20 October

We arrived here in San Francisco International at around 2pm to be greeted by some over zealous immigration officers who were a little unsure about mine and Danny's intentions to cause trouble in their fine land.

After a little waiting and a 10 minute interview where they asked us when we planned to get the hell out of their country we proceeded through to land of the free.

California is hotter than England.

Instead of taking the easy airport shuttles to the city we decided to use regular transport and then our trusty legs. Buying my BART ticket with the equivalent weight of an obese 8 year old on my back proved a bit tricky for my jet lagged legs.

Walked to the hotel from downtown and on the way found out from two
English guys that we lost the rugby final.

21 October

Woke up at the crack of dawn due to an uncomfortable night's sleep in a pretty rank hostel. Went for a huge three hour walk through pretty much the whole of the city from North Beach on the north east coast to Golden Gate Park on the west.

Got a bit to eat in Haight-Ashbury area where the shops and cafes are run by hippies. Caught the bus back and saw two bumfights.

Went out for a bit of a juice up and met some local punks who took us to a few bars and let me beat them all at pool.

22 October

Today we wisely took the bus over to the west coast for a walk on Ocean beach. Was a really sunny day so just chilled out there until around 6pm. Took the bus back to the hostel for free pasta.

23 October

Went to Pier 39 to take a look at Alcatraz and the Sea Lions. Dan went into a magic shop for about 30 minutes and book a $2 card trick. Rubbish.

Went out to Golden Gate Bridge for some standard tourist sight-seeing.

24 October

Picked up the rental car today from Hertz. Was pretty expensive at $500 for 3 days but what they hell, we're on holiday! Automatic was a mission to work out but after a few blocks it was so much easier than manuals gears back home.

Parked up outside the hostel and put money in the wrong meter by mistake. Returned 20 minutes later to find a $50 fine on the windscreen.

Angry driver. Cooled off when I saw the Cali coastline.

Next, Santa Cruz!