I'm sitting here at my laptop and it's heading towards 3 am on Sunday morning in the UK. Why am I still awake? Well, apart from the obvious... that I am writing... the less obvious is that I am suffering from jetlag. You see I've been away for almost 2 weeks in California and the 8 hour time difference (both California and the UK have sprung forward due to daylight saving) is playing havoc with my sleep.

My jetlag is driving me loopy. I touched back down on British soil Friday lunchtime...finally slept at 4 am-ish Saturday morning... woke 6 hours later and had to take youngest to a birthday party. Then went to the supermarket afterward. Got home at 5 pm shattered, went for a lie-down, and woke at 8 pm. Made dinner, ate very late. And now I am somewhere between tired and awake...not tired enough to sleep but not sure how awake enough I am to write. Tomorrow (Sunday)...hmmm...that would be today already right??? Another kid's birthday party...aargh...the joys lol. At the party on Saturday, the hostess, a friend of mine, pressed a glass of prosecco into the palm of my hand just after midday... that felt strange... for me, it still felt like 5 am, and I don't touch much alcohol. A potential recipe for disaster but I managed to remain sensible (although I did trip over an outdoor sofa backward, after catching my foot lol... and fortunately ended up on another sofa - nothing to do with the alcohol and everything to do with a very very tired Sam!)

A few people have asked me to write a post on my trip to California and this is where it already gets tricky for me... I mean, I had just the best time while I was there because it was so much more than I could ever have hoped for it to be... so it should be easy to write about, right???

But, it was also a very personal experience, a personal trip, one filled with introspection, self-reflection, renewal, precious friendship, special moments and memories, and I can't just hold a mirror up to it all... but I will give you a taste of some of it, show you some pics of where we went, and share a few of my thoughts.

So, initially, the trip to California... my trip to California... was going to be a road trip with my family in my 50th birthday year, something I had decided on a few years back. I had started researching options to fly into San Fran and fly out of LA and made a shortlist of what I wanted to see and do with my hubby and my kids. Then covid hit and all the planning and dreaming had to be placed on hold. I have a few parts of the States that I would like to visit (mostly because of the Mountain ranges and National Parks in those areas) and it was the mountains, the Redwood forests, National Parks, and the coastline of California that were the huge drawcard for me. You see, I am not a big city person, even though I have enjoyed visits to many cities around the globe in my lifetime. I prefer to spend my time in nature, in local communities, experiencing the things that bring me the greatest joy and the greatest sense of peace... and my happy place is always in the mountains💗

Then a few months back @dreemsteem and @dreemport held a travel challenge over several weeks where we all got to write about places we would like to visit in the world once travel opened up again. This got quite a few people excited at the prospect of leaving the borders of their own country and experiencing the joy of holidays abroad again. A few of us decided to meet up in California with the winners of the Dreemport Challenge contest. It was going to be a mini-meet of 6 dreemers together with @dreemsteem's family. Well, one by one, for personal reasons, people started dropping out until I was the only one left flying to California. It was a little daunting and I considered postponing or canceling too as it did not seem fair to impose but I was encouraged to go through with the trip by Dreems, and so I did... and it was just the very best decision❣️

I arrived in LA on 12th March after a long flight from London and literally crashed as soon as I got to my hotel (well after eating a Vietnamese take away from Uber eats!)

I spent the first Sunday morning between Venice Beach and Santa Monica. I took an uber to the beach and just sitting on the dunes at Venice Beach, watching the ocean roll in with only a few people around was bliss😍. Walking afterward down the promenade of beach shops was the bliss of a different kind. I swear I must have passively smoked at least half a dozen splifs... I could not escape the smell of weed, much as I tried. It was pervasive 😣😂It was great, however, to see the range of activities at the beach from basketball to handball, a skate park, cycling, running, rollerblading... lots of people getting active and having fun.

I managed after a huge effort and a relatively unfriendly encounter with a bus driver (which may have had something to do with me stopping his bus in the middle of the road haha), to get a ticket for the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus and took it to Santa Monica Pier. This is not the picture-postcard experience that you see advertised. It was a heaving pile of bodies, blocking almost every spare piece of the boardwalk and pier real estate. Sure there was the rollercoaster and the big wheel, and the official end of Route 66... but it was a bit meh for me. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I jumped on another tour bus and took in the sights of LA. Some interesting bits and pieces but again... the veneer of Tinseltown covers up a huge array of misfortune, poverty, homelessness, and grime. Beverley Hills into West LA itself seems very dated and not particularly engaging. Like most cities, beautiful homes are juxtaposed against the sad sight of homeless beggars on almost every corner. It's the reality of LA viewed close up.

I ended Sunday by hopping off the bus at the end of its line on Hollywood Blvd, checking out some of the stars on the Walk of Fame, and doing a spot of shopping in a tourist shop. I had hoped to stay on the bus as it loops around and then catch an uber from a stop closer to my hotel near LAX, but the bus driver took an extended break😲. I was so tired at that point that I spent around 2 hours in the shop and had a security guard approach me three times to see if I was ok. I eventually paid for my purchases and took an uber back to the hotel. I was so so very tired.

Monday morning and @dreemsteem picked me up from my hotel together with @bbqgriffinwings, @quirky.countess and her friend. It felt like reconnecting with an old friend 💗 We had so much fun visiting Universal Studios for the day. The tour of the Studios was really interesting and fun (scary at times too - they have a weirdo armed with a "knife" at the Bates Motel set that scared the crap out of us!). I think my favourite ride was the Harry Potter one inside Hogwart's castle. It was an incredible 4D experience and one which I highly recommend. We were all super tired at the end of the day but still drove back to Hartland in Central California (4.5 hours), stopping only for gas and yummy gluten free vegan pizza hehe.

Over the next 10 days I was very fortunate to take in many views of the local mountains (Sierras) as well as visit King's Canyon, The Sequoia National Park, Lake Kaweah, Three Rivers, Hume Lake, Fresno, and Exeter. Some pictures with brief details are below.

This river was down a scramble from the road above

@bbqgriffinwings treated us to an impromptu set in the outdoors - it was beautiful

The murals in Exeter - there are murals painted on many of the town's walls with secret hidden things to find in the pictures. It was a fun way to walk around the little town!

I think he deserves a post all to himself hahaha.

The best part of the whole holiday? @dreemsteem and her family hands down (@biggerjoe, @bbqgriffinwings, and @quirky.countess). I have said it before and I will say it again. I just feel so blessed. I got to spend so much time walking, talking, cooking, laughing, and chilling with my beautiful friend and her family. I carry many special memories in my heart. I feel spiritually renewed too - lots of quiet time to myself in the late evenings in my lodge room when there was no internet to distract me. Connection is everything and God has blessed me more on this trip than I could ever have dreamed possible.

The lodge at Hartland where I stayed during my trip - so peaceful

A comfy resting spot on a walk around the camp

How I feel now?

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same. source

I already miss seeing my friend @dreemsteem in person and I look forward to that time in our future when we can once again sit down together in the same timezone. Until then, thankfully we have discord and WhatsApp lol.

For now, I have come home to my beautiful family, other close friends, my writing, and writing communities to focus on, and a plan to live my life more joyfully and intentionally than ever before... with lots of visits to the mountains to be written in to my future.

All photos are my own or those of @dreemsteem and are used with permission.

Dreemport banner used with permission of @dreemport and @dreemsteem and designed by @jimramones