I'm originally from Wrexham, North Wales but i love to travel. I'm 12 (almost 13) and i now live in France with my big family. I have traveled to a lot of countries in Europe, but this story is about my trip to my dream place, the USA. We rented a Camper Van, to travel around San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Death Valley National Park, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon National Park, Route 66, Joshua Tree National Park, Los Angeles, Highway 1 along the coast, Big Sur, and Half Moon Bay. We spent just over 2 weeks on this trip, in a large 30ft RV perfect for six people. I had traveled a lot, but never before been in an RV, so this was amazing for me. We flew in to Oakland International Airport on Thursday 27th September. We made our way in a bus to our hotel Econo Lodge, and we stayed the night in a nice room. But because of Jet-Lag, we didn't sleep much, actually i didn't sleep at all, so i just spent the night watching TV. I'm normally not a very sleepy person, let alone with the added Jet-Lag. I finally fell asleep for about 2 hours, before waking up again realizing that it was time to go pick up the RV. At 12.00am we got an Uber, and he took us to the RV rental place. When we got in the RV, it was massive with 2 double beds, and 2 single beds. The table and chairs were we sat when driving was a sofa-bed. We then picked up the RV and made our way down to Half Moon Bay, California. were we spent 3 days seeing the beautiful dolphins, in their wild habitat, and also trying out fast food places we'd never been to. On the last day before we left for Yosemite, we had our first 'Dunkin 'Donuts ever. We were all so excited to leave for the 6h trip to Yosemite, because it would be our first long drive. We drove and finally got into the National Park at about 17.00pm, but it was still 2 hours to the RV park, and we started seeing lots of signs for bears and we got excited. We had some cereal when we were about an hour from the park and then the little ones fell asleep, as we started seeing signs for mountain lions! We finally arrived at the RV Park, and spent three days going on walks, and eating at the Yosemite National Park Restaurant where i had the best chili ever. Yosemite was amazing and it was sad to leave especially without seeing a bear, which i really wanted to see, but i will one day. We traveled 2 hours, before arriving at a sign that said Death Valley National Park, it was amazing as i also saw a sign saying Welcome to Nevada. we traveled hours into Death Valley until we finally came across a nice looking RV park, but i wouldn't know, because i was asleep. I woke up to the amazing sunrise and desert all around. I saw rabbits with unbelievably long ears, and the Death Valley Visitor Center. Death Valley was beautiful, and i even bought a t-shirt from the Visitor Center, but to make our trip work, we had to go straight through it to get to Grand Canyon National Park. But Death Valley wasn't over as we still hadn't seen Las Vegas and i didn't even realize we were there when we were. We were in the middle of the desert supposedly nobody for at least 50 miles, and that's when we came over a hill, and i saw a massive city that went on for miles. We passed Retail Park after Retail Park, gambling, poker, take everything you know about Las Vegas and it will be right. Just like "The Films". We weren't really planning on stopping in Las Vegas as we were eager to get to Grand Canyon, but we still went to shop at Walmart. We bought a lot, and spent about an hour in there. We also bought a big back of sweets, so i was happy. We then jumped back in the van, and left for the Grand Canyon. Again, we were all excited. It was still another 4 hours till we got there. I fell asleep at about 21.30pm and when i woke up, we were there. I was happy, and also excited to go to the Viewing Point. Where i would finally see the amazing Grand Canyon. I saw it and it was incredible. We went back to the camper van, and stayed there for about 2 hours before going to see the sunset. We got there on time (for once) and watched as the beautiful poured out as the sun went down. The next morning me and my mum woke up at 6.00am and went to see the beautiful sunrise. It was amazing. We then left and made our way down the coast to Santa Cruz along Highway 1. For me it's officially the best road I've ever driven on. We then arrived back at beautiful Half Moon Bay were we spent 3 days. I loved it there, we also saw the most incredible seals, they were beautiful! We watched as the dolphins danced along the coast and we ate at the restaurant ever, were i got a chili burger, and cheesecake (the restaurant was very expensive as i noticed the bill. That was our last day as we made our way back down the 40 minute drive to Oakland Airport, where we got Burger King as we got ready for our 10 hour flight home. At 20.00pm we boarded the flight and i watched a film (Kong Skull Island.) We then flew home back to Barcelona Airport.

I suffered from Anxiety. But now i'm over it, here's my story: I was nervous, i felt like i couldn't breath properly, but no matter how much people told me that it was all in my head, i just couldn't listen. I was worried, i felt like everyone around me was against me, and that nobody would listen to me, no matter how much my parents did. Having anxiety sounds wimpy, and stupid until you have it. It's terrifying, like all the bad emotions, and the bad thoughts are closing in on your brain. And unless you fight it, anxiety always wins. You don't want to go outside, and you don't even feel safe inside your own home, the place where you normally feel the safest. I have realized, that anxiety normally closes in on you, when you move to a new place, and for me it lasted about 1 to 2 years. And now it's over, i feel so relieved that i fought it, and won. The littlest of things can give you anxiety. My main causes were Big Cities, Being without my parents during things like School, Clubs/Football Practice, and Night time, going to bed was a real fear, and even though it was all in my head, i remember feeling like my throat was swelling up, so i couldn't breathe. It scares me, when i think about it and when i remember what happened. How it all started: It was one night, and my mum had a meeting two minutes down the road from my house, so my mum went, and i stayed with my dad and my brother and my two sisters. I lived in the countryside and just a year before that, we had moved from North Wales to the South of France. I was happy that we moved to France, but i also missed the UK. My mum had gone to the school, and was supposed to get back at about 21.00pm. But i didn't know that and so when she was gone for over an hour, i started to get worried about where she had gone, but my Dad couldn't really help, because he had never seen me like this before. I was in a state, i felt like i could barely breathe, even though now i realize that it was all in my head. At about 21.00pm i had to go to bed, so i nervously walked up the stairs, to my room, where after about ten minutes, i finally the relieving sound of my car, pull up on the gravel. And i can tell you that at that moment it felt better than ever! After that it all got worse, especially when i went to a big city called Toulouse after it all started. I felt circled by people, and buildings like they were all closing in on me, i felt scared. And at that moment the country side was heaven, empty fields, farm animals, mountains, small villages, and less people. If my parents were ever a little late to pick me up from school, i'd suddenly get scared, and even sometimes start to cry, but i was so worried i didn't care, even in front of my friends i'd start crying. But they'd understand, most people don't understand, because your parents being a little late, isn't that big of a deal, and now it's over i realize that. As i realize to the other people this didn't seem like much, but to me it was like the scariest horror film, but at least now i get it. It finally stopped ruffly two years after this incident, i just sort of grew out of it and now i'm, i recently visited some of the biggest cities in the world including Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, San Francisco, Oakland, and Las Vegas! My dream was always to go and live in the city, and so know it feels really good to be able to do so again. I now have a lot of hobbies, i still do football practice, and I've recently realized that i'm pretty good, at writing and I've been entering lots of competitions. My dogs are very good at keeping me company, and i also like inviting friends over, they also keep me company, but my anxiety has officially cleared up now. I really hope nobody else has to deal with it, because it is the most terrifying feeling in the world, and you're always scared of everything.