A stroll along Hollywood Boulevard, catching a Broadway show, a flight over the Grand Canyon, and putting $10 on red at a Las Vegas casino.

An example of four well known, and absolute must do, American experiences. However, why not take a little side step away from the crowd to try your hand at something a little different while you’re in the USA?

This is a country that is hugely vast, not only in size, but in opportunities for adventure too. Here are 8 examples of some alternative USA experiences that you’ll never forget.

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Our Experts are back, and they’re full to bursting with tonnes of travel tips and advice they’re just dying to share with you!

Every week on this very blog, our super knowledgeable Travel Experts step up to answer a travel question sent in by one of our perplexed blog readers. If you’d like us to put your question to the Experts drop us an email now with the details, and it will be answered right here on the blog very soon!

This week’s question comes from Jennifer, who’s looking to take her travel adventures beyond Europe.

Hi, I’m a lone traveller, not particularly young, but have travelled all my life, mostly through Europe. Do you have any suggestions of other places outside of Europe that I could go? Nothing too simple/basic though please as I like to travel comfortably. Jennifer.

Say no more Jennifer, Amy is on the case. Let’s see what she’s got up her sleeve for you…

Yosemite National Park.

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While New York and San Francisco might steal the headlines, the Northwest USA serves up an alternative vantage point on the United States of America.

With sensational backdrops, and a seasonal climate comparable to our beloved Britain, it’s often cited as a refreshing change to a country that’s still misunderstood as a destination.

Coming up, I’ll be laying down a hearty High Five to the upper-west-side of the USA, and hopefully opening your eyes to a whole new swathe of opportunity.

Don’t forget, the High Five series is here each and every week, featuring a different region every single time. If you’d like to see a particular place featured in the High Five Hall of Fame, simply slam it in the comments below and we’ll see what we can do.

OK, cow/horse boys/girls, buckle up, because we’re about to gallop across one of the world’s most unsung regions: Northwestern USA. Let me know what you think.

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Hostels are great. As a traveller, they provide us with a base that’s comfortable, sociable and fun (hostels are the best place to meet other travellers) and, almost always, centrally located right next to the very things we’ve come to see. Best of all; they’re cheap. Happy days.

I’ve met some of my best travelling pals in hostel dorms, and as anyone who’s ever stayed in university halls will tell you, sometimes you can meet the people who will go on to become your best friends, simply by being thrown together.

However, lets not gloss over the fact that sometimes hostel living can be testing. Drunken screeching at 3am, strangers snoring and farting, other peoples smelly trekking boots at the end of your bed, but hey, it’s all part of the backpacking experience and you wouldn’t change it for the world right?

Here’s our guide to making friends when staying in hostels, and more importantly, keeping them!

Hostel Living: The Do’s and Don’ts!

I opened up the subject to our ever vocal Twitter community, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that this was a subject that got us all a little stirred up.

Below are my own top tips for being the perfect hostel dorm mate followed by some of the best from Twitter. If you’ve got any tips of your own – share them below!

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Tourism brings prosperity to previously impoverished areas of the world and provides locals with a way to make money and provide for their families. However, as travellers, it’s responsible of us to be aware of how our presence effects the local communities we come into contact with.

The basis of responsible tourism is, very generally, concerned with respecting the places you visit, minimising the impact you have on the surroundings as you pass through, and giving something back to the local communities.

You can find out more about how we at STA Travel are doing our bit towards becoming a more responsible travel provider on our website.

Small considerations we make while travelling can make all the difference to the communities we encounter on our trips and to the local environment.

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