It’s time for another ‘Road trip’ This time we are following the beautiful dramatic coastline from Los Angeles to San Francisco travelling through beautiful national parks along the way. We had heard so much about this beautiful route so agreed that ditching our pre-booked 8 hour bus journey would be one of the best things we could do if we really wanted to appreciate this coastline. We wanted to witness the scenery it had to offer and lucky for us the weather was still t-shirt and shorts worthy. Rather than making the same mistake like last time, we booked the car a week in advance and got a reasonable rate from Budget car hire in LA, opting to return the car to their San Francisco branch. When trying to decide how many days were sufficient to ... read more

When you try to imagine a beach town in California, you picture beautiful clean beaches, surfers, dog walkers, joggers and sun worshippers all collectively enjoying a carefree existence. San Diego seems to be the epitome of that (Ocean beach area anyway). Quiet streets lined with palm trees on either side, low buildings, restaurants galore and a vibe so relaxed time almost seems to stop. After travelling from city to city for 3 weeks straight we were looking forward to some beach time, even if it would only be brief. We arrived (slightly tired as usual) by greyhound from Las Vegas in Downtown San Diego. Catching the tram/trolley and then a bus, we finally made it to Ocean Beach. As soon as we stepped off the bus we immediately fell in love with the area, it definitely ... read more

Everybody we spoke to loved Vegas. We've seen it on films and TV, so we were excited ourselves to see it for real. It's like a huge theme park for adults, with its humongous casinos, big bright lights and cheap alcohol. The place makes its visitors feel rich, making it easy for people to part with their hard earned cash. Even us 'budget' backpackers can get pulled into the same thinking and it's already proving difficult to 'do' the US on the cheap - food is our weak spot. Speaking of food, Vegas is known for its all you can eat buffets with a huge array of foods to choose from. But we'll get on to that later. Due to the distance from Austin, we caught an internal flight here which ... read more

Despite travelling to some of the "Venice's of..." China such as Lijiang and India's backwaters of Kerala we have not had the opportunity to visit the actual Venice yet (it's on our to bucket list). We thought we would make up for it by visiting another place with the moniker "Venice of the USA". We are in downtown San Antonio.  Drawn by the lovely canals that are lined with resturants, hotels and picture perfect arched bridges that cross it, it wasn't hard to add this place to our American itinerary.  It also has a lot of uncovered history to delve into here, the main site being the Alamo. This is where Mexican troops back in 1836 attacked the mission (church) killing many Texans in an attempt to win back Texas as a part of Mexico. The ... read more

We were desperate to experience Memphis. Experience the live blues and Jazz bands, all the music spilling onto the streets, and to experience the rest of the culture here: The opportunity to visit the Mississippi River, lick the barbecue sauce and soul food dripping from our fingers and delve deep into some African American history. Only a 2 hour bus ride from Nashville and we were in Memphis. After a quick Uber ride from the inaccessible bus-station, we were walking down the streets of Memphis commenting on some creative colourful street art depicting various community scenes. Downtown As we walked a few blocks closer to Beale Street (the area where many the music bars can be found) our noses immediately picked up on the smell of smoky barbeques sizzling away, whilst our ears immediately caught onto ... read more