Travel : Anaheim

I can't believe that this is the second to last blogpost all about my American road trip! It truly does seem like yesterday that we went, so I have loved recapping on everything that we did! 

The final stop on the Californian road trip was Anaheim, which meant only two things. Shopping and Disneyland! As excited as I was for the whole holiday, the promise of Disneyland at the end of the trip was something that filled me with a lot of happiness!

Hotel

For the last 3 nights we were staying in one of the Disney partnering hotels, the Anaheim Majestic Gardens hotel. It hurts me to have to say this, as I was SO excited to be staying in one of the Disney hotels, but I felt really let down by the whole experience. If I'm being honest, this hotel was probably the one I was most looking forward to, which is why it sucks that it was the most disappointing! (Especially seeing as it was the most expensive one that we stayed in!) When looking at the hotel online, there are lots of photographs of rooms and beautiful views of the hotel which didn't actually exist. The room we were staying in was badly lit, had a leaking tap, broken AC and was extremely damp. It seemed to me, that there was the 'hotel' and the 'added on hotel'. Not really what we were expecting from the Disney experience. I admit, I have been very spoilt with other amazing Disney hotel experiences in Disneyland Paris. But I just didn't really feel the Disney magic until getting to the park. (But onto that in the final post!) Anyway, besides the grotty hotel room, the general stay in was pleasant, and the medieval theme was really cute! We were able to see the fireworks from the Disney park on the first night around the pool which was a lovely extra. The breakfast was also amazing! I mean who doesn't want the choice of both waffles and bacon and eggs cm from each other. 

What to do?

To be honest, other than the obvious, Disneyland, there isn't that much else to do than there was in Hollywood. Which was quite nice, as it meant we were able to have a little bit of down time before going home. We did visit the Orange shopping centre which had all of the classic American shops that I really wanted to visit before coming home which was nice. We also had our final sit down meal in these shops and ate at a place called Saddle Ranch, which had the biggest menu known to man! As we were eating out for my dads birthday, they also gifted us a 3m candy floss dessert which was incredible!  

I hope you enjoyed this instalment of my American road trip! The final one is going to be very bittersweet, although I am VERY excited to share all of my gorgeous Disneyland photographs! 

Until next time, 

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Travel: Santa Barbara!

After leaving Monterey, the next stop on our California road trip was Santa Barbara. This was literally a brief overnight visit to break up the car journey on the way to Hollywood. I wish that we had more time in Santa Barbara as the whole place was totally up my street. As a gorgeous little costal town, I loved finally being able to visit a beach and although I didn't get to swim in the sea the whole place was stunning. 

Hotel

Lets just say, the hotel that we stayed in was unlike anything I have ever stepped foot in before. I kind of thought I knew what to expect but I was way wrong. Booking through a travel agency meant that we didn't have much choice in the hotels, which came in favour here as I know for a fact we would never have booked into it. The Fess Parker Doubletree Hilton was a stones throw from the beach front. Infact if we were lucky enough to have a room in the front of the hotel we would have been able to see the beach from the balcony. The moment we arrived was the moment we realised how out of place we were in the hotel. (When arriving we walked in at the same time as a glamorous lady tip to toe in Chanel walking a poodle in a tutu. Yeah, it happened!) After checking in we were handed three cookies before being shown to our suite which was huge. Such a shame we were only here for one day! The room itself was pretty basic apart from the size. We were only paying for the room so I can't comment on food, but the onsite Starbucks had everything you needed from snacks to hot drinks! The freebies from the hotel were pretty amazing though! 

What to do?

Unfortunately seeing as we were only in Santa Barbara as a stop off on the way to Hollywood, how glam does that sound!, we didn't actually do much. On the day we arrived we took a slow wander down the pier to look off the side for Dolphins as apparently we were in a hot spot for them. After whale and dolphin watching the previous day in Monterey I didn't get my hopes up for seeing them as we had to sail to the middle of nowhere to find them. Ironically we saw 3 chasing the boats into the dock! Wish we had realised this as I wouldn't have gone out on the rocky rocky sea the day before. After a very sugary ice cream and a little look in the souvenir shop we headed straight back to the hotel for a hot drink and chill. The next day we decided to see what the local town had to offer in the form of shops. I basically got all of my shopping done for the trip in this little afternoon. We visited Sephora, Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works amongst others. We also had lunch in the California Pizza Kitchen, a must go place if your ever visiting California! 

Tips & Tricks!

I really wish that we could have stayed longer in Santa Barbara. I would have loved to have sat on the pier and watched the Dolphins again. I was so surprised at how empty it was during the sunset hour! So make sure you bring a coat as it does get chilly! 

I hope you enjoyed this instalment of my California road trip travel diary. I would love to go back to Santa Barbara, although to be honest I wish I could do the whole holiday again! 

Thanks for reading! 

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Travel : Yosemite!

Yosemite

The next stop on our road trip after San-Francisco was Yosemite. The difference in not only heat but scenery was remarkable considering it was a 4 hour drive! I will be honest, Yosemite was certainly not my favourite part of the trip. I am such a city girl, ironic that I hate busyness, so being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a few random restaurants intimidated me a little bit. The heat was also ridiculous getting to 30/40 degrees every day we were there. With that being said I made the most out of the stop and have some beautiful memories I will treasure forever! (As well as some beautiful photographs!)

Hotel

If you have been to Yosemite before, you may note that there aren't really that many hotels once inside the park, except for the VERY expensive ones or campsites. Seeing as we were on a road trip and wasn't intending to go into the park more than once, we decided to stay just outside in Oakhurst. Our hotel, the Best Western Plus Yosemite Gateway Inn was one of the last hotels before approaching Yosemite National Park, so we were in the ideal place. The hotel itself was set out a little bit like Centre Parcs. There is a reception away from the rooms, with areas to drive to your door. They have a inside and outdoor pool which was lovely considering how hot it was! They also had an onsite restaurant that although being 'connected' to the hotel, offered a discount at breakfast if you ate there, but no other meal plans. We ate at the restaurant for 2/3 of our nights here. It was a lovely place to go, although unfortunately we did have a couple of payment issues here. On our final evening we paid a tip to the server in person, when finding the bill online the next day extra cash had been taken that we didn't agree too. Ironically when calling and querying this was removed straight away. Potentially unrelated but three days later our credit card had been cloned which is a little suspicious! The rooms were clean, tidy and air conditioned which was all that mattered. But they were very basic which is what you can expect for the price! The bathroom also felt a little outdated, but again they were quite large and clean!

What to do?

Once we had found our hotel/motel we felt shattered so had a quick dinner before hitting the hay! We had three nights in our hotel which didn't really give us lots of time to do much exploring, not that there was too much to see. We had already booked and planned a tour of Yosemite with Discover Yosemite Tours. Only being in Yosemite for 3 nights meant that we would never get to all of the places on our own so felt that a tour was essential! We were picked up at 8am and arrived back around 5/6pm. A very busy full day tour but we were able to see all of the places on our list. The tour also provided lunch at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Which was absolutely beautiful! The places we stopped and viewed were Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Three Brothers, Glacier Point, El Capitan, Yosemite Chapel plus more! Again, it was a very busy day but made a lot easier by having a very informed tour guide with a lot of knowledge. In terms of restaurants, we didn't really eat out apart from at the hotel during our stay. However the one night that we did, we enjoyed a lovely meal at the South Brewing Company. Let's just say that was an experience! It's basically a Nando's in terms of you pay before you eat, except you have to find a seat/table yourself which was challenging during rush hour! About an hour after arriving we got our dinner which was well worth the wait!

Tips & Tricks

This one is probably a given but make sure you pack for a warm climate if travelling here in the summer. I LIVED in my pair of Denim shorts. Also make sure you have comfortable footwear if you are planning to visit Yosemite National Park during your stay. Although you would be fine wearing sandals, the flooring isn't that flat so it's easier to wear trainers which have a better grip on the floor. Finally, make sure you have a spare memory card! Yosemite is a beautiful place to take photographs. I loved scenery shots and could have spent days snapping away! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! As I mentioned Yosemite wasn't my favourite stop on the holiday, however we still had an amazing time regardless! 

Have you ever visited? Can you recommend anywhere to visit?

Lots of love,

Please follow me on Twitter and Instagram. I am working really hard on improving my social media sites and am putting a lot of effort into them. I follow back to return the love!