One month to go... Or thereabouts

D: We're into the final stretch. Just over one month left until we hit the States, everything is in order - ESTA forms sorted. We just need to get the horse ride into the Grand Canyon sorted.

Excited doesn't seem to cover it.

We're using my new phone (an HTC One X) as the Sat-Nav - a Sat-Nav with a 4.7 inch screen! This is really the only thing that's making me a tad nervous... What if it doesn't work? What if the GPS doesn't latch on well enough? What if, what if, what if...

It should be fine though. I'm using the rather brilliant Sygic, which has offline maps (so no data connection will be needed). It also gives us lane guidance, which I'm sure will be a life-saver.

It also has a great looking display - 3D cities, with landmarks all over the place. Fingers crossed, 'n all that.

One other thing: we'll be returning to a brand-new kitchen! Which is very nearly as exciting. Nearly, but not quite.

Tick tock goes the clock...

Time, as is its way, ticks inexorably onwards.

Which can mean only one thing! 54 days to go before the trip!


Pretty much everything is booked (apart from the horse-ride into the Grand Canyon, http://www.apachestables.com/ doesn't have an email address and there's no response when we call - annoying).

For my birthday, we'll be doing a 2 1/2 hour Segway tour around Fisherman's Wharf... and going around Alcatraz.

TG USA

The boys from Top Gear USA have been doing some great challenges recently - up the Pacific coast and through Death Valley to Vegas. Which is exactly what we'll be doing in about five months time.

It looks astonishing. The landscape is otherworldly and hugely impressive.

Getting there, staying there and moving Around

D: The hotel selection is about 80% complete. Which is incredibly gratifying - we only have Monterey & San Francisco to sort out... then it's all done.


Oh wait, no it's not. 


We need a flight and a car. 


We'd really like to go for a massive US muscle car, but we'd be filling it up every five minutes (and the idea of travelling through Death Valley while watching the fuel gauge travel steadily to the 'E' doesn't really appeal).


So we need to get something that isn't terrible and goes for a reasonable distance... and round corners (I realise that might be an ask too far for an American car)


Finding the flights has been a bit of a slog too, however there's a flickering light at the end of the tunnel of Google o's. Birmingham to San Fran and back again for £453 each! Result!

The paper trail (trial)

We've bought a few maps, got a book or two. So the real planning begins now (as much as we can without *actual" dates!). We're still trying to figure out where we'll visit - Disney or Universal? There are a host of national parks to take photos of and generally 'ooh' and 'aah' at as well.

BUT... The big (biggest) question is: three weeks or four? Head says 'four', wallet says 'three'.

So... the route then.

D: It's a simple, yet oddly complicated route as we wanted to see as much of this little part of the US as we could. I've always wanted to drive the Pacific Coast highway (State Route 1) - it's a stunning looking road and should give us some fantastic memories.


Onto the route itself.


We fly into San Francisco then hightail it up to Napa (somewhere we both really fancied visiting after seeing it on Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure). After a day-or-so there, we move onto Sonoma (again, Oz and James visited there).


We go on from there (hopefully with a few bottles of vino in the boot) to the stunning-looking Yosemite National Park, a day later we move on to a stay at Mammoth Lakes.


After that, we have a BIG drive down to Las Vegas (for one night only!), then onto the Grand Canyon.


It looks like we'll be staying outside the main lodging at the canyon edge (due to both cost and availability), we'll only be five miles away so those sunrises won't go unwatched.


Moving onto from there to Lake Havasu (resting ground of the original London Bridge)


Then to Palm Springs, where we're both very likely to stick out like sore thumbs.


Anaheim is next up - for a bit of good, old-fashioned child-like silliness at Disneyland.


After a day there, we drive up to Paso Robles (thank you again, Oz and James)


Then, after all this time, it's time to hit the Pacific Coast - all the way up to the beautiful Monterey.


Then we drive over to San Jose to call into see my Uncle Jim (hopefully, I've got to get in touch with him...)


From there, it's back to San Francisco for a look round and a relax before we fly home.

Thinking and Planning

D: As a long time lover of the US (both the people and the places there have been good to me over the years), I have made it a little personal mission to get Lindsey over there for a holiday. 

However, as any of you that know her will realise, it couldn't be a 'normal' tourist-y type of jaunt. It had to be special. So, I (we) waited until the idea and opportunity found a good time to collide. 

Next year then.

We're off to the West Coast (the map will be around here somewhere...) doing a loop around from San Francisco to Napa, then to the Grand Canyon via Vegas, then back to the coast and up to SF again. 

It's going to be a 2000-mile trip spread over 21 days. This blog will be an account of the trip - all the planning, all the ideas, all the rejected ideas.  

And we'd like your help. When the map is live, take a look at it, and if you know of somewhere to visit that's not too far from the planned route, let us know. We want to find the crazy, out out of the way, non-tourist places. So, any eateries, any weird museums... anything like that. 




Stick with us. It's going to be a long 'ole ride.