6 day Suntrek trip- Eastern Discovery

After leaving the safe confines of camp, I was unsure of myself and the vast expanse of America that lay ahead of me. With a lack of travelling experience I thought the safest way to travel America should be with other inexperienced travellers. To get a chance to meet other like minded people who also wanted to resist the repetition of just shopping in each city we visited.

Suntreks concept is that you travel with a small group of people by mini bus and visit some of America’s most scenic spots, historic landmarks and learn the basics of camp living. The group is lead by an experienced guide who drives the group to locations and arranges all activities. Our tour guide was Benji a 26 year old, who came from the West Coast who was doing the trek for the same reasons as us, he wanted to spend the summer living like bohemian but with the added bonus of being paid for it and had the pleasure of our great company.

The trek started in New York where we were picked up from our hostel and were introduced to the other fourteen people we would be living with for the week. My fellow Suntrekers was a young Italian family, two other camp counselors, a Swedish au pair, two Germans on holiday and four other travellers who came from different corners of the world.

The briefing was quick and Benji was eager to make a start because we had many miles to cover in the first day to reach our first destination Washington D.C.
For those that are looking for a ‘hop off, take a picture and hop back on tour’ this is probably not for you. It was soon that learnt that we had to earn our keep and the work started before had even got on the bus. Benji looked amused as we all climbed into the bus and had left our luggage on the sidewalk and he suggested ‘that we may be needing that and it was not going to load itself onto the roof’. Sheepishly we climbed back out to give a hand. Benji climbed onto the rack on top of the bus and we passed up our luggage so he could tie it down. I was quite skeptical that he could fit all our gear on top and that would be safe, my greatest fear would be that the bungee cords would come loose and my luggage contents would be strewn across a highway and be lost forever but burying away those fears.

The interior of the bus was small and it was easy to imagine that the cosy space would seem even smaller with the bus filled to capacity five hours later down the road. Subtly choosing my seat by the window to ward off any motion sickness, armed with a pillow and Traveleeze I was ready for my first road trip.

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