It took me about 8 months to prepare for the trip. I wanted it to be the trip of a lifetime. Something I would remember for the rest of my life. I bought a large book about places to visit in the USA, collected a large number of travel brochures, and contacted the appropriate US State Embassies in London. The information flooded in and I pored over it eagerly. One rainy Saturday afternoon I sat on the floor and made a list of all the places I wanted to visit, then laid out a large map and ringed where these places were. I read the travel brochures cover to cover and finally decided my itinerary.
My plan was to fly from Newcastle to Florida, (via Amsterdam because it meant missing that traveller’s nightmare of an airport Heathrow), where I would join an organised tour of the Southern States of the US. This included visiting such beautiful places as St. Augustine, Savannah, Natchez, and also musical Meccas such as Memphis and Nashville, eventually ending the tour in New Orleans. From there I would take the Amtrak train from New Orleans to New York. After a few days in New York, which I would spend with a friend who lived near there, I would join a second bus tour which would take me to the eastern cities of Washington, and Philadelphia before driving up across the Canadian border to see the magnificent Niagara Falls, and then proceeding south and west, meandering through Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, the breathtaking canyons of Bryce, Zion and of course, Grand Canyon National Parks, the bright lights of Vegas, until eventually ending in Los Angeles. At this point it was my intention to board the Amtrack again to journey north to Vancouver where I would take a short flight to visit my relations in British Columbia, Canada. All together, the trip would take five weeks.
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