It was a fifteen and a half hour flight from Sydney to San Francisco. We travelled back in time 17 hours meaning it was a very long 41 hour long day. The flight was a very short part of the day in the end.
In fact, we very nearly didn’t arrive at all due to a laid back arrival time at the airport before our flight and one missing ESTA (USA visa) at check in, which we sorted within a minute of checking closing – phew!
On arrival we noticed the south to north hemisphere switch. It’s now COLD! All of the clothes were put on: 5 layers in total.
Accommodation prices in San Fran were crazy, so we booked into an AirBnB out in the suburbs – Daley City. It was a pretty soulless place, which turned out to be a hostel type arrangement (but with no one talking to each other). Perfectly fine for a long awaited sleep and shower though.
We planned 2 full days in San Fran, followed by road trip up north to the Redwood Forest and Napa Valley (following some recommendations from Alex, Carole and Lara’s recent trip).
However our arrival into drought stuck San Fran was timed in sync with a winter storm – high winds and a lot of rain. Most of the San Fran area was flooded, including our accommodation and the nearby Napa area. Most of the coastal and countryside roads were closed, so we stayed put and extended our time in the city.
We were very kindly put up by Natalie and Simon (and their dog Cleo) for a couple of days (friends of Chris’ back from his uni days, both very lovely, fun and inspiring people). Our 4 days in San Fran whizzed by. Natalie and Simon gave us the best tips on places to visit: some of the best hills to hike up, Burmese food, Tiki bars, Alcatraz island, walks through the Hayes Valley, Castro and Mission districts, Golden Gate park, the bridge and Sausalito on the other side of the bridge, the tiled steps…
And we loved coming home to hear about Natalie latest adventures: her emergency response course, volunteering at the Seal sanctuary, adopting the local drain, bullet journaling….!
On our last day we left the city (the rain had now stopped!) and headed on the scenic coastal road, south past Pescadero to Santa Cruz, with some stops along the way (including one to purchase a new pair of jeans after one of the stops we took turned into a very muddy/boggy scramble!). We then headed inland to San Jose to meet up with Jen (Liz’s friend from her NY internship) and Greg (her fiancé!). Some wine was tasted and Mexican food eaten over catch ups. We decided that another trip to the San Fran area would be needed as we’d barely scratched the surface of everything on offer (next time in the Summer though!)
On our flight out of San Fran we were rewarded by a nighttime electrical storm ‘show’. We’d never been on a plane in the dark flying over a lightning storm, but it was magical. Hundreds of lightening bolts, flashes of light and towering clouds! Wow!
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
I enjoyed reading this! What wonderful photos too