Colorado to Alabama | Travelling America

So it is almost the end of my trip. In a few hours I will be heading to the airport to wait for my 6am flight back to Canada. It has been an amazing summer, camp was brilliant as always, but my favourite part has to be travelling. I was supposed to go straight back to Canada after this summer, but instead I teamed up with a friend Zane, and we have been travelling with a few other people along the way. It has been unforgettable, and has definitely inspired me to not stay too long in one place and see as much as I can.



So the first stop was Colorado. We made the looonnngg journey by car from Tahoe to Colorado. We stayed with a friend from camp at his family home and spent around six days there. The house was in a small town called Louisville. I have decided that I much prefer smaller towns in America, possibly because it feels more like home, what with England being smaller. Louisville was very small! The first night there was a street fair on so after dinner with Alex's mum we headed into downtown. (which consisted of pretty much one block). The street fair consisted of stalls and some live music, when they started packing up we went to a local dive bar called Henry's. I have also decided I like dive bars in America.

One thing you may already know about Colorado is it is legal to buy and smoke marijuna. So of course we went to check out the weed shops. Honestly it wasn't as exciting as I thought, the one we went to just looked like a hairdresser waiting room and then you went into a second room to actually purchase it. Over the next few days we went to Denver zoo, a Rockies game, went up to the Rocky Mountains and went bowling. (Alex has a bowling addiction.)

From Denver I flew with Zane (English), Alex (American) and Josh (Australian) to Iowa. I know Iowa isn't exactly on top of peoples travel lists, but we were going to visit another couple of friends from camp who study at Iowa State.

On our first night there one of our hosts got arrested and sent to the drunk tank for having an open container. He, for some reason, decided to run from the police when they approached him. So that was an interesting first night!





We went to house parties and hit the clubs, there are a lot of students as we were in a college town.

After a couple of days in Ames, Iowa, Alex and I took a car over to Dyersville where we went to the Field of Dreams. I am a big fan of the movie, so I was incredibly excited - who knew it was in Iowa?! We stayed in Cedar Rapids for the night, which we didn't realise was the state capitol. Being on a budget we booked a Red Roof Inn, which was possibly one of the worst places I stayed ever. The hotel itself was nice, we were just in the dodgy part of town, so there were a lot of unsavoury people hanging around the place! The next day we headed to Des Moines for the night and took a trip to Gray's Lake.





From Iowa I flew to Huntsville, Alabama. Again visiting a friend from camp, Courtney. She is studying at UNA, another college town. My first night she took me to the gym! Which was really good, as I haven't done any exercise since being on the road.






We drove over to Lynchenburg, where the Jack Daniels distillery is and took a taster tour, which was really cool. We spent the night at her family home in Tennessee. The thing I love about travelling and staying with people, rather than hotels, is you get to really experience life as the locals live it. courtney's family were lovely, the epitome of Southern Hospitality. From Hazeltown I got on a Greyhound on my own to Nashville to meet back up with Zane.

Nashville has been somewhere I have wanted to visit for quite a while. Mainly because of my obsession with the TV show, but also because I like country music, and being from England we don't have much of a 'country music' scene.


Nashville was crazy, my first day I was on my own for the most part, and I had a wander round downtown, hit up the walk of fame and checked out some of the artists playing in the bars, who were all really good.

I didn't get to the Opry or to the Bluebird cafe, which I am slightly gutted about. But I will definitely go back if I get the chance. When Zane finally arrived around 7pm we hit the main strip, heading to Dick's Last Resort for dinner. Dick's is a novelty restaurant where the waiters are paid to be dicks! They are sarcastic and kinda mean, but in good fun. From there we went on a bar crawl, I can't really remember most of the places we went to, but we did go to Tequila Cowboys, Coyote Ugly and Big Shotz. We went to a karaoke bar I can't remember the name of, where all the karaoke singers were really good - not like your local karaoke night back home at all. There was also a mechanical bull!



Zane and I travelled back to Alabama the next day, heading to Courtney's family lake house in Florence, for Labor day. We swam in the lake, went out on the boat and had a Southern barbecue! That night we went to a frat party, which was highly entertaining. Courtney's roommate is in a Sorority so we have been learning a lot about the Greek system!

And that brings me to today, where my trip ends. I am sad to be leaving America, but I love Canada so I will be happy to get back to the mountains of Whistler. Who knows where I will be heading to next!

Week two: Kids arrive, Sky High and San Francisco.

So I'm a bit delayed in updating this as it happens, but I have finally got around to making the week two video! Which you can watch by clicking here. To update on here, the first week was awesome but the second was way better, because the kids arrived! We still didn't have resident kids that slept over, but we had day campers. It was really cool to see how it all worked, get to know some of the kids and put our skills to use! We also got a bit of time off too, YAY! So we went trampolining and to San Fran. Check out the video to see what we got up to!

Tea - Discovering Vine.

I have just discovered vine and I am addicted. I also like tea. Below is the outcome.

Welcome to Youtube...

I have decided to set up a youtube channel to document my journey - wherever it may take me.

I thought it would be a good way for my family and friends to catch up with what I have been getting up to, give people thinking about doing similar things a chance to see what it is like, but also something for me to look back on when it is all over!

So check out my videos! 

xxx

My Week In.Stagram

Rocked my new CA hoody. Cringed at my camp application video. Lost the peg game while food shopping. Stressed about end of month. Deliberated cutting my hair. Jumped on the bandwagon and bought some Nike Blazers. Tried to stay awake on Monday. Shared (well thought about it) a diet coke with Dan. Complained about being tired (again). Received my visa for America. Sat in the sunshine at the pub. Got certified in first aid. Caught tonsillitis. Celebrated getting a Canadian visa. Enjoyed feeling like summer had arrived.

Getting into the spirit of camp.

So Camp America suggest that you make a video for your application, to help get placed. I always see on the threads of people asking what to put into a camp video, so I thought I would post my one here, incase it helps anyone get an idea for theirs.

The video gives camp Directors an opportunity to learn a bit about you and see the kind of person you are. It should probably show that you are enthusiastic, friendly, fun, like working with kids and showcase your skill set. If you paint, paint something. If you play football, score a goal. Mine is a bit longer than it probably should be, keep them quite short.

I apologise in advance for all the cringe moments and cheesiness!

American Visa.

Today I received my visa! Woohoo! I will officially be allowed to work for the summer in America. I also got a rather snazzy tee and a sim card for USA and Canada - convenient!

I thought I would let you know just what has been going on and give you an idea of the process for getting an American visa for the summer (J1, through Camp America).

So first CA sent me several visa forms, that needed checking and signing, alongside a link to apply online to the Embassy. Once all of these were filled out, I was given a visa appointment to go along to the Embassy. When I turned up I was actually quite nervous! Praying that I wouldn't say anything stupid, (i.e. some sort of a bomb joke - which would also be incredibly inappropriate) I got to Bond Street an hour early! I am usually always early for important things, but my friends will tell you I am always late - which is true, to them! 

CA reps were there to double check that I had all my documents and that they were in the correct order and once they had kindly gone through and taken my bag for safe keeping, I headed over to the first woman. She checked out my passport and visa appointment letter and I was through to security. 

If you are a belt person, I would recommend leaving it at home for your visa appointment. The two lads in front of me were asked to take off their belts for the security check (normal) and then asked to keep them off once into the main building, until their number had been called (bit weird). Once into the building you head to reception to get your passport envelope for postage, and then head into the ticket room. Here you wait until your number is called.

I was quite nervous about the fingerprint situation. Not because I'm a criminal or anything, but on the way over I managed to cut my finger and apparently this could ruin your fingerprints. Now I was imagining the old school ink pads and thinking that, one, I would get ink into the cut (ow) and, two, I would have an odd fingerprint where the cut was. However, it is the 21st Century and they no longer use ink pads, but some clever electrical thing (obviously) Luckily my cut was not that bad and I was put through to the next stage. 

Cue a queue and a very nice American chap, telling you what to do. You then make it to a window (like a bank cashier) and get asked a few questions. I can't really remember all of the questions but here are the ones I do:

What are you doing in America?
Working at a summer Camp.

Where?
In California, Portola Valley.

What are you teaching there?
Arts & Crafts and Photography.

What will you do when you get back?
Ermm, get a job?

Now the last answer was probably not the best response, but seeing as I am not a student anymore and wasn't sure if my job would have me back (which they have now said they will! yipee!), that was my answer. Which is true. 

And it was fine. He replied with 'Your visa has been approved' and I was allowed to leave. I handed in my courier delivery sheet on the way out and I was done. The whole process lasted around 20 minutes - I thought I would be there for hours, but nope, it was incredibly quick.

So one visa down. I'm pretty excited to have something in my passport, seeing as for the last 25 years it hasn't even had a stamp. Not that I haven't gone anywhere, I have, just nowhere that warrants putting an interesting memento in my passport, apparently. 

So that is one less thing to do now. I still have to sort out a medical form for my camp (separate to the CA one I have already done) a first aid course, sort out my phone and get some money together. 

And with Canada (after camp) I am still waiting to hear about my visa - which is taking forever and is incredibly difficult! I also need to sort out insurance and form some sort of a plan too, I guess!

But it is all coming together!

Camp America. California Here I Come!

On June 4th 2013, I will be getting on a plane to San Francisco. 
After years of telling friends and family that one day I will go travelling, I will finally be leaving the country.

First stop is a summer camp in California! I got the job through the organisation 'Camp America' and I would definitely recommend them, they have been incredibly helpful throughout the whole process. 

So June - August will be spent teaching children arts and crafts and photography, alongside other bits and bobs, in Portola Valley. California is always somewhere I have wanted to go, mainly because of The Hills, (I know, I know!) it looks like such an exciting, interesting and beautiful place, and I can't wait to get there! I'm also pretty excited to be teaching and helping kids to have an awesome summer, not to mention spending time outdoors, instead of in an office!

After camp I am hoping to do a bit of travelling around America. I have 30 days before I have to leave the country! So I'm going to use that time as well as possible, to see as much as possible. Texas, New Orleans, LA, Miami, San Francisco, Las Vegas, are all on my hitlist! 

Then following my 30 day trip around America the plan is to go to Canada and do some snowboarding!

I'll update you as I go along, with all the things that I have to do before leaving the country. There's a lot of things to sort out!