"On the road again, Going places that I've never been, Seeing things that I may never see again and I can't wait to get on the road again"

Wondering what life on trek is all about and what happens during your time away with Trek America? In this post I'll be giving you an insight on what goes on whether it's a short time away or a longer length trip that you have chosen.

My trip "Grand Trek" was a total of 42 days away, but I also added extra days before and after the trek.  I chose to do a camping trip. Trek America also run budget lodging, plus tours and bolt tours alongside this so there are a few options for you depending on what you would like.

Now the first thing shall I mention is, I have never ever been camping in my life. Yep no camping whatsoever and I happen to chose a trip which is camping for the majority of the time away, so yeah I didn't really know what to expect with this and how I would be. Before choosing the trip I did do a little research into this and found that quite a lot of travellers who had previously been on trek before, did say that they found camping tours to be a lot better due to the fact they found that their group bonded more together as each night they got to spend that time together. Personally for me this is something that I wanted out of my experience.

For the Grand Trek, if you go online it states how many nights you are camping. For example with this trek it is 29 nights camping, 4 nights budget lodging (hostels.. and again I've never stayed in a hostel either) and 8 nights in a hotel (yesss, a bit of luxury! and trust me you're always on the countdown for a proper bed and your own bathroom) everything was running through my mind, how do I put up a tent, what about all the bugs, is my back going to be broken by the end of the trip, what if the hostels are dirty etc and honestly looking back now, it was totally fine and its hard for me to say this but I do kind of, slightly miss the camping life haha! Oh apart from being eaten alive by mosquitos, DO NOT FORGET THE BUG SPRAY!! But with camping you also get to experience amazing sun rises and sunsets which I will never forget for example camping in Monument Valley, with no covers over the tent and all you see is the night sky and stars then waking up to a beautiful sun rise in the distance. Also one thing to remember too is, depending on which part of the USA you're visiting some places at night can get cold so remember to pack clothing items suitable for this too. With our trek covering south and north USA the temperatures on a night varied, from being sweltering heat at night in Lafayette and then to cold nights whilst in Yosemite and Yellowstone National Park were we had to stop off to get layers and blankets beforehand.


And with camping tours comes..... cooking and the food kitty! This is $10 a day which covers all your meals whilst you're camping and everyone chips in their own $10 and gives it to their trek leader on day one of trek then at the end of the trip if there is any money that is left in the kitty your trek leader will share it out between everyone. This kitty covers breakfast, lunch and dinner for whilst you're camping and then on the hotel/hostel stays you have to budget for these out of your spending money. During your trek you will stop many times at the most famous Walmart (which we loved and miss) to gather food for the up coming days. You get put into groups and get given either breakfast, lunch or dinner and you have to go off and get those items. Each day there is a rota as to who is cooking for that night. Due to the cooking facilities trek has onboard the trailer think easy meals, a few that we had during our time away were stir fry's, hot dogs, pasta, burgers for example.

Being on trek comes with a lot of travelling around in a mini van where you can travel anywhere from 3 hours to 9+ hours (in which they are called the Van Appreciation days!) So as you all probably know the USA is huge, therefore getting from A to B does mean it can take a good few hours to reach your destination and sometimes that means you haven't even left that state. This was also slightly worrying for me due to the fact that I suffer from travel sickness and I was dreading the thought of me being or feeling sick constantly, I packed loads of tablets with me and also had to sickness just in case but to my surprise I was never sick and I only felt sick once during the whole trek and after stopping by the road, taking some time out and a seat swap I felt fine again. For me personally I think that as there was always a lot going on in the van it took my mind off it.

The number one thing when it came to travelling in the van was to catch up on sleep! Long drives meant early starts with the majority of the time leaving base at 7am or around that time. But be warned falling asleep in the van only means one thing...…..


Everyone taking photos of you whilst you're sleeping! For our whole trip this is what our group did if any of us fell asleep during van time. I think I literally have a whole album full of photos of which we sent each other in our group chat of who was asleep.

Each trek leader is also different too with how they plan their drives, like for me I found our first trek guide Joel was pretty laid back with his drives where as Cat our second leader got us involved in games, had funky dress up glasses, cards in the back of the van and also a tutu in which you had to wear if you were ever late or the last one to get to the van, she also stopped off at a lot of places and too see different scenery views for us to take photos .

Before you travel make sure you make a playlist to play in the van, who ever sits in the passenger seat is the DJ for the day. Although the majority of the time we just got Dean to play his music and we would all take it in turns to request songs. I have so many songs now that just relate to this trip for example Big Girl from Kevin and Perry Go Large Movie and Ali G - Me Julie. Very random I know! But we literally played these songs nearly everyday of the trip and I'm sure every trek group will have their own songs that remind them of trek. We also started every van journey with the song On The Road Again by Willie Nelson and we all had a little sing a long to it. I love listening to songs now that remind me of trek or a place that we visited.

So during our van time we played "Hey Cow" a game in which who ever was sat in the passenger seat at the front along with the trek leader, had to roll down the window every time they saw a cow and shout Hey Cow!! During the first few days on trek me, Issac and Dean counted how many times we saw the USA flag when we drove passed one but in the end we had to stop as there were just too many! Think we literally saw about 100 maybe more in just an hour of driving. Again catch up on your sleep if you're feeling tired, read a book or listen to podcasts, write in a travel journal and take note of things you have done or seen so far on trek, listen to songs and have a sing song or simply just take this time to relax and take in the views as you drive by.


And the main thing, getting the chance to meet new people from all over the world (and like this trek, this meant that we had 2 groups of new people), spending time together and sharing one thing in common you all have... the love of travel! Getting the opportunity to see lots of new places, ticking things off bucket lists and creating memories than you can look back on in the future. Getting to know each other whilst sat round a camp fire, playing card games together, taking photos together, being on trek allows you to do this whilst exploring the USA.

Whether you all keep in touch or not, remember you all did it, said yes to going away whether it was as a solo traveller or with a friend/relative, experienced trek life together, made amazing memories and shared moments together that only you as a group will understand.



I would definitely recommend choosing a trip with Trek America, if you're looking to travel and like my self wanted a bit of security knowing it was as a group and had a trek leader with you.

If you have any questions about this or anything else relating to trek please leave them in the comments below or tweet me @chloe_louise56

Los Angeles 

We had a free day whilst in LA so we all decided to do our different things. Me, Courtney, Dean and Jemma had booked to visit Universal Studios Hollywood. We had already booked our tickets online the night before and received the ticket/barcode via email so when we arrived at Universal we went straight through and they scanned the barcode. This was really quick actually there wasn't much of a queue. I have visited the Universal Studios in Orlando before so I knew what rides there would be. We went on the following rides - Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Flight of the Hippogriff, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, The Simpson's Ride and the World Famous Studio Tour which included King Kong 3-D and Fast & Furious Supercharged. The queue for The Mummy ride was a few hours long and unfortunately the Jurassic World section was closed due to re doing the rides I think. For lunch we stopped off at Krusty Burger where I had a hot dog with chilli and cheese, so good! Afterwards we went to the Universal City Walk before we headed back to the hotel to do a bit of shopping, and guess what, they even had a Sephora! So us girls got some goodies.



San Francisco 

For our free day in San Fran our activities were to visit Alcatraz and our sunset cruise in the evening. Both of these were activities we had to pay extra for. If you're visiting San Francisco and are wanting to book to do Alcatraz then I definitely recommend you to pre book your tickets! We saw a lot of people trying to book onto the trip the same day but there were no tickets left. We were all in a group chat prior to going away and had spoken about how many of us wanted to visit here and was on the lookout for when tickets were available to book now thinking back our trip started at the end of May and I'm sure it was around 3 months before the date you would be visiting. They only had around 300 tickets available so they do go quickly! I think the price was bout $40 for our day tickets, but there are also options for early bird and night tickets too but Trek America will state what time you should book it for depending on when you will arrive in San Fran. When they call your time, you all queue up ready to board the boat which takes you to the island. It's only about 15 minutes and you arrive at Alcatraz. You can wander around the outside premises and then you go inside the prison for the Cellhouse Audio Tour. Again I love doing these audio tours because you can go at your own pace and take your time to properly look around and pause the audio at any time. It was so interesting to see everything how they lived in there, where they ate, slept, showered etc and also to hear about the inmates that tried to escape. Our paid activity for the evening was a Sunset Sailboat Cruise, again this is another activity I would recommend you to do, everyone in our group chose to do this so it was really nice to experience it all together. It was amazing to sit at the front of the boat and watch the sun go down as we were sailing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. With the activity all drinks onboard were included and they also gave out warm coats, although they only have so many and due to a few people on board that wasn't part of our group, a few of us didn't get one, so what I would say is wrap up! Its so cold out there even though it was in June it was very windy and chilly out there on the sea. 





Jackson Hole

I spent the morning in Jackson Hole...horse riding! I kind of regretted not taking up the chance to horse ride earlier on in the trip when we had visited Zion National Park but I knew this was an opportunity so even though I was so scared due to me never being on a horse before and the fear of getting on and off a horse, I did it and it was amazing! This was another paid activity that me, Anna, Saskia and Jurn decided to do together. It was so handy too because it was literally over the road from our campsite. We got given our helmets and sized up to a horse. My Horse was called CB and you can see me with him in the photo below. He was so good but kept wanting to eat everything whilst out on the ride and as he would bend his head down to do this I kept feeling like I was going to fall off! You went off in a group of around 8 and had your own cowboy guide that you followed as the horses stayed in a line behind each other, it was good because the guide would always stop and make sure everyone was together which I was glad about because me and Saskia were the ones at the back and I had no idea how to control a horse (although they do tell you at the beginning which way to pull the reigns but I was just so nervous about it) The journey lasted 2 hours and followed roads and up a trail path up a hill into some trees which took you to an amazing view,\ where the mountains where in the back covered in snow, it was beautiful. I was just gutted we couldn't take our phones with us to capture these moments. This took around 1 hour and then it was an hour back to base.




Cody 

When booking the "Grand Trek/Northern Trail" it stated that whilst we were here we could have the opportunity of paying to go to the Cody Rodeo. Then a few months before we were due to go away we received an email to say a few things had changed on the itinerary which one of these were the Cody Rodeo had been removed. When we got to Cody we found out this could still be done so as I did want to experience this me and a few others bought tickets to go and see it. The atmosphere was so good, but it did open up my eyes to what actually goes on in a rodeo. I won't go into too much detail of what goes on due to the fact everyone has their own opinions on this sort of thing and personally I'm not too sure if I would go to one again, I had a good night and I got to experience it all and see how and why it is such a big event over there in Cody, which is what I wanted and ticked off my list of things to do.



South Dakota

We visited 1880s town, this was about $10-$12. There are more than 30 building which are all authentically furnished just like in the 1880s. Lots of memorabilia from a champion rodeo cowboy and lots of props that were used in the move Dances with Wolves. If you're into your history then this is worth a visit. They also had a costume hire section which I would love to have done and get all dressed up for photos but due to the time we went, this was closed.



Chicago

On our free day in Chicago everyone pretty much went off and did there own things, so in the morning I did a bit of shopping and then in the afternoon I met up with Anna and we decided to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was around half an hour away from where we were staying so it wasn't too bad and also the zoo is free, yes FREE! I was really looking forward to this as I love Giraffes so was so excited to see them. Me and Anna decided to pay to get our faces painted too haha it was so funny, I chose a butterfly and she had a rainbow tiger. I mean everyone around the zoo kept looking at us but we didn't care. We saw Gorillas, Polar Bears, Giraffes, Zebras and much more! We only spent a couple of hours here as we were heading back to meet up with Jurn, Hayley and Saskia as we were going out for food and then heading to the Willis Tower. During the day the queue was huge for this so we decided to go at night, there was still queue but it wasn't too bad. I can't quite remember how much the tickets cost but according to Trek America its between $25-$45 depending on what ticket you buy. I really wanted to get a photo on the ledge of the Skydeck but the queue was huge for the part so we didn't bother and I saw that you only literally get seconds to take a photo on there. Even though it was good to see Chicago at night and all lit up, I would have preferred to have gone during the day to see better and take better photos and also to have got my photo on the glass edge. 





Ohio

We visited Cedar Point Amusement Park as it was in the evening by the time we arrived our tickets were the "Twilight Pass" these were between $40-$50. The park was rather quiet which meant the queue time for the majority of the rides weren't too bad. Now I love theme parks but sadly I only managed to do 3 of the thrill rides due to getting a massive headache which meant I couldn't ride anymore due to the fact my head felt like it was going to explode, but I managed to ride Steel Vengeance, Gemini and Maverick. Steel Vengeance was the first ride we went on and that had to be the longest queue, think we waited around 2 hours for this, but it was great! I just wish we got to spend more time here.


Niagara Falls

Our paid activity for whilst we were at the Niagara Falls was to do the Maid of the Mist tour. Our time slot for this was after we had our evening meal and it was the last boat trip of the day, we were running behind so we literally had to run to make sure we got on the boat at they were starting to close the gates for it, we made it down the elevator, received our free post cards and ponchos and onto the boat we went! I was really looking forward to do this little trip and getting the chance to see the Niagara Falls up close although my experience of it was that it was windy and all that we did see was a lot of mist (hence the name of the tour haha!) oh and yes we did get wet too, but luckily these very attractive ponchos helped with that. Canada also run this tour if you're on that side and get given red ponchos. I would definitely do this tour again. 





Upcoming//
Trek America - Life on Trek

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did." 

Following on from my last post, Activities Part 1 - Here
This is part 2 of the activities I got up to whilst away with Trek America.

Austin 

Things to do in Austin, we spent 2 nights here and on our first night we experienced Rainey Street and 6th Street, we had a great time in both these areas of Austin. We also visited South Congress Bridge one evening to see the Bats but we were waiting ages and didn't see anything so we decided to head off back to 6th Street for the evening. Now probably the majority of people who go on trek and visit Austin will spend their time at Barton Springs which is an outdoor swimming pool for everyone to visit and sunbathe. Most of my group decided to go their on our second free day but what did I want to do? Skydive!!! Now prior to going away with trek I had seen a girl on Instagram which had chosen to do the Southern Sun trek and for her free time she did a skydive in Austin. I messaged her and asked which company she did it with and what the experience was. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do it myself. The company was Texas Skydiving now looking back I should maybe have done a little research into this as it was just over an hour away from where we were staying. Luckily Hayley, Crystal, Dean and Isaac wanted to come with me for support and to watch so we all booked an Uber. Ok so the skydiving place was literally in the middle of no where haha! I got given my harness and talked through all the health and safety about what to do whilst we were in the air and how to hold my body. Everyone sat down and it was time to get into the plane! The package I chose was the skydive with photo and video. I think I paid around $360 as their was a percentage off offer on at the time. This meant another trained skydiver also came up in the air with you to photograph and film the whole experience. It was such an amazing experience to get the chance to do this and the only time I was nervous was when I was sat at the edge of the plane. You get such a rush of adrenaline through the air. The only downside to this day was trying to get back to Austin! Haha, we were stuck in Lexington with no transport back as Ubers kept cancelling due to the fact of us being so far away. Texas Skydiving looked after us and let us sit inside until we found a way back, they gave us some local taxi numbers (although they didn't expect to take us back) they even offered to go out and get lunch for us which was very kind! But in the end probably about 2 hours after I had finished my skydive we finally got an uber and made it back into Austin.




Amarillo

Before we left Amarillo we stopped off at Cadillac Ranch which is a free public art installation and sculpture of yes you named it, Cadillac cars which are half buried into the ground covered in spray paint. We had previously bought some spray paint at Walmart ready for when we arrived here. The area where the cars were was full of mud so a few of us didn't want to get too close and get covered but we managed to spray paint the cars and write our names on them.


Santa Fe

A few of us decided to go to Meow Wolf which was an optional activity to pay for. So Meow Wolf is a very weird place. It is an arts and entertainment group which is based in New Mexico.

"Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is an explorable, immersive art installation filled with technology and fantastic environments to inspire visitors of all ages. The wildly imaginative art space is a collaboration of over 100 local artists and is a unique combination of children's museum, art gallery, jungle gym and fantasy novel."

I won't say much more, I'll let you experience Meow Wolf for yourselves, unless you want to read about it here.


Monument Valley 

Whilst in Monument Valley our optional paid activity was the 4x4 jeep tour. The company we did this with was the Simpsons Trailhandler Tours. We got our own jeep as a group and our own guide. The jeep tour allows you access to the restricted areas of Monument Valley whilst giving you the chance to see amazing views and the guide gives you all the history about Monument Valley and about their culture. Our guide was really friendly, told us so much information about the rocks and the meanings behind everything, he was also asking us if we had any questions throughout. The jeep tour was a couple of hours long. A part of this tour was for our guide to take us to a traditional Navajo Hogan where there were demonstrations of rug weaving and talks about their arts and crafts. We also got the chance to enjoy dinner the Navajos, try out their Navajo Tacos and even join in dancing with them after our meal when our guide dressed up in their traditional dress wear and sang/performed for us. On our drive back to camp we got to witness the beautiful sunset. What more could you ask for!



Grand Canyon 

For the Grand Canyon, Me, Courtney, Jemma, Hayley, Crystal and Rach decided our activity of the day was going to be a helicopter ride over the canyon. Prior to going away with trek this was activity I was looking forward to doing the most! I have never been on a helicopter ride before so I knew I wanted to experience it this way. The company we did it with was Maverick Helicopter Tour and I think cost just under $300, yes it is expensive but worth it in my eyes, It's such an amazing way to see the Grand Canyon and I would recommend anyone to do it if they have the chance. As their were 6 of us we got split into 2 groups of 3. I was quite nervous for the ride as I thought I'd feel quite sick due to the motion of the helicopter, as I do suffer from travel sickness but I didn't at all! We all got assigned to our seats, me, Courtney and Jemma were placed to sit at the front of the helicopter which I was glad about it was such an amazing view from the front especially when it came to the moment from flying over the forest and straight out over the canyon. The flight lasted about 45 minutes and did a loop of the Grand Canyon. This has to be one of my favourite memories from the trip.



Las Vegas

Veeegaaasssssss!!!! We had made it everyone was super excited for these 2 nights we got to spend here. During our stay in Las Vegas we had a party bus, now this was one of the activities that was already included within the trek and price we paid. This took place on our first night here. Due to the age limit of being 21 for drinking in the USA we had all been pre drinking prior to the bus picking us up to allow the few under 21s to enjoy the night. The party bus picked us up from our hotel The Golden Nugget around 9:30pm. We were allowed to drink on the bus and we were all singing along to the playlist we were allowed to put on and the bus also came with a pole, as a few of the group members were drunk there was a lot of dancing around that pole. It stopped off at the Little White Chapel, Welcome to Vegas sign and the last stop of the night the Bellagio Fountains to allow us to see the fountain display. It really enjoyed it but personally I thought there may have been a few more stops on the list or at least had a bit longer time at each stop, it was literally just off the bus, take a quick photo, then back on again. On our second day in Vegas me and Rach went to go do the Slotzilla Zip Line which is based on Fremont Street where we were staying. We chose to do the Zoomline option, this meant we would be flying "Super Hero" style instead of the seated version. This was around $49. The Zoomline option was 11 stories high and 5 blocks long, where as the seated version is shorter and not as high. This was so much fun! We both were pretty nervous to start with , we had to lay down on a mattress which then lifted you in the air to all you to be attached the harness and zip wire, you have all your body fastened in an once you are ready the mattress then lowers leaving you hanging in the air, the metal shutters then open and you are released head first down Fremont Street. We both loved it!




Upcoming//
Trek America - Activities Part 3

" In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take" 

If you have been reading my previous posts about you Trek America trip back in 2019 you will have read about everything that I got up to on my American Adventure. I wanted to do a separate post going into more detail about what was included in the trip and the optional activities I chose do.

Again I did mention previously that the trip I chose to do was the Grand Trek and this particular trip was split into 2 halves the Southern Sun and then the Northern Trail. This meant that people could book on to do either do the full trek like myself or just one half of it. As the full trip its self (including my extra days there) was for 47 days, I thought I would break my activity post down into dofferent parts as more activities were included in the first half of the trip.

Shall we begin with part 1....

New York City 

Now New York City itself wasn't included as part of the trip. The start/end point ends in Newark which is just outside the city. When starting the trip me and Shaun (another fellow trekker) booked to stay in New York for 2 nights prior to the trek starting. We explored Times Square and Central Park. Experienced the NYC Subway for the first time when we made our way to go see the 9/11 Memorial and Brooklyn Bridge. We both wanted to go see the 9/11 memorial whilst we were here. It was such a strange feeling being in that area as it was just really silent and calm compared to how the rest of New York is. If I had more time I would liked to have visited the museum that was also there too. We also visited the Empire State building and went to the top. We arrived there just before 8am and got our tickets once we are there. We paid $43.55 (2019 price) each for our tickets and then stood in the queue until they were ready to let us go up. They allow so many people in the lift at a time and once you are in and they have pressed the button to take you, on the ceiling of the lift they played a video of the building getting build and had audio telling you the history about it. We arrived on the floor and again they have photos explaining all the history, when it was built etc you could just take your time whilst having a look at these and then you head outside to the deck. There was no cloud in sight! I was so glad it was a clear morning as it meant we got to see for miles, the views were great, this was something I had always wanted to do if I ever got the chance to go to NY. We took photos and I even managed to facetime my parents whilst we were up there, although my signal did go off at one point haha!


Philadelphia 

During our time in Philadelphia the included activity/sights was the most famous Rocky steps and Rocky statue. Our trek leader drove to these stops and let us take photos and re create the run up the steps. Your trek leader will almost certainly recommend you to try a philly cheesesteak sandwich, so defiantly do so! We also had a few hours for some free time to wander around so we checked out Liberty Bell, Elfreths Alley and saw Independence Hall.


Washington DC 

Whilst you are in Washington DC, the main included activity is a bike tour with the company Bike and Roll DC. Now unfortunately I cannot ride a bike, I fell off one when I was little and grazed all my face so never went back on one since. But as I knew this was included and this trip was all about trying new things I wanted to give it a go. The company each gave us all our own bike and helmets and water and sized up the seats to each individual if needed. I got myself all ready with my hat on ready to go until it was time to set off,  but I couldn't do it I felt really unstable and wobbly and just had no confidence, so I decided against it as I didn't want to injure myself this early in the trip. The company was absolutely fine about this and told me how long the others would be on their trip and even gave me some ideas of where I could have a walk to. Now after speaking to the others, the trip included a tour around all the memorials and monuments, I was slightly gutted that I had missed out on this as you come to Washington DC to see this but later on in the day I managed to see the Lincoln Memorial which was the one I most wanted to see. Then we had free time. We visited the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. This was a free museum, so if you are into aviation and space this is great place to see. As we were leaving Washington DC and onto our next destination, Joel (our trek leader) stopped to take us to see the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum. This is also connected to the Smithsonian Museum but just in another location. Again this is another free entry. In both these museums you have to get your bags checked for any prohibited items. I personally preferred this museum to the one Smithsonian one back in Washington DC, They had so many aircrafts as exhibits, from general aviation to planes that were used in different wars and even rockets and a space ship!!


Ocoee, Tennessee 

The optional activity whilst staying in Ocoee was White Water Rafting with Adventures Unlimited  our campground for this stay was actually onsite too, so we only had a short walk and the guides met us. As this was an optional activity, a few people out of our group decided to stay at camp. I can't remember the price of this trek but Trek America states its between $40-$60. We got put into groups by our guide so there was me, Rach, Shaun, Kev, Joel and this lady who had come to do the rafting on her own (although she knew the guide so may be a regular) They went through all the health and safety with us and told us to go get our equipment, life jacket, helmet and our paddle/oar (I'm not too sure of the difference haha) we then had to get on this school bus and it was a 15-30minute drive to the start of the river. It was a nice drive as you got to see parts of the Cherokee National Forest and also the Ocoee River itself. We arrived at the start point and me and Rach were so scared and actually questioning why we are doing this to ourselves haha we just knew we were going to fall out. The driver and the guides unloaded the boats and we got back into our groups again. The guides went through everything with us to make sure we knew what we were doing and when they shout we knew whether to duck down in between the seats, get back up and when to row etc. Then it was time to head down to the river. Our guide said that our group/boat had been chosen to be the rescue boat in case anyone fell out or needed our help a long the way, so we always had to wait until every other boat was in front of ours. I really surprised myself with this activity, this is something way out of my comfort zone and I would never have chosen to do something like this normally, but I wanted to experience as much as I could whilst I was out there and I was so glad I decided to it!! It was such a great experience. We got soaked and at one point I did think I was nearly going to fall out as a rapid hit us and Rach flew onto me haha but none of us fell it, there was a calm part of the river and the guide said we could even get out and have a little swim but I decided to stay In the boat which looking back now I'm so glad I did as our other group who was out their on the rapids said they saw a snake in the water. The rapids started to pick up again a little and the guide asked if anyone wanted to ride sat on the front of the boat with their legs hanging over the edge and just holding onto a rope, so Rach went! I thought phew thank god I didn't have to get up there but then after her turn the guide told me to go up front, it was actually so much fun! We arrived at the end and it was time to head back and get a nice warm shower. For this activity it is recommended that you wear footwear e.g trainers but I wore sandals there were fastened around my ankle and I was fine, no one said anything about it. Also, I wore my swimwear but with a t-shirt and shorts over the top as I think you had to have some sort of clothing on over the top. During your ride down the river they take photos along the way and have a package available for you to buy at the end.



Nashville

Once we had arrived in Nashville which was around 3pm we had a bit of free time to have a wander around broadway. This gave us time to check out the plenty of cowboy boot stores that are on the main strip and to stop off for a drink in a bar with live music. This was one of the things I loved about Nashville, all the bars with singers and country music, it was really lively! One of our paid activities was in the evening when we visited the Wildhorse Saloon for tonight's activity of line dancing. Wildhorse is a restaurant, bar and live music venue that also offers line dancing lessons! The fee was under $10 and you get a stamp on your hand which allows you to get back into the venue as we visited it twice on one evening. Whilst in Nashville you have to go an experience the line dancing! It started at 8:30pm and everyone got up to the dance floor ready to start. A lady came on stage and taught us the steps to a short piece of music. It's so much fun! Afterwards we headed out to the bars one of which was Kid Rocks, it was packed but such a great atmosphere, the drinks were flowing and everyone was singing. I really wish we had more days here!


Memphis 

Now the main thing you have to do when you visit Memphis is of course visit Graceland! (Ok you don't have to but I would definitely recommend it if you have never been before, I'm not really an Elvis fan but it was really interesting to see) Our campsite was also on the grounds opposite to Graceland itself and also Elvis themed with each row name after a song. We purchased the Elvis Experience including Airplanes ticket which cost $69 although sadly looking back me and Rach somehow managed to miss out his Automobile museum and Entertainer Career museum, but we got to see his mansion and the planes so for me that was the main parts I wanted to see. The mansion is an audio guided tour, you receive a tablet and headphone set and you all get on a little bus that takes you over the road to the mansion itself and are told when to start the audio tour. This is really good as you can pause it whenever you like so you can take as long as you like to have a look around and the audio tour tells you which part of the house to visit next. There are other optional activities that you can choose from whilst you are visiting Memphis so always check on your trek on the Trek America website or on the downloadable city guides the provide.


New Orleans

As you spend 2 nights in New Orleans that means you have a lot of free time to see what New Orleans has to offer. During our stay here a few of us decided to go off and explore, our first stop of the morning was of course at Café Du Monde to try their famous beignets which are covered in powdered sugar, they are yummy! We visited Jackson Square, had a walk around Louis Armstrong park and also paid to go to the Museum of Death this cost us $15, it was small so didn't take us long to look around but it was quite interesting to read about the killers and see hand written letters from them etc. In the evenings we headed out, now again being in New Orleans you have to try their famous Hand Grenade and Hurricane drinks. Our stay in New Orleans came to end and it was time to move onto the next place but before we got there we made a stop at Dr Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tour this was another paid activity that we all decided to do. We got given a guide and a boat and was ready to ride into the heart of the Honey Island Swamp. The main reason for this activity is to see alligators that live in this swamp, and we did up close and personal! One even lifted up the metal pole at the side of the boat. This was due to the fact the guides on the boat like to feed them to allow everyone on board to see them and what do they feed them with you ask? Marshmallows and hot dogs! I personally thought you wouldn't really get to see them and it was just chance/luck if you did but we saw quite a few and so close to the boat too!


Upcoming//
Trek America - Activities Part 2