Travel Review: “Trip to the USA – A Summer Holiday Destination”

I make frequent trips to the USA with my wife to meet our relatives in the East as well as our daughter on the Western coast. This time in the summer of 2021, we thought that we should explore more of the US, rather than make our standard visits to New York in the East and San Francisco in the West. 

Thus we embarked on our 6 weeks journey from mid-July to August-end, with the aim to travel and cover some new parts of this huge country. A direct Emirates flight from Dubai to JFK, New York was the start of an exciting adventure we planned and the moment we set foot into the US soil, we could feel the palpitations of the exhilarating travel plan we had made to see the two extreme coasts of the USA during our stay. Of course, Manhattan has its own charm- the throb of vibrancy one feels when you visit the city, but the visit to the Grand Central Park was indeed a very pleasant one---the beauty of the lakes inside the park, walking trails with biologically diverse ecosystems having several hundred species of flora and fauna, nature sanctuaries, recreational sites, and some sumptuous eating places in and around it. 

We were staying in the New Jersey area, and the whole state is very green with small quaint towns and forests along its various road networks. If one is a golf lover, you will love New Jersey and New York areas with some beautiful golf courses scattered in these states; I enjoyed my visits to a number of these courses to play some challenging rounds of golf. We travelled by car across the length and breadth of this state to experience the east coast greenery, lakes, sea, watching the sunrise and sunsets, meeting different people and hugely enjoying the delicious American cuisine. It was indeed a fascinating experience and the two weeks we were there, just flew by.

The next phase of our journey was to be in the highly interesting state of Nevada, as we were flying into Las Vegas from Newark, a 5 hours flight, to have a look at the magical city with a plan to drive down to the Great Grand Canyon Southern Rim. Las Vegas of course is a place for entertainment and Las Vegas Boulevard is well known for its shows and casinos. We hired a car and took the beautiful drive across Nevada state, onwards into Arizona state and booked into Holiday Inn at Tusayan, which is just a mile away from the main entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park.
 
The Grand Canyon view was spectacular, it’s nature at its best. Just looking at it, one marvels at nature’s creations, which are unmatched to any artificial conceptions created by humans. We took the ‘Trail of Time’, which is approx. 5 kilometres long. Each meter walked on the timeline trail signifies one million years of Grand Canyon's geological history. Along the timeline trail are a series of rocks and exhibits that explain how Grand Canyon and its rocks formed. Time passed very quickly on this trail, as it was covering a couple of billion years on earth, compressed into this wonderful walk along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a fabulous experience at the Grand Canyon and with a tremendous feeling of elation from a week’s stay in these two states, we took our next flight to San Francisco.

My wife and I, we both love the San Francisco bay area, as it is vibrant, it's beautiful and it's so picturesque, that it always appears one has come to a fantasy land dotted with hills, water bodies, some marvelous architecture, man-made, as well as natural. Our trip to Napa Valley, the home of one of the best wines in the world is a must if you visit the western coast. The drive around is delightful, and if you want to enjoy wine on a train, then take the Napa Valley Train, which wheels you around slowly across all the Napa vineyards and enjoy some great wine tasting of some of the biggest brands of California wines.

The towns around in the bay area are one better than the other, so whether you are visiting the Facebook headquarters at Menlo Park, or Google at Mountainview, or the grand Stanford University at Palo Alto, there is so much to see and learn from an array of these towns located in the bay area. One cannot forget of course the Golden Gate drive and the captivating quaint town of Sausalito just across the bridge. 

Our final travel itinerary was to take the breathtaking scenic Pacific Coast drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and this was our highlight, as I have rarely witnessed such a splendid drive with mountains on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west; one has to keep stopping at regular intervals to enjoy the splendour of this natural beauty. The 17-mile drive enroute at Monterey town was exhilarating and witnessing the scenic Pebble Beach Golf resort was one of our most memorable experiences. We stayed at a quaint Danish town called Solvang after a 14 hours drive; if anyone loves good food, excellent wine, exquisite shopping experience, then you have to visit this scenic town. 

All good things must come to an end, and so did our 6 weeks stay in the US. Time just flew by, but the experience of travel, meeting people of different cultural diversities, enjoying the hospitality of some of these towns, has been an experience which left an indelible impression on our minds and the nostalgia of this trip will always remain etched in our minds forever. Travel, I feel, makes one feel connected to nature, to different people on this planet earth and when one stays in the present, engulfed and learning something new from all these experiences, it always brings a smile across one’s face. Travel is also one of the greatest stress busters………….life itself is a journey, so let’s be ready to embark on our next new journey, there is so much to see, there is so much to learn. I am already planning my next trip into another undiscovered part of the world, and be an explorer once again! Are you ready to be that explorer?