Trip Planning

Once my contract is done at camp, I get a 30 day "grace period" as part of my visa.  This is 30 days in which I can travel before I have to leave America.  Once these 30 days are up, I have to leave the country.  I can't work during this time though.

The other English counsellor has a trip planned with a travel agency - it sounds really cool but also more expensive than I can afford.

I hope to see a lot of America, but only if I have the money to do so!  I might end up spending the month on my friends' farm in Iowa...we shall see.

As I have recently been to Chicago  I find myself desperately wanting to travel some more.  Thus I have begun planning my "ideal" 30 day trip.  I don't know how much of it is possible, but with a month still to go, a girl can dream!

Now there's a big Star Wars convention in Florida on August 23rd, which I would love to go to (I'm a big Star Wars geek).  Also, I have several friends currently working at Walt Disney World, Florida.  On top of all of this, I have friends living in Florida who have offered me a place to stay.  All this added together, and Florida is looking very appealing.

The issue with this is...I've been to Florida. I worked at Disney for 3 months in 2009.  It's my dream to visit every state in America, so Florida doesn't fit the criteria of "someplace new".  This poses a slight problem...

I'd already been toying with the idea of travelling America on the train, similar to how I travelled around Europe a few years ago.  I've emailed Amtrak (train company) asking what my options are in terms of my specific plans.  It seems like a good way to see a lot of the countryside, with more freedom than travelling by plane.  Plus it has a certain air of nostalgic romanticism about it.

The final day I'm needed at camp is August 7th, so I have from the 8th until the 22nd to get to Florida.  I could spend 2 weeks meandering my way across America from Indianapolis to Orlando...

I could, potentially, go to: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa (stop by to see my friends), Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia then Florida!

Well, maybe not all that in 2 weeks...that's a little unrealistic...but I could.  Of that list I've been to Indiana (obviously), Wisconsin and Iowa, so that would be 11 new states, eleven!  I could jump off the train in a city in each state, then jump back on again and keep going!

How cool would that be?!


So that, my dear readers, is the ideal.

I don't know how I'd fit all that in to the time I have, how I'd afford it all, or even if it's possible...but it would be so so cool if I could.

I'm going to go dream my travel filled dreams!