Hi hunnies, hope you're all feeling fabulous. I just wanted to start off by saying sorry for not posting as regular as I said, I just want to make sure the content is something I enjoy writing about and good enough to share with you guys. Anywho, I hope all is forgiven because as voted on my Instagram poll, an insight about my trip to America was wanted. This was probably one of the best experiences of my life, I couldn't of asked for anything more and I am so excited to tell you about it. Grab a pink gin or a beer and get your reading glasses on, because this is going to be a long one!
This trip was quite a while ago now, taking place in 2015, but it literally feels like yesterday. I was quite fortunate with the secondary school I was at, as they put together a trip to America for year 11's and 10's. They have done this for a few years now, when I had the chance I couldn't turn it down. The costing of the trip was quite pricey - as you could imagine - but I am a very, very lucky girl to have parents who allowed me to go. My dreams had come true, I had never been to America before and I couldn't wait - we also visited Canada, it was honestly a trip of a life time. Off topic, but mine and my family's holidays were mainly in France or the UK, so it was actually exciting to go on a plane! I have been to the Maldives in 2008 with my parents, but I was too young to remember the details - however I do remember how amazing it was, the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Like I said, off topic, let's get back to it. The plane part wasn't as exciting as I thought, it was at first as I was with all my friends and it was new to me - but of course, no one really likes a plane journey. We went straight into the tour as soon as we landed, starting in Boston.
Boston was surprising, I had never really heard of it before - compared to the other places we were visiting. But it was so pretty, the buildings and the streets were lush and the weather was on point. We had split into 2 groups, which was decided by what coach we was on, in these groups we would spend the day with on the tours as there was too many of us to all go round as one group. The tour of Boston was so interesting, showing us the History of the city. I will feature a photo below, we visited the Old North Memorial Garden. The 'Memorial Garden' touched me the most set up by the church to honour fallen American soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A dog tag was hung to represent these soldiers, in a semi-circle with a small garden in the centre.
We also visited Harvard University. The 'big' Harvard University, hearing it so many times on American programmes, I never thought I would be standing on its campus. It was essentially a large park, with lots of buildings delegated to some form of use. Our tour guide was studying there on a sports scholarship, which was cool. However crazy it sounds, he was the first person I had met who was American and hearing the accent in person was so weird. Obviously we had walked past some American's talking but it wasn't the same as actually being spoken to by someone. He was so nice bless him and made the tour a laugh. That night we also went to the famous bar 'Cheers' for dinner, which my poppy (grandad), was so jealous about.
From my memory, we only stayed the night in Boston, we visited a boat place in the morning and then headed straight to New York that afternoon as it was good drive. This is the part of the trip I was most looking forward to, NEW YORK! Seeing the place so many times in films at Christmas and how crazy the atmosphere looks, I was excited. On route, we stopped off at this park to go to the toilet and stretch our legs and it was lovely. Me and the girls had a walk around and found a cute river that we all had a sun bathe next too. It was nice to have a rest and sit in the sun with the girls.
After our legs were stretched, we carried on our journey to New York. The hotel that we had planned to stay in had last minute maintenance being done, so it was out of business for the time being. To our delight we received an upgrade and my god was it an upgrade. The hotel was beautiful, so classy and stunning and only a only short walk to Times Square. As we had arrived in the evening, we checked in and went straight up to our rooms.
Of course, the first thing on our agenda was to visit Times Square. It was amazing, everything they say about New York was true. Sky scrapper galore, I loved it, I really was in the big apple. The whole place was alive, so many people around. I don't mind places like that, some people hate it, but I enjoy the fast pace thrill of it - weird I know, maybe some of you will get what I mean. So many strange people/things about, naked women covered in glitter (which the boys loved), people dressed up in costumes, some if it was quite scary to be honest. I loved the lights, all the different colours filling the 'sky', so mesmerising to look at.
On our travels, we made our way to the Empire State Building, which I was so excited to go up. The views were breath taking, it really was. None of us wanted to come back down, it was so beautiful. The weather was on our side, clear blue skies making it just that extra special.
Time to hit Central Park, it was as magical as people said it was. A horse and carriage would ride by, fun and memorable statues around the park and someone was even getting married - oh it was all going down that day, the bride to be also looked stunning.
We then started a tour around New York, seeing extra's we may not have thought of visiting. The weather was lovely, so many places to stop for food and ice cream! I can't remember exactly where I purchased this, it may have been in Boston, but Slurpee's are honestly one of the best drinks I have ever tried. I highly recommend finding somewhere that sells them when visiting America, if you like a Tango Ice Blast, you will like this because they taste 10 times as good. I also had my first experience at a Hard Rock Cafe, and from what I can remember, the food was good! It was a fun environment, so many things going on at once. As we are on the topic of food, me and the girls had to have McDonalds's, however it wasn't as big as everyone said it was. I got a Big Mac meal, large! The only thing that was massive was the coke, the fries and burger were still the same size... I got told a lie and I was disappointed but it was still amazing!!
We had the chance to go visit the 9/11 memorial, what an experience that was. The atmosphere is indescribable, the atmosphere is so peaceful and quite you end up speechless. As many people know, it consists of reflecting twin pools in symbolism of where the towers stood. The names of people who had passed that day were inscribed on panels surrounding the pools, which was heartbreaking to see and read. We were quite young when we went, and the whole dynamic of the group changed for that moment. In matter of respect and remembrance of that day, it was surreal to stand on the grounds of the memorial. There is also a tree called the 'survivor tree', which had been nursed and replanted as a reminder of 'resilience, survival and re-birth'.
After that, we went on a boat trip, which I believe was with the Circle Line sightseeing Cruises NYC. It takes you past the Statue of Liberty which was so cool to see, it was also nice to do something different from walking around and the breeze from the boat was nice as it was so hot!
That evening was possibly the best evening of the whole trip! We went to go see Mamma Mia on Broadway!!!! OMG!!! Me and the girls love Mamma Mia so we all shared the same excitement and it was so fun and exciting. At the end everyone in the audience was dancing and the performance was amazing!! Definitely a good way to end trip in New York. Times Square in the evening was so captivating, the lights were so bright and bold it was hard to stop looking around at every billboard. Excuse the blurry photo of the Mamma Mia sign, I forgot to take a photo and I remembered but was walking at the same time - what a shambles.
As you could probably tell from what I have been saying, being in New York felt like I was in a Movie. Walking around Times Square with the girls and seeing someone get married in Central Park - call it a PG Sex and the City. Canada here we come!!
We finally made it to Niagara, not going to lie, the area was quite bleak. Nothing spectacular, except of course, Niagara Falls. We went on the Maid of The Mist boat trip, which was beautiful it really was. We was all in our red rain coat's that they give you, looking very trendy. The pictures do not justify what you actually see in real life, it was stunning but so loud as you could imagine.
We headed off straight to Toronto, which was a lovely city. We only got to see a small part of it, but it was so nice! The weather was yet again lush, on a peaceful harbour, live music playing and if that hasn't set the scene I don't know what would. I wasn't nervous at all, but going up the CN Tower was scary. There are glass panels on the floor at the top and I laid down on them and that fear of the glass breaking was constantly in the back of my head, but it was thrilling. The view was very pretty, much more empty than the view from the Empire State.
Off to Washington DC we go! Where we visited the U.S Supreme Court, which was very interesting. I can't really say much about it as I don't remember much, but it was a pretty building.
Afterwards, we visited the Arlington National Cemetery which was dedicated to the military. However weird it sounds, it is breathtakingly beautiful, all the gravestones were symmetrically alined. It was peaceful and moving. We watched the change of the guard which was very impressive but sad at the same time, in front of the tomb of the unknown solider. The amount of the respect the public have and how well the cemetery is kept is lovely to see. We also got to see John F Kennedy's memorial and the eternal flame.
Following that, we visited the Lincoln memorial reflecting pool! Again I felt like I was in a film, as it has featured a lot in films. It was crazily busy, I couldn't believe it.
I was most excited to see the White House while being in Washington DC, It was stunning. Felt so weird standing outside the actual White House, just a little surreal.
Huns, we also had a lot of shopping time, we had the chance to shop around Times Square and also around a big shopping centre towards the end of the trip and spend our dollar.
There was a few other places we visited but I couldn't remember exactly what they were, I hope you could agree now that this was a trip of a life time. We visited so many popular and beautiful attractions in such a short space of time but it never felt rushed. In one of the hotels there was a swimming pool so that night was fun, we done an awards night on the last night of the trip and I got the award for saying an embarrassing geographical comment - which unfortunately I cant remember what I had said. But the whole trip was amazing and I think everyone who was on it would agree! I am so so grateful for this opportunity and for my parents paying for me to go, as I said I am very lucky.
I hope you all made it to the end huns, I'm going to insert a slideshow of pics of me and some of the people who were on it with me.
Talk to you soon hunnies,
Lots of love Els xx
