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...

30^th June 2012

5.00pm Arrive at Best Value Inn 505 O’Farrell Street For G-Adventures Tour!

Day 1 San Francisco

1^st July 2012

Day 2 San Francisco/Yosemite NP (L,D)

3 hours travelling

2^nd July 2012

Day 3 Yosemite NP (B,L,D)

3^rd July 2012

Day 4 Yosemite NP/Bishop (B,L,D)

4 hours and 30 minutes travelling

4^th July 2012

Day 5 Death Valley NP/Las Vegas (B,L)

7 hours and 30 minutes travelling

5^th July 2012

Day 6 Las Vegas

FREE DAY

6^th July 2012

Day 7 Las Vegas/Grand Canyon NP (L,D)

5 hours travelling

7^th July 2012

Day 8 Grand Canyon NP/Monument Valley (B,L)

3 hours and 30 minutes travelling

8^th July 2012

3 hours 30 minutes travelling

Day 9 Monument Valley/Mesa Verde NP

1 hour travelling

Mesa Verde NP/Durango

9^th July 2012

Day 10 Taos/Santa Fe (B,L,D)

4 hours travelling

10^th July 2012

Day 11 Santa Fe (B)

FREE DAY

11^th July 2012

Day 12 Carlsbad (B,D)

6 hours 30 minutes travelling

12^th July 2012

Day 13 Fort Stockton/San Antonio (B,L,D)

7 hours 30 minutes travelling

13^th July 2012

45 minutes travelling

Day 14 The Alamo (B,L,D)

3 hours 30 minutes travelling

Houston

14^th July 2012

3 hours 30 minutes travelling

Day 15 Lafayette/New Orleans (B)

2 hours travelling

15^th July 2012

Day 16 New Orleans

FREE DAY

16^th July 2012

Day 17 Memphis (L,D)

6 hours 30 minutes travelling

17^th July 2012

Day 18 Memphis/Nashville (B,L,D)

3 hours 30 minutes travelling

18^th July 2012

Day 19 Wytheville (B,L,D)

6 hours travelling

19^th July 2012

Day 20 Shenandoah NP/Washington DC (B,L,D)

5 hours 30 minutes travelling

20^th July 2012

Day 21 Washington DC (B)

21^st 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

22^nd 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

So, where the devil have I been, eh?

On the 16th of February this year I decided to take a nastily long blog-break in order to finish my degree. However, enough of that sadness, because today, three months and four days later, I am back and am absolutely ecstatic :) Before I get stuck back into reviews, hauls, event write-ups etc, I decided to ease myself back into the blogging scene with an update on what I've been up to over the past three months... I'll give you the highlights shall I?

1) My 21st Birthday!

 

 

My 21st was a fab day. My best pal Vikki from Victoria's Vintage came to visit me at home in Stoke-On-Trent from Milton Keynes which was lovely. We went shopping, ate at my favourite Chinese restaurant with my family, went clubbing with my little sister (who is in the first picture... I know she looks WAY older than me when she's actually only 16!!! FML). I got some great presents including the outfit I'm wearing in the photograph, a Bobbi Brown make-up book and a Thomas Sabbo bracelet. My white chocolate and raspberry birthday cake was lush! 

2) The Hippy Hippy Shake Company presents HippyHaze 2012

 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but my dad lost his mind about four years ago and left his job as a Sales Executive so he could open a milkshake chain, named The Hippy Hippy Shake Company. I know, crazy right? But since my mother promised to love him in sickness and in health, she left her job with the NHS and jumped aboard the crazy train. During Easter weekend, the crazy train pulled in at Foxfields Railway Station which my dad decided was a fantastic location to start his own local music festival named HippyHaze. Before we knew it, he'd thrown together an awesome weekend which everyone who's anyone in the local area showed up to and thoroughly enjoyed. The weekend could not possibly have gone any better and in spite of the insanity, I've never been prouder of my adorable father. 

3) Study, study, study!!!

Of course, I studied like a nerd on crack. I had to! I had a 10,000 word dissertation to write on the relationships between adults and children as presented by popular twentieth century children's literature. Thrilling right? At least I got to read Matilda, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Mary Poppins, The Lion, The Witch and The Warbrobe, The Secret Garden and The Little Princess for my degree *Ican'ttellyouhowpainfulitwasformetolistthosebookswithoutcomplyingwiththeharvardreferencingsystem*. I also had a 2000 word language assignment on the narrative features of film. Then I had two exams, one on Shakespeare plays which lasted for two hours. Then the other was three hours on fantasy literature titles such as Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, Lud-in-the-Mist, The King of Elfland's Daughter and many more. There was a LOT of reading to be done in time for both of my exams and I had to work really hard to prepare. I definitely did my best. In the above picture you'll see my colour-coded Shakespeare notes. Impressive, methinks.

4) Boux Avenue opening...

If you haven't already heard of Boux Avenue, then I'm about to let you in on the sexiest secret since Victoria's. So we all know the business brain-box Theo Paphitis from The Dragon's Den UK show. Furthermore, ladies nationwide know him as the man behind La Senza for a certain amount of time (before it went a tad tacky with desperate signs splattered all over the place with 'TWO BRA'S FOR £20' written on them. Not that I have anything against getting two bra's for a tenner, but when the sizes are as screwy as I often find they are at La Senza, I could be getting ten bra's for £20 and I'd still be £20 poorer without a single useful bra... *RantOver*) However, Theo has a new exciting project and its called Boux Avenue. I will do a full write up of the event that I attended in Birmingham with more pictures, but for now all you need to do is prepare yourself for a luxury lingerie experience like no other at exceptionally reasonable prices.

5) Bedroom Organization...

Not sure about you guys, but when I'm going crazy with studying I'm constantly trying to find a new way to procrastinate. The dishes in my house have never been so clean as during exam time. My family has never eaten such elaborate and time-consuming-to-cook delicacies. And my bedroom has never been so tidy! I've only put the one picture here as I'm planning on doing a full Youtube room tour soon, so keep and eye out for that...

6) Holiday? BOOKED.

Last summer I worked at Disney World in Orlando with my pal and fellow blogger Victoria's Vintage. If you want to know more about my Disney experience, please click here for my Disney International College Program Youtube Channel. Anyway, I've always been mad for the United States and had planned to travel the country after finishing my College Program. Unfortunately, I broke my finger whilst working on one of the rides and after putting up with agony and pain-killer-caused exhaustion for a couple of weeks, I decided to come home a week early and skip my travelling. Luckily, I was feeling spontaneous early on this year and decided to book a five week coast-to-coast tour from San Francisco to New York city for this summer. I'm going all alone and I leave in just over a month! Wish me luck...

So I think that's everything IMPORTANT that I've been up to over the past three months. Exciting, right? Haha. Anyways, now we're all up-to-date with me, I want to get up-to-date with the blogging community! What have I missed? Any great events coming up which I must attend? Have you tried and reviewed any fantastic products recently? Have any of you decided to spend a bomb on an insane travel sesh? Catch me up!

Anyway, keep an eye out for any upcoming blog-posts as I have loads planned :)

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x