Got Married, Went Road Trippin' Part 1 | Las Vegas > San Francisco

It's about one month since we landed back from our Las Vegas Wedding / West Coast Road trip. At the time those long drives from city, to small town, down dirt roads and back to city again felt like they would never end, but now it's all starting to slightly feel like a distant memory. But it's a memory that will never be forgotten, because it wasn't just any road trip, it was the road trip after the happiest day of my life!

Seeing so many of our friends + family's smiling faces for a whole week was a pretty magical feeling, and the actual wedding ceremony was perfect. Spirits were high, food portions were ideal, drinks were endless, temperatures were ridiculous and sleep was pretty much none-existent...but I wouldn't change a thing.

We said goodbye to our guests (albeit a few of them who joined us on the road trip) in Vegas, and thanked them for making our week one of the most memorable in our lives. Over the next 10 days we would drive from The Wynn in LV to Hollywood Roosevelt in LA, via Yosemite, San Francisco, Monterey and Santa Barbara.

 Wandering in Badwater Basin, Death Valley

The drive from Las Vegas, through Death Valley, to Yosemite took the best part of eight hours, but what an incredible way to see the country. Going from 48 degrees in Vegas to around 10 in Yosemite National Park was quite an exerprience. We spent two days exploring Yosemite, and if I'm totally honest, my words wouldn't be able to justify the feeling this place gives you. I was so in ore of the scale (how small it made me feel) and beauty of the place that my camera didn't come out of my bag that much. I'm OK with that!

From El Portal in Yosemite, we drove three hours to San Francisco.

 Luggage for our trip c/o Horizn Studios

Two days in San Francisco gave us a good amount of time to explore, but not nearly enough to see everything I hoped for.

We stayed at Hotel Zetta, just by Union Square. The hotel was seriously good, from the small detail of the lobby decor and rec area, and the staff's attentiveness, to the British-inspired (but not corny at all) restaurant. When the staff found out we'd just got married they drew us a personalised cartoon of San Fran, and popped a bottle of champagne in our room! What can I say, if you want people to be happy, just equip a lobby with a pool table, photo-booth and Shuffleboard!

The step-counter was going crazy while we were there. We covered lots of ground but did miss a fair few things I wanted to see...until next time.

 Sweatshirt c/o Asket | Shorts c/o Realm & Empire | Jacket by Several | Sneakers by Vans | Cap by Norse Projects | Sunglasses by Moscot | Bag by Instrmnt

 The view of San Francisco skyline from Alcatraz Island

I don't want to make these travel blogs too text-heavy, no one needs to read an essay on how good I thought our visit to Alcatraz Island was or how I have a tendency to spend way too much time trying to find good coffee. Photos will do the talking, and with that being said, Part 2 of our West Coast Road Trip will cover our journey from San Francisco to Hollywood!

Thanks for visiting,

Mat

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Travel Photography, Iceland by Bernd Vogel

Travel is at the front of my mind this year and I don’t seem to be alone. While writing about my recent trip skiing in France and tweeting about our more recent jaunt to Brighton, everyone who replied mentioned places they’re keen to go or plans they’re about to make. And all that does is makes me want of travel some more!

It’s the quiet times that get you too. On a rare Friday night spent at home, I sat on the sofa reading up on some travel blogs and searching through Instagram for destination inspiration. It didn’t take long until I ‘stumbled’ across Iceland. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit, so I think my mind led me in that direction anyway.

Iceland is one of those countries that’s full of mystery, intrigue, and excitement. The rugged, almost alien landscape, looks like something imagined in a dream. Some of the buildings in the towns and cities aren’t far behind either. And when you see photos like these from Bernd Vogel's recent trip - boy does that make you want to get plans moving and book a package holiday. Iceland is also a place that I can’t find a single bad word about. Come on, the realities of travel are that not everyone is going to have a great time, each and every time - sometimes you just have bad luck! But no, not in Iceland. Every word written is a plus point and every photo (with a person in it) has someone smiling.

With my winter wear freshly laundered since the Alpine expedition, I think it’s time to load that suitcase up and start thinking about a trip to see our friends in the North. Have you been to Iceland, and what's next on your travel list?

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White Knuckles at Thorpe Park

To truly understand the map you have to get into it. Wearing - Armor-Lux t-shirt, Levi's, Nike Powerlines.

The guy with the frogs on his head.

This is what Hollie looks like after five roller coaster, she loves it! Wearing - H&M Dress + Cycling Shorts, Nike Free Run

On what ended up being one of the hottest days of the year, Hollie and I set off at 7am on the mammoth drive down to Thorpe Park in Surrey. We'd been planning this trip for ages, both of us love the thrill of being hurtled around in all sorts of crazy directions at 60mph, so we'd been counting down the days since early summer.

But there was one major flaw, we hadn't realised we'd booked our tickets on one of the busiest Bank Holidays of the year. Luckily for us we had the pleasure of upgrading our regular tickets for the exclusive "fast-track" tickets, which cut each queue down to about 10 minutes! To queue for an hour for each ride after a 6-hour drive to the park would have been a major blow, but that wasn't the case as we managed to ride five of the most extreme roller coasters I've ever been on!

We hadn't expected Thorpe Park's rides to be so epic, expecting them not to come close to some of the extreme ones we've been on in America, but we were proven wrong in spectacular fashion. From the quite frankly ridiculous 10 loop-the-loops of Colossus and 100ft vertical incline of the SAW to being launched to 80mph in under two seconds with Stealth, this place is flipping crazy! 

A big thank you to Thorpe Park for providing us with fast-track tickets and looking after us for the day. If you're into a bit of the old white knuckle extreme roller coasters I definitely recommend visiting, just look at Hollie's face above to remind you how much fun you could be having! Have you guys been to Thorpe Park or any other theme parks, where do you recommend?

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Heading To Orlando

We're heading off to Orlando for two weeks in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, carrying on where we left off in January. Really can't wait. Whilst we're there our plan is to drive up to Savannah, GA for a couple of days; we're also gathered quite a few suggestions from a couple of my readers recommending some ace to do in the Orlando area. Thanks Wendy!

So no blog updates for a couple of weeks but as always I'll be on Twitter and snapping my way around the States on Instagram, keep in touch guys. Speak to you all soon.

Further reading - Orlando Diary Part 1 + Part 2

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