The American Dream: How To Turn Your California Road Trip Into The Adventure Of A Lifetime

When I was 11 years old, Britney Spears released her debut movie ‘Crossroads’ and I vowed to go on a road trip across the United States of America someday. But while travelling by car across the entirety of the States might’ve been a bit of a stretch for me 14 years later, exploring almost all of California was doable in the three weeks I had free.

Like most holidays, it began with a lot of planning. I started doing some research into the best airlines to fly long-haul with and came across Air New Zealand and its rather snazzy sounding 'Space Seat’ in Premium Economy. Complete with two three-course meals and unlimited drinks and snacks (that I could order through my screen along with instant messaging over passengers on the plane, if you feel the need), it was a dreamy way to start my trip.

Some 12 hours later, I landed on Californian soil and was able to get a shuttle directly from LAX airport to my designated car rental branch, where I opted to spare no cost in a bid to look as cool as possible and hired a gorgeous white, convertible Mustang. After all, if I was going to pretend that I was Britney Spears circa 2002 for 21 days I was certainly going to do it in style.

The route that I planned saw me go from Los Angeles to Big Sur via Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco, driving six hours along the Route 66 coastline before returning to London. I managed to squeeze almost everything I wanted to in - and learnt a fair few things along the way…

Have A Base For Your First Week

When the time came to book up our accommodation for this trip, I knew that the first, jet-lagged and overwhelming week was probably going to be the hardest. I had heard that it’s well worth spending a good chunk of time in Los Angeles as boasts so many must-see sights and stop-offs, so I booked The Dixie Hollywood in LA, a safe, convenient and affordable location that I had stayed in before and knew would suit me.

In the six nights I stayed in Hollywood, I managed to tick off almost every one of the destinations I had hoped to visit including the Griffith Observatory for the Hollywood Hills hike, The Grove, the Walk of Fame and Beverly Hills as well as spending days in Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Malibu.

Treat Yourself To Some Luxury

I’m by no means a secret millionaire. However, this was a once in a lifetime trip and neither me or my travel buddy wanted to spend it worrying about money. This was the one and only time that we’d be seeing every corner of California and that meant that if we wanted to do something we’d do it without worrying about the cost (within reason).

This also extended to our hotels, although we had our fair share of 'Just-One-Nights’ (more on that later), we also booked ourselves a guaranteed gorgeous place to stay for a couple of nights each week.

Lake Tahoe, for instance, was slap bang in the middle of our trip and straight after our stint in Yosemite, where we were travelling a lot and staying in various dodgy places, which is why we wanted something to look forward to when we reached the absolutely humongous lake.

Cedar Glen Lodge

Cedar Glen Lodge caught my attention as it had numerous 5-star reviews on Tripadvisor despite 'officially’ being a two star hotel. And I wasn’t disappointed. In addition to immaculate rooms, quaint decor, a swimming pool and a jacuzzi, the sandy-white beach on Lake Tahoe was just a couple of minutes walk away.

However, my personal highlight of Cedar Glen Lodge was the fact that the staff left out everything that you needed to make S'mores by the lit fire pit each night.

Cedar Glen Lodge

San Francisco was one of the last places that we visited before heading home and we were booked into the incredible Scarlet Huntington Hotel. The brilliant location put us right in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39, where we were able to get a ferry over to Alcatraz and Angel Island as well as marvel at the sea lions.

The hotel also had a spa, relaxation pool and hot tub, which I decided to utilise on our first night as I was exhausted from a ridiculously early start.

The Scarlet Huntington

The Scarlet Huntington

I also made full, photo-op use of the Pulp-inspired disco wall at Hotel Shangri-La during our stay in Santa Monica, with the hotel donning an impressive rooftop bar for us to watch the sun set.

The hotel was perfectly placed a short walk away from the famous promenade and pier, giving us a well-deserved break from the car as we used our legs to explore the local area before getting our beauty sleep in comfort, and with an incredible view to wake up to.

Hotel Shangri-La

Eat, Eat, EAT

There is a reason that Americans are known for their food and let me tell you, you don’t want to be crossing across any part of the country without taking the time to enjoy the incredible cuisine that is on offer.

From the delightfully quaint diners that serve every kind of breakfast you could ask for to the big chains such as iHop, who make the fluffiest pancakes you’ll ever taste, there is definitely something for everybody; we spent some days gorging on the West Coast’s infamous fast-food restaurant In-N-Out and also had days where we made a pilgrimage to the Kardashians’ favourite salad joint, Health Nut, and made use of the copious juice bars that were at our feet.

Pretending to be Kim Kardashian at Health Nut

California is also a great state to enjoy food because it is so close to Mexico, meaning that the Mexican food is out of this world, and it is also along the coast, which makes access to fresh seafood as easy as can be.

One place that bridged these two things perfectly was a gorgeous restaurant in Malibu called the Carbon Beach Club, located inside Malibu Beach Inn, although we weren’t staying at the hotel we did enjoy an incredible three-course meal there after our day of watching surfers and soaking in the sun on the sandy shores of the beach.

The restaurant is situated right on the coast of Malibu and from our table on the terrace we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the beach whilst savouring the decadent and flavourful Mexican-inspired seafood.

The good food alone made the drive from Hollywood to Malibu well worth taking but it was also a great experience for us to see such a different part of the Californian coast when compared to the tourist-heavy hustle and bustle of the other busy seaside towns such as Santa Monica and Santa Barbara.

Talk To People

America truly is one of the friendliest nations in the world and one of my favourite parts of our road trip was having the opportunity to talk to so many different people. Conversation is welcomed and as we progressed in our trip we had been given so many useful tips from locals about where is worth visiting, when the best time to travel is, and even what parts of certain towns are best avoided.

As well as the chats we enjoyed around the fire pit at Cedar Glen Lodge, I’ll never forget when a man and his two young children called us over to the lake we were passing one evening, pointing out a real-life brown bear fishing just a few feet away from us on the other side. Together, we all stood and watched this majestic creature in its natural habitat and each one of us was equally awe-struck.

A slightly grainy picture of the bear - would you want to get any closer??

I also struck up a friendship with three guys from Missouri who were also enjoying a road trip through California and Nevada whilst staying in The Scarlet Huntington in San Francisco, with us all exchanging the best road-trip tips as well as educating one-another on our own home towns.

Heck, even our occasional Uber drivers revelled in telling us their own stories and we were always grateful to hear them - in short, don’t be afraid of new people, they are always more than willing to help and almost always happy to just have a chat.

Take A Moment

Sounds obvious, but take a couple of minutes each day to sit back and soak up the views.

Don’t spend so much time taking photos of Lake Tahoe that you don’t actually have the memory of swimming in it and the fresh feeling of the crisp water on your skin. Don’t be too preoccupied with getting the perfect Instagram shot of the Yosemite mountains that you don’t sit for a while and simply take in the magnificent view. Don’t be so concerned with getting the most perfect, clearest, shot of a wild animal mere feet away from you that you don’t actually realise what it looks like when you aren’t looking through a screen.

This is a trip that you will probably only make once and being an active participant in your adventure will leave you with much more lasting memories than simply looking at it all.

But obviously take a whole load of photos as well… This is something that you will definitely want framed on your mantelpiece.

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