Dallas to Memphis - 30°c Although it was neither a particularly late night nor an overly long day yesterday either since I’d had a lie in yesterday morning compared with other mornings, getting up at 7:15am ready for the coach departure at 7:45am felt really hard this morning! However there were certainly plenty of people who had much less sleep than I had after what was a late night for them at the bars. Once aboard the coach we started our journey over to Memphis which we all knew would be a long ride, even longer than our drive from Amarillo to Dallas, and that ride had been the longest so far. Within 30-minutes I’d estimate that well over 75% of us were fast asleep. Naman had taken to sleeping in the aisle of the coach ... read more

Amarillo to Dallas - 30°c plus god knows how much humidity! It was one of the earliest mornings this morning owing to the distance we needed to cover to get to Dallas throughout the day. 6:30am my alarm went off, ready for breakfast at 7am and the coach departure at 7:30am. It wasn’t too much of a struggle for me to get up as I’d had a decent night’s sleep, however the first sign that the same sentiments might not be shared by everyone, was when I came out of the shower and Scott was awake. He said that he felt a bit rough owing to what was apparently a very late night for those that had gone on to the club. - I didn’t hear him get in, but he said it was around 3am. ... read more

Cortez to Albuquerque - 34°c We all had to be up, ready and at the coach for 7:45am this morning, and although a free breakfast was included today, I both couldn’t be bothered to get up even earlier than I had to already, and also wasn’t hungry enough to warrant having it anyway. At the moment, I seem to be eating when I’m told to and not necessarily when I’m hungry, and when it’s as hot outside as it has been at the moment every day, my appetite has been severally decreased anyway and all I truly crave is ice cold water! - I can’t remember the last time I bought so many bottles of water! Once aboard the coach, we headed a good hour and a half in the direction of Albuquerque to Durango, where ... read more

The Grand Canyon - 42°c When my alarm clock went off this morning at 7:50am, I didn’t hesitate in getting up straight away, so excited about today’s planned activities! Once showered and dressed I left the lodge room and headed down to breakfast with some of the group before we headed for the coach around 9am. It was a short 30-minute coach ride out to the Grand Canyon airport where we were ‘checked in’ and weighed (for even helicopter weight distribution apparently) and handed over our tickets for our helicopter flights. From there we had to watch a 15-minute safety video about what to do in the event of an emergency landing. It was rather complicated and god knows how I’d remember all of that if our helicopter were plummeting towards the ground! As it finished, ... read more

Las Vegas - 38°c Today I didn’t get up until around 9:30am as I needed a bit of lay in after a busy afternoon and a late night out in Vegas, not to mention making sure I got enough sleep ready for a full day out in Vegas exploring The Strip today. I headed over to the restaurant around the corner from the hotel, where I bumped into Aussie Danielle, Kate from Liverpool and James from London, so we all shared a table and had a free breakfast courtesy of Contiki. Nothing particularly exciting, but it sufficed and filled a hungry stomach! - 9 days in I’m yet to have any American pancakes, so still have that to look forward to. After breakfast I headed back up to the hotel room to finish getting ready, before ... read more