Whales, The Wilderness & Walt

[Gill635]

Hi Guys

After a long dibb absence, I finally have a reason to be back - our West Coast adventure!

I've been promising trip reports (mainly to myself) for many, many years, and this is truly a once in a lifetime trip that needs to be recorded.

I'm not sure how this trip report will pan out exactly. I'm hoping that others on here will find it informative without being too boring, and hopefully there will be some funny bits in there too!

So, grab yourself a brew and some snacks whilst I explain how all this began.

I've been wanting to do some kind of solo trip somewhere for a while now. I mean, I'm 35 and live at home with 2 cats so its got to start happening sometime right ? Generally, every time I have tried to plan a solo trip somewhere before, its been gatecrashed by my parents. I honestly don't mind though. I completely adore them, and we have such a good time its always a funny, enjoyable holiday. This time though, I was determined - I was going it alone!

I've always wanted to see Orca in the wild, so I toyed with the idea of a trip to Vancouver Island. After much research, I learned of 3 resident pods off the San Juan islands in Washington that were on the endangered list, but had recently started to breed for the first time in years. These were the beasts I needed to see.

I spent some time wondering where to combine the trip with (I mean, I'm in the USA already so it would be rude not to right?), and couldn't decide between San Francisco and Anaheim. After much deliberation, I decided on both and set a target date of September 2015.

So, a couple of weeks later I was talking to my parents - who of course decided to express interest. By the end of the night, they were coming too

Nothing really happened for a couple of weeks as it was Christmas, so planning was on the back burner until January.

The New Year rolled around, and we discovered that my younger brother was expecting his first child - in September! Obviously we needed to be here for that, so the trip was postponed an entire 12 months to September 2016.

Routes were discussed, timings were decided, and budgets were set - that parts my favourite as I see ''beating'' them as a challenge.

So, finally, as yet another New Year rolled in, I could start to get things booked.

January, February and March was a blur of hotels, flights, cars and guide book purchases.

I shall update everything with prices in another post, but its safe to say - we're all very excited!

Thanks for reading


The Where & The When

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/show...2#post11849832


The 'Basic' Itinerary

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/show...8#post11851918


A Mini Update

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/show...4#post11874864


Gill x

[anji]

Sounds wonderful and I can't wait to read it

[smedley]

exciting

[Gill635]

Thanks Guys!

I'm aiming to get some updates done now everythings booked - that's if I can remember how to link things on here! ha ha

x

[Gill635]

So, we have decided on a 3 week mega tour extravaganza.

Pretty much everything is now booked, confirmed and paid for with the exception of 1 thing.

Our details are below.

We fly from Manchester to Seattle (via Heathrow) on the 19th September, where we have 5 nights booked.

On our 3rd day there, we travel to the San Juan Islands, where we have a room booked in Friday Harbour for 1 night. The following day, we have an Orca trip booked, but I'll follow up with that later.

We then fly to San Francisco where we have another 4 nights booked. From there, its onto Lake Tahoe for 2 nights, then Yosemite for 1 night. We then move onto Las Vegas for 3 nights, Anaheim for 4 nights (got to see my main mouse!) and finally Los Angeles for 2 nights which is where we fly back from.

It looks like a lot - and realistically it is, but my Dad and I will share the driving and the longest route we have is only about 4 hours so we can cope with that.

We have an amazing 3 weeks ahead of us, and we are so lucky .

The overall budget per person was to be no more than £1500 - a figure that almost caused my Dad a heart attack when I told him.

The question is - did I make the budget, or did it beat me ?

Thanks for reading

Gill x

[anji]

Sounds like an amazing trip! We have 4 nights in Seattle in June then a road trip to finish up in San Francisco for 4 nights and can't wait. Your plan is really exciting!