The first time I was in Las Vegas, I was told to go to Omega Mart for a very unique immersive art experience. This time, I wasn’t going to miss the chance.

We spent our first day in Vegas walking non-stop, so my friends and I made the call to take it a little easier for day two. 

We didn’t plan to do Vegas the way most people think when they think of Vegas. No Hangover scenario for us. Just sunshine, good food, and some fun (mostly family-friendly) activities – a solid vacation.

Waking up on the last day of our honeymoon felt so sad. We’d been married during the pandemic, and the honeymoon was something we continued to look forward to for so long. And now it would be over.

Our first day in Amsterdam was absolutely magical, but it was a lot of going from place to place and seeing the sights.

By day two, we’d gotten the initial excitement out of our system and gave ourselves the grace to take our time exploring.

After three days in Paris, my husband and I said goodbye to Paris and headed to the station to hop on a train to Amsterdam! 

Our last full day in Paris would be heavily indoors, which I was thankful for, because the weather was looking very grey and rainy.

After a pretty incredible first day in Paris, Brandon and I were looking forward to what day two would bring.

And day two was looking to be a lot more laid back. We had no plans. No tickets, no reservations – Paris was our oyster.

Postponing the honeymoon meant we could save up some money and take a trip we really wanted to take. After a lot of waffling back and forth, we finally booked a 10 day trip in Paris and Amsterdam.

Before we knew it, we were arriving at the last stop on our LA to the Bay Contiki trip – San Francisco. 

I’d never heard of Bass Lake before taking the LA to the Bay Contiki trip with my travel bestie, Sophie.

We’d be travelling from Las Vegas to Bass Lake, spending a night in a cabin, and then heading to Yosemite National Park for a day of hiking and gorgeous views.

I never really had a desire to go to Vegas, until I visited with our LA to the Bay Contiki trip.

Then I caught the Vegas bug and wanted to go back.

Getting to visit the Grand Canyon for a couple of days with my travel bestie and our LA to the Bay Contiki trip truly was an incredible opportunity.

I’d never thought about travelling to Arizona. And then it was a destination on our LA to the Bay Contiki trip.

Now it’s one of my favourite states, and I can’t wait to go back one day.

I’d never had the desire to go to San Diego before my LA to the Bay Contiki trip, but friends, I get it now.

We had met both travelling solo for 3 weeks across Canada, but instantly became close friends, and we knew we wanted to do it again.

So we looked at some overlapping bucket list destinations and chose to go on Contiki’s LA to the Bay trip together.

Vancouver would be the final stop on our cross-Canadian Contiki trip.

It had been a long three weeks, but it was full of adventure and I was really bummed that it was coming to an end. 

Banff was probably the stop on our cross-Canada Contiki trip that I was most looking forward to visiting.

It was somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit, but never got around to it. Now I’d be driving through National Parks and seeing iconic Canadian landscapes with other solo travellers.

As a person who doesn’t drive myself, I don’t know if I’d ever have had the chance to explore Jasper, if I didn’t go with my cross-Canada Contiki group. But the advantages of having our tour bus and a group of new friends to travel with were undeniable.

The drive from Whistler to Sun Peaks was a long but gorgeous one.

Our Contiki bus hit the road, and immediately I knew that day’s activity would be watching the scenery. We lost phone signal as soon as we drove into the Rocky Mountains, forcing everyone to talk to one another.