I love San Francisco!

So where have San Francisco travels taken me since my arrival on Monday?! Well, I filled you in on the details of my first amazing day out and happily for me that did in fact set a precedent for my time up until this point. Since I got here I have been to Alcatraz, Pier 39, Stinson Beach, Muir Woods lookout, Haight Street, Castro and Union Square. Basically I haven't stopped, which is the way I like it when I travel.

Let's start at the beginning. On Tuesday I took myself down to Fisherman's Wharf and got on the ferry over to Alcatraz. It really is the most amazing place over there and the history is fascinating! Also because it is so isolated there is some amazing wildlife and nature in general, and, as I am sure you have all seen from the pictures, the views of San Francisco from there are incredible! It must have been seriously hard being a prisoner there knowing how near you were to civilisation but how completely impossible it was to get to it! After I had walked all around Alcatraz, I then took the ferry back to the wharf and walked up to the famous tourist hot-spot of Pier 39. It's really funny walking along the wharf because it goes from a fairly boring looking functional wharf to an absolute tourist Mecca in the shortest of distances. I had a lot of fun walking around the pier and once again marvelling at the stunning views of the bay. After a couple of hours I met up with Regan and we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant! Yes, for those of you who don't know they actually built a restaurant after the film and it is awesome! And while you are eating your meal the waiters quiz you on Forrest Gump trivia...I got all the questions right...yes yes, I am THAT much of a geek!

The weather on Wednesday was absolutely beautiful so I took the ferry over to Larkspur to meet Regan and after she went to what turned out to be a very short (and successful) job interview we drove to Stinson Beach and spent the day there walking along the beach and building the most awesome sandcastle, complete with bridge and moat and it's very own Alcatraz! After the beach we went to an awesome Mexican place for dinner and then I headed back to the city to recover from my hard day of construction!

Thursday was my first day all on my own and seeing as once again the weather was lovely I opted for an extended walk out of the centre of the city through Haight Street which was the centre of the summer of love and has some of the most incredible street art and graffiti I have ever seen! Once I had walked up Haight Street (and I emphasize the word UP!) I then headed towards Castro. I loved walking through an area that has so much political gay rights history and seeing the actual shop that housed Castro Cameras and the centre of Harvey Milk's work. The area itself was such a great place to just walk around. Everyone was so friendly and so excited and willing to share the history and significance of the area. I could have done without the random ginger naked man walking down the street wearing nothing but a pair of converse, a backpack and a baseball cap...and no one batted an eye-lid or said anything?! I still don't understand!! Once I got back to the centre of the city I walked to Union Square and sat in the beautiful sunshine for a couple of hours...this time to recover from my epic walk! I may have been shattered, but it was totally worth it!

Like I said I totally love San Francisco!! I am having the most amazing time and the weather is just perfect, I couldn't be happier right now!

Hope everyone else is as happy as I am!

A little travel anecdote

As I write this I am aware of the fact that many of those who read this will not understand the significance of the tale I am about to recount.  However, it is such a momentous and significant occurrence that in my mind it warranted a blog entry. If after reading this you consider it to have been dull and irrelevant then I sincerely apologise but for those of us who have attempted the process of 'cleaning' clothes in a hostel this marks a significant and profound milestone!


I have just been forced to do the first wash of my around the world travels, and as I have become accustomed to this generally results in a time consuming, expensive and often redundant exercise of using hostel laundry facilities to wet and then warm up dirty clothing...leaving you with items that are likely to be less clean than they were to begin with as a result of being whirled around in recycled water in a dirty and often malfunctioning washing machine and then gently warmed in the world's oldest and most pointless dryer...not this time!

The laundry at my current hostel costs $2 for a wash and $2 for a dry..."so cheap" I hear you cry, it must be rubbish (my thoughts exactly)! Prior to embarking on this little venture I enquired at reception about the possibility and cost of procuring some detergent. The response..."oh that's free, you'll find a big tub of it in the laundry room". Already this experience was becoming increasingly alien to me.

So, at this stage I venture downstairs and deposit my dirty clothing and aforementioned free detergent in the washer along with $2. Forty minutes later I return to what looks and smells distinctly like clean clothing, but I reserve judgement until the process is complete. I now continue with the laundry process and transfer the seemingly clean clothing to a dryer and once again deposit the measly sum of $2 (fully expecting to return 40 minutes later to damp, warm, but potentially clean apparel). Forty minutes pass and I return to the laundry facility to be greeted by steaming hot, totally dry and unquestionably clean clothing...complete with pleasant floral detergent type smell!

If I was not currently sitting next to said clothing appreciating both the smell and subtle warmth emanating from it I would not believe this either, but I promise you, the tale I have just recounted to you is entirely and unequivocally true!

Now how's that for a happy little tale to tell the grand-kids one day?!

I am now going to go up to my room, spread out the clean, dry and warm clothing all over my bed and lie on it...it's the simple things in life the provide the most joy I find!

San Francisco Baby!!!

I feel I need to write this entry now, because I am currently on such a high that it is probably the only way I am going to vaguely be able to get across how happy I am right now!
I arrived in San Francisco this afternoon after getting up at 5.30am Boston time (so 2.30am San Francisco time) and flying for just under 6 hours. The first thing that excited me on arrival here was how much warmer it was than  Boston! Okay, to call it warm may be a slight exaggeration, but compared to the sub zero temperatures I had come from it felt tropical! Regan met me at the airport, and after a quick stop in town to drop off my stuff at my hostel we were off on the road for some sight-seeing and San Fran times.
First stop was for some food at a burger joint that Regan insisted was a California MUST. To be honest, having had it, I can't argue...this was definitely a burger experience worth talking about! For dessert we went to a place near her house for frozen yoghurt, which I instantly insisted was somewhere we went back to to!
After the feed we then went on a drive through Regan's past and she showed me around the area where she grew up. Once we had done this we then went on a walk through a beautiful park (see Facebook for pictures) which ended at a waterfall...definitely a walk worth doing! After the walk we had a short debate about what to do next and then Regan decided it would be a nice idea to go to a place called Marin Headlands to get an 'off the beaten track' view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay area. Oh, was this a serious under-sell of the experience. We drove around this winding road to take us to the top of the Headlands just as dusk was coming and the sun was going down. The view of the bridge and the city was completely breath-taking...and by the time we reached the top we were just in time for what I now consider to be one of the most perfect sunsets I have ever seen (again see Facebook for evidence)!
I am now back at my hostel, running through the experiences of my day in my head. I have currently been awake for about 20 hours and have spent most of that travelling, either on buses, trains or planes and so in theory I should be exhausted...but I'm not! I feel like I could keep going for hours! If it wasn't dark now and so not really the best time for sight-seeing and exploring a city I would still be out there exploring the wonderful amazingness that is San Francisco!
I am pretty sure I am going to love it here! Regan has put together a fantastic sounding itinerary for me the next week and I can't wait! I think this is going to be awesome!!!
I love San Francisco.
That is all for now, just had to let you all in on this!
Much love as always
xxxxx

The end of Boston travels

So, the first leg of my around the world travels have nearly come to an end and what a great start it was! After spending a very nice (albeit very cold) first day in Boston, I then jumped on a coach and headed off to Hanover to meet up with Edie at Dartmouth where I spent a truly lovely few days!
As I was expecting it was equally as cold in Hanover (but this time I had the advantage of access to a second wardrobe and therefore more appropriate footwear in the form of thick socks and walking boots!) but I wasn't going to let this stand in my way. After a quick arrival coffee we headed to Edie's apartment where I was expecting to be shown my comfy little space on Edie's floor...oh how wrong I was! As luck would have it one of her flatmates had only just moved to another place on campus and so there was a spare room, which I had all to myself, complete with bed and desk and a wardrobe (should I have felt the need to unpack...which I didn't...far too much like hard work!)
On my first night in Hanover Edie took me out for a lovely dinner and introduced me to a load of her friends...all of whom greeted me with the line "Oh, you're Edie's friend from London, I've heard so much about you!"...instant pressure! But they were all great and really easy going people...and what was meant to be a quick dinner and an early night took us through nearly till midnight...good thing I managed to kick jetlag's ass on my first night!
The beginning of the second day was mostly spent in a lovely cafe on campus called Dirt Cowboy, which kinda turned out to be my second home while I was in Hanover when Edie had classes or meetings to go to. That evening after a very chilled day we went to see a Spike Lee film on campus called 'She's Gotta Have It' and then headed back to Edie's apartment for an early night.
Day three was a really lovely one. After coffee and breakfast in Dirt Cowboy Edie and I headed to the art gallery to go and see an installation performed by Tibetan monks and then had a wander around the exhibition that accompanied it. In the afternoon we went on a walk around Hanover which was really beautiful in all the snow. My highlight probably being the circuit around the frozen pond where there were a load of people playing ice-hockey...so American! That evening a big group of us made dinner in Edie's apartment and then headed into town for some drinks with a group of her politically active type friends...much intense discussion involved in these drinks...it was great!
On Saturday morning Edie and I took the bus back into Boston and headed into Cambridge which is where Harvard University is. After a walk around the campus and the surrounding town we headed to Edie's grandparents house which is where we were spending the night. That evening her grandmother took us out for dinner to a lovely French restaurant and then it was back to her house for another, much needed, early night!
Today I am back in the centre of Boston and will soon be heading out for a final walk around Boston before I have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning for my 8.22 flight to San Francisco!  I am supremely excited about this (not least because it is about 20 degrees warmer there), but I still can't quite get my head around the fact that my flight time from Boston to San Fran is almost the same as London to Boston...this seems very odd in my head!
Anyway, for now I will sign-off, this being my last day in Boston I want to make the most of it, even if it is freezing...literally! Until next time....
xxxx

Some wise words...

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer (Chris McCandless)
(p.73 Between A Rock And A Hard Place - Aron Ralston)

Boston

Hello All,
And so my travels have begun again. Contrary to last year I actually left England and managed to go somewhere colder...significantly colder. I arrived at Boston Logan airport last night at about 8pm (local time) and the temperature was -8...brrr!! I woke up this morning at 7am and by this point the temp had increased slightly...apparently, but it was snowing, big time snowing! It's beautiful though so I'm not going to complain.
Given the fact that I was up so early this morning I planned on doing lots of touristy wandering and photographing.  I started with Fenway Park Stadium, which is actually really near my hostel and then made my way into to Government Square with the intention of doing a bit of an explore of the Freedom Trail. However, after about an hour of walking around in the snow (in shoes that are just barely still classifiable as footwear) I could no longer feel my feet or hands and had to retire and head back to my hostel.
I wish I could have done more and stuck with it, but I do have a whole week around these parts, and as of Friday I will have my very own Bostonian tour guide who will hopefully be able to take me to the places I want to see/are worth seeing, without the aimless wanderings that us travellers often indulge in!
So, as I write this I am back at my hostel looking out of the window at the increasingly heavy snow falling and slowly but surely regaining the feeling in my feet.
Will update again when I have done more that is note worthy...while I am in Boston this will either require a reasonable increase in the temperature or me getting over it and just putting up with being very cold. We will see which happens!

Love to all in a significantly warmer England!
xxxx