Day One

After a sad goodbye to my mum and Dave I went through customs by myself for what was not going to be the last time. By the time I had walked through to the gate to the flight was already boarding and I got straight on. The greeting staff were really friendly and I made some jokes with them as I got on. I sat down in my seat and then about five minutes later one of the cabin crew came over and discreetly told me to move to '13 D'...I had been upgraded!! Woohoo. I saw the original guy I had joked with and he smiled and told me I was so friendly and smiley that he thought it would be nice to upgrade me as there was space. This was to Premium economy with BA so just meant much more space which was great on an 11 hour flight. My friend Julieta picked me up from the airport to save me getting a shuttle and then she dropped me at the hotel where I was meeting Nicki. She was already there as she landed two hours before. I dumped my stuff in the room and freshen up then we went for a walk by our hotel. Nicki led me to 'Uncle Vito's' one of her favourite restaurants in San Francisco. It was a local Italian and the food was amazing! There was a queue out of the door as the place was so popular. As we were walking out Nicki spotted the famous 'San Francisco' twins who were in their 70s and eat in that restaurant every single night and sit in the same spot. So we went up to say hi so I could get a photo with them. It was so funny, they were on a different planet. The minute I said hi they started rambling on for about 15 minutes of pure nonsense. Telling me various stories about their life, it was quite sweet though. Then I had a photo with them and they gave me their business card and told me to send it to them as they love receiving the various photos with people from around the world. Then we left and went back to the hotel, by this time it was 6am UK time so we were pretty tired and went to bed.

Day Two

We set the alarm for 7am as we had an action packed day to cram in. We started by walking up and down the various hills in San Fran, it really is like the films. There are traditional cable trams running up and down the streets and quirky shops and cafes along every block. We went to 'Lori's Diner' which is a popular traditional American diner, like out of Grease. I loved it.Nicki showed me where China Town was and we walked through. Then up to Coit Tower which we went up and saw our first proper views of San Francisco Bay and the famous prison 'Alcatraz'. There were great views across the city . Typical weather in San Fran starts quite overcast every morning but by 11 the sun has usually broken through, it was nice and warm too but not hot. Then we carried on walking to Lombard street. Here was the well-known zig zag road which has been featured in films. Then we walked down towards Fisherman's Wharf (there was lots of walking this day!!!) and we saw the waterfront. There were lots of cute shops and places to eat by the waterfront and various piers. Pier 39 was where the many seals like to hang out and there were so many sleeping and resting on some wooden decks in the water. Nicki and I decided to go on the 'Rocket Boat' which was a 30 minute high speed adrenaline boat ride across the harbour, it was good fun. The G-force was pretty intense and I realised how that must only be a fraction of whatmy face will feel like when I do a sky dive! Then we went and hired a car and headed over to Sonoma-one of the Northern California wine regions where some of the best wines are produced. We drove over the Golden Gate bridge for the first time, it was great. The views were amazing. Nicki drove us to Ledson first, this beautiful massive manor house type vineyard set in stunning grounds, it is somewhere you would have a dream wedding. You paid $10 and got to try 5-6 different wines. I don't usually like wine that much but I had never been to a vineyard so wanted the experience. These high quality wines were actually really nice, you can definitely taste the difference between them and the cheap '2 for a fiver' bottles I usually have. It was really fun trying different ones and learning about how they are made. Then we drove to Cline Cellars, much smaller but also very nice vineyard. Here you could taste 5 wines complimentary- I could get used to this. The region was stunning, so green. It was nice to have the chance to drive out there and see it. When we returned to the city it was near dark and it was great to see lit up.

Day Three

Nicki told me I had a surprise this afternoon, I had no idea what it was. We got up early again and went for breakfast at the diner again, I had a yummy bagel and amazing milkshake. We then went and hired bikes and began our 2-3 hour cycle across the bay and into Sausalito. The weather was amazing, blue sky and hot but a nice breeze on the bikes. It was stunning, I love San Francisco already. There were a fair number of hills on the way which were a struggle on the bike but I just thought to myself it's like a hard track in a spin class so I got through it lol. Sausalito was another cute town, ice cream cafes and amazing houses. We went for a cocktail at Spinnaker, this lovely glass restaurant on the water. Then Nicki told me it was time to go for the surprise so I had to just follow her on the bike, I had no idea where we were going. After about 20 minutes we arrived at Sausalito's small airport...my surprise was a sea plane ride across the bay and city over San Francisco-OMG it was INCREDIBLE. I love small planes anyway and the pilot asked me to sit in the co-pilot seat. The weather couldn't have been any better. The views were amazing. It was so good. It lasted about 40 minutes. The sea landing was amazing too. What a lucky girl I am, Nicki's a legend! I'd always wanted to do it. Then we got the ferry back across to San Fran. Gave back our bikes and got a tram back to Union Square. We had a look in some of the shops and had a mini makeover in Benefit-which started in San Francisco. Then we had a lovely dinner. We knew we had an early start and all the fresh air had tired us out so we went back to bed.