After my brief visit to Vegas I made me way to San Francisco. The flight itself was pretty interesting. As everyone was preparing to board an announcement came over the PA saying [sic] "Ladies and Gentleman, it appears that all passengers have checked in for flight 473 and as such we do not have enough seats. Any passengers who are able to travel tomorrow please approach the counter and you will be booked on the first flight out tomorrow morning, we will provide you with a hotel room and a round trip ticket to any destination in continental United States".

Baffling. Apparently US airlines overbook every flight on the statistical probability that 1 per cent of the passengers will not show up. Thus the planes go full every time even if there are some no shows. However the down side to this is that sometimes they do all show up and the planes are overbooked. Passengers are just offered these inducements, and, people take them. Two young guys took up the offer on my flight. Apparently they never force anyone to miss out, they just keep raising the stakes until someone accepts. Pretty funny.

So that delayed my flight for a while as many people debated whether they wanted another night in Vegas, but it was pretty fun to watch.

After a short flight over some mountains we landed in San Fran. The sun was shining but unfortunately there was no heat in it. So on my first wander around the city taking in Chinatown and Union Square I was totally freezing.

My second day in San Fran I took to the streets to explore the city. The city is gorgeous and reminds me a lot of Sydney. The waterfront is great and the whole place has quite a nice feel to it. The downside however is the number of homeless people that are wandering the streets. A lot of them are also a bit threatening, so it is probably not a place I would recommend wandering on your own at night at off peak times. There are also a lot of people just loitering around, they don't look homeless, in fact they look like they are just selling drugs or something. It is a huge downside to what is otherwise quite a nice city.

Fishermans Wharf, one of the city's main tourist attractions is exactly that. Lots of souvenir stalls, cheap food places and a colony of sea lions. It was here I decided to partake of a corn dog. Have heard about them so much in movies had to try, and, it was delicious. It is basically a hot dog which has been coated in some kind of (corn I guess??) batter and then one can only presume, deep fried. So, I don't think it is diet food but once it had a some ketchup and mustard on it I thought I tasted pretty good!

After that I walked along the waterfront to the Palace of Fine Arts. Beautiful walk along the waterfront with a great view of the bridge. But it was a long walk and I got somewhat lost and ended up having to take a cab back to the hotel. I think it ended up being a 7 or so mile walk. Not sure what that works out to be in kms. But I slept well that night!

On Tuesday I went on a bus tour to Monterey, Carmel and along the '17 Mile Drive' which included a stop at the Pebble Beach Golf Course. The coastline is really gorgeous, and Monterey and Carmel are really nice spots. Carmel is great. Town full of rich people, stunning shops, amazing art galleries and once elected Clint Eastwood Mayor. Didn't spot him though.

The whole Pebble Beach area is amazing. It is a private area of land which has about 8 golf courses on it including the Pebble Beach Course. Scattered amongst the golf courses, bushland and stunning coastline is dotted some of the most amazing houses I have ever seen in my life. They were huge, secluded and totally gorgeous. The only people we saw were gardeners. These houses had such breathtaking views. And starting at a cool $10 million for the tiniest of shacks, you expect a good view.

The next couple of days I pretty much just wandered to different parts of the city. Spent a day exploring Golden Gate Park and had a nice dinner overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Is strange to be looking at the ocean from the 'wrong' side.

On the Saturday I went on a tour of Alcatraz, Muir Woods and Sausilito.

Alcatraz was a lot of fun. You take an audio tour which is narrated by former guards and inmates. The cells are tiny. One thing that struck me was just how close it was to the mainland. I am pretty baffled how no one managed to make it to shore because it is not that much of a swim!

Muir Woods or Redwood Canyon was lovely. Apparently these are the tallest redwoods in the world. They are huge and it is a really pretty walk through the forest.

Sausilito used to be an artists colony. But now it is just another tourist attraction so it wasn't really that exciting.

And now I am at Oakland Airport waiting for my flight to LA. The shuttle I took here took about 10 years of my life I think. Luckily there were 2 other people in the shuttle or I might have peed my pants! The guy drove like a total maniac. We went racing through the San Fran streets and I swear at one point we were launched into the air as he raced down one of the hills. Whilst doing this the gruff guy who was covered in tattoos regaled us with tales of how he bribes judges to let him off tickets. But yet, I tipped him.

Tipping is starting to piss me off. I feel like I just walk around randomly giving out money. Even with yesterdays tour which cost over $100 dollars I was still expected to tip the bus driver. You tip for everything, and it seems that even if the service sucks you still tip. People just stand there looking at you waiting for it. It just seems to wrong to be paying a normal amount for a meal and then having to subsidise the waiters because the restaurants doesn't pay them enough - how is that my problem? Or the other night my hotel key failed to open the door for some unknown reason. Anyway, someone let me into my room and then someone else came up later to deliver a new key. That person stood there waiting to be tipped. I just said thanks and shut the door - why should I hand over $5 for an inconvenience the hotel caused me? So bizarre. It is such an odd culture where you are expected to make up the shortfall in what employers choose to pay their own staff. And the thing is, it is not like the food is any cheaper than it would be anywhere else in the world, so these restaurants are just making more profit because you are paying normal amount for their food and covering the cost of their staff! It seems to be to just let the behavior off. Cannot wait to get back to good old Melbourne where the restaurant owners just pay their own staff!

To quote the Simpsons - "I am Kathryn Hodges and this is my 2 cents".

Off to Disneyland tomorrow. So excited. Fulfilling a childhood dream! I hope it is just as exciting as it would have been at 11 years old. Sure it will be, I can be a big kid sometimes. Would not be surprised if I come home with some luridly coloured stuffed animals.