TREK AMERICA: 2 WEEKS TO GO

So, its 2 weeks until I start my american adventure and I can't believe how quick its come around!

In the last week I have planned quite a lot and created a huge shopping list for things I want to take with me. I've managed to get about half of the list so far, then I realised most of it was silly, and I don't want my suitcase to be too heavy so some stuff I will get when i'm out there. 

I've got a list for Walmart that includes getting a sleeping bag and travel pillow, as although i'm doing a Budget Lodging Tour which isn't camping, apart from our hotel and hostel nights, I believe we will stay in cabins and 1 night in a trailer park which we will need sleeping bags for.

I'm slowly working my way through the list, but still have some essentials I'm hoping to get in the next few days, so that i'm all organised for my trip.

In addition to this I ordered myself a New York Pass, which arrived very promptly. 

If you've not used one before, its a useful and cheaper alternative to visit lots of tourist attractions in New York. It allows you one visit to certain attractions, including the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty island, Top of the Rock and various other places, museums and guided tours. It is a set price and you can get it fir certain amounts of days e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7 days it makes visiting places a lot cheaper than it would be if you bought a ticket at each individual place. In some places it also allows you to skip long ticket line queues. I have used one of these before and it is great, I highly recommend it for New York visits. I can wait to start using it and see lots of places I haven't visited before.

I have also created my itinerary for my New York visit, it includes walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, spending some time in Central Park and museums, as well as Top of the Rock and lots of other places. As well as seeing some big tourist sites this time in New York I plan to spend a lot more time wandering around and really seeing the city as theres so many areas I have never seen, despite having visited on 3 other occasions. I can't wait for the New York part of my journey, I will be spending some time alone, getting to explore and am hoping to catch up with some friends who I haven't seen in years, which is all really exciting.

I still have other parts of my journey I want to create itineraries for, particularly Los Angeles and Las Vegas. As I've never visited these cities before. I've got lists of places to visit, I just need to organise the amount of days I have for sightseeing and plan these to make the most of my time there. I've got to get a move on as its only 2 weeks until I start my holiday of a lifetime!!!!

My Last Visit To The Empire State Building In 2011, Stunning View

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TREK AMERICA: 3 WEEKS TO GO

Time is flying by, counting down the days to my big trip and feel like i'm running out of time to get organised!

The planning for this trip has totally taken over my life, but hey its a pretty good thing to be spending my time planning, plus I really want to hit the ground running on my visit as I was scuppered by a storm warning the last time I visited where everything shut down, never seen Time Square so quiet!

So, in the last week I have made a lot of preparation progress, i've paid off the last of my trip!!! 

I've also sorted my travel insurance, airport shuttle for when I get to New York, ordered a prepaid currency card, got a sim card to use whilst away and booked my flight from LA to Vegas. So thats the last big prep things sorted! 

Theres a couple more airport transfers I need to sort out, but I reckon i'll fix that up when i'm out there, as I can never decide timings of travel and stuff till I've been in a place for a little while.

TREK AMERICA: 4 WEEKS TO GO

I can't believe its less than a month until I fly to New York to start this epic six week adventure.

I have made some progress with organising my trip. I've booked all my accommodation for before, in-between and after my two treks, so now i'm really looking forward to it!!

The key main things left to sort out are:

• Paying off my Grand Canyon Trek
• Travel Insurance
• Booking flight from LA to Vegas

So, not too many things left to sort out which makes me happy! On top of all this I have been making a list of things I want to do in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, so i'm a woman with a plan!! I'm hoping to book some of the things I want to do before I go and everything else I will sort out once i'm there. 

During the Northern BLT trek we get some free days in some cities and national parks along the way like Chicago and San Francisco. Whilst i'm hoping to have fun times with the other trekkers in my group I also want to look into things I really want to see whilst in those places so I make the most of my trip too. This was a key point I read up on from people who had trekked previously, as you don't want to regret missing out on something you want to see. Definitely need to look into that, and whilst i'm planning key things I want to see and do I don't have a set plan as its nice to go with the flow and the weather can always alter things too. All this organising is getting me pretty hyped though!