mybigadventures.com

Got up just in time for breakfast today and determinedly stood in the queue to make waffles. It was much quicker today and we managed to make a waffle each. Ben covered his in cream and chocolate sprinkles and I had a bit of cream with Cherry compote, and a small pot of syrup for dipping - quite successful! We didn’t burn the waffles and they didn’t stick! Result!

Spent quite a while packing up our stuff before loading it into the spacious car boot and heading off. We stopped off just down the road in Mariposa, as we wanted to take a couple of pictures - it looks quite Western in style, with lots of wood and overhanging balconies. Pretty cool!

The journey itself was fairly straightforward. It took about an hour to get out of Mariposa country and leave behind the winding mountain roads and then we hit the freeway. Long, long, straight roads with just fields for miles.

We stopped for some lunch at an out-of-town shopping centre in Tulare. We went to Denny’s and had quite a big lunch… Ben had a Philly sandwich - a steak and cheese melt with onions - and I had a hickory chicken sandwich, both served with a heap of fries. We both felt like we weren’t eating enough for our server, as she kept asking if we wanted anything else! Felt quite full, so went for a wander among the shops. Went in a few to check out the prices and compare them to prices back home. Went into Toys “R” Us and bought some Lego! A Lone Ranger set - pretty awesome given we haven’t even got the film yet back home. It was about $41.

Headed back to the car and went on our way. The journey was pretty straightforward, just long, and we had to stop twice for petrol. Decided to stop off again within an hour of LA, and stopped at Starbucks. Had a little chat with a trucker from Minnesota about cookies and went on. The stretch into LA itself was fairly horrific - a five lane interstate, with very heavy traffic. The Americans also seemed unable to give way, so moving lanes is interesting! It took about an hour to go about 10 miles! Ben was very relieved to get off it, as it made him quite nervous.

Found the hotel after a few wrong turns and got parked in the hotel car park, in the early evening. Checked in before recovering our stuff from the car. Because the hotel is in Little Tokyo, it has quite an oriental feel - possibly the poshest hotel room so far. Had a rest and then went for a wander around - ended up in Little Tokyo; looking around, we thought about getting something to eat, but everywhere seem to close just as we got there! In the end, we got some snacks from a mini-Mart and headed back to the hotel.

We investigated the Internet/Wi-Fi, but it was $10 per day, except in the lobby where it’s free. So instead we used the ‘business room’ downstairs for the use of the hotel guests, to plan for tomorrow. We also spent a little bit of time on the tablet in the lobby area. Went upstairs after and discovered our free Internet connection was still active! Get in!

Dani woke up early and had a bath before waking me up. It was gone 8:30 AM and, with breakfast ending in half an hour, we hotfooted it across to the breakfast room. We stood in the queue for waffles before giving up as it was taking far too long (maybe tomorrow?). Instead we had some toast and I had a cold boiled egg, and then we had a couple of pastries. We also sorted ourselves out with a couple of teas. After breakfast, we gathered our things and headed off in the car to Yosemite National Park. It took longer than we expected to get to the park and we arrived at the parking for the main visitor centre after about an hour and a half.

We were given a map at the entrance and another at the car park information, and, after catching a bus from the car park to the visitor centre, we got a third. It wasn’t very clear where to start even with all the maps and having asked for information at the car park. Dani asked about the Yosemite waterfalls, but due to the dry weather both the main falls were apparently pretty dry. When we asked again at the visitor centre, the man was a little more helpful, directing us towards the Vernal Falls which involved hikes of different lengths depending on how far you wanted to go up.

It first involved catching one of the shuttle buses that run around the park. The shuttles take you to the main trail heads around Yosemite village. We caught the shuttle to stop 16 and when we got there we thought we better eat the crisps we were carrying, having read warnings about carrying food (due to bears). We also bought some chocolate cookies from the food kiosk and filled the water bottle from the water fountain. Finally, we got going on what turned out to be a much more strenuous walk than we had anticipated! It took about an hour and a half, walking uphill all the way, with a few stops for water and to catch our breath. We saw a little lizard darting about and a pretty impressive butterfly, and lots of little squirrels. Close to the top, when we were having a rest, a boy came past on his way down and cheerfully told as it wasn’t much further - we must have looked like we were on the verge of giving up (we were)!

And he was right! Minutes later, we arrived at the bridge and enjoyed the view of the waterfall, taking a few obligatory “we were here” photos. We sat around under the trees by the bridge for a while to recover before setting off back. We filled up our water bottle again and started the journey back, past a squirrel that was splattered on a rock looking knackered. It looked how I felt.

The walk down wasn’t too bad; certainly easier than going up. Once at the bottom, we joined the queue for the shuttle bus. There were loads of people waiting at the bus stop, as it seemed late, then three came at once: you know what they say about buses. So, we caught the bus back to the visitor centre. We got off at ‘Curry Village’, having spotted some deer from the bus. We took some pictures before heading to the gifts and grocery store where we bought Burt the bear, some Pepsi, a fridge magnet, a sew-on badge and a postcard.

We’d already decided that we wanted to go to Glacier Point next, via Tunnel Viewpoint. This involved a drive. And a much longer one than we expected, as it turned out! We stopped a couple of times along the way, including at Tunnel View, which offered fantastic views across the park. The car park at Tunnel View filled up shortly after we arrived, with a number of coach parties and we left just before we got blocked in by another coach. The drive to Glacier Point took much longer than expected, due to the slow winding roads, but we did see a wolf by the road on the way, which was fantastic. We stopped at a viewpoint shortly before Glacier Point which was pretty busy. Somebody offered to take a photo of us sitting on a rock against the panorama, which was nice. We also saw some more of the blue birds we’d seen earlier and took some more pictures before heading back along the winding roads.

From Glacier Point, our next stop was due to be Mariposa Grove, home to the huge Sequoia trees. Time was already marching on and we started to get concerned whether we would make it in daylight. Again, it turned out to be a really long drive (the park is massive); it took about an hour and a half and it was gone 7:30 PM when we arrived. The light had already started to fade so much that Dani had already taken a picture of the sunset just before we arrived. The trees were incredible, and absolutely massive. Disappointingly, they were fenced off to protect the roots, so you couldn’t get too close. We had a bit of a wander, and it was dark before we left to head back to Mariposa.

It took about another hour and a half to get back along winding hill roads. We went straight to a restaurant in town called the Charles Street Dinner house. It was very nice; I had fettuccine and steak and Dani had honey barbecue baby back ribs. Again, the meal came with a side salad and also some very nice garlic bread. It was all very nice and cost $75, including tip. Back at the hotel, we had a quick look at photos, but the Internet was going too slowly to be any use, so we went to bed, ready for our road trip to LA tomorrow.

Got up a bit late, after our late-night pizza! I went down Starbucks to get tea and, despite having to relay my order several times to different people, managed to get two teas and chocolatines. They still seem incapable of leaving any room for milk, despite being asked!

Got all of our stuff packed up, and toddled down to check out. Had a two dollar bill for the local phone calls (the pizza) - last of the big spenders! Made our way down to the car park to retrieve the hire car - a fairly easy-going walk downhill from Van Ness Avenue to O’Farrell. A friendly parking attendant helped us out, with the pay machine and indicated where the lifts were, and we were away! As we drove out of San Francisco, we happened to pass the car rental offices and, low and behold - a massive queue. No surprise there really! Poor things.

Left San Francisco via the Bay Bridge, which has some intermittent views, but the walls were too high to see over most of the time. The route east was painless and we reached Berkeley easily. Used the SatNav to locate some parking, but found one on our own, just opposite the US Post Office. It was $2.50 for the first two hours, which seems reasonable. Interestingly, there was the ongoing protest outside the post office, to say no to the privatisation of the post office. Quite interesting, given the same question being raised back home. It turns out that the building is being sold, rather than the actual service, but people want to preserve the historic building.

We began to have a little wander, nipping into the post office to buy some stamps. We then found the high street, almost immediately stopping to buy an ice cream from Papa John’s Ice-Creams - we thought we’d start lunch with dessert. Tempted by the promise of a scoop for a dollar, we both had one! Ben had choc’ chip and chocolate, in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone and I had avocado and ube (sweet potato and yam apparently) in a small cone - I’ll be honest; I picked mine for the colours! As the ice cream dripped down our hands, we pottered on. Went in a couple of bookshops, looking for an American Atlas and eventually happened upon a deli, where we bought some huge sandwiches - roast chicken and cheese, which we kept to eat a bit later.

Having returned to the car, we drove out of Berkeley, passing through the University. We were trying to find a renowned beauty spot called Grizzly Peak, but it turned out to be elusive. We drove around for at least an hour, suffering from the distinct lack of British brown signposts to send us in the right direction. Eventually, happened upon Lakeview car park. Sounded promising… But not a real view of the lake, more of a car park. Sat and ate our sandwiches in view of a very symmetrical portaloo! The sandwiches were very nice, however!

Drove on, seeing some spectacular scenery. Ironically, all the places you can stop along the way have views of nothing but trees, whereas you can only drive past the fantastic panoramas! They need a bit of National Trust input!

Travelled on towards Yosemite and our motel in Mariposa. As we went, we couldn’t help but stop along one of the straight, seemingly never-ending roads, with barely any cars. There was nothing to see for miles, apart from pistachio trees and wheat. Stood in the road for photos! The whole journey didn’t take as long as we might have expected and we arrived in Mariposa. Check-in was easy and we had ourselves a room with two queen beds - room for a party! Had a little sloth around and then headed to the Miner’s Inn restaurant. An hour later and we were stuffed. We shared potato skins as a starter, although there were four, which was quite vast, and then I had meatloaf and Ben had southern fried chicken. We were baffled as to why the main courses came with either soup or salad and opted for salad, as a lighter choice! Nevertheless, the portions were massive and we didn’t eat it all. Good value at $45, but huge! How do American people manage this?

An interesting day so far! Woke up early, but lazed.. Ben went down to Starbucks to get tea and we drank it with our leftover muffins from yesterday - a very tasty start to the day. We were picking up our hire car at around/after 10 AM, so we moseyed down at around 10:45 AM, heading towards Union Square.

When we arrived at ‘Dollar’ (the hire place) there seem to be a sizeable queue, so we went on, nipping into Macy’s to use the restrooms. Got back to the queue at about 11:50 AM and got in line, standing outside - it was quite cold! An hour later, we had made a bit of progress - a couple of metres. Rumours were rife - people had been there for three hours… And it sounded like there was a wait to actually get the car too…

Two and a half hours later - we were served! Incredible! In answer to the “and how are you today?” question, a rather curt, “ I don’t think you want an honest answer to that”, put an end to the small talk. It took about 5 minutes to actually get the paperwork sorted, which makes it staggering that we waited so long. It cost a further $70, as we needed to increase the breakdown insurance to cover towing away and replacement.

Left the place rather dazed, having lost a good chunk of the day to a queue. Decided not to get the car immediately as we hadn’t had any lunch. Went to Subway to pick up a sandwich to take with us - though where we are actually going was yet to be decided as the day has drifted away! Popped into a T Mobile shop to enquire about an American Sim card, but no joy. So, headed to get the car. They couldn’t find the key for the designated car, so we think we got an upgrade. Anyway it’s a Chevrolet Sprint - a big saloon (quite dwarves our KA!). Had a quick lesson in automatics from one of the managers and then set off.

Headed south, vaguely towards Santa Cruz, but stopped off in Palo Alto, home to Silicon Valley (Google, etc). Pulled over for a break and decided to wander. And we were glad we did! A really pretty little place - very leafy and lots of little restaurants. We fell into The Cheesecake Factory, and decided to order dessert, by way of dinner. I had the plain cheesecake with some strawberries, and Ben had chocolate cheesecake. We both got most of the way through, but took a doggy bag home. So full!

On the way back to San Francisco, we passed by Google International and the place where we think Facebook is, though it wasn’t marked, so we stopped for a photo opp. We tried to have a look at Microsoft, but got entangled in some concert parking.

Had a very good journey back and Ben negotiated the traffic and the car beautifully! We parked in a LAZ car park we had spotted before, a couple of blocks from the hotel, which was much more reasonable than the hotel parking ($45) as it only charged $25 overnight. Got a bit lost coming out of the car park, but made it. Dumped stuff at the hotel, and then headed out to Chinatown to see the lights. A little disappointed, however, as it wasn’t as bustling and well-lit as we thought. Took some photos and then walked back - up all the hills of California Street! Ordered a pizza from the village pizzeria again and scoffed at about 11 PM.

As we had got in late yesterday, we had a slightly more leisurely morning. We did wake up quite early, but dozed for a while. I went down to Starbucks next door and got tea (I keep forgetting that you have to order ‘hot tea’ here, and you need to ask them to leave ‘room for milk’ as they don’t drink it like us Brits!) and chocolatines - they had even warmed up the chocolatines, so they were extra-tasty, chocolatey goodness! We had showers and then had a chat with Lorna, Audrey, and mum and dad via Skype, catching up and telling them about our activities.

We headed out, planning to withdraw some cash for the day. Started to use the cash machine, although found out that it would charge us a flat fee of $5, so changed our mind. Then changed it back again - instead, we decided to withdraw more, to make the fee more palatable. So, we nipped back to the hotel to leave the extra cash in our room safe.

Then, we headed out properly. We got the tram to the Ferry building and switched onto the F-line around Fisherman’s Wharf, getting off near the bike rental place we had seen before. Stopped to use the restroom on the way, only to end up waiting for 10 minutes as they had closed them for ‘cleaning’ and they were the only local loos! Some American bloke and his kid also tried pushing in, but an loquacious American woman started on him - quite a bit of excitement so early in the day!

Went to the bike shop and got hooked up with a tandem and snazzy helmets! The lady chatted on about some directions, but there were quite a few and, by the end, I couldn’t even remember which way we were supposed to leave the shop! Dani decided she would take the back seat, so I took the helm though I did find it quite difficult to get my leg over the bike frame - I blame the jeans - clearly, not biking gear! So, we set off on our ride - somewhat wobbly to begin with.

We cycled around towards the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping for photos a few times. We used the gorilla pod to take one of us and the bike, and a lady offered to take a photo when we got to a pier just before the bridge. Whilst at the pier, we had a little sit and a hot dog from ‘Let’s Be Frank’, a hot dog stand - it was very tasty. We then began the cycling part of the journey again.

There were some steep bits to get up to the bridge and, once there, there were lots of people in the bike lane, so Ben kept ringing the bell. A little further along, we got stopped by a bridge man, who told us that we were supposed to be cycling on the other side (pedestrians on one side, bikes on the other). I think the lady at the shop might have mentioned this - oops! So, once on the right side of the bridge, we got up some big speed. There were a few hairy moments, but we managed not to crash - result! It was a bit windy on the way across and, when we got to the other side, we decided to cycle back again, rather than waiting for the ferry. On the way back across, we stopped to take some pictures of a tall ship that was sailing under the bridge. We kept on zooming on, after a ‘Kodak moment’ and sped back down - it was distinctly warmer off the bridge!

We rode back towards Fisherman’s wharf, stopping at a Safeway (of all places!) on the way - Ben looked after the bike whilst I went in, getting some muffins, crisps and water - a mini crap run! Were planning to go across to the Golden Gate Park, but we realised that it was still a good distance away and it was already gone 5 PM. So we continued along, back to the bike shop - there were a few hairy moments when Ben zoomed downhill at super-speed, but I just closed my eyes! Returned the bike, suffering slightly from saddle bottom. It had cost $60 for the day.

Having dropped the bike, we decided it was beer o’clock - we went to Applebees for a drink, sitting on the balcony, under a heater - nice! After, we strolled to the F-line stop, having figured out where it goes now! Except the tram was packed when it came past! Managed to find a different stop by following the tracks to a different point. Made it back to Union Square. We looked around for somewhere to eat, but places seemed quite expensive. Decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory in Macy’s - but it was absolutely rammed! Totally rammed! As our feet were tired, we made it down a level, to Macy’s ‘Burger Bar’ and settled in. We had a pitcher of Budweiser and three mini-burgers each, with fries and onion rings - about $70, including tip. A little pricey, but we walked away - stumbled, might be more accurate - very stuffed! And so, to bed!

Woke up early again. Ben put some photos on Facebook while I snoozed for a bit. Then we got up, to face the world. Went across the street from breakfast, to a patisserie/cafe type place for breakfast - called Dolce Amore. We had their signature bagel: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, tomato and avocado, with a mango and strawberry garnish. It was very tasty - about $8 each - with a glass of fresh orange juice.

From here, we went to catch the tram on California Street (the day pass was $14 each). We got off at Powell to catch a connecting tram. Wandered around a little, to find the right tram stop and then waited. But, when they arrived, the trams were so full we couldn’t get on. Waited a bit, watching as a few packed trams went past, then decided to walk along the route, intent on catching one as we walked. We passed along ‘Taylor Street’ and looked in a bike rental place. Ended up walking all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, as trams seemed few and far between.

When we arrived at the Wharf, we walked along to Ghirardelli Square, which we had missed on our tour of San Fran, yesterday. Went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop for an ice cream - Ben had mint-choc chip, and II had chocolate and butter pecan, both with a chocolate dipped waffle cone. It was a little confusing ordering them - we had completely missed the menus as we came in, so we had no idea what they sold!

We sat on some steps, people-watching and scoffing. It was cooler today, although the sun tried to make an appearance. Walked along the path to a pier, and walked out along it. Stopped to take pictures of a catamaran (part of the America Cup) which was sailing around the Bay. It leaned over dramatically, virtually lifting out of the water! Which, for such a huge boat, was quite a feat. While we watched, a flock of what appeared to be pelicans flew past. We also saw a seal, wiggling around in the water. Stood and watched for a while and then headed back along the walls. Pretty good for sightseeing!

We were ultimately headed to Alcatraz, but we stopped off for a drink on the way at ‘Jacks Cannery Bar’ . We both had a beer and sat people-watching for a while. From here, we got a tram, having walked a good distance along the wharf, and headed towards the Ferry Building stop. While travelling, we thought we would stop off at the cable car museum, as the trams around here are amazing, so stopped to have a look.. A little disappointed to find it was only a room with memorabilia in - part museum, part shop. We bought a nice poster of a cable car at night, then headed out. We thought we’d look inside the Ferry Building, and it turned out to be a host of little boutique shops, mainly selling food. Had a little look around and then headed to Alcatraz.

It had dropped colder, so we stopped in the Alcatraz cafe for a cup of tea. We waited till about six - our boarding time - and were surprised to see a lot of people already queueing. Seemed odd, but showed our tickets and joined the line. Had an obligatory photo taken, in front of an image of Alcatraz, which you could buy later for ‘only’ $22. Got aboard the boat and set sail. The fog had crept in, so the coastline looked quite eerie.

The Rock’ itself is huge and home to lots of different birds, some of them rare. We had a bit of a tour up to the prison, with a guide, then it was an audio guide inside. Had a good look around all the cells in the different sections, taking a few pictures of Brugges (on tour) - he did a lot of posing just inside the cell bars. It is all starting to decay, but gives a good indication of how grim it was. I was too cold to stay outside long, but Ben took lots of pictures of the Bay in the twilight. It looked really good, with the fog looming over. We had to rush a bit to get the return ferry, but made it and headed back to shore.

We tried to get a tram, but they just drove past as they were packed, so we ended up walking all the way down Battery Street, until we reached California Street. Got the tram from there - the day ticket is worth it, just for the uphill stretch! Got back to the hotel and phoned a pizza delivery place - Ben had quite a chat with them, working out their menu! We ended up with a massive pizza - we had ordered ‘medium’! We tried (and failed) to eat it all. They even sent paper plates for us. As we had only arrived at the hotel at about 10 PM, we fell asleep soon after the pizza!

So not much of a lie in; we woke up, around 7 AM, ready to start the day. Despite the early wake-up we didn’t leave the hotel until 9.30 AM. We decided today that we would do a walking tour of San Francisco, to check out some of the main sites. We started by heading over to Union Square. It’s about a mile from the hotel, so it took about 20 minutes. We both wore jeans today as it was pretty cool out and I was wearing a jumper, and Dani, a coat. At Union Square, we headed into Macy’s department store to get some breakfast from the in-store Starbucks. I had a cup of tea and a chocolatine and Dani had a cinnamon roll with a vanilla latte. It was $11, which we thought was okay. After breakfast, we had a look at the cheesecake factory on the top floor (Rhi had told us about this). We didn’t have any cheesecake, but we had a look out from the balcony over Union Square and took some pictures. We didn’t spend much time looking in the shops, but we did see a flat pop-out tram (the pieces pop out and slot together to make 3-D model). We didn’t get it but thought it might make a good present for someone.

We headed out from Macy’s to start our walking tour. First, it took us through Chinatown. It was really colourful; there were people playing traditional Chinese music and at one point, a van pulled up full of watermelons, which was quickly surrounded by lots of people. Next, we headed up to Lombard Street (the most crooked street in San Francisco). I think it’s because the incline is much too steep to be straight, so it wiggles all over the place. It looked really colourful, with big hydrangea plants planted all the way up. There were lots of people taking photos - including the people in the cars, driving down! There was also an amazingly vivid pink bougainvillea growing up a striking blue house, which was stunning.

We trekked up the 250 odd steps and admired the views for a while. From there, we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a wander among the historic ships and then went to Pompeii’s Grotto for lunch. I had a clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and Ben had a BLT with fries - with a local beer each, called Anchor Steam. It was really nice - about $35. It was starting to get sunnier as we had lunch and the mist seemed to have cleared.

We carried on walking along the wharf, stopping off at Pier 39 to look at the local sea lion populace. We then headed up to Goit Tower, up a great many steps - we had to ask two different people how to find our way up, as it wasn’t marked. So, exhausted and hot, we admired the views when we got to the top, although it took us a while to recover from the climb! We decided not to go up in the tower itself - the queues were epic and the observation level seem to be enclosed in glass, so we weren’t bothered. Wandering around the outside, we saw a hummingbird - quite exciting!

From there, we headed back towards Union Square. We were going to get an ice-cream on the way, but didn’t see anywhere. We were getting very weary and were keen to find somewhere to sit! On the way up to Starbucks in Macy’s, we had a look at the pop-out tram, but it was $14 which seemed quite expensive (it’s by some designer). Once in Starbucks, we discovered it was packed - no seats and people standing. We tried a couple more Starbucks that were nearby(they are quite literally on every corner!) before settling in an Irish pub. We had a couple of drinks, which were surprisingly expensive ($7 for a pint!)

We had a look in our tourist booklet for places to eat, and settled on Lori’s Diner, which was nearby. It looked like a proper American diner, complete with a cut out car on the front! We sat at the counter next to some other Brits. You could see the food being cooked as we waited. Dani had a Lori ‘signature’ burger and I had a Big Bopper (bacon cheeseburger). We also had onion rings to share, and a couple of cokes. As it turned out, the portions were massive! I finished my burger, but Dani didn’t, and there were lots of onion rings left. It cost $40 with a $5 tip. From there, we headed back to the hotel, feeling shattered. We watched a bit of TV and looked at some photos before nodding off. Alcatraz tomorrow!

So, I’m writing this at what is essentially about 5 AM, after what felt like, and virtually is 24 hours of travel. We travelled all the way from the UK, flying from Manchester to Heathrow, and then Heathrow to America. We slept okay in the TraveLodge and got up around eight-ish to sort ourselves out. I had to empty out my carry-on bag, to ensure all the things that I had randomly stuffed in it yesterday were ‘safe’ to take on the plane.

Then we went to get on the shuttle bus (£7 for the two of us). The driver helped us load our stuff and checked that we wanted to get Terminal 3, to which we nodded, but we didn’t actually know for sure!

Turned out it was terminal three! Got checked in for our Heathrow flight and for our San Francisco flight. The very helpful lady at check-in gave us a printout of all of our flights on our ticket for us to refer to and then we had to go to a different place to deposit our rucksacks (as we did in Europe - they are classed as ‘soft’, although they’re pretty solid due to the amount of stuff!) We then wiggled through security. Ben’s bag got stopped for a ‘random check’ - the mini suitcase was swabbed for any chemicals used for bombs, etc. But, it passed the test, so we wiggled on.

Once through, we found a seat and scoffed the remaining chocolatines and a couple of bananas. We had a bit of a wander and found a better seat, with a view of the runway. Got a couple of bottles of water from WHSmith’s and sat. And waited. For a while…

We got the call for our gate and scuttled off. Got on the plane - to find we were almost the last people on, apparently - although we were there just after the call. Clearly, everybody else was super-prompt, as we got going ahead of schedule. The flight was pretty quick, with a complimentary drink and snack. We arrived at Heathrow 15 minutes early and followed the purple signs to meet our connection. Ben recognised the terminal when we arrived - having sat and waited there when he went to Spain (on a school trip) recently. We had a wander around and admired all the designer shops and the Harrods ‘boutique’, but were surprised by the lack of places to eat as we expected more variety; clearly, Heathrow is above such things as McDonald’s and Burger King! We sat down to share a toasted steak and cheese ciabatta, which was really nice, from EAT, and then, when our gate was called, we went on the little train to get to the gate. So far, so good.

Arrived at our gate and settled in at a window seat with a nice view, which was slightly hampered by a Polish couple, who stole my seat when I went to the toilet. But, when Ben went to the toilet, our row was called - it’s all go!

Got onto the plane and sat in our little couple seat (specially selected during online check-in yesterday) and Ben lined up the films he wanted to watch. As the flight got underway, we began watching, but the complimentary headphones didn’t do much to block out the noise of the plane. So, most of the dialogue went unheard! We decided to try the headphones from my MP3 player which worked much better, though obviously we only had one pair. So, we whiled away the 10 hour flight by watching films, going to the toilet and eating! First meal: a chicken and vegetable risotto, which was very nice - perhaps more like a savoury rice pudding, but tasty all the same. Had a mini bottle of wine for me and a mini keg of Heineken for Ben. Second meal: chicken Caesar sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and, weirdly, a mini tub of water! Saw some fantastic views as we flew over Canada - lots of mountain ranges complete with snowy blanket.

Landed at San Francisco - slightly panicky moment when looked for a minute like we were going to land on water! - but a very smooth landing. Everyone applauded when we landed - presumably due to the recent incident at San Francisco! (There was a recent crash landing at San Francisco airport, reported on the news - the wreckage was still visible from the runway where we landed). We disembarked, spent about 30 minutes queueing at customs, had to give fingerprints (!) and photos, and we were out!

Got the BART (train) into San Fran - a 25 minute journey ($8.25 each) and then walked - further than we anticipated - to the hotel. Had a rather strange experience at check-in, as the woman seemed to want to chat, but then alternated with trying to get rid of us. She worried us a little by asking us for a voucher for our stay - which we didn’t have - but, she reluctantly agreed to copy our itinerary instead, with all the necessary references and reservation numbers on.

Our room is on the 19th floor, commanding a good view of the city. We had a sit and then went out - at what felt like four in the morning, although it was actually only 8 PM US time. Bought some pizza slices from a nearby pizza place - $17 for four big slices. Started feeling very flaky, so wandered back to the hotel and turned in.