I woke up this morning feeling particularly excited about June. I was excited before but I think I was so overwhelmed by it all that it hadn't fully sunk in. Some of the initial nerves have disapparated (mostly) now, too. I have nothing to be nervous about!

It's twelve weeks on Monday until I go! Eeeeeeek!!! I'm going to allow myself after the 8 week mark to start purchasing things to take that I don't already have :)

All I can think about at the moment is what travel sack to get. I am thinking of the Osprey (swoon) Fairpoint 55:

(£85 Nomad Travel Store)

although some have suggested a duffle might be better, like this one:

 (£45 The North Face)

but I think I would be more likely to reuse the Osprey (and it's so pretty). 

After reading travellers blogs though, it is more important to be practical, so I will have to push those 'Oh but it's so pretty' and 'But you have to take it, what if so and so happens?' thoughts away when deciding what to buy, what to pack, and what to leave at home.

I will eventually post a packing list on here. It would be good to get some advice on it, maybe! :)

So here's where I'm going..

Forgive me, I'm not going to Japan, or India, or Thailand, or anywhere completely different from where I live now. But it's far enough (12 hours or 5355 miles, apparently) from my home city of Nottingham, England, UK. I can't remember when it clicked that I really wanted to go the US and Canada, but it was a long time ago, and I know I had no interest at one point (I even thought, why would anyone want to go to NYC? --can you believe that?!?!). As I've grown older, I've learned to appreciate the wonders of the natural, rural environment, along with the hussle and bussle of cities. I have fallen in love with London, and around the same time I started to fantasise with the idea of NYC. I do have one confession, it was Grey's Anatomy (along with Mt. Rainier) that made me want to go to Seattle. Yes, big TV show freak. But if you're not, even if just for one show, we probably won't get along anyway, so I have no shame! To be honest, I think it was probably a mix of university and running this blog that awakened me to how beautiful parts of the US and Canada are.

So I went into STA Travel to meet Laura. She said 'So it seems like you really don't have any idea whether you want to go Australia, New Zealand, North America or Canada?' and I explained that after some thought, I think the US and Canada with a train ride in between would probably be the best option for me. She did try to win me over to NZ a little, but I said I would definitely go but at another time, hopefully with a friend. I'm glad I went with my gut because I've had no regrets since (only a lack of good sleep and endless thoughts about planning, packing etcetc).

So I went in with some tours in mind - originally California Highlights, and one in Canada that turned out to be a bus pass (this is why I need help, I'm too impatient to read things properly) in western Canada, a loop around Whistler, Banff, Vancouver etc. Eventually I left with the more expensive but exciting tours of LA to the Bay and Canadian Road Trip from Seattle. It was funny because Laura was explaining that they have 3 groups that run the tours, Contiki, G something, and Trek America. She explained that Contiki tours have about 40 people on them (FORTY) and that the G one and TA have around 10-16 people. This is the weird part. She then said 'You strike me as a Contiki kind of person'. Imagine my face. 'Really?' I said. I'm not unsociable, I'm not shy, but I am kind of diffident around new people as I find it difficult to be myself. The more I try, the more I find myself being a fakehead, laughing too hard at people's crappy jokes etc. So when she tells me she sees me fitting in well with 40 new people, I wonder what kind of impression I've given off. Then she said 'Just drink some alcohol and you'll be well ahead' and I knew that she was dead right. A glass of wine and I'd be more myself. I also thought that amongst 40 people there has to be someone I get on brilliantly with, right?! So my LA to the Bay tour is with Contiki. Here is where I go:

I fly to Los Angeles (with a 3 hr stop in NY) on the 3rd. The tour starts on the 5th (early). I arrive at what is 23.16 my time, but 18.16 LA time (I think). So I have 2 nights there and a full day to pick up things I haven't packed (shampoo etc), and explore a little. I have already found someone on the forums who is on the same tour as me who will likely be arriving when I am so we will probably hang around together. Most of this tour is in hotels and hostels (yay!).

Then I have 10 days to get from San Fran to Seattle. I'm going to spend a couple of days at SF and Seattle, and make stops along the way (by train) up to Seattle.

Then I do this tour! A bit unexpected, I initially planned to do a loop in western Canada, but now I'm going ACROSS Canada ending up in NYC!!!!

This is such a bonus, I really wanted to go to NYC but ruled it out as it was the only place I really wanted to go in the east! This tour has a lot of things that should amaze my geographical and geological mind so I'm really chuffed. It's for 25 days, and I camp throughout. I haven't camped for years, it's going to be interesting. My last few days have been spent mainly searching for the right sleeping bag, and I still haven't decided.

After the tour I'm spending a few more days in NYC myself (and most likely some others on the tour who will stay a couple more nights) and it's gonna be awesome! Then I cry all the way home and face reality once more.

It's going to be GRRRRRRRRRREAT!

Here we go...

So I've finally taken the plunge and decided to do some travelling. I've been putting it off for a long time due to a lack of funds, and being a scaredy cat after realising I'd be going alone. Since July 2012 I was halfway there after graduating, opting to take a gap year to go somewhere. But it took me all the way to Feb/March 2013 to actually book something. For months I had adults saying things like 'A young girl, going alone?', 'How will you afford it?', 'Are you sure you want to do this?', 'It's dangerous, you know', 'There are bad people out there, there was a story about two girls being kidnapped whilst travelling' ...and so it goes on. I'm still getting some of that now, but it's more of eyes widening and 'Ooh you'll have a great time', and 'I wish I could do that' and 'You're so lucky!' more than anything else. I am lucky, I know I am. But the truth is that anybody can do it. Especially the people saying it to me. Those who buy expensive cars or magazines every week or holiday's to Greece and Spain every year. If you really wanted to go, you could.

Anyway, I decided I really did want to go and that I'd sorely regret it if I didn't. So I came up with a solution to my scaredy cat (and also to my dad's constant worrying about it), and decided that meeting up with a travel group would be my best option. So I went into STA Travel and spoke to Laura, a girl around my age who has done some travelling herself, and was really really easy to talk to, even over the phone. I'm a person who can feel quite awkward around some people, so I was relieved to find that Laura was so easy to talk to when I had so many questions. After weeks months of thought, I decided I wanted to go to the west coast of North America and then explore some of Canada, too. So I figured I'd find a tour in California area and then travel up by train or plane to Seattle area to start my Canada tour. So that's exactly what I'm doing. I think it's perfect for me. I get the comfort of having people with me, and then 10 days in between of independence to travel up to Seattle, making stops along the way.

I thought I'd create this blog after seeing Answering Oliver's blog. I go in June, and I'm hoping that I can take some form of wi-fi enabled tech so that I could potentially fill in this blog every now and again telling you where I am and how good of a time I'm having. In the meantime I'll be filling this blog with anything from  trying to search for what to pack, items to buy, and of course my excitement and nerves.

So let's see how it goes :-)