Showing posts with label sta travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sta travel. Show all posts

Sunday, 29 July 2012

Guess Who's Back... Back Again... GabriellaSofia's Back... Tell A Friend...

Hello there, loyal readers!

That's right, I'm back from my six week jaunt across the United States and boy do I have a lot of content coming up, I almost don't know where to start... I thought I'd keep this simple as a quick update before I launch back fully into blogging tomorrow.

My flight arrived back yesterday and with it being an overnight flight I slept most of the way, so was able to use yesterday hanging out with my grandparents, giving my parents and sister their little presents I'd brought back and watching the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Naturally, I couldn't get to sleep until about 3am this morning due to the time zone differences between Stoke-on-Trent and New York City and didn't wake up until 1.30pm today... whoops!

Today was your average just-got-back-off-my-holidays type day as I spent most of it unpacking, eating pizza with my sister and watching The Help on Sky Premier (its become one of my favourite films since seeing it in the cinema and the book is incredible too. In fact, I think I'll be reviewing them both on here very soon, so keep your eyes peeled.) I actually applied for a job today too, but its nothing spectacular so I'm not even going to go into it. I'm basically just looking for a full-time job which I can work at in order to save money for more travelling since I've definitely got the wanderlust having spent the past few weeks away.

So how was my trip? Unsurprisingly, I had a fantastic time. I'll be writing many posts over the next few weeks which I've had in mind while I've been away, but the short of it is this: I met so many amazing people from all over the globe, Yosemite was the most breath-takingly beautiful place I've ever been too, Forever21 still makes my life worth living, the USA has a LOT more culture than people generally believe and I have realized once and for all that I absolutely, definitively HATE early mornings. I'm hoping that little list has left you wanting more, as here is a breakdown of just a few post ideas I'm working on at the moment, to appear over the next couple of weeks...

1) Review of G Adventures (the tour company I travelled with)
2) How I Comprised My Whole Fashion and Beauty Wardrobe into One Backpack
3) Peek Inside My Travel Diary
4) Review of City Sightseeing Hop-on-Hop-off Tours (I used the company in both Los Angeles and San Francisco)
5) Vintage Shopping in the West Hollywood Area
6) City Reviews of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Fe, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Memphis and New York City.
7) A handful of Outfit of the Day posts including San Francisco Shopping, What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, Nashville Cowgirl, New York Date Night, New York Sightseeing and more.
8) USA Adventure Shopping Haul
9) Pros and Cons to Travelling Alone
10) USA National Parks review... this will include Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Death Valley, Carlsbad Canyons and Shenandoah.
11) Highlights and Lowlights of My USA Adventure

And then there will probably be tonnes more also, but that's all I could remember right now! You'll just have to bear with me as I get back into the swing of things with my blog and catch you up on all the things I've been wanting to write about since I left the UK. There are tons of non-USA adventure posts I have planned too... if you want to grab a glimpse of what they might be, go check out my To-Do List... I promise I'll get started tomorrow :) Until then, here's a picture of me casually hanging out with a dog at the Grand Canyon. As you do.

*MANY more photos soon to come!*

Thanks for waiting for me to get back. Knowing I have loyal readers to come home to made it so much easier when it was time to fly home.

Love and snuggles
gabriellasofia
x

Sunday, 27 May 2012

2012 Summer Adventure... USA Road Trip Itinerary


I recently mentioned in a blog post that I'm heading to the United States with G Adventures for between four and five weeks. I'm going to be flying out to Los Angeles on the 21st of June and won't be flying back until the 27th of July so I have to fill that time with lots of fun things! My G Adventures tour begins in San Francisco on the 30th of June and lasts until the 22nd of July traveling across the country hitting up big cities and national parks alike. So as you can see, I have about a week either side of my tour, one in Los Angeles (some of which time I'll be traveling to San Francisco in time for the tour) and one in New York city where my uncle is currently living so I hope to share some time with him there! I'll probably do a post about the things I'd like to do either side of my tour. HOWEVER, this post is all about my actual Coast-to-Coast Road Trip Eastbound itinerary, so check out what I'll be doing...

30th June 2012
5.00pm Arrive at Best Value Inn 505 O’Farrell Street For G-Adventures Tour!
Day 1 San Francisco



1st July 2012
Day 2 San Francisco/Yosemite NP (L,D)
3 hours travelling

2nd July 2012
Day 3 Yosemite NP (B,L,D)


3rd July 2012
Day 4 Yosemite NP/Bishop (B,L,D)
4 hours and 30 minutes travelling

4th July 2012
Day 5 Death Valley NP/Las Vegas (B,L)
7 hours and 30 minutes travelling

5th July 2012
Day 6 Las Vegas
FREE DAY



6th July 2012
Day 7 Las Vegas/Grand Canyon NP (L,D)
5 hours travelling

7th July 2012
Day 8 Grand Canyon NP/Monument Valley (B,L)
3 hours and 30 minutes travelling



8th July 2012
3 hours 30 minutes travelling
Day 9 Monument Valley/Mesa Verde NP
1 hour travelling
Mesa Verde NP/Durango

9th July 2012
Day 10 Taos/Santa Fe (B,L,D)
4 hours travelling

10th July 2012
Day 11 Santa Fe (B)
FREE DAY

11th July 2012
Day 12 Carlsbad (B,D)
6 hours 30 minutes travelling

12th July 2012
Day 13 Fort Stockton/San Antonio (B,L,D)
7 hours 30 minutes travelling

13th July 2012
45 minutes travelling
Day 14 The Alamo (B,L,D)
3 hours 30 minutes travelling
Houston

14th July 2012
3 hours 30 minutes travelling
Day 15 Lafayette/New Orleans (B)
2 hours travelling

15th July 2012
Day 16 New Orleans
FREE DAY



16th July 2012
Day 17 Memphis (L,D)
6 hours 30 minutes travelling

17th July 2012
Day 18 Memphis/Nashville (B,L,D)
3 hours 30 minutes travelling

18th July 2012
Day 19 Wytheville (B,L,D)
6 hours travelling

19th July 2012
Day 20 Shenandoah NP/Washington DC (B,L,D)
5 hours 30 minutes travelling



20th July 2012
Day 21 Washington DC (B)

21st July 2012
3 hours travelling
Day 22 Philadelphia/New York City at Manhattan Hostel at 891 Amsterdam Ave (at West 103rd St) New York
2 hours travelling

22nd July 2012
Day 23 New York City


END OF TOUR

As you can see, I am going to be spending A LOT of time traveling in the mini bus which G Adventures are using to transport us from one destination to the next, however, I don't mind because the views are supposed to be amazing AND the mini bus has wifi also, so I should hopefully be able to blog my experiences. I think I'm most excited about the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas (as it will be the 4th of July!!!), Yosemite, New Orleans, Nashville and Memphis. These are places where I may never get to go again, so I'm really excited and eager to make the most of my time. 

I booked the tour through STA travel and I have paid for the tour, my flights, and my insurance all by myself with savings from my past three years of university loan. HOWEVER, STA did give me 15% off my tour, £100 off my flights with British Airways and £50 off my travel insurance as I mentioned that I hope to blog about my summer and inquired about any discounts they may possibly be able to offer. The lady at my local STA, Dawn, was absolutely lovely and more helpful than probably anyone else I know. In fact, she even calls me every now and then to make sure I'm as organised as I should be (organizing my accommodation pre and post tour, applying for my ESTA form which is necessary to enter the USA, booking my Greyhound bus and more) and I almost feel like I speak to her as often as I speak to my friends. 

If you guys are crazy, book an outrageous long tour across America like me! Haha. And if not, I'll try and blog often enough that you can live vicariously through me. Expect posts about packing my backpack, planning my weeks in Los Angeles and New York, writing up wish-lists of the beauty bits I'm going to try and buy while I'm away. I'm actually not planning on buying many clothes this year, as I won't have much suitcase space, but lipsticks and eye shadows and blushers and... ahh you know the deal!

Are you going away this summer? Have you ever been backpacking? Is there anything I ought to know?

Love and snuggles
gabriellasofia
x