Here we are then,

Our first blog entry from LAX, waiting to board our PREMIUM economy (for Bruce's peace of mind) flight to New Zealand... after our brief city tour of San Francisco.

We are pretty sure that San Francisco is one of the best places in the states, so its a shame we only had 48 hours to check it out. Although, we did encounter some VERY strange people in the process...

We haven't had a fight yet, even with a 24 hour journey without sleep, and getting our airport terminals spot on every time (.....)

So, some of the highlights from the first leg of the trip (expletives removed!)

- Alcratraz (amezzin): hard to put into words, the feelings we had over the tour. Not many people get to do it, and when you are there you only feel a massive wave of anxiety about the place, especially in the solitary confinement cells... The sense of being so close to freedom but so isolated at the same time is incredible. Overall it was an epic day.

- The city: vibrant, clean and just generally relaxed. Great street food (we found the best burrito place ever 5 mins from our motel) and some awesomely talented performers around. People are generally really cool.

- The views across the bay are just awesome. The Golden Gate bridge is pretty damn incredible.

- We spent all day yesterday walking in the torrential rain, me without a raincoat... just to get to the main shopping district. Ended up buying a memory adapter. Total win.

- We realised when we packed this morning that our motel door had a hole in the bottom. We choose to believe it is a gunshot hole, and that we are now in the ghetto. This explains why we have slept in multiple layers both nights. That and the leaking window.

- We had the most bizarre airport shuttle ride today, and we are pretty sure the women in the back got dressed, undressed and then dressed again for no aparent reason. Not quite as weird as the lady who told us to f*ck off as we merrily walked down the road yesterday..

- There are a lot of hills in San Francisco.

So, here we now sit in the departure lounge of LAX just mulling over the past few days and getting excited about the next stop. America is an amazing place to visit, and San Francisco lived up to everything we wanted and more, except for totally underestimating its sheer size and our ability to see it all in a few days. Still, we are pretty sure it was a much better plan than two days in LA, where we may have made it to the end of our street and back in that time!

We've decided that the trip doesn't really start until now, and that it will be 3 months of holiday each day that we are away... even on the day we come home.

We have uploaded a few photos just to give you a feel, and hope everyone back home who checks this out is as bored as we are given that we have spent 6 hours already waiting to fly another 13 hours only to lose our Wednesday to the stupid time zones. Holiday problems.

Big love and we hope to catch you guys soon.

Bruce and Ash

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