Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico

We had to bus back to Guadalajara and then change buses to Puerto Vallarta. It took about 9.5 hours altogether and we finally got to our hostel in Puerto Vallarta around 9pm. The staff were really friendly and gave us a cold corona when we arrived! We could definitely feel the change in heat as soon as we arrived...it was extremely humid! We were taco’d out so we went and found an Italian restaurant for dinner and then crashed out reasonably early. 

The next day we went to the beach and then just hung out at the hostel in the afternoon. The hostel was really cool with a rooftop area with a view of the water and then another lounge area. We went out to dinner with one of the guys from the hostel and enjoyed the $1 beers and margaritas.

Thursday was Chrissy's last full day so we booked a booze cruise which went from 10am – 5pm. They gave us some breakfast and then took us out on the boat to a snorkelling spot. They didn’t have enough gear for everyone but the snorkelling wasn’t very good anyway so we just went for a swim. The water was so much warmer than Cabo! From there we had a choice to hang out on Las Animas beach or hike to a waterfall. We decided to hike to the waterfall and some people took horses. It was so hot and the waterfall was so nice and refreshing. You could climb up a bit of the waterfall and then slide down and there were also kids jumping off the rocks. After the waterfall we had lunch on Las Animas beach and then the cruise headed back to Puerto Vallarta. There was an open bar on the boat and the drinks were reasonably watered down but the staff loved us and kept adding more tequila to our drinks. The cruise was majority families but by the end lots of people were up dancing and one of the staff taught me some Mexican dances.

It was ladies night (free drinks for girls) at a local bar, Harry's, so once we got back to the hostel we got ready and headed out with the other people staying at the hostel and the staff. There are two Oasis hostels owned by the same guy so we met up with the people from the other hostel too. This was great because Chrissy and most of the people from the hostel I was staying at were leaving the next day so I was able to meet some more people. After Harry's we headed to a nightclub down at the beach and danced until early hours of the morning. 

One of the staff, Brad, cooked us pancakes for breakfast the next morning and then we went to the beach for a little bit before Chrissy had to leave to fly back to the states. I just relaxed and hung out at the hostel for the rest of the afternoon. The other hostel invited us to a BBQ that night so we went over and had dinner and then played drinking games. It was nice to have some food other than tacos and quesadillas! I organised with an Australian guy and a German girl at the other hostel to go to a beach up north called Sayulita the next day. It took about an hour and a half on the bus each way and was a really cute little town and beautiful beach.  

Saturday night was my last night so I headed over to the other hostel with Brad to hang out for a bit. On Sunday morning Brad cooked me french toast and then I had to head to the airport to fly to Mexico City to meet Louise. 

The hostel was awesome, it became like a little family!

 Hostel rooftop

 Booze cruise

 Hike to the waterfall

 Cute secluded beach

 Drinking games

Sayulita

Guadalajara, Jalisco + Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico

Arriving in Guadalajara was definitely a big change from Cabo. Guadalajara is apparently one of the most Mexican cities and English was definitely not as widely spoken. It was a good experience but it is basically just a big city. We went to a few markets and tried some new food and one night went out to a salsa club. We were also lucky to make a friend at the hostel who could speak Spanish and did a bit of translating for us! If we had a bit more time we would have done the Tequila factory tour. Maybe it's good that we didn't because the tour leaves the hostel at 9:30am and gets back around 5pm.....that's a lot of tequila!

Awesome food!

 Tortas Ahogadas

 Markets

With a few translation difficulties we eventually made it to the bus station in Guadalajara to get a bus 4 hours east to a cute little city called Guanajuato. To my surprise the buses in Mexico are really nice, such a refreshing change from the Greyhounds in America. They even give you a little goodie bag for the bus trip with a drink and some snacks!

We finally checked into our hostel around 10pm and went in search of some food. Guanajuato is a small city but there is always something going on at night. There were bands playing and lots of different food stalls set up. When we got back to the hostel we just hung out and watched a movie with some of the guys staying there. We only had one full day in Guanajuato so the next day we headed out to explore the city with two English guys staying at the hostel. We went to Callejon del Beso (the Alley of the Kiss), to see the El Pipila statue (a hero in the war of independence) and the University of Guanajuato. The Alley of the Kiss is a very narrow alleyway where the balconies of the two opposite houses at the end are very close to each other. Legend tells that the daughter of a rich landowner fell in love with a miner and the miner rented the house opposite hers so that they could kiss from the balconies and keep their love a secret. When the father found out it was a tragic ending but now it is meant to be lucky if lovers kiss on the third step in the alleyway under these balconies. We got the funicular (cable car) up to the El Pipila statue and there is an amazing view of the city of all the little colourful houses. We then walked down the hill through all the little cute alleyways and checked out some of the shops. That night we headed out to some local bars with the English guys and some other people they had met. We packed up our stuff the next morning and headed back to the bus station to get a bus to Puerto Vallarta.

Guanajuato is a very cool place and it would have been great if we could have stayed a bit longer!

Alley of the Kiss

View of the city

 El Pipila

 University of Guanajuato

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

I arrived in Cabo about 40 mins earlier than Chrissy, Caz and Coralie so I just waited for them at the airport and then we all got a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed at the Cabo Inn which was really cute and was in a really good location - walking distance to the bars, the marina and the beach. The lady working at the counter when we checked in was really helpful giving us suggestions on where to eat and what to do while in Cabo. As soon as we checked in we went to grab some food at a local restaurant with amazing seafood and then had an early night which was much needed after our weekend in Vegas! 

We booked a snorkeling trip for the next day for $35 each which included them taking you out on a boat to a snorkeling spot, lunch and an open bar. There were about 50 people on the boat and we met some cool people including 2 girls and a guy staying at our hotel. Was such a fun day and by the end everyone was dancing on the boat. Once we got back we hung out in the pool at the hotel and kept drinking and a group of us from the hotel headed out to dinner and to the bars. It was an awesome night and we ended up dancing for about 5 hours straight. My legs are still a bit sore!

The next day we slowly go out of bed and headed down to the beach. There was a cruise ship that had arrived so there were lots of people at the bars on the beach and they were having lap dancing competitions and flip cup and lots of stuff going on. We hung out on the beach for a couple of hours which was really really beautiful! There are lots of people selling things on the beach so the one thing we are very good at saying in Spanish is "no gracias". We grabbed some tacos for dinner from a cheap local place and drank at the hostel before heading out to the bars. Cabo is quite touristy so food at the restaurants is not that cheap so the small local places are definitely the way to go. 

Thursday was our last full day so we headed back to the beach and rented some jet skiis which was so much fun!! Then we just relaxed at the beach for a couple of hours getting ready for our last night in Cabo. We went to a bar which was having ladies night which meant free drinks for ladies from 11pm-2am! The perks of being a girl :) 

We got up at 9am on Friday to head to the airport to continue on our adventures. Caz and Coralie flew to Miami and Chrissy and I flew to Guadalajara, Mexico. 

 Snorkeling trip

I'm on a boat!

 Pool at the hotel

 Cabo Inn crew

 Medano beach

 Cabo Inn

Awesome swing bar on the beach

Las Vegas, Nevada

In Sacramento I met some of Natalie's friends and just relaxed getting ready for a big weekend in Vegas!  We arrived in Vegas at around midnight on Thursday night and met Chrissy and her friends, Caz and Coralie, in the hotel room and got ready to go out as soon as we arrived. We headed to 1Oak the club in the Mirage where we were staying. We met a couple of guys from Milwaukee and ended up hanging out with them over the weekend. When we finally got up on Friday we hung out at the pool at the hotel. Pina coladas by the pool and awesome weather....so so nice! On Friday night we went to Cirque du Soleil which was amazing. The lights and special effects are awesome :)  After the show we bought 48oz margaritas to drink on the way back to the hotel and then headed out to Tao which is a club in the Venetian. It was pretty packed so we didn't stay for too long but on the way back to our room we bumped into the guys that we met the first night and they were going to explore the Vegas strip. Natalie and I went with them while the others girls went out. We explored some of the casinos and with the help of one of the guys I played a bit of Black Jack. I played a couple of hands and as soon as I was up I collected my money......a whole $62 wooo :)

We bought tickets for a Tiesto pool party at the Encore hotel on Saturday day so we lazed around and had a bit of a nap before heading to the party at around 3pm. The pool party was awesome! Everyone hanging out in the pool drinking and dancing all day. On Saturday night we went to see the volcano outside the Mirage and the Bellagio water show and we were going to go out but Natalie and I ended up falling asleep reasonably early. Too much partying during the day haha.

On Sunday we had to change hotels to stay at the Flamingo for the last night. Once we checked in Natalie and I did a bit of shopping and then spent the rest of the afternoon laying by the pool at the hotel. I had an early dinner with Natalie and then she had to fly back to Sacramento. Once Natalie left I got a taxi with the other girls to the Las Vegas sign to get our typical tourist photo and then headed out to The Bank, the nightclub at the Bellagio. We danced for several hours until my feet were aching and then headed back to the hotel to get a couple hours of sleep before flying to Mexico. Unfortunately the casualty of the night was my phone. My phone wouldn't work in Mexico and South America anyway but the most frustrating thing is not having an alarm and music. 

Caz and I in the Mirage pool

 Group shot before Cirque du Soleil

Giant mango margarita

In the Bellagio with the boys from Milwaukee

Tiesto pool party

 Caz and I at the pool party

Tourist shot

San Francisco, California

I finally arrived in San Francisco at 5:30am and luckily the apartment I was staying at was just around the corner from the bus station. I had to wake Chrissy and her friends up to let me in but we went straight back to bed. When we got up we headed down to Fishermans Wharf and rented some bikes to ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. The views along the way were amazing and of course there was a beautiful view from the bridge. It was a bit cloudy in the morning but the sun came out for us once we got to the bridge. Once we returned the bikes we went to a really good seafood restaurant down at Fishermans Wharf and then headed back to the apartment to get ready for the baseball. On the way back to the apartment we also went to Lombard St which is the crookedest street in the world. When we got to the baseball the only tickets left were standing or really expensive ones so we decided to skip the game and go the next night. Instead we went to one of the pubs close by and watched the game on TV. 

On Tuesday we had a bit of a slow start but eventually headed out to see the famous victorian houses called the Painted Ladies. We then went to another seafood restaurant for a late lunch. It was a very small place with one long bench to sit at and it is very popular so there is always a line. I had smoked salmon which was so so good! We then got ready and headed out to the baseball game - San Francisco Giants vs Colorado Rockies. The atmosphere at American sports games is awesome and the stadium in San Francisco is really beautiful with a view of the water. We decided not to head out after the game because we needed to make some plans for Vegas and book some accommodation for Mexico.

On Wednesday we headed into Union Square to do a bit of shopping for Vegas and then I had to get a bus to Sacramento. I booked my flights to Vegas a couple of months ago with Natalie, my good friend from Arizona, who now lives in Sacramento. I stayed with her last night and we are now getting ready to head to Vegas! Chrissy and her friends flew to Vegas in the morning so we are meeting them there. 

 Golden Gate Bridge

 Lombard Street

The Painted Ladies

 Awesome seafood restaurant

At the baseball

AT&T Park

Newport Beach, California

When we got to Newport we grabbed some dinner and then just hung out at Zach’s house and went to bed because Zach had to work the next morning. Zach lives really close to the beach so while he was at work on Friday I went for a walk along Newport Beach to the pier and had some food and looked at the shops. Newport Beach is really beautiful and I have decided that when I am rich I am going to buy a house on the beach! Zach finished work at around 3pm so when he got home we rode down to the beach and hung out for awhile and I went for a swim. Everyone keeps saying the water is too cold but it is not that bad!

On Friday night we headed out to Huntington Beach for dinner and after dinner met some of Zach’s friends at a bar. They headed home reasonably early and so we went back to Newport and went to the bars there.

On Saturday we went and had lunch at a bar on Newport Beach and Zach started on the Mimosa’s. We then fell asleep on the beach for awhile and I went swimming again. We decided that we had had enough sun so went to Fashion Island to look around, which is a really nice outdoor mall. When we got back to Zach’s we got ready to head out but then decided we were too tired so just went to bed instead. I needed to get a bus to San Francisco from LA on Sunday so we got up at a reasonable time and drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at Hermosa, Manhattan and Venice Beach on the way. We met up with one of Zach’s friends for lunch at Hermosa Beach and then another friend at a bar in Venice Beach. I was meant to be getting a Greyhound at 4:15pm but when I got to the station I found out it was full and the next one I could get on was 10:10pm. I really need to learn to start getting to the stations a bit earlier! The LA Greyhound station is one of the nicer ones I have been to and has food so I decided things could be worse and I decided to catch up on my blog and finish my book.

So after waiting for 6 hours in the Greyhound station here I am on the bus and finally on my way to San Francisco. I am going to stay with Chrissy (the Australian girl I met in Miami) and her friends!


It was awesome to see Zach and I absolutely loved Newport. Good company, awesome weather and the beach, what is there not to love?!

 Newport Beach

Newport Pier

 Zach and I out on Friday night

 Lunchtime Mimosa

Los Angeles, California

On the way to Los Angeles we stopped at Laguna Beach to grab some lunch, which was really beautiful! We arrived at the hostel in the afternoon and the hostel was having a comedy night so I went along with a couple of Canadian girls and German guys that I met at the hostel. After the comedy night I headed with the German guys and a couple of the comedians to some bars in Hollywood.

On Wednesday Steven, a good friend from Arizona, came and met me in Hollywood and we went and had lunch and hung out. Was awesome to catch up with him and I left a bag of winter clothes with him to make my bag a bit lighter for the rest of my trip. It is so much easier to pack my bag now! It is great to be able to catch up with all these friends who I haven’t seen for over a year and feel like I saw them just yesterday :)

When I got back to the hostel Justin and I drove up to the Hollywood sign, drove down Sunset Strip where there are a lot of famous bars (including the Viper Room which Johnny Depp owns), and went down to Santa Monica beach. We had dinner in Santa Monica and then headed back to the hostel. They were having a karaoke night at the hostel and everyone was hanging out drinking and watching the karaoke. Some people went out to the bars after karaoke but I just hung out with some people at the hostel.

On Thursday Justin and I weren't sure what we wanted to do but decided to see how much the tours would cost to see the famous houses around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We wandered down Hollywood Boulevard talking to all the different people selling the tours and managed to bargain it down to $15 each from the original $40. On the tour they pointed out famous peoples houses, famous bars, went down Rodeo Drive (the very expensive shopping area) and went to an awesome viewing spot of LA where you could also see the Hollywood sign. Justin then had to go to the airport and I just hung out at the hostel until Zach, a friend from Arizona, came to pick me up to take me to Newport Beach.

 Laguna Beach

 Night out in Hollywood

 Steven and I

 Walk of fame - Nicole Kidman

 Hollywood sign

 Santa Monica

View of LA

San Diego, California

The Greyhound to San Diego was the dodgiest Greyhound trip so far with two people getting kicked off the bus in Phoenix for yelling racist comments at other people on the bus and other interesting characters around. I got to San Diego late on Saturday night and there were so many security guards at the station...I am not sure if that made me feel safer or not!

I stayed with Hannah in San Diego who I met while she was on exchange in Sydney. She lives in an awesome location right on Mission Beach. It was Cinco de Mayo so we were going to head out but by the time we got back to Hannah's it wasn't worth it. On Sunday we did an audio tour of the USS Midway, the aircraft carrier ship, and saw the famous Save the Kiss statue. We then had a nice lunch overlooking the harbour before Hannah had to go to work. When Hannah got home from work we headed out to a bar near her house. We met an English guy, Justin, at the bar who was staying in a hostel close to Hannah’s house and who was heading to Los Angeles the same day as me and staying in the same hostel! Such a crazy coincidence but I was always taught to never get in a car with a stranger so we invited him to hang out with us on Monday before my trip to LA on Tuesday haha.

On Monday we headed to Torrey Pines with Justin and one of Hannah’s friends from work. We did a nice hike to the beach and had lunch down there. It started off overcast in the morning but when we got to the beach it cleared up and was beautiful and sunny. We then headed to La Jolla to see the sea lions who always hang out there on the beach. When we got back to Hannah’s we went for a quick swim and then headed out to Old Town for dinner. Old Town is a really nice area of shops, bars and restaurants and we went to a Mexican restaurant and had dinner and mango margaritas...yum!!

Hannah had class on Tuesday so I just hung out at her house and packed my bag before Justin picked me up to head to LA. Justin had rented a Mustang convertible and the weather was amazing so it was a really nice drive!

 Hannah and I at the USS Midway

 Save the Kiss statue

 Hannah and I hiking at Torrey Pines

 Sea lion at La Jolla

 Justin, Hannah, Elliott and I at La Jolla

Out the front of Hannah's house

Cruising to LA