Although I’ve mentioned my first trip of the coming new year via Twitter, I thought it relevant to officially announce my trip and its tentative routing – henceforth, I officially announce that I will be road tripping around the USA with brief stops in Mexico and Canada in 2014. Now that’s out of the way... I’ve been touring around Europe for nearly six months now and I’ve had a growing feeling that I should see more of my own country when I get the next chance to. I’ve decided to finally put an expiration date on my current wanderings, as I’d really like to visit friends and family back home in Columbus, Ohio for the holidays. I’ll be touching down November 2nd at Columbus International. But without spoiling where I’ll be heading just yet, I thought it would be nice to update my current routing, prior to my return to the states:
Belfast, Northern Ireland > Dublin, Ireland for TBEX Conference > Glasgow, Scotland > Touring the Highlands for 8 days > Cardiff, Wales > Exeter, Devon > London, England > THEN FLYING TO REYKJAVIK, ICELAND!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to wander about the Land of Fire and Ice. I can only imagine the amazing photo opportunities! Anyway, I digress. There will be more about Iceland in the near future, I’m sure.
So, the road trip. I will be doing a complete loop round the country, starting in my hometown of Columbus, proceeding south to Nashville, then east to the coast, where I will follow the coast south and around Florida, where I’ll go as far south as the Keys. After visiting a friend in Tampa, I’ll continue northwest through Georgia, onto Memphis, where I head south to New Orleans, after which Texas awaits. Spanning the entire length across Texas, I plan to catch a lot of the sites and the silly tourist stops (like Roswell) along the way to the Grand Canyon. After which, I believe a much needed party break in Las Vegas is in order, before driving west to Los Angeles to visit a friend of mine in Hollywood. I’ve been to L.A. a few times and have always missed San Diego and the border cross over to Mexico.
I will likely go further south than Tijuana, however, we shall see. Much like the rest of this trip, it’s all up to how I feel and what I find where I go – if I want to stay longer in a place, I will, or if I want to get the hell out of town, I will absolutely do that. I have had my heart set on venturing north, along the California coastline for ages, and I’m definitely making that happen. I want to veer off a bit to see some of the parks (like Yosemite and the California redwoods) and cities that I’ve yet to have the chance to visit. Oregon and Washington are also very high on my list of must see places, and so I plan to continue north, all of the way into Canada, where I plan to visit Vancouver and other areas of British Columbia. Ever since I was young, I saw photos of Banff and I’ve been dying to tour the area, and to do a bit of hiking, so I’ll be off to conquer Alberta, before heading south back into the states, where I will continue my wilderness trek in the Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. After which I’ve decided to add Boise City (to see a friend) and Salt Lake City to my routing (not shown on the current map), after which I’ll head to Colorado where I will tour some of the Rocky Mountain range. After all of that, I’ll surely be properly worn out and need a break.
Now, I’d love to be able to take a RV or caravan for the length of my trip, but seeing as I don’t own one and they’re quite expensive to rent for the better part of three months, I will simply settle on my Ford Fusion to be my steed. It receives around 30 miles per gallon, so for those people who were wondering how much this trip might cost, I foresee this trip costing around $1200 in gas – which makes it less than a decent apartment in most places around the country. I will be able to eat cheap, cook out on a portable grill, sleep in the car or camp, and prove even more that it’s truly cheaper to travel than to stay at home.
As I said, most of the trip is tentative and I’ll be winging majority of it – but that’s the best way to travel, I’ve found. There’s no worry of over-planning, no stresses, and if I’m feeling tired of traveling or a bit antsy, I can choose to stay or move along the trail. Most of the places I’ve chosen to visit are not listed on the map, because Google Maps has a limit on pinpoints. If there are any off-the-beaten path places that I should visit, please comment below and let me know – cheers!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to wander about the Land of Fire and Ice. I can only imagine the amazing photo opportunities! Anyway, I digress. There will be more about Iceland in the near future, I’m sure.
So, the road trip. I will be doing a complete loop round the country, starting in my hometown of Columbus, proceeding south to Nashville, then east to the coast, where I will follow the coast south and around Florida, where I’ll go as far south as the Keys. After visiting a friend in Tampa, I’ll continue northwest through Georgia, onto Memphis, where I head south to New Orleans, after which Texas awaits. Spanning the entire length across Texas, I plan to catch a lot of the sites and the silly tourist stops (like Roswell) along the way to the Grand Canyon. After which, I believe a much needed party break in Las Vegas is in order, before driving west to Los Angeles to visit a friend of mine in Hollywood. I’ve been to L.A. a few times and have always missed San Diego and the border cross over to Mexico.
I will likely go further south than Tijuana, however, we shall see. Much like the rest of this trip, it’s all up to how I feel and what I find where I go – if I want to stay longer in a place, I will, or if I want to get the hell out of town, I will absolutely do that. I have had my heart set on venturing north, along the California coastline for ages, and I’m definitely making that happen. I want to veer off a bit to see some of the parks (like Yosemite and the California redwoods) and cities that I’ve yet to have the chance to visit. Oregon and Washington are also very high on my list of must see places, and so I plan to continue north, all of the way into Canada, where I plan to visit Vancouver and other areas of British Columbia. Ever since I was young, I saw photos of Banff and I’ve been dying to tour the area, and to do a bit of hiking, so I’ll be off to conquer Alberta, before heading south back into the states, where I will continue my wilderness trek in the Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. After which I’ve decided to add Boise City (to see a friend) and Salt Lake City to my routing (not shown on the current map), after which I’ll head to Colorado where I will tour some of the Rocky Mountain range. After all of that, I’ll surely be properly worn out and need a break.
Now, I’d love to be able to take a RV or caravan for the length of my trip, but seeing as I don’t own one and they’re quite expensive to rent for the better part of three months, I will simply settle on my Ford Fusion to be my steed. It receives around 30 miles per gallon, so for those people who were wondering how much this trip might cost, I foresee this trip costing around $1200 in gas – which makes it less than a decent apartment in most places around the country. I will be able to eat cheap, cook out on a portable grill, sleep in the car or camp, and prove even more that it’s truly cheaper to travel than to stay at home.
As I said, most of the trip is tentative and I’ll be winging majority of it – but that’s the best way to travel, I’ve found. There’s no worry of over-planning, no stresses, and if I’m feeling tired of traveling or a bit antsy, I can choose to stay or move along the trail. Most of the places I’ve chosen to visit are not listed on the map, because Google Maps has a limit on pinpoints. If there are any off-the-beaten path places that I should visit, please comment below and let me know – cheers!
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