Here at Another World Adventures, we love to think of inspirational ways to experience the world. Here our guest blogger Natalie Pougher tells us about a road trip that began a lifelong love of travel. 

A great American road trip was a long-held dream, and trading in the traditional route across Asia for a four month- road trip around North America and Canada was the beginning of a love affair with travel that has lasted decades. 

Throwing your backpack into the boot of a van and sliding into the front seat with 12 strangers travelling alongside you, proved to be an unforgettable travelling joy. From van to bus to car – choosing a road-trip and slowly travelling across Northwest America and British Colombia in Canada, lent myself and my travelling companions a type of freedom and delight that created priceless memories.  

Why was it so good?  

1. Off the Beaten Track– One thing you notice driving across North America is quite how vast the country is. We started in the North- Western state of Washington and it took 10 hours of driving to arrive at our first campsite. Having a vehicle meant we could admire the rolling film set outside the window, whilst also affording us the freedom to stop and explore at any interval. We reached areas that we would not have found, had we flown from city to city. Watching a multi-coloured sunset from Dead Horse Point in Utah, after an off-road drive and then a short hike was truly unforgettable. 

2. Making friends – The joy of a road trip, whether you choose to travel in a van or coach with many new travel companions or a car with just you and your best mate is that long journeys mean conversations, laughter, games and maybe the odd sleep (if you aren’t driving of course). As part of my Great American Road Trip, we travelled with 12 strangers in a van for a month, then spent 3 weeks on a hop on – hop off bus in British Colombia meeting fellow travellers along the way, and finally travelled by car, just the two of us, down the centre of the US. Meeting people from across the world, laughing over campfires, watching sunsets, and getting lost on many occasions was a perfect opportunity to make friends and memories. 

3. Wildlife spotting – For the first part of our road trip, we were camping in the National Parks of Northwest America. Travelling from one campsite to another, we got to have some pretty close encounters with local wildlife from black bears (far too close to our tent), to marmots, wolves, a golden eagle, coyotes, chipmunks and even meeting a Bison in the middle of our driving path in Yellowstone National Park. The natural environment of North America, with the great swathes of mountains to the stone architecture and desert of the Canyonlands were the greatest surprise and joy of this road trip. 

4. Adventure – From white water rafting in Montana, to skydiving in British Colombia and hiking down the Grand Canyon. Our road trip offered the opportunity to mix adventure with a capital A alongside those unexpected moments (seemingly small yet all part of the adventure moments) that make a trip unforgettable: arriving in Memphis at 6am to find the only Diner open for pancakes, reaching the top of the Grouse Grind in Vancouver to walking the streets of Soho New York on a summers’ day.   

Another World Adventures has an array of adventures you can take in Alaska and Canada – even a road trip camping adventure in Alaska!

Take a look, hit the road, and see where it takes you. 

Written by: Natalie Pougher