Today we managed to get up and out of the hostel before they threw everyone out at 11am and we headed down to the beach for the day. This is the first proper beach town we've been to and the beach doesn't disappoint, miles and miles of sand with all sorts of things going on, including a lot of beach volleyball...surely it's too hot for anything that strenuous? The day started off cloudy but the sun burnt it away by lunchtime and it got hotter as the day went on....

After a straightforward trip on the Greyhound (which was a relief after the last time we tried to use them!) we got off and couldn't find the bus the hostel told us to get from the station, so we found a map and set off walking. We eventually found the hostel after about twenty minutes, but we already knew we wouldn't be able to get in until 5pm. The place has some pretty strict rules on opening hours - all guests are locked out between 11am and 5pm and there's a...

We woke up in time to take advantage of the fantastic free breakfast at the Green Tortoise (bagels, coffee and juice) before catching up with Chris and Dawn on Skype - the first time we've managed to use it in five weeks of travelling! At around lunchtime, we left the hostel and headed for Fisherman's Wharf and a free museum we'd read about called the Musee Mecanique. The place was filled with old penny arcade games dating back to the 50s and they'd all been kep...

Jeffery left early for work this morning and let us stay in his apartment on our own until we were ready to go, because we didn't look like we were going to 'rob him blind'! We eventually headed back into the city and checked in at the Green Tortoise hostel. It was much bigger than Pacific Tradewinds, the other hostel we'd stayed in, and we liked it straight away - lots of computers with free internet, helpful staff, a large dining room, lots of showers and toil...

Today was our last day and night with Jeffrey. After taking us to the Golden Gate bridge to take some photos, he dropped us off in Japantown quite early. We walked around the Japanese shopping mall for a while, calling into another book shop and a couple of gift shops after a Burger King breakfast with the waifs and strays of San Francisco! We saw a guy counting out pennies to buy a burger only to find he was short, annyoing the cashier. While we were eating anot...