ours so a few of us went to the rim of the canyon to explore.  I honestly have no words for how beautiful the Grand Canyon is.  I've been to a lot of places, and it is by far one of my favourites.  Pictures do not do it justice. 

We met up again all excited to finally go on the helicopters, annnnnd they were cancelled.  The pattern begins.  So now that we had the rest of the day to ourselves, Penny and I went and explored as many parts along the rim that we could.  We found some gorgeous spots that were't covered in clouds and fog just yet, and even though it was cold, we had a really fun time just taking it all in.

I'll look back on this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it

Day 7 - Grand Canyon --> Las Vegas, Nevada
It was time to say goodbye to the beauty of the Grand Canyon and make our way to the ever famous Las Vegas.  On our way to Vegas we got to drive along the historic Route 66.  We stopped in a tiny little town that was the inspiration for Radiator Springs from 'Cars'.

Get your kicks on Route 66!

On the next part of our drive, we watched The Hangover, and then drove past Hoover Dam. It was interesting driving into Vegas as it really is just a city in the middle of the desert.  Once we got to our hotel, Penny and I went out and did a quick walk down The Strip before the group started off to see the famous Las Vegas sign and then begin our city tour.  During the city tour, we were treated to a 'Vegas Wedding' which was quite hilarious as Elvis was officiating.  We had dinner at Planet Hollywood and it was the best meal of the trip.  After dinner, Penny and I went to one of the bars at the Paris Casino and had a drink (Americans and their free pour policy, holy shit), then we went and watched the fountain show outside the Bellagio Casino.  It was a great first night in Vegas and it wasn't freezing!

Vegas Wedding

Bellagio

Day 8 - Las Vegas
Our day started with the best breakfast of the trip (Vegas you seriously delivered with the food!).  Penny and I then made it our mission to do a casino crawl for the day.  We went through Harrahs (where we were staying), the Flamingo (the original and actually has flamingoes there), Cromwell, Paris, Fat Bar (not a casino but I bought a frozen cocktail there in a boot cup that was bigger than my head), MGM Grand, New York (saw the rollercoaster but not ride it because my cocktail was going down extremely well at that point), Cosmopolitan, Bellagio (we got afternoon tea here and I drank a lot of water to sober up a bit), and then Caesars Palace.  After Caesars, Penny went to the Venetian (the last casino on the crawl) but I had to bail and go back to our hotel and lie down before I could no longer comprehend walking (it was a big boot).  After my nap, it was time to get ready for the night ahead.  We took limos to the MGM Grand where we saw a Cirque du Soleil show (so good!) and then spent some more time cruising up and down The Strip in limos while drinking champagne!

My boot!

Limo rides!

Darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream

Day 9 - Las Vegas --> Lake Tahoe
It was our biggest drive of the trip and everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.    The first part of the day was pretty cool driving through Death Valley.  More driving and more driving and then we added even more time to our trip when we had to stop to put snow chains on the bus.  That took about an hour as I can imagine it's not easy putting snow chains on a massive bus, and after our drive was incredibly slow into Tahoe because of basically blizzard conditions.  We finally made it into Tahoe around 8.30pm and decided to drive straight to dinner as we were so late.  Now dinner was up a hill.  A snow and ice covered hill.  Now you can imagine how that went.  Basically half way up we slid back down to the bottom which got us bogged and one of the snow chains broke but only half came off and then they couldn't get it off, so we sat on the side of the road for an hour before it was decided that we needed to call taxis to get back to the hotel.  It wasn't easy getting taxis for 54 people in a small town.  I think we ended up in about the third taxi to leave and in order to get all of our stuff to the hotel as well, we just grabbed a suitcase and took whoever's with us.  By the time we got to the hotel, there were only about 15 of us there.  I went to get our room key and it turns out that Amy and I didn't have a room, just adding to the night.  Once the room was sorted, I had to wait for Amy and my suitcase to arrive, so Sandy and I just ended up lying on the floor of the lobby until everyone got there with the rest of our stuff.  I think we finally made it to our room around 11pm, only to hear that in the adjoining room to ours, was a family with a newborn and a toddler that were crying.  Thankfully I was tired enough that I could mostly ignore it and go to sleep.

When we'd been on the bus for 13 hours already

Our police blockade while we were stuck

Day 10 - Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California
It was a well deserved and needed sleep in on the first day in Lake Tahoe.  Sandy and I had breakfast, booked massages at the spa for the afternoon, and then went and explored the street in Tahoe.  Well we explored when we actually found the street.  We didn't walk out the main doors of our hotel, we went out a back door of the adjoining hotel and ended up in a car park with no view of the street at all.  So we walked for a while and found a sledding hill, almost ended up on our arses many times slipping on ice, before we finally found the main street and had a look around.  We headed back for our massage and it was the best massage I have ever had.  I've never been so relaxed.  It was the full spa experience; locker, robe, orange infused water, shower afterwards.  Definitely something that I could have got used to.  Afterwards it was a nice quiet afternoon and night just hanging out and staying warm.

Day 11 - Lake Tahoe
The majority of the group went snowmobiling up the most gorgeous mountain.  There was so much snow and so pretty.  

Penny, Shannon and I went out in the afternoon to the Nestle cafe in town and indulged in biscuits and brownies.  Penny and I went to the sky bar to look out over the lake in our hotel and chilled there.  Dinner was a quiet affair again and I just repacked my stuff up before having an early night.

Day 12 - Lake Tahoe --> San Francisco, California
My alarm went off in the morning and I was that tired I sacrificed breakfast to go back to sleep for a while.  Today we were headed to San Francisco and I was excited.  We drove through Sacramento (capital of California) and had a quick look around the old town before we hit San Francisco.  I had the best tomato soup for lunch (and I don't normally eat any type of soup) and afterwards we got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge!  Before we went across the bridge though, we drove past the Mrs Doubtfire house, one of my favourite movies as a kid.  We went on a walking tour that night on our way to dinner, where we had Chinese.

Mrs Doubtfire house

Wow.  San Francisco

Day 13 - San Francisco
It was a free day in San Francisco and apparently one of the worst storms that the city had had in 100 years.  It was windy.  It was pouring down rain.  It was bloody cold.  Sandy, Shannon and I started our day by visiting the painted ladies (famous houses) and then headed to Pier 39 and had crepes for breakfast.  We then walked around the shops there and looked at the seals who decided to make there a home.  We walked around for hours and went to the Ghirardelli chocolate cafe before riding the old style trolley car (which I almost fell off hanging off the side when we went around a corner I was not expecting).  We did a spot of shopping before heading back to the hotel where we met up with Penny.

Painted ladies

Then came the best night of tour and the best night I have had since I left Vermont.  It was the last night that we were going to be together and the night before Penny's 30th birthday, so we needed to celebrate.  We started the night by going to dinner.  We rode the trolley car and had a drink at a bar with the coolest bar tender around!  I have not laughed that much in a long time.  I cannot even explain what we did except have a hell of a lot of fun.  I'm so grateful for those three and keen to see what future adventures may hold for us.

These three made Contiki what it was

Best night <3

Day 14 - San Francisco --> Los Angeles
I woke on the last day with sore abs from laughing so much the night before.  Shannon and Sandy were already on their way to New York and so that left only Penny and I on the leg back to Los Angeles.  It was a quiet day on the bus and a goodbye I did not want to do was waiting for us in LA.  The weather really threw in it's shots during Contiki, but the friends I made, made it worth while.

I spent an extra week in LA (where we went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, WB Studio Tour and hung out throughout the city) before flying back to Australia and being hit with a bloody hot summer.  It was a crazy first week at home (which included our baggage issue at the airport).  I found out quickly that I have clinical placement starting two weeks before semester starts for uni, so I'm glad that I actually checked my uni things and didn't decide to wait until I was pretty sure the semester was getting close to starting, because that could have added on a whole semester to my degree.

Disneyland - felt like a child again <3

I took the donut away from the minions, so they blocked me out of the photo

Twinning with Princess Fiona

When things calm down a little bit, I'll do one last post to wrap up my amazing experience that was my time in the USA; I'm just not quite ready to let that go just yet.

Until next post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx