trek america || from london to la

Well hello there old friends, it's been a while... again. I've been kicked up the backside by an email telling me my domain had been paid for for another year, so here we are.

Back in June 2016, as I'm sure you're aware, I travelled 5000 miles across the world to LAX to embark on the journey of a lifetime. A two month trip around America. Anyone that knows me, knows how crazy it was for me to do this by myself. I decided to document my adventure daily so I could relive the experience when I got home, but unfortunately things have happened since then and I haven't gotten round to it. Now ladies and gents, now, is the time that I delve back into my journal and this time, I'm going to share it with you.

8th of June 2016.

5am. I'm no good with mornings. Infact, mornings are my least favourite time of day. This day, however was different, I was filled with anticipation and excitement. Panic set in. Do I have my passport? Do I have my dollars? Do I have my itinery? Insurance? Hotel bookings? After being calmed down by my wonderful mother, we jumped in the car and drove to Heathrow with my two brothers. I was ready (albeit terrified) to go and explore the United States but not until after food. A veggie breakfast and a bloody mary was just what I needed before I boarded an 11 hour flight by myself. I'm not the best flyer, infact I absolutely bloody hate flying, so getting on that plane alone was a challenge in itself. After lots of cuddles and a little bit of crying, leaving my family at security was difficult. I couldn't even bring myself to turn around to wave goodbye. There was no going back once I'd gone through those doors. I was doing this. I was going to America, alone, for two months. I had no idea what was waiting for me, walking into the unknown. The flight itself wasn't too bad, luckily I had booked my flights with Virgin Atlantic and they were absolutely fabulous. They could not have been more friendly or attentive. Despite how tired I was, sleep wasn't an option, there was a vast array of films available to me and I was constantly being given food and drink. We touched down in LAX at 2:15pm local time. Now it was time to be terrified of customs, which was completely unnecessary because it was nothing like you see on tv. It was smooth, the customs officers were lovely, only a few questions and I was picking up my super blue suitcase ready to "go hail a cab".  I'm going to skip ahead to my first full day in LA because all I did today was keep myself awake until 9pm, eat jalapeno flavoured crisps and drink ginger ale.

9th June 2016.

To get over my jet lag, I booked a couple of days in a hotel before going to the hotel Trek America had booked me into. Luckily, I had made friends with a guy on another trek who was in LA at the same time as I was. We met at my hotel and ventured into Hollywood. I didn't feel particularly safe in my hotel (it was only a few blocks from Compton and every other noise you heard was a gunshot, remind me to trip advisor my hotel next time) so it was nice to have a friendly face around. To check off our obvious Hollywood sight seeing points, we had a little wonder down the walk of fame. I didn't realise how large the walk of fame actually is. 

It's every where. Everywhere. Once we'd walked up an appetite, it would have been rude not to walk into the Hard Rock Cafe and eat ourselves silly with the American portion sizes. Little did we know, in the U.S soft drinks are refilled and bought to your table for free when you look like you're running out, definitely looked stupidly British when we apologised for not ordering them. After food, we headed off to the Chinese Theatre, admiring the great names we'd walked over on the way. It's always a bit overwhelming seeing places you've wanted to visit for so long. The Chinese theatre is just full of hand and footprints from insanely talented and influential people, so standing where they stood all those years ago was absolutely crazy, but that wasn't the craziest thing to happen that day. Once we'd been accosted by all of the people trying to sell us stuff, I decided to go into MAC and buy a lipstick because I was regretting not bringing any with me. 

We'd been keeping an eye on a red carpet being laid out at The Dolby Theatre, so me being the curious being I am, I asked the security guard what was happening later this afternoon. He told me it was an event to honour John Williams, the composer of Star Wars, Jurassic Park and many many more. Sticking around to see who turned up seemed like a pretty good idea considering we had no time limit and this is fucking Hollywood. Next thing we know, out walk John Williams himself, George Lucas, STEVEN FUCKING SPIELBERG, JJ Abrams, Idina Menzel (for anyone that knows me and my love of Wicked, I thought I was going to die), Kobe Bryant and about 20 minutes late... up rocks Harrison Ford. 

Guys, I'm on day one of my trip and I'm stood here thinking... 

Has this trip just peaked? Am I the luckiest tourist in the world? 

10th June 2016.

After the craziness of yesterday, I was well ready to pack up my stuff and move to the hotel Trek America had booked for me. Fully aware that I would be sharing a room with a stranger, my anxiety started to pick up for the first time since I got here. I checked in, was given my room card and my roommate for the day was already in the room. She was this beautiful, sweet Australian girl and we just got on straight away. Thank god. We spoke for a little while about my adventures in the US so far, and decided to go back into Hollywood but this time via the metro and the subway.
American public transport is actually a little intimidating, it's so busy and everyone on there just looks like you've offended them. Being an Australian and a Brit, it was quite noticeable that people were watching and listening to us like we were a different species, something they'd never seen before. 

Once we'd navigated our way to the right station on the subway, we avoided those trying to sell us things and went straight for food. This time Johnny Rockets (apparently the original hamburger) fed me, and by gosh, I was not disappointed. We didn't even need fries because the burger was so ridiculously huge. Tipping is basically compulsory in America, which is a nightmare because everything becomes so expensive, but we weren't sure if we'd tipped them so pretty much ran out of the restaurant. Oops. Is there a better place to go than Hollywood for Madam Tussauds? Probably not, so we forked out the $30 entry fee and spent the afternoon with the stars. Nurel was all over James Dean, and I was sure

one of them would be the real person. Drinks seemed like the way to celebrate the end of a great day, and the start of our trips. I felt so lucky to be paired with someone as lovely as her. I felt instantly comfortable and calm even though usually meeting new people terrifies me. We were told that the bar at Aloft, where we were staying, was one of the best in El Segundo, how convenient! It wasn't a late night for us unfortunately because of the 7:30am meeting time for my trek group, and with that realisation, suddenly, I was overcome with anxiety, excitement... anticipation. It was starting. My 9 week trip around the USA was beginning and I knew my life would never be the same.

Until next time...
Trek begins.
Vegas and Zion National Park.

2016 Trek Adventure | "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore”

I lost myself last year, for so long I felt as though there was something missing in my life, something missing in me... but I've found it. I've never been as happy as I am this very moment. I feel unstoppable; yes, I still have bad days, doesn't everyone? Depression is a little shitbag that is always there, but doesn't always say hello. There was a time last year where I never thought that there was way out of the dark hole I had buried myself into... how wrong I was! 

Why am I so happy? Well thank you for asking. I came across a post on twitter about a tour company called Trek America about a month ago, curiously clicking on the link I was taken to a beautiful website full of incredible journeys across America and Canada. If you've known me for a while, you'll know how much I've always wanted to go to New York, the city that never sleeps, the big apple... the home of Broadway. As a musical theatre buff, New York has appealed to me in ways no other place has done before. My childhood dream was to be a lead role in a Broadway show so even just to be in one the most prestigious theatre districts in the WORLD is making little baby Charley ridiculously giddy. I've been looking into trips to New York for years, but I've never been able to afford it... until now.

If you've read my blog before, you'll know I bought a house with my ex (thank GOD) boyfriend and as much as it sucks that all that shit happened, not only has it made me realise how much more I am worth, it's a bloody good way of saving! Managing to receive a decent sum of money from the money I put into the deposit & signing the house over to him, I stuck it in my savings account like a good responsible adult for my future. My main aim was to find somewhere to live with a couple of friends from work (HEY GIRLS) and we did, there was a gorgeous house which was absolutely perfect for us, but just slightly out of our price range. It had gotten to a point where we were so fed up with houses being too much, no sharers, no this, no that, no fucking anything that we gave up. I was gutted. It was like life just didn't want to give me a break and everything that was going well would fuck up somehow, but this was a blessing in disguise.                                                             An              absolute            blessing.
 

 That was the night I came across Trek America completely by accident and it became the night I found the spark I had been missing for so long. Hours had passed, my eyes hurt from scrolling endlessly through their website, every single trip looked incredible. As much as it pained me, I had to be realistic about spending the money I had put aside for a deposit on a house down here and reluctantly closed the web page. There was one trek in particular that caught my eye, the Trailblazer. 63 days camping through America and Canada. It was all I could think about for days, constantly reading about it, looking at where it was going, the prices, the flights, the dates... I couldn't do it, could I? I decided to bring in the big guns, Mumma P; if anyone had the answers, she did. "Go for it, you're young. You would be stupid to pass on an opportunity this big when you have the money just sitting there" she said. I didn't need any convincing, I booked it that night. June 2016 until August 2016. I'm allowed to get excited now though, right? I bloody hate flying, but a flight lasting 11 hours when you're alone seems like a small price to pay when you get to meet new friends and experience something incredible together.

As a person who suffers with anxiety, flying alone & meeting new people are absolutely terrifying to me but they say "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" and recently I've started to believe that. I am so proud of myself for making this decision and finally taking back control of my life. For a long time I've felt as though I haven't been living, just existing and this has given me the kick up the backside I bloody well needed.

The photos in this blog post are just a few of the places I'll be visiting during my 10 weeks away. TrekAmerica's trip itself is only 9 weeks but I've booked an extra week in LA by taking advantage of my work hotel discount (thank u Hilton). Below is a map of the route I am taking, 63 days from LA to LA & the goodies that Trek throws in. If you have any questions about the booking process, or price, get in contact with me and I'll be more than happy to help! Also, I'm considering publicly blogging/vlogging some of the experience, so if you're interested in seeing what we get up to, I will happily publish it. 

 If you have seen these before and were in two minds about it, do it, just do it - I am channeling my inner Shia LaBeouf. Whether you want to do the week trek or the 80 day trek, you will have the most incredible experience that you will never ever ever ever ever ever forget, so go on, you have so much to gain... what do you have to lose?!

If anyone has any tips on dealing with long haul flights or being alone in a big city, please get in contact as I could do with some help....