Grand Grand Canyon

The day started so early and the fact that i slept at 1am did not help HAHA. Woke up at 5 and met the tour company’s bus at 545am. My cousin and I had used Grayline (Tour company) during my earlier tour at Kennedy Space Center (Orlando) and they were wonderful, so no surprises that they gave a great service during this 15-hour tour as well. After being picked up by the bus, they transferred us to another location where we were checked into our various tours as there were different parts of the Canyon that one could go to. I was heading to the Southern Rim, so they checked me into that tour. They also tried to sell some VIP packages which was really tempting but due to the budget nature of my travels i had to resist. The first stop on the tour was the Hoover Dam. We stopped at a bridge that was situated over the dam so we had a spectacular view of the dam. It was so much bigger than i had imagined it to be! After snapping some great photos and burning the image of the dam into my memory, the tour was on the road again. While i slept (It was pretty tough to sleep as the guy sitting next to me was snoring so loudly :/) for some parts of the 2.5 hour ride, i was awake to witness some of the beautiful landscapes that we were passing. Vast open land for miles on end! By 12pm we had arrived at our lunch venue and after an hour lunch we were finally heading into the Canyon! This was were i met two fellow solo travelers that were sitting in front of me. My new friend Zala is a French lady (she’s 21 so we are about the same age!) who was travelling the west coast of the US and Robin is a resident of Rhode Island that was visiting the Canyon for the first time. It was really cool exchanging stories of our experiences and getting to know them. Zala was an absolute blessing as i had a new friend to explore the Canyon with , a friend who could take some great pictures for me (and Vice Versa) and it was really fun exploring the canyon with her! 🙂

The Grand Canyon was jaw-dropping. There is no word, description or picture that could accurately depict the beauty of actually seeing the Canyon firsthand. Just stunning. Zala and i walked for quite awhile and found this ledge that was perfect for viewing the Canyon unobstructed (not to mention get good photos). It was really worth the effort to climb down to the ledge (despite the apparent danger) as the view was so much better . There were some people who were sitting on other ledges that were so dangerous that i got scared just looking at them (managed to get a photo of them doing so). We spent quite some time on the ledge just soaking in what we were witnessing. After a couple of hours, our time at the Grand Canyon had ended and we were on a long, 5 hour ride back to the hotels. Making friends like Zala is one of the best perks of solo travelling (Thanks Zala, if you’re reading this HAHA). We met Robin back at the bus and the three of us had a nice long discussion on the way back for about two hours before we three got exhausted and knocked out on the bus. Eventually tho the tour had come to an end and we had to say our goodbyes. I hope our paths will cross again! It had been such an amazing day! Already looking forward to my next adventure in the Canyon when i do a road trip there in the coming years!