Camp life with Grand Canyon Expeditions www.gcex.com usually follows a bit of a routine. Don’t worry, it’s a fun one. As you get off the raft after a day of river rafting on the Colorado River, everyone generally runs around the new campsite in search of their “tent spot”. Once everyone has dropped their backpacks and rain gear where they plan to squat for the night, it’s time to form a duffel line. Huh? A duffel line is when everyone gets into a line with every other person facing each other in order to expedite handing all the gear, sleeping bags, tents, etc. off the boat. Once everything is off the rafts, everyone sorts through the piles to find their designated gear bag, sleeping bag, and tent.

While the guides are setting up the kitchen and cooking dinner, everybody generally does their own thing. Most of the time, though, your camp routine would generally go like this:

• Set up your tents (that is, unless you’re sleeping under the stars. But even if you’re not, you’ll probably still want a place to change and put your stuff that’s sheltered in case it rains.) Set up your sleeping bags.
• Bathe in the river (It’s not as gross as it sounds . . . just do it quickly to avoid hypothermia! Ha ha, kidding, but it IS cold!)
• Hang out with friends
• Talk to the guides

My favorite thing to do during that time happened to be playing cards with my newly met friends. We taught each other a lot of new card games too, which was fun. One night one of the adults French braided a lot of the our hair for free.

The next part everyone loves: DINNER. Don’t be fooled with the term “camp food” either, everything the guides cook is AMAZING! From burritos to Asian night to salads to mashed potatoes to chicken, everything is great!

After dinner everyone washes their dishes and eats dessert, then there’s more time that’s completely up to you. You can read by flashlight, hang out and talk to your camp friends, or play “Canyon bocce ball.” This was SO MUCH FUN! It is like regular bocce ball but it more challenging since the beach areas we played it on are narrow and inclined. However, that made it more competitive and fun for my new friends and me!
Some nights were special since periodically the guides will tell a “bedtime story.” Sometimes it’s a story about the Grand Canyon that the guides have experienced themselves, or a story from a book about the Grand Canyon, or an entry from the journal of John Wesley Powell who was a pioneer of the Colorado River.

After a good night’s sleep (I highly recommend sleeping under the stars at least one of the nights — the stars are simply breathtaking), and a memorable wake up call of “HOT COFFEEEEEEEEEEE! YEEEEEHAWWWW!,” the routine begins again. Once you pack up your sleeping bag, get changed, pack up your tent and other miscellaneous gear, it’s down to breakfast. With a huge array of deeeeeeeeelicious breakfast foods, your tummy is likely to be happy for the start of the day.

After everyone has brought their gear down to the boats, it’s time to form another duffel line, but this time in the opposite direction. Once everyone’s stuff is on the rafts, the guides load on the groover, everyone gets on, and it’s the start of another daily adventure exploring the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, what the heck is a groover, right? Heh, well, the groover is the lovely nickname given to the lavatory . . . if you can call it that. Not to get into too much detail, but be warned: your options for Number 1 are the river or a bucket and your options for Number 2 are a metal box attached to a toilet seat called a groover. Delightful, right? Trust me, you’ll get used to it because there are so many other cool things to focus on during this beautiful, unforgettable adventure!

Altogether, camp life is really a blast, even though some parts may sound a little tedious. Trust me, the friends you’ll make and the great times you’ll have are well worth EVERY SINGLE MINUTE!

For more info on everything GCEX, and all the awesome adventures YOU could be having, check out their website:
www.gcex.com

The Canyon!

Me with Chiara!!

As you may know, a couple of months ago I interviewed Jennette McCurdy on the Nickelodeon All-Access cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines and now I have FINALLY written the long awaited interview with Big Time Rush’s Ciara Bravo. So without further ado, HERE IT IS!!!
We first started asking Ciara about the most obvious topic at hand: travel, of course! She said that this is her first cruise with Nick and she was loving activities such as: the pool, Slime Time Live (getting covered in green goop on the sports deck), and watching various shows and performers, including a comedic magician. She is from Kentucky, so she has travelled all around the South and also to Florida and California for filming.

Speaking of filming, Ciara mentions that her yearly schedule consists of spending six months filming in California, followed by six months back home in Kentucky. On a normal work day, she wakes up at 8 a.m., goes to hair, makeup, wardrobe and then it’s off to filming. By law, she must have 3 hours of tutoring per day, which is sometimes carried out in 20 minute blocks, and it takes some getting used to.
On days when she’s not working, Ciara has to do six hours of math and biology tutoring. For fun, she enjoys teaching herself how to play guitar and piano, horseback riding, and learning French.

As for Big Time Rush, Ciara feels that she is similar to her character, Katie, in the way that she loves her family, but is also slightly sarcastic and devious. However, she feels that she is more unlike Katie than like her. Ciara said that overall Katie is an enormously fun character to play.

The story of how Ciara got the opportunity to play this sweet yet wonderfully sassy and adorable little girl is actually quite interesting. When Ciara was only in fourth grade, she signed with an agent in Cincinnati, Ohio, who brought her to the Dallas Talent Expo, which brought her and her mom to California. There, Ciara signed with another agent and had to travel back and forth between California and Kentucky for four years until finally being matched with her current part. To continue this story, Ciara would like to start acting in movies and having guest parts on more dramatic television shows such as CSI in the future.
Of course, I just had to ask: do you know any other stars, Nickelodeon or otherwise? It turns out that Ciara’s list of celebrity acquaintances includes: Justin Bieber, Leon Thomas, Jennette McCurdy, Madison Pettis, and, my personal favorite, Russell Brand.
At the end of the interview, Ciara left us with these words of wisdom: follow your dreams, no matter how crazy they are or what anybody tells you and NEVER GIVE UP!!

If you’d like to find out more about this summer’s Nick All-Access cruise — which will be in the Mediterranean and will again feature SpongeBob’s Tom Kenny — check out Norwegian Cruise Line’s website: www.ncl.com

Here’s TTT’s inteview:

SpongeBob: Tom Kenny = SB
Patrick: Bob Fagerbakke= P
Teen Travel Talk=TTT

TTT: What kind of family travel do you do?

SB: I have a seven-year old girl and 13 year old boy. So I have a hard time finding something that pleases both demographics. My son is good at taking one for the team.

P: When you get away from the home routines and the electronic trappings, you can really connect with your teens.

SB: It’s great on vacation when internet and cell phones don’t work ….you can return to the 19th century….without the scurvy! It’s like being on a tall ship but without your skin turning yellow!

TTT: So is all your lingo sea oriented since you live under the sea?

SB: The creator of the show Steve Hillenburg is very sea savvy – he was a marine biologist and he knows all that sailing stuff like tying sailor’s knots. So there’s been a trickle down effect.

P: Arrrgggg….

P: Tom knew Steve before SpongeBob.

SB: Yeah, “Rocco’s Modern Life” was an early ’90s Nick toon and Steve was the creator/director on the show. It was one of my first voice over shows and when he pitched his show he remembered me. SpongeBob actually came about because when he was working at a marine institute near San Diego and he drew a comic book for the kids explaining some of the marine terms. Some of the characters in that booklet morphed into SpongeBob characters. There is a SpongeBob comic book on the stands now and has a bit of the original marine biology comic book in it. It’s interesting to see the germ of it and how it grew into SpongeBob.

TTT: SO did he remember your voice?

SB: We laughed at the same things and liked the same things comedically.

TTT: Where did the idea of underwater squirrel come from?

SB: Terrestial zoology?!?! Laughter…

SB: He literally wanted a fish out of water since all the other characters are fish.

TTT: Speaking of a fish out of water, sometimes teens feel like they’re fish out of water.

SB: That was the best segway ever!

P: Yeah

TTT: What were you guys like as teens?

P: I was Richie Cunningham – I lived “Happy Days.” I was in sports, sang in the choir, drove a Chevy, had a great time during high school.

SB: Like American Graffiti.

P: I was lucky to have loving and supportive parents

SB: SpongeBob is really a series about being an oddball yet fitting in. I always felt that’s one of the more powerful things about SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy – that they are very individual and sort of bizarre in their own ways yet they let their freak flag fly. That’s really what SpongeBob is about: yeah, you’re weird, yeah you’re dedicated to things that others don’t understand – like cooking at the Krusty Krab where you’re unpaid and undervalued – and I think teens feel a lot like that too. That’s how my teenage years were. I was fairly out of the main stream but I had enough close friends who were successes.

P: Tom was really accomplished at a young age.

SB: Yeah, when I was a teen and saw Saturday Night Live on TV and SCTV (sketch program that’s not on anymore) it blew my mind. My friend and I at 16 years old went into a local bar and said “Hey it’s Tuesday night and no one’s in here. How about you let us start a comedy night? We guarantee you’ll have at least 3 people in here!” The comedy show went on to become a really successful local thing in Syracuse, NY. It was packed and sold out all the time.

So in high school, by accident, I already knew what I wanted to do. Having that early encouragement – especially my parents who were very loving and encouraging – really helped. I also played in rock and roll bands locally with older guys. My teenage years were unusual but I was not a nerd or outcast and I didn’t get beat up by everybody since I was the guy with the glasses on!

My humor saved me from having to perform in sports, which was my greatest source of terror! The other kids would say, “Yeah, let’s have him on our team. He stinks but he’ll make us laugh!”

TTT: Were you a class clown?

SB: Yes, in high school I was a class clown. In grammar school I was too shy but was funny to a few select friends. I eventually become the class clown’s writer. I would write jokes for the class clown who eventually in high school said to me “I know of a stand-up comedy show you should be in.” Then that class clown went on to become a well known comedian. And I’m making a living doing what I love to do. So again, being the square peg really paid off – as in, following your passion – just because you like it. For no other reason than you love it and it speaks to you and you want do it as much as you can.

P: I was a painfully earnest, play it down the middle, the square peg in the square hole.

SB: But you were the football player who liked to act so that was different.

P: Yes, there was versatility there. That’s what concerns me with teenagers now because I feel that teens now are more prone to be pigeon holed. I see teens who are pressured just to play one sport and I think that’s wrong. It should not be about “you’re going to be in the Olympics” but it’s about experiencing new things and new people and different skill sets. That’s what teens should hope and go for. My advise to teens is don’t feel you’re trapped in one thing because you’re good at it.

SB: To me the tragic thing is a teen who’s not interested in anything. I talk to some kids who are only passionate about wii. Well I guess if you want to be a designer of electronics, then it’s a good thing. I was a big fan of comics but that was because I wanted to be a comedian.

TTT: That’s why we are passionate about family travel …

SB: Because it’s so educational, fun and different and you get outside of the Facebook culture. I think travel is good for the bonds between siblings too and you escape the trappings of the home issues.

TTT: Where do you like to travel with your kids?

P: We went to London, Spain, Portugal (19 and 17 year old girls). We’ve done annual camping trips which were great – whole different kind of thing. The one thing I regret not doing more of was car trips. There’s something about car trips – they’re hideous yet great. We’ve done just a little of train travel.

SB: This summer we’re going on the Nick Mediterranean cruise – we’ll go a couple of weeks early to explore Europe by land before the next Nick cruise there.

Your first thought as you grudgingly board the massive Norwegian Jewel is “Okay…let me first find the teen club,” where you are pleasantly surprised. ‘Club Underground’ (modeled after an NYC subway station-graffiti and all!) offers an expansive agenda of activities such as ship-wide scavenger hunts, photo shoots, Rock Band and other Wii games, and viewing performances at the Stardust Theater as a group, not to mention all the friends you’ll meet.

As you begin to secretly believe that you’ll enjoy this vacation, that realization only doubles when you view the Freestyle Daily (agenda of all the activities that the ship has to offer on a daily basis). You see nightly karaoke, rock-paper-scissors tournaments, iCarly and Big Time Rush premieres (hosted by the stars!), Beatles cover bands, a basketball court, a pool with a water slide and hot tub, and the opportunity to “GET SLIMED” as just a few of the many various (and surprisingly entertaining) activities offered onboard. You start to mentally plan a week of shows, games, and “Family Improv”- a combination of the two.

Now, what is this “Family Improv” of which I- a mere, humble mortal- speak? Why, it is a show of sorts where the notorious “Splat Pack,” with much help from the audience calling the shots, performs a series of hilarious playful skits. Not to mention the most you’ll laugh during the entire week!

Although you still manage to act too mature for this childish vacation in front of your parents and little brother, there’s still one indulgence you can’t resist- SPONGEBOB! Yes, with Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) and Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick- your parents might recognize him from the TV show Coach), and their band “The High Seas”, you can watch them perform all your SB favorites, including “The Best Day Ever” and “Don’t Be a Jerk: It’s Christmas!”, secretly enjoying the high-pitched soundtrack of your childhood.

With all of this in mind, as you wave goodbye to NYC from the top deck, you take a deep breath, smile to yourself and think “I think I’m gonna have fun this week!”

In front of the NCL Jewel!

When asked about her traveling experiences with Nickelodeon, Jennette responded that this was her third Nick cruise, but her first with NCL; the other two had been with Royal Caribbean. She has also been to Canada to film her newest movie with Jerry Trainor, Best Player. This Nick movie premieres this Saturday, March 12. All of us aboard the Nick All Access cruise got to preview Best Player during our February cruise – I promise you that you’ll enjoy watching it on Nickelodeon!

Being an almost-New Yorker myself, I was pleased to find out that Jennette recently visited the Big Apple, stopping at famous places such as Dylan’s Candy Bar, F.A.O. Schwartz, the Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum, and the Museum of Natural History. She noted that she is fascinated by museums in general.

Of course, similar to TeenTravelTalk’s overall message, Jennette believes that travel is a great way for teens and parents to connect with each other, mostly because stress and tension that is usually present at home is usually gone when you’re traveling together as a family.

On a different subject, when asked about how she is or isn’t like her iCarly character Sam, Jennette said that she believes that “you always have to have a bit of your character in yourself and that can be expanded upon. I have older brothers so I have the tough aspect of Sam…..but I don’t push people into lockers (although sometimes I REALLY want to!). I’ve never been to juvie….I don’t eat as much as her because I don’t think I could consume that much without puking every day! I have a little more restraint than Sam. Oh, and my mom’s awesome!”

However, being a teen star isn’t all fun and games. According to Jennette, it feels like on weekdays she’s always working! Whether it’s makeup, hair, wardrobe, or shooting, days are sometimes endless! Although, when she does manage to find a few minutes to herself, she enjoys reading and learning about crew members’ various jobs and tasks on set. On weekends, she enjoys figure skating because “it clears my head. I am also the biggest movie fan. I love going to movie theaters. I love the smell of the old carpets and cheap popcorn. I also love amusement parks and roller coasters.” She especially loves the Mall of America for its indoor roller coasters.

Speaking of which, throughout March Jennette will be trekking the U.S.A. on a cross-country mall tour. (Heaven, right girls?) For details on where you can see her go to: http://www.jennettemccurdy.com/appearances.html

I also asked her about any other Nick stars that’s she’s close with and they include: Nathan Kress, Ciara Bravo of Big Time Rush (also stay tuned for an upcoming TeenTravelTalk.com interview with Ciara!), and most of the cast of Victorious.

However, some of these stars may not be as lucky as Jennette is when it comes to age placement of their characters. Jennette believes that “When iCarly is over we’ll all be aged out the same way (as we are in real life). The writers have matured us in a good, honest way. The producer always asks us what’s going on in our daily lives because he wants to keep it true to real life. I hope to keep acting and continue on working on music and recording.”

Although I understand what Jennette is saying here, I still hope for iCarly to have a long life!

Jennette was really very energetic and fun yet inspiring. Her final words were those of advice to us teens:

“Live by the quotes of people who’ve done greater things than you can ever imagine. I’m obsessed with them and I find such solitude by reading them. It really just helps to read quotes by really anyone…even Dr. Seuss! They put things into words that we can’t formulate and I love it that someone knows what I’m talking about and feeling, even when I don’t.”

With that, our time was up. Stay tuned for more Nick interviews with Ciara Bravo (Katie of Big Time Rush), Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob Square Pants), and Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick Star, Spongebob’s partner in crime)!

Me with Jennette and Luisa!

• Do you have required summer reading? Tackle that, a few chapters at a time. (Hint: If you begin to feel carsick, just have a sip of water and look out the window.)
• Listen to an iPod or portable CD player and jam to your favorite tunes!
• Bring a notebook and jot down a story, poem, or just doodle!
• Although they shouldn’t be played ALL the time, portable video game systems can be amusing.
• Play a “car game.” See if you can find all the letters of the alphabet on highway signs, or who can spot the most state license plates.
• Hand games such as “Slide” and “Miss Mary Mac” are always entertaining, as long as you don’t annoy the driver!
• Remember that having a conversation with other people in the car can keep you occupied, too!
Remember these tips going to and coming from your destination, and have an awesome vacation! (Ha ha, unintentional rhyme!)