aledandbethtravelling

After dropping off the car at the airport we headed into town; and were welcomed by what on first impression seemed like a really nice city. I had been told SO MANY positive things about San Fran, so there is always a risk that it isn't going to live up to all the hype. But lets hope on this occasion that wasn't the case (I know the answer to this, but you don't - so read on!) We were couchsurfing for the first few days in San Fran, so we departed the airport and headed downtown in search of the bus stop which would take us to her house; it was here that we parted company with Tim, as he was staying in one of the local hostels. After getting a little lost and confused we ... read more

So, it has been a long time since last time we spoke. It's not you..... it's me. I got busy and lazy in equal measures with real life in Vancouver so haven't updated this blog in quite some time. Just for those of you who don't know, I haven't been hanging out in Utah and the Grand Canyon for the last 4 months, but to find out what I have been up to, read on (there's your hook right there). So we arrived in San Diego after a cool Greyhound journey through the desert of the Southern States. It was fairly late in the evening, so we headed straight to the hostel. After a ten minute walk from the station we arrived at the HI San Diego, nestled right in the heart of the trendy and ... read more

We hopped in the car and made our way out into the desert. A lot of the US had been amazing; however, for the most part they were environments that weren’t too far removed from the ones you could find back in the UK, this however was completely different. As far as you could see in every direction was desert, dry shrubs and stark cliffs. Our plan for the day was to get as close to the Grand Canyon as we could so we could set off to get there early the next morning. Just a short drive from Vegas, our first port of call was the Hoover Dam. It was a very impressive sight to see as were the drops either side of the dam! Even though it was mid-October it was still almost unbearably ... read more

So we picked up our rental car at New Orleans airport and began the long drive to Austin. It was actually cheaper than the three of us getting a bus which was great as it's much nicer to have a car. The drive was only 8 hours (I can't believe we now think 8 hours is a relatively short drive) so we were doing it in one day. The drive went fine, we stopped for lunch and was pretty uneventful, until we got pulled over for speeding. Bit of a fail - was just after the speed limit had changed - the interstate swaps and changes the speed limits all the time. Nevertheless, it was pretty nerve racking but luckily the US cop was pretty nice about it. Still a bit of a dent into James' ... read more

I’ve got to say that from the start of my plans to go travelling in the US, Nashville was pretty much my number one place to go – therefore expect about as much objectivity as asking Liam Gallagher ‘which band were better out of Oasis or Blur?’. So as Beth left off, we dropped the car off at Nashville Airport; the second in what would become a long running trend of going to airports without actually flying anywhere. You could tell straight away that this place had no plans of relinquishing its title as ‘Music City’ any time soon, with the airport littered with music memorabilia and giant model guitars. We got a taxi to our hostel, the aptly named, Music City Hostel. On first impression the place looked a little bit like some kind of ... read more