Hi, hello, hey!
It’s been a hot minute since we dropped into your mailbox with a catch up on what we’ve been up to and my goodness, it has been a lot. We have just got back from one the most incredible bucket list trips to the USA and Canada that we didn’t know we needed and have so much to share with you!
So much so that I might drop it in two parts so I don’t make this too lengthy!
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Starting with.. the USA
Our first stop on our trip was a New York City, a place that we had both only seen in the movies and had plenty of those iconic movie scene spots to go and check out! We stayed at POD Times Square which was a very reasonably priced, central hotel around a 10 minute walk from Times Square. We filmed A LOT for both YouTube and Instagram and have plenty of travel guides coming out on our website but here are some of our highlights from this part of our trip:
Ellens Stardust Diner (this was like a broadway show whilst eating breakfast)
Empire State Building view
The Highline
Seeing Aladdin in Broadway
After a few days exploring NYC, we flew to Vegas where we rented a car and drove up to the Glen Canyon National Park. We stayed in this lovely motel which included breakfast and spent a few days exploring the area.
Horseshoe Bend was a real highlight, we paid $10 for parking and went at sunrise when there were little to no crowds. The weather was lovely whilst we were here so we also spent some time enjoying the sunshine and driving around in our convertible Mustang (which we are sure they gave us by mistake!)
One lesson we learned on our last day was how long it takes to get anywhere in America. We decided to visit the Grand Canyon on our last day with our rental car on our way back to Las Vegas which was absolutely incredible. However, we didn’t realise how long of a detour this would add on to our journey, what looked like a 1 hour drive on the map can very easily be a 6 hour drive 😂
The main reason for us making this trip over to the USA was to attend the Travel Goods Association Show in Las Vegas. We were invited to speak on the van life panel alongside some other creators and we absolutely jumped at this opportunity and were so grateful that we could make it into a longer trip!
After a few days at the show, a couple of evenings exploring Las Vegas (you need to go and see ‘O’ Cirque du Soleil if you visit – absolutely unreal show and so worth the money), and a trip with Pink Jeep Tours to the Valley of Fire State Park, we picked up our campervan rental from Travellers Autobarn, which leads us nicely into the next part of our trip.
Roadtripping California
Our road trip started in Las Vegas and we headed straight for the coast of San Diego. Our first day was spent sea kayaking where we saw leopard sharks and seals and enjoyed the cute surf towns and warm weather.
We made our way up the Highway 1 Californian Coast using State Campgrounds and Harvest Hosts (and the odd Walmart when necessary) to stay the night. We took a brief drive through the cities of LA and San Fransisco but our main priorities were to see the beaches and the National Parks. Some highlights on this road trip include
Seeing elephant seals
Sealions in Santa Cruz
Lake Tahoe
Yosemite – might just be one of the most incredible places we have ever been
Big Sur
Paso Robles wine tasting
We decided to fully immerse ourselves in this trip and decided to edit our YouTube videos when we got back to Scotland as we were only in each place for such a short amount of time we wanted to soak up every moment. We appreciate your patience if you have been waiting for the next video drop which will be coming out this Sunday (tomorrow) at 5pm BST.
Next up, we will share more on our trip to Canada and I might just throw in some tragically funny videos of us falling over skiing!
Much love until next time
G&C x
