Post travel blues

I was atrocious at updating this while I was road tripping across America but honestly, I was just trying to enjoy my time there and only spent time on the Internet when I was adding occasional photos to our instagram have a look here if you want.

Basically, as the title says I now have the post travel blues.

Driving across America with my best friends was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life (despite the couple of hiccups we encountered at the beginning of our trip).

I’m still in total disbelief that we actually done it. We drove 5044 miles across America. We seen and done some amazing things, I think the best parts were definitely the beautiful sights I seen along the way.

Below is just one picture from every place we went.

Boston, MA.

Above is our (second) car. We called her Monique; there is a story behind why we called her this but I’ll save that for another time.

New York City, NY.

Obviously you all know where we are. Times square baby!

Washington, D.C.

Obviously we found ourselves visiting big Abe L.

Abingdon, VA.

Abingdon for us was just a stopover, Needless to say I didn’t get many pictures apart from this from our motel window. 

Nashville, TN.

Are you from Tennessee? Cause you’re the only ‘ten I see’ .. Unbeknown to ourselves (until we stepped out a taxi in the main streets) we were in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival which did mean for us there was an epic crowd of people. We didn’t get to see too much as we were in 2 bars before my group of friends got absolutely steaming and I had to drag them home.

New Orleans, LA.

I completely fell in love with NOLA, and with the Frenchmen Art Gardens especially. What a beautifully magical place. The work from local artists is just something else, they’re all so very talented. We also found ourselves in Cats Meow on Bourbon St. Needless to say (being Scottish) we found ourselves singing 500 miles by the proclaimers on stage.. who doesn’t love karaoke?

Ennis, TX.

Ennis was a small town stopover for us, and we’re all so glad we did stop over with here. We popped into the taco bell before we left and the staff were so lovely! They had never met anyone from Scotland before and so asked to get a picture with us. Made us feel so so welcome.

Amarillo, TX.

Cadillac Ranch. I was really looking forward to going here, and I definitely had so much fun. Spray paint in hand it was fun leaving our mark here, at least for a little while.

Farmington, NM.

We just had a little overnight stop in Farmington so there aren’t many pictures. 

Grand Canyon, AZ.

My fear of heights kept me well away from the edge but it meant I got to take beautiful pictures like this while we watched the sun set over the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Yavapai Lodges, if you book early enough to stay here it’s work it. Such an incredibly beautiful place.

Las Vegas, NV.

When in Vegas.. it always lands on black. 

Los Angeles, CA.

We got to spend a few days exploring this beautiful city, although I know I have to go back as there’s so much more for me still to see. We made sure to find a set of angels wings. Because who can leave LA the city of angels without becoming an angel?

San Simeon, CA.

Beautiful little place. We spent the previous night on the beach watching the sun set, drinking a cider and running into the sea.

San Francisco, CA.

Can you say you’ve been to San Fran if you didn’t go to Alcatraz? We went on the night tour and it was amazing seeing this place, hearing what things were like, learning more than we previously knew. We spent 3 hours in this place, on this island and it was eerie. I can’t imagine how it felt for the prisoners.

I had the trip of my life and I’ll be sharing more stories and pictures from our month long road trip in the future.

Have you been to any of these places? Are you going? Tell me your favourite parts or what you’re most looking forward to!

I just want to do it all over again. 

American road trip: day 8

It seems like just yesterday we got on our plane to head to America and now here we are; it’s day 8 of our trip already.

We’ve done so much yet probably so little at the same time.

We’re currently in Washington DC, well Arlington. Drove in last night and we’re excited to spend our day being typical tourists going to see The Whitehouse and the likes. We’re excited to see Washington DC, excited to explore the place and see everything it has to offer.

If anyone has any suggestions of things to do or see, feel free to comment and let me know!

I’ll try do a proper wee post later tonight to let you all know how the past week has been.

American road trip: bad luck comes in threes, not for us.

Now we didn’t quite expect every single detail of this month long trip to go to plan but considering we’re on day 3 and everything that could go wrong has, well luck just isn’t on our side.

So it started off in Glasgow airport, we hadn’t even left and things were going wrong. I feel like I need to list this all to show the extent of how unlucky we’ve been so far (and bear in mind, we’re 3 days in).

1. Firstly we get delayed by 2 hours because of the weather in Amsterdam. Obviously we’re like this is shite but whatever. It’s a delayed flight we’re not going to cry over it.

2. We ALMOST and when I say almost, I mean the minute we got off our flight in Amsterdam we had to run through Schipol airport to get to where our flight to Boston was. We got on the plane and 2 minutes later, and I mean 2 minutes they shut the gate!

3. Now if you know anything about the process of planes and airports you’ll know what’s coming next. Yep. You guessed it! We arrived in Boston, but our luggage didn’t. Obviously once again another bummer but we can deal with it.. Until, we enquire about it and only 3 of the 4 cases were found and going to be on their way to join us.

4. So you’re thinking, what else can possibly go wrong for these 4 girls? Plenty. We pick our car up, all is going well. Shona drove it to the motel, we picked up clare and then I drove us to Salem. All was going well and then BANG! (And I do mean that literally) someone fucking crashed into me. So not only am I driving in another country, on the opposite side of the road, in the opposite side of the car and then someone crashes into me. Not to mention, the same accident had happened 2 minutes previous so the police witnessed it and it was all the guys fault as he was doing an illegal manoeuvre. We had to drive back to the rental company, luckily they were great and gave us another car.

Car number 1 (bye bye).

Car number 2 (hello beautiful).

5. Surely by now you’re thinking, we’re on number 5? They’ve only been there 3 fucking days, what more could go wrong? Oh little do you know. So we’re in the car driving to NYC (no crashes this time), we stopped off to grab some food and water etc only to check our emails and see an email from the motel saying they tried to take the payment which was cancelled as it was an old card and to contact them by 1pm; it was currently almost 9pm. Our phones can’t phone american numbers either so we had to go into burger king and asked to use their phone which they kindly let us, phone the motel and they inform us the booking is still there. Everything is all good!

6. Is it fuck! We get to the motel, thinking great get in, pay, get to sleep as it’s almost 12. Nope. The guy tells us the booking was cancelled and he only has a room for 1 night; we’re meant to be staying 4! So we’re currently in the motel patiently waiting to find out if there’s any cancellations etc for us to stay our next 3 nights here.

FML.

Every time we seem to say “surely things can’t get any worse” they do. So you know, whatever. I’m over it all now. I just want a little bit of plain sailing for the next 4 weeks, please.

Has any of your trips ever went this terribly wrong? Leave me a comment below and tell me. Make me feel slightly better about our situation.

It’s all part of the adventure

When your trip starts off in the worst possible way, all you can say is “it’s all part of the adventure.”

For us our trip has started off in the worst possible ways. Firstly we were delayed leaving Glasgow by 2 hours because of the weather in Amsterdam. Finally we were allowed to take off and after circling the skies of Amsterdam we landed. Only to be told our connecting flight to Boston was leaving in 10 minutes time and we probably won’t make it.

We ran.

We ran for our lives across the airport and made it onto our plane literally 2 minutes before we took off.

Now you’re thinking well that’s not too bad, and no of course it isn’t. Until we arrived in Boston. We got off our flight, through customs toward the baggage carousel and what wasn’t there? Our luggage.
Usually I really wouldn’t care but we’re only here in Boston until Wednesday so knowing we don’t have our luggage with absolutely everything is not ideal. Apparently through it will be getting sent to our motel today (fingers crossed).

We had to spend our first night in Boston shopping for clothes and toiletries etc (in all fairness I was smart and did put extra clothes in my hand luggage but it’s roasting here so I don’t want to wear jeans).

So day one of our trip hasn’t gone exactly to plan.. but as I keep saying “it’s all part of the adventure.”

Counting down: Wait a minute..

Well look at that!!

My counting down is officially over. I’m currently wired to the moon (with excitement) as in just a few hours time I’m heading to the airport to catch my first flight of this trip.

Glasgow to Amsterdam is first on the agenda. Kind of gutted we don’t have a long stopover in Amsterdam as it would have been good to see it again.

I have a feeling my case is a ridiculous weight but at the same time, yolo. Do I care that much? Nope.
I haven’t slept yet and I feel like there’s no point in me even trying to get a little sleep as in 2 hours time I need to get up. Sometimes as well it makes you feel 10x worse, at least it does with me!

It’s so weird knowing it’s actually here! I said my goodbyes in work, can’t tell you all how good it feel knowing I don’t have to go back to that place for a good few weeks!

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!

Counting down: 1

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

In case you haven’t caught on yet, tomorrow I get on a plane with my 3 best friends and we head to Boston to start our American road trip.

So last on my countdown is:

1. Last shift in work for 5 weeks – today marked my one final shift in work before we go away. I can’t explain how good it was to clock out knowing I have five whole weeks off. Not only am I off, I’ll be in America with my best mates. What more could I ask for?

Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll be posting as much as I can whenever I have a spare minute to write myself up a post.

I’m so excited to share my upcoming experiences with you all, if you want to see more than just what I post on here you have a few options:

1. Follow me on Twitter here
2. Follow either my personal Instagram here or our group one here
3. Can also add my snapchat; username is to yasmindox

Leave a comment and me know if you do any of the above!

Counting down: 2

Shit is getting real.

Sorry for the language but, after almost 2 years.. it’s 2 days away. Each day I’m still in disbelief that it’s almost here. I’m almost on what is undoubtedly going to be one of the best trips of my life, with my best friends.

So today it’s 2 and I’m switching it up slightly.

2. Beginning of the trip – obviously the whole trip is going to be one of the most exciting, surreal experiences ever. I don’t think it’s going to actually kick in until, until we pick up our car. Even landing in Boston I don’t think it’ll feel real, but come day 3 when we go and pick our car up and head to Salem before we hit New York. That is when it’s going to be like, “we are actually here doing this.” I mean I might be wrong but, we’ll soon see.

1. End of the trip – I think there’s going to be so many emotions towards the end of our trip. We’ll be sad that it’s coming to an end. Possibly happy to be going home to see friends, family and pets. Overall I think we’ll be so incredibly happy not just that we’ve experienced road trippin’ across America, but that we’ve experienced it with each other.

It’s almost time for my trip! Follow our instagram here and you’ll see our journey across America.

Counting down: 3

There’s only one word to describe the current situation surreal.

It’s 3 days until we go. I feel like this past year has flew in and this almost week has felt like a day.

No matter how long you are away for, whether it be a weeks holiday to Spain, a month in America or a year in Australia there’s always something you miss from home. So today it’s going to be the 3 things I’ll miss most.

3. My sister/family – honestly, my little sister will miss me more than I miss her (she’s 9, I’ll just be glad for the peace and quiet). Okay I kid, I’ll miss her so much. For the past year I’ve lived with her and my dad and she’s loved it so much, so have I. It’s always great seeing my sister everyday rather than once a week, but I’ll still be glad for the break from her haha!

2. Irn bru – let’s be honest, typical Scots thing to say and honestly I don’t even drink it that often but there’s nothing like waking up after being out on the town the night before and getting yourself a cold can of bru.

1. My own bed – I’m the type of person that can sleep anywhere, and when I say anywhere.. I mean anywhere. But there’s just something about getting into your own bed after a long day. I can assure you, I’m going to miss my bed.

What things do you all miss most when you’re away from home? Comment below and let me know!

Remember if you want to follow our trip follow our instagram > click here

Counting down: 4

Currently feeling a wide range of emotions: scared, nervous, anxious, fucking excited.
We head to America for this trip in 4 days time.. we booked our flights 10 months ago and now suddenly here we are just days away from getting on that plane and starting our road trip.

Today is another day, and another list. 4 things I’m trying not to forget.

With it being just a few days until we go it’s a case of frantically trying to remember what there is still to be packed or just what we have to remember to take!

4. Camera – I honestly can’t imagine not being able to take pictures of almost everything. I’ve always been snap happy, and it’s always proven on holidays when I come back with 1000s of pictures. This month long trip will definitely not be any different. Although I’ll have my phone, it’s not the same as using a proper camera.

3. Passport/drivers licence- I feel like I need to mention the simple things here. I’m not usually the type of person to forget things as important as this but, my passport is laying out somewhere I can see and somewhere I’ll remember to pick it up from. And if I forget my licence I can kiss goodbye to driving in America.

2. Credit cards/money – once again the simple things. With it relying so heavily on myself especially, this needs to be on my list. My card is being used for the car and the hotel in Vegas etc so it’s essential that I remember to take them.

1. Notebook and pen – this is for most people a once in a lifetime experience and I want to be able to document our journey. I’ve bought myself a beautiful wee travel journal and I can’t wait to write in it. 40 years from now when my memory won’t be at its best I’ll have my pictures from my camera and my day to day ramblings of my journal.

There is of course so much more to remember to take but I’ll be happy with these 4 items.

Counting down: 5

5 days to go.

Today it’s all about the top 5 things I can’t wait to do while on my road trip in America.

5. Visit the Grand Canyon – typical tourist thing, but I really can’t wait to visit and take some beautifully picturesque pictures of this amazing landscape.

4. Visit Alcatraz – one of the last things we’ll be doing on our trip but something that’s been on our list to do since we started planning. We’re doing the night tour towards the end of June and I definitely can’t wait for it.

3. See Les Miserables – I can’t explain just how excited I am for this. Les Miserables is one of my all time favourites and I’m so stoked that one of my friends is coming with me to see it in NYC (next week!).

2. Bike ride through central park – it’s the little things sometimes. Jumping on a bike and cycling through central park is definitely something I can’t wait for. I seen a little of central park last time I was in NYC but it will be good to see it in the summer with my best pals at our own chilled out, relaxed pace.

1. Driving! – well how could I not mention driving itself. Boston to San Francisco, what’s not to be excited about? Getting behind the wheel with my pals and driving from the east to the west.

I’ve never been more excited about something in my life. A month long trip with my 3 gals, and all you!

Leave me a comment below and let me know what your favourite parts of your trips have been or what you are exited about!