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Today was our big travel day from San Diego California to Scottsdale in Phoenix Arizona. Meaning 10hrs on the Bus. Which in America is Dusk till Dawn. Although most people didn't go out the night before. Everyone was still just dog tired. So many of us still shaking off the jetlag and adjusting to the different timezone. Every Contiki day is a long one that really sucks it out of you.
Some people were lucky enough to sleep most of the way on the bus. Im not a good sleeper at the best of times. Planes & Buses definitely not a friendly sleeping environment for me. Im always so uncomfortable. Long & lanky b***** that I am.
Although extremely repedative I found some of the landscape quite interesting to look at. It was more or less desert that we were driving through. But not the deep red dessert that you would see in Australia. More of a grey dirt and rock style of desert. Very similar to that im sure you have all seen before in American Movies. I wish I could have taken some photos, but near impossible from on the bus, and all the stops were in little towns.
We did get to do a 'getting to know you' game on the bus. Which basically consisted of you moving seats and sitting next to someone that you had not spoken to before. Talking to them getting to know them and then come up to the front of the bus in your pairs, getting on the microphone and introducing your new friend to everyone on the bus. Was a good way to learn a bit about everyone and give you some ice breakers to strike up new conversations. But the comical part was you had to tell the bus an embarrassing story. Um ya you can imagine the nature of some of the stories with a bus full of 20 somethings..
Anyways so we finally arrived in Phoenix to discover that it is the 5th biggest city in America.. yet it has only really been developed and populated since 1950's.
Driving in..just huge flat city in the middle of the desert. Being that it is all so new aswell… everything about it was just oversized. A little hard to truly appreciate at night, but just massive. I don't mean skyrise massive, it is all quite flat. Just the area covered is huge and everything is on a bigger is better scale.
So our hotel was located in a suburb of Phoenix Arizona called Scottsdale. We were told that it was one of the more uperclass areas. I couldn't disagree it was a very nice town. After we checked into our rooms. Everyone was eager to get changed and head into the town and shake off the bus ride cobwebs. We walked into the town and had a pre organised dinner at a restaurant called 'My Big Fat Greek Restaurant'. I can hand on my heart safely say it was the best atmosphere, best food and best drinks I have ever had in a restaurant in my whole life. Totally fantastic. Free Ouzo shots when you sit down, big lavish cocktails and just superb food. Which we were all desperate for. Everyone is struggling with the horrible quality of American food. So it was Red Meat, Vegtables, Salads any kind of healthy natural goodness for everyone. Just what we needed. Although quite a large restaurant the staff and in particular the manager, looked after the Contiki crew, which were all on small tables of 4-6 this time, like we were the only people in the restaurant. I really cant rave about it enough.
Anyways following this a large group of us headed out to a suggested nightclub called 'Margaritta Ranch'. Being a Friday night.. the club was going off. Was a fantastic night. We blazed that dancefloor for hours on end. So much Fun. Got a chance to mingle with some Americans this time too which was good. They definitely have there own style and they know how to get it on.
My group swaggered back to the hotel by about 2am which at the time was awesome. But not so awesome when our alarms are set for 5am for Hot Air Ballooning adventure…
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