A Tale of Two Cities

After spending three nights in the city I described as “Disneyland for adults, on crack” (just to confirm, the place is on crack, not the adults – that would be hugely irresponsible and a big no-no for visitors to The States); we were definitely ready for some chill time.

Slowing down took us to the Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose. I really wish we’d been able to spend a bit more time here as it really has got a lot to offer tourists, but we were just passing through to spend time with one of Richard’s cousins and her beautiful family. The drive from Vegas to San Jose took us nine hours and the biggest change for us was the decrease in temperature. We were exceptionally lucky to get such stunning weather in the northern hemisphere in November and it was by no means cold in Northern California, however there was a drop of about 4 degrees as we drove onwards and we really noticed it. The drive was sensational, I would highly recommend a Californian road trip to anyone who ever gets the chance, and for what felt like the first time since we got in the car, it was completely drama free!

Our time in San Jose was short, but very sweet. We had a home cooked dinner in the evening and a wine (or 5) and the next morning we had breakfast in Bill’s Cafe which was very good. All too soon it was time to move on again, but not before Rich unleashed his inner child and got far too excited to take a ride in the self-driving Tesla. I sat in the back, convinced we were going to die, but I think Rich actually enjoyed it more than Disneyland…

Our final stop on our tour of California was the beautiful San Francisco. We absolutely fell in love with San Fran and would love to go back one day. Because it had been at least 24 hours since we’d had some kind of fiasco, we decided to have our five-thousandth argument driving into San Fran. Honestly, this blog should probably be titled “How NOT To Travel, A Memoir.” I can absolutely, categorically state that driving in San Fran is a terrible idea and completely unnecessary as you can get practically anywhere on public transport. Fortunately we managed not to kill anyone, or ourselves, and it was time to return McQueen which started probably the most stressful hour of our entire lives as we tried to navigate the streets of San Fran and squeeze into the narrowest car park ever. With the car successfully back in the garage we set about trying to get to our hotel. We had somehow let our batteries die on our phones (probably through the relentless use of Google Maps to try and figure out where on earth we were) so were unable to book an Uber. We decided to walk down the street and try and find somewhere to charge our phones or that had free Wifi for the iPad. Struggling with our ridiculous sized suitcases, I again questioned why the blimin heck we hadn’t just bought backpacks. We noticed a Starbucks across the street and were just about to cross when a taxi seemed to appear out of nowhere and we thought our bacon was saved.

I have never been so glad to get out of a taxi in my entire life.

As he swerved in and out of traffic like some sort of deranged go-kart driver, he lectured us on how unsafe Uber drivers were and told us how sensible we were for taking his cab… Anyhoo, somehow we made it to the Hotel Zephyr in one piece. The hotel was very modern, but definitely geared towards a more backpacker type audience. It has a cute games room where we played lots of Connect 4 and Table Shuffleboard (although we pretty much made up our own rules) and fire pits in the yard where you can take your own drinks and snuggle. It is also exceptionally well located and you can walk to top tourist hotspots Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf in less than five minutes. Both places are definitely worth a visit and the seals are adorable, although I felt like we had a more authentic animal encounter in San Diego’s La Jolla.

Whilst we were in San Fran, Rich turned the ripe old age of 31 so we took advantage of that and “touristed” very hard. On day two, as a birthday treat I made him walk the four miles from our hotel to The Golden Gate Bridge. As it was his birthday, I was generous enough to let him have a breakfast beer at The Fort Mason markets before we charged on to Fort Point. It was a long walk in the sunshine and as usual we were pretty unprepared for it. We enjoyed the journey, but the last 5 or so minutes is pretty much all uphill and pretty gruelling. Even so, the bridge is a spectacular sight, and was well worth the effort. After the obligatory selfies with every other person in the area, we took an Uber to Union Square. Due to San Fran’s crazy roads, we ended up having to cross the bridge and back again – and were charged the toll fees for the privilege…

Union Square was great, it’s like a mini NYC. We decided to have a birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Other than being distraught that the waiting staff were not dressed like Penny and Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory, I really liked it. The portions are enormous and in hindsight we probably could have just shared a main. Rich was spared the embarrassment of being surrounded by staff singing Happy Birthday as we were too full for dessert, but they did give us a free cheesecake with a candle that we enjoyed back at the hotel. The final birthday “experience” was taking a San Fran tram home. Rich loved it, I was convinced I was going to die for the third time in less than 72 hours. Everyone should definitely give it a go at least once though.

On our final full day in America, we had a fairly quiet day, eating lunch overlooking the bay and in the evening had an awesome adventure over to Alcatraz. If you ever get a chance, you must visit Alcatraz and unfortunately many visitors miss out on this experience as it gets booked up months in advance and is fairly hard to arrive and just buy tickets on the day. Fortunately Richard’s cousin had warned us of this and it was one of the only things we had already booked back in the UK. As I’m a huge baby and scared of my own shadow, Rich thought it would be hilarious to book the nighttime tour… This actually turned out to be an awesome idea as it was a fairly small group with hardly any children (we’re not big fans of screaming kids on our adventures) and we got to see the most beautiful sunset overlooking San Francisco. We also witnessed a ‘moon rise’ which was equally stunning. The visitor experience at Alcatraz is very clever, each person has their own set of headphones and you listen to the story told by ex-prisoners and their guards. You are directed around the prison which means multiple people can experience a tour throughout the day as you’re not waiting for a guide. It is incredibly moving and somehow, having the story told to via headphones seems to feel more personal as if you’re the only one discovering these stories, even though you can clearly see lots of other people around you at any given time. The Alcatraz staff are incredibly knowledgeable and a visit is, in my humble opinion, absolutely worth the money.

After we cruised back to San Fran mainland we had one final night at the Hotel Zephyr and then it was onwards to Sydney…

#Love #RTW #Couple #RoundTheWorld #SanFran #Adventure #Travel