USA

The last two weeks of my travels were spent in the USA. I arrived in LAX from Fiji and of course had a bit of a culture shock – stressed people, long waiting times etc. On the other hand, the world of shopping was open again. The day after I had arrived Stefan came to pick me up and we started our week long road trip. First stop: Veeggaasss!

Las Vegas

We arrived in Vegas in the late afternoon, after stopping on the way for a 3 hour shopping spree and checked-in to our hotel, surrounded by slot machines and gambling addicts. Vegas really is surreal and is either really pompous or just a proper freak show. There’s a burger place called “Heart Attack” where people weighing over 350 pounds eat for free (they have a disclaimer on the door) – I find that quite sickening. Generally our time in Vegas was filled with shopping, gambling and just having a good time. Of course we had to drink these massive cocktails to go – Vegas being one of the only cities in the US where drinking alcohol on the streets is permitted; I guess everything goes in Vegas. After a few days in Vegas, we figured it may be time to get going.

Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon

First stop was the Hoover Dam, really an impressive piece of civil engineering. A bridge was just finished across the valley, so we could walk on the bridge and take some pretty nice photos of the dam and its surroundings.

After we finished with the Hoover Dam we took on the long drive through the desert towards the Grand Canyon. We arrived just before sunset and found a nice lodge near the entrance to the national park; we got our key and didn’t even unload our things, driving straight into the park to get our first view of the Grand Canyon. We arrived just as the sun was setting and managed to get our first view over the extremely impressive Grand Canyon at sunset! I can totally understand how the Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the feeling when you stand at the edge and the grandeur of it is inexplicable. No photos do it justice. We found some food and then turned in early, so we could wake up in time to catch the sunrise over the canyon the next morning.

We did make it in time the next morning and although it was freezing cold the spectacular view was definitely worth it. It’s quite crazy when you’re standing at a height of approximately 2000m, overlooking this massive canyon and the first sunrays start hitting the peaks; truly spectacular. When we had finally got enough, we made our way to the walk we had picked, so we could hike down into the canyon. We hiked a total of 6 miles, which for my standards was perfect – it’s a shame that we didn’t realised that it was possible to lodge at the bottom of the canyon, if we had known we would have walked down to the river, spent the night and then walked back up the next day – at least there’s something left for next time.

Death Valley

We started driving in the late afternoon and had actually planned to spend another night in Vegas, but when we got there we figured we could continue driving towards Death Valley, so we would be able to sleep in the next morning instead of waking up early to start driving again. So we continued driving through the desert, the middle of nowhere. When we finally saw lights again and thought that we were close to some kind of town where we could stay, we realised that what we were seeing and driving towards, was a huge correctional facility. The signs on the side of the road forbidding hitchhiking and picking up hitchhikers in the area did not really inspire very much confidence in the safety of the prison. In any case, we did eventually find an inn close to the national park and had a good night’s sleep before heading into Death Valley the next morning.

Death Valley National Park is another huge national park which has the lowest point in the USA, which is called the Badwater Salt Lake. There are some really nice hikes and various things to see in the park in addition to the salt lake. We did a cool little hike through a canyon, drove past some random sand dunes in the middle of the plain, up a mountain from where we had a nice view over the valley and then back down again to walk on the salt plain. I really enjoyed this day and the weather was perfect.

In the late afternoon we started the drive back to LA, stopping in Bakersfield to spend the night. This drive went through various other landscapes and past some other national parks that looked amazing. There really is so much to see here in the USA, I can feel a mega road trip coming up in the future.

 LA

Once back in LA, I had a week here during which much shopping and general chilling were done. Of course the obligatory trip to Hollywood was also made, though I found that rather uninteresting. What really surprised me here in LA is the amount of homeless people, though there were quite many in Vegas too. I am staying near Venice Beach, which is also full of interesting characters. I’ve been really lucky with the weather here and have a good time but, now it’s time to go home.

I’m really looking forward to going home, though I am sad that this trip is over. Who knows whether and when a trip like this will ever be possible again. I can only recommend backpacking to anyone who is interested, the experiences and people you meet are invaluable and it’s a great way to discover the world.