Summer of a lifetime! (Trek America)

Member Name: KathrynMackinnon

Product:	Trek America
Date:	13/10/01 (5242 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Group morale

Disadvantages: Tent putting up

Trek Rocks.
The people you are travelling with have chosen exactly the same adventure from a huge list of options and are there for pretty much the same reasons as you.
This means that you WILL get on very well with them. Most of my people were camp counsellors too - so were very much up for everything, being that they were so exhausted after 2 months trapped with American kids!
The staff are outstanding.
The trek leaders have chosen a very tiring job which gives them the perks of meeting new people al of the time and travelling around America for a whole summer - they too, are there because they want to be and love travelling.
It was much more than I could ever have hoped for.

The trek that I chose to go on was named 'The Atlantic Dream'. This took us, in 14 days, to New York, Washington DC, Tennessee, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Panama City Beach, Orlando, Key Largo and Miami. I payed five hundred pounds-ish for it including my discount as a Camp America participant.
Beware of the extra costs though, such as the $70 food kitty each and the optional activities such as snorkelling, rafting and jet-skiing.
The group is only 14 people strong, including the leader and you all fit into a well equiped van with all of your baggage and food strapped to the top under a tarp.
Most nights you will sleep in a tent with another person, but some nights will be spent in cabins or hotels too. Hotels will cost you an additional $35 each but they are beautiful.

Our group comprised entirely of British people, an unusual occurrance - which put me off when I was first told this, I had expected a more international affair.
We met at a hotel in New York City and left for the Staten Island Ferry at 9am, within 1/2 hour we were slagging each other off and falling asleep on each others shoulders! Our little family had formed.

From New York we drove for hours to Was hington Dc and stayed in a lovely camp ground with a heated swimming pool and internet access, that night we drove around the illuminated monuments in Washington DC and spent the following day in the blistering heat getting lost and visiting the FBI building. We didn't want to stay another day - so we left! That's what trek's like, impulsive and flexible.
Tenessee is a beautiful state and we spent three days there visiting Graceland, line dancing, tubing and white water rafting! lots of fun.
New Orleans was our halfway point, and a monumental one at that (see op to discover the bad things we did!) much drunkenness, combined with Gay Decadence Mardi Gras weekend! We stayed in a beautiful suite with four poster beds, T.V and a kitchen - luxury!
Especially having spent three hours sweatily canoeing ourelves around on a swamp during an amazing ecological tour on the outskirts of the city - we badly needed the hot showers and cleaning facilities!
Ooh!, got to try moonshine - the ecological guy Mr Denny buys it by putting a jar in a log in the swamp with $30 and comes back the next day to find it full! The stuff is nasty and evaporates as you drink it, making your throat feel raw for two whole days, and your head feel light straight away!

On to Panama city beach to soak up some rays.
Beach stuff isn't my thing so I wandered around the quiet and boring resort for a day and caught up on some reading, swimming and sleep for a day. Next morning we went jet-skiing and I swam with some dolphins which passed by us!
A long drive of about 9 hours took us to Orlando where we came upon our candy pink coloured accommodation in the form of very well equipped 'Wendy Huts' at a camping cround. Each fitted 6 people and we made sure that the boys were reminded at every possible opportunity that they were Barbie Girls too!

Universal Studios was not a particu larly thrilling experience, very tacky and quite sad really. It was fun, but you certainly don't need a whole day there, as the rides run out quickly - bring your own food!

Let's drive to Key Largo!...a beautiful camp ground on the beach, serving key lime pie!
Within an hour of being there we had seen a huge ray in the water and a manatee had drifted by - they hadn't seen one there for years, I felt very special!
We watched the most beautiful sunI had ever seen go down and I spent the night curled up in a hammock further down the beach, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, but I didn't care!
The next day we went snorkelling at John Pennecamp coral reef and saw lots of lovely things, including a not so lovely barracuda which swam straight for me and I thought that I was going to die!

That was our last day together and we arrived in Miami late in the day to retire to our rooms in various hotels.
We ate in a beautiful restaurant down near the beach and sang karaoke with an old italian papa on the electric keyboard. After our meal we walked back to our hotel along the beach in the dark, it was a strange atmosphere and everyone was a bit sad.

Being the first to leave was very hard for me, nobody was up for a party so people began to drift back to their rooms. It suddenly hit me that I might never see there lovely people again. Trek was over.

I left at 4 in the morning the next day to fly to Atlanta, and then to New York. I spent the night alone in an airport hotel, my first night alone for 3 months, I was so sad and sat and cried.
The following day I mad it to the airport and was delighted to see another girl from trek there, we spent 7 hours hanging about before our planes had to leave.
I take off was delayed by four and a half hours and everyone was very irritated by the time we left. Landing in Edinburgh I walked past the electrical shop in the Airport
. Everyone was crowded around the T.Vs with their hands covering their mouths and some were crying. I was told that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centre twin towers, followed by another. Some people were convinced that it was some kind of a joke, others were hysterical because they had family in Manhattan.

I don't know what to think of my summer now. It has changed me and I feel priveliged to have enjoyed America in its relative innocence before all of these terrible things happened.

Check out the website www.trekamerica.com and also try www.americanadventures.com, run by the same company, same leaders and same tours.

Summary: Great experience - make the most of it