Finding Fran

Hi everyone and welcome to the first blog of my travels...sorry for the little wait there ;-)

So as I write this I'm finding it hard to believe that I've not even been away for two weeks yet, it seems like my flight from Gatwick to my first stop in Reykjavik in Iceland was a long time ago now.

So it's been quite the adventure so far and today I'm on a bus (no, not like the ten minute ones we all know and love...this one is more like 8 hours) to Chicago. I did land in Chicago at the beginning of this week but left the following day to spend a few days in Louisville, Kentucky, to see and spend time with my friend Sally...it's been a blast so thank you Sally for having me...& for doing my washing ;-)

So I think I can only add a maximum of 6 photos to each post on here but I'll update several so you can see the places I've been to.

Right, before that, I'm going back to the beginning of my trip now so you can read a little bit about what I've been doing and how I've been getting on...I'm sure most of you are curious, as was I!!...about how I'd feel staying in hostels not hotels, living out of a backpack, travelling around on my own and to not always being able to have an emergency pack of biscuits on me (something I've been caught out with today) to name just a few haha.

So I had a great first week in Iceland...if you haven't been, it's definitely one to add to your holiday list. In the 6 days I was there I met some really great people with some really interesting stories and I got to do five of the 'most Icelandic' things to do there; whale watching, a northern lights tour (but they didn't make an appearance for me...I have a picture that proves otherwise though ;-) lol), the golden circle tour (you can't miss out on this one - though you will need the Icelandic Krona equivalent of £1.50 to go to the toilet - so for those of you who really know me that was one expensive day out ha), a trip to Blue Lagoon and one to a local swimming pool where at both of those places the water is a warm 38 degrees. So I suggest you get to packing and book the next flight there ha.

Right, now the fun bit...how I have been finding it all. So I was lucky enough to have an easy journey to Iceland...I got to watch a film on the plane (Crazy Stupid Love..& it's with big thanks to Ryan Gosling that I was cheered up after an emotional goodbye to Mum & Dad) whilst sipping on a free tea. Then it turned out that I was able to buy a return pass on the plane for a transfer service to and from the airport and the hostel I was staying at (they made it a bit too easy for me didn't they ha). Then as we landed I got talking to a really nice girl from Boston who's going to give me some tips for Hawaii and she took the picture everyone has to have of 'oh look at me having just landed in my first destination' ha.

So when I got to my hostel in Reykjavik I thought, seeing as it wasn't very late, that I'd have my pick of the beds but oh no...in my mixed 6-bed dorm I had to take the only one left, the top bunk right next to the door and when I got back to the room after a wander about town I found the room in darkness and everyone in it asleep. This isn't good, especially when you haven't even got anything out of your backpack and you don't know whether or not you're allowed to turn the light on... but I found a way to make it work...I dragged my bag to the social room that was next door ha. Luckily from there though I found it quite easy to adjust to hostel way of life. I did have to watch though as a girl in the top bunk next to me smacked her head on the ceiling...it looked brutal and I'm glad I escaped that one!!

So then all was going well and it was my last night in Reykjavik! But then at around 10 pm local time a terrible something happened...I disabled my phone by putting in the wrong passcode too many times. Well let's just say it all went a bit downhill from there. I was so busy trying to get that sorted in the morning that I forgot that I couldn't just check out in my own time and when I got back to the room from having a shower my key card to the room didn't work...lovely jubbly. But even though that happened and I felt like I was lost without my phone I realised that I could handle all these little things that were happening just fine! & then someone must've known I needed a little treat because when I got to my hostel in Chicago I was upgraded to a private room...what a result! And with the help of my good friend Sally, I've now got the phone back up and running whoop ;-) hehe!!

Okay so that's enough rambling for now...when I get to Chicago I've got 5 days there to get out and do some exploring and then I'm going by train (oh this one's days not hours) over to the west coast. Watch out California, I'm coming for you soon...

I'll post again very soon...

....lots of love, Fran x x xRead more