It has been exactly two months since I wrote on my blog and I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic. It seems so strange to think that the last time I wrote on this blog, I was in the States. Now I write it from the other side of the pond, wondering whether I was there at all. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and write about the three and a half week trip I took around the US, which started in Los Angeles and finished in Boston. I'm going to divide it into sections, otherwise it'll be ridiculously long. The first part is going to talk about my time in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. This will encompass three states: California, Nevada and Arizona.
I started the first part of my journey in the early hours of a Wednesday morning. Malcolm had kindly agreed to take me to the airport and it felt bizarre that I was leaving. I could feel myself welling up a lot and we were both quiet on the journey there. Once we found the airport and he left me at the terminal, the most overwhelming sadness came over me. Ironically, I had become very close to a group of friends towards the end of my time in Denton and I was suddenly thrown into the unknown again.
I checked my bags in, boarded my flight and cried as we flew above Dallas and over to the west. I slept most of the way there and as we were nearing closer to LA, I saw the most beautiful scenery - I am going to assume the Rocky Mountains.
We landed and I made my way to the international terminal to await the arrival of Colleen. I had four hours to wait until her flight landed, so I slept for a large proportion of it. Even though I had waited this amount of time, it was another two hours until she appeared. She has been caught up in customs and keeping to the LAX reputation, they were quite tough on foreigners.
We grabbed our SuperShuttle and it took us into Downtown Los Angeles. Downtown LA was definitely not what I was expecting. It isn't where the famous things are located, e.g the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive etc. Instead it was the business side of town... the business side of town that was polluted with poverty. I have never seen so many homeless people in my entire life. Many of these people were missing limbs, were talking to lampposts and carrying their things in a trolley. Something I have learnt in my time in America, that as much as the 'land of the free' has so much good to offer, there is an incredible dark side too. The 'land of the free' is only free if you are white and middle-class.
The trouble with the poverty in the city comes from the closure of many mental health institutions around the US. If you didn't have family to help you, it would be likely that you would end up on the streets. I found it largely distressing. My Mum volunteers with a group called 'Noah' in our hometown, which gives homeless people a place to stay at night. The problem in my hometown was manageable: when I was in Los Angeles, the problem seemed beyond me - this wasn't something that would just clear up over night.
We only had one night in Los Angeles and from this impression, I will not be returning unless it is for work. It was dirty, unfriendly and just dangerous. Walking a few blocks from our hotel in the evening pumped more adrenaline in my body than some of the theme parks I had been to.
The next morning we left Los Angeles and we began our Contiki tour from LA to New Orleans. We were travelling with 50 young people who were primarily Australian (which made sense, as my Australian roommate had recommended the tour to me). There were a few Brits, a couple from New Zealand and a Korean girl. We started to get to know the people on our tour as we stopped at Walmart and shopped for food and guns.
The drive took around six hours and we finally arrived in Las Vegas. Surprisingly I didn't really think of Las Vegas much when I booked the trip, but it turned out to be one of the best places I visited. It was just wonderfully obscene. So materialistic, so filthy rich and sinful. Sin City lived up to its name.
Our hotel was in the middle of the strip and I couldn't get over the size of the place. We were there for a day and a half and we only explored one half of the strip. If there is a place that I would want to have my hen do, it's Las Vegas. We explored everything from MGM, (the world's largest hotel), New York, New York (with it's own rollercoaster) and Caesar's Palace. Surprisingly, the city was extremely clean. I was expecting it to be quite dirty and seedy, but apart from the one offer to buy cocaine, I was very impressed.
During our time there, we went to see the famous Las Vegas sign and had a tour around the city in a limo. This was definitely one of the moments where we started to bond as we were throwing ourselves on each other and covering ourselves in champagne - when in Vegas. We had two incredible club nights, where we went to two of the most high profile clubs on the strip. One major downside about Vegas was the prices. This was probably the most expensive place I went on the tour and an average drink was approximately $30 (£20). To say the least, I was not paying for drinks that night, but instead my new friends were.
Ha. Haha. Ha.
We spent a lot of time eating true American food, sitting around the pool, sunbathing and gambling in all the casinos. To put it mildly: I lost everything I gambled. However, I only lost $40, so it wasn't the end of the world. Colleen seemed to do fairly well, making what she had lost and a bit extra.
However.... I have come back with a brown chip from Las Vegas. I found this in my suitcase and I have looked up that they are called 'Chocolate Chips'. It was from the casino 'Paris', which was confusing as we didn't gamble at that casino.
Apparently these chocolate chips are worth $5000.
Anyone going to Vegas anytime soon?
So potentially I'm sitting on a goldmine, but for the time being, let's carry on with the narration. We also saw a 'mock wedding' performed by Elvis at one of the chapels in Vegas. Apparently a wedding costs $150, but a divorce in Vegas costs $500. Why? Because it's worth it.
The next day, we began our journey to the Grand Canyon. To put it mildly, everyone was hanging of their arse, so it was a rather quiet journey and LONG. I think that this part felt the longest. We travelled along the famous route 66 - the journey from Chicago to Los Angeles in reverse - and stopped occasionally, but it just seemed to take forever to get to the Canyon. We left at 10am, but didn't arrive there until well after 6pm.
There was such a huge amount of anticipation as we stopped near the Grand Canyon. It was the part that I had been waiting for when I had booked the trip all those months ago. As we got closer, I honestly couldn't take it in and I just had tears in my eyes. I would like to point out that I wouldn't call myself highly emotional, although this blog might convey that. I have never cried at a landscape in my entire life, until that moment. My eye couldn't even take it in, it looked so unreal.
Bizarrely, as we arrived I spotted my friend Rob who I had gone to school with at UNT. He was a fellow Brit and had decided to go travelling at the same time as me. I couldn't help, but think that this was the most brilliant place to run into someone.
That evening, we had dinner with the group and I couldn't help but think of the irony of where we were and where we had just left. We had just come from Las Vegas, the city of material wonder, to the place that holds one of the greatest natural wonders. As amazing as Las Vegas was, the Grand Canyon puts into perspective how much of a speck you are in the universe. One step further and I would have been gone, probably never to be seen again.
The park itself was wonderful. There are very few streetlamps, so you are largely in complete darkness, only to marvel at the stars above you. Living in cities my entire life, it was amazing to see a sky that was more white than black. We would walk around the park and animals, such as elk, would just walk by us, minding their own business. It was such an incredible place to be.
The next day we went cycling around the Canyon and we got to see a proportion. The place is far to big to comprehend and we barely touched the place. However, this was a good way to get a round with a very knowledgeable tour guide who told us how the Canyon was formed over the years - plate tectonics my friends.
I tried to pick up a few rocks to take home - a true reminder of this part of the trip. A few of the group decided to have a picture on this rock that hangs off a cliff. There was the most astonishing drop underneath and I couldn't even bring myself to look at it. However, what a view. I don't think I'll see scenery like it ever again.
That evening we had a picnic as the sunset over the Canyon and we got to experience its beauty at a different time of the day.
That evening, we mingled and started to get to know the group even better. We had done so much in just four days, that it seemed incredible that we were moving on again.
So, the next blog will be:
Monument Valley, Durango, The Rocky Mountains, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Amarillo.
(Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas)
See you soon! x
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