The Bahamas / Death Valley & Yosemite with Adam and Sarah

3 nights in the Bahamas.

The USA "waivers" the requirement of obtaining a visa if you intend to only stay in the country for 90 days. Although we fully intended to stay for longer than that when looking at obtaining a Visa it was a complicated and expensive process so we just winged it and pretended we were leaving earlier than we actually were!


As long as you leave the country (even for just a minute) you get your 90 days re-set so we had a long think about where to go. The options were Canada or Mexico...that is until we thought about going to the Bahamas!!! When we checked the prices it was cheap and we were excited by the prospect of a few days tropical paradise!

Trying to book the trip was much harder than expected as we couldn't book using our English credit card, so thankfully Kristen came to our rescue and trusted us enough to book the trip on her card and we wired her the money! Eternally grateful for the favour!!!

So the very next day (call us last minute!) we hopped onto a small properlor plane which looked very old and in less than half an hour we landed in Freeport! This little island is the closest to America hence the deal was so cheap, you can practically see the mainland from there!

When we got into the cab, our driver asked us why we were staying so far out of town...ooops! We hadn't really researched into it very well and he was right, the hotel was in the middle of nowhere!! When we arrived the receptionist did not have our reservation and didn't seem that eager to help us either. She became even more hostile when we answered her question of "are you timeshare guests?" with a very polite "no". It seems that at the Xanadu Beach resport, unless you are a timeshare guest, you are not worth speaking to!

We finally prised incredibly difficult information out of her such as where our room was, what time breakfast was etc, and the big one...where is the bar..? She loooked at us and said there's a convention going on so if you need a drink ask her (pointing to a lady) and she'll get it for you.
The convention was full of big Mamma's in their best attire being sold more timeshare slots undoubtedly! When we asked "the lady" for a couple of beers she pointed to a makeshift bar in the middle of the convention outside so off we went and sat in the middle of it all! There was great music and dancing going on for all of 5 minutes then the bar shut and everyone went to their rooms, guess that must have been about 10pm! Not a soul in sight!!

The next day dawned extremely sunny and hot so after breakfast we checked out the beach, and oh what a beach!! It had the perfect white sand, turquise water and gentle waves slowly lapping at the sand. Perfect!! We promptly comandeered 2 sunloungers underneath a palm covered umbrella thing and relaxed very hard. Then the man came...did we know we had to pay for the loungers? We said we were staying at the Xanadu and surely guests didn't have to pay? Oh no, you see the chairs belong to the timeshare guests!! Not with the timeshares again we thought! He said we might be able to get some vouchers from Hattie, the resort rep and he let us off paying for now...cool guy.

Karl got chatting to a really nice couple at the beach bar (saving grace of the hotel!) and they said they had booked excursions with Hattie that sounded really cool, so off we went to speak to her.

Little did we know that she was a timeshare salesperson disguised as a very helpful lady!!! Come to our meeting, you get free breakfast blah blah blah...Karl asked how long the meeting went on for and she COULD NOT believe such a question could possibly be asked of her! The outrage.

When we finally escaped, we had booked into a bonfire party at another resort for the Sunday. That was a great night, we met so many nice people including Barry and Linda from California who we will be meeting us again with!! The BBQ food was great, lots of ribs chicken and stuff and the cocktails were all included in the price and a good time was had by all!

Also we had the good fortune to meet two guys who were working with a car dealership in town, and we can't remember their names right now (sorry guys!) but we had a great laugh with them and were checking out stuff on Utube one evening and they also kindly gave us a lift to the airport when we were leaving.

We also would really recommend anyone that goes to Freeport try and stay in or close to Port Lucaya. What a gorgeous place! We checked out the market there one afternoon, strolled along the waterfront before a beautiful dinner watching the spectacular sunset and then danced the night away to a live band. We also met about 10 guys from the Phillipine Navy who were docked there, what a lovely bunch of guys they were! So unassuming, polite and friendly! Although afterwards Karl and I managed to piece together that they were actually kitchen and bar staff on the ship which is not what they made it sound like at all but they were all very sweet!

All in all a good few days but they say you get what you pay for and I urge anybody out there not to go to the Xanadu Beach Resort!!!


Death Valley and Yosemite National Parks with Adam & Sarah:

We had met up with Adam and Sarah in Vegas, they had kept a couple of nights free on their 2 week schedule to be used for the journey between Vegas and San Francisco, so they could try out the RV lifestyle. So we left Vegas and within a few hours we were on the edge of Death Valley, looking down from a vantage point upon it. None of us were too sure what to expect, from reading our guide books we had ascertained that it is known for its extremes: It is North America's driest and hottest area, with fewer than 2 inches of rainfall a year and a record high of 134o F. But to understand this unique park you really have to visit it for yourself.

The view from Dantes Point didn't jump out at us, it was basically a large oval shaped bowl surrounded on all sides by hills with very little growing down there. Photo! We descended into the Valley to see it up close. We headed for the Badwater Basin and the aptly named Devils Golf Course which is a 200 square mile salt pan and is like nothing I have ever seen before. PHOTO! You are surrounded on all sides by a vast stretching formation of sharp random salt growths, when you get closer you realise that they are as intricate in detail as a snowflake. In places where there are stronger concentrations of the salt it looks like a frozen lake that has had the surface smashed into lumps and when walking on it you can here the salt creaking and straining under your weight.

We then headed to Artists Pallete, which is a loop drive through rock faces to an area that contains volcanic ashes of Yellow, Red, Orange, Green and Purple. The day was drawing in so we journeyed onwards to the campsite, stopping only to have a quick plunge in the “ranch's” swimming pool (which has signs stating that it is not for the use of people staying on the campsite!). The campsite itself sits at 190 feet, BELOW sea level, not too far off the lowest point in the US, which is a couple of miles down the road at 272 feet below sea level. Even though it was now dark the temperature didn't drop and was sitting nicely in the high 90's. That night we had a bonfire and were treated to a beautiful showing of stars above us.

The following day we set off for Yosemite, on the way through the Valley we stopped at the desert area which ripples across 14 square miles, and took a wander into the sand dunes which was rather surreal to say the least. 3 hours later and we found ourselves nearing the mountains, where the temperature was much lower and in the distance we could see snow on the hills! This is one of the amazing things about America, the diverse landscapes mean that you can wake up at -190 feet in near 100o F temperatures, but in no time at all you can be at 9000 feet, surrounded by snow and mountains, simply incredible.

We decided to stop at Mammoth Lakes. The visitors centre pointed us in the direction of Mammoth Lake where boats can be hired for the afternoon. We parked up, in the snow, and rented a pontoon boat. It was great fun just floating around the lake (slowly!) and looking at the surrounding mountains with their snow capped peaks. Adam decided it would be a good idea to go for a swim, the rest of us thought he was mad, but in all fairness to him he climbed off the back of the boat and swam in the icy waters, if only for a few minutes. Photo!

Further up the road and we found camping at a state park with all the essentials, a river and some toilets. We collected some wood and had a nice fire, I insisted on making Adam and Sarah some Schmores – American essential camp snacks! In the morning we drove into Yosemite, and onto the Tioga Pass which is at nearly 10,000 feet and crosses East-West across the width of the Park. The views were reminiscent of the Alps but breathtaking nonetheless. We saw plenty of wildlife in the form of a marmotte Photo!, some deer, plenty of birds, and eventually a bear! We then drove down to Yosemite Valley to cast our eyes upon the waterfalls that cascade 100s of feet down the shear cliff faces. My only regret was that we didn't have more time to explore this vast and beautiful wilderness, but Adam and Sarah only had 2 weeks away so we headed for San Francisco. I would hope that at some point in the future we will get a chance to revisit America, and do a tour of the National Parks, as they are just incredible.