Our Great Escape had finally begun. Our vision and plan was finally becoming a reality. In the early hours of the morning, we boarded the Virgin flight 19 bound for San Francisco, the starting point of our great adventure and where we find our travel companion and home for the next eight months.
　
But before we start our new adventure we would like to say a big thanks to Ally, Jon and Lynne for providing us with a couch to sleep on while we were in London and to Sadhana who is looking after Shay's boxes and mail and cooked us a fantastic Indian dinner.
　
We can't complain about our journey to San Francisco. The flight was on time and, with the exception of the screaming child behind us, fairly painless. We touched down in San Francisco around midday, cleared immigration and customs and took our first steps on American soil. Our mission was to find the BART train, work out the ticket machines, take the correct train to the Civic Centre then navigate our way to the downtown hostel. The sun was shining, the sky blue and despite having been awake for over 12 hours and smelling a little ripe, everything just seemed good. We couldn't wait to find our hostel, dump the boards and backpacks, get showered and start exploring.
　
California Dreaming
　
What can we say about San Francisco… We love it! What a beautifully laid back city. We found our hostel quite easily and all the staff were very warm and welcoming. After taking an hour to get organised we decided to take the Powell and Hyde cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. The cable car was a great experience, the conductors where highly entertaining and the views amazing as we chugged up and down the hilly streets of Frisco. After a few hours of exploring the area and enjoying the sunshine, jet lag was getting the better of us and we headed back to the hostel for an early night.
　
We awoke the next day at about 3.30am and couldn't get back to sleep. Our hostel was located right in the middle of skid row and all we could hear was the moans and screams of the homeless people which roamed the area. We busied ourselves with catching up on the gossip via the internet and starting our Craigslist search for our perfect camper which would journey with us down through Central America.
　
On our first day we decided to ease into tourist mode and do a walking tour outlined in the Lonely Planet guide. The tour took us past Union Square, through Chinatown and Northbeach, the Italian quarter, and onto Lombard Street, which is the world's crookedest street. Here we took a few minutes to observe cars weaving there way down the peculiar road before continuing, burning serious calories, up and down the mountainous Frisco streets. Our final stop was Russian Hill where we were rewarded with spectacular views of the city.
　
Blazing Saddles
　
The next day we headed back down to Fisherman's Wharf and hired some bikes. It was a beautiful weekend and tourists and locals were out in force. We started the ride down the cycle path to the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping to watch some surfers riding sizeable waves beneath the bridge. We then cycled over the infamous bridge and through Sausalito. We could have ended our ride here and taken the ferry back to Fisherman's Wharf but we opted to carry on. We continued along the path to Tiburon, getting slightly lost on the way, but thankfully managed to pull in at the ferry dock, in time to catch the last ferry home.
　
We recuperated from our mammoth cycle ride with a cool beer at the nearest bar and Shay tried the famous Dungeness Crab Chowder before we dragged our tired and sore backsides back to the hostel.
　
Summer of Love
　
On our final day of sight-seeing we concentrated on visiting the Westside of the city. We started with the Haight which was the epicentre of the 'Summer of Love' in the late 60's. Evidence of this area's past shows through with eccentric shops, bars and cafés, one of which we stopped and had a coffee, the Red Vic. Inside they had a special table which encouraged strangers to gather and discuss peace and world issues.
　
We fought our way through the crowds of very interesting characters to get into the Golden Gate Park and we swear that the original hippies from the summer of love are still wandering aimlessly in there… obviously lost! By the gates it looked to be feeding time as a crowd gathered whilst food parcels were thrown out the back of a van. We walked swiftly past and carried on into the park where various groups of people relaxed on the grass... it reminded us of summer in London.
　
After the Haight we strolled to the Castro, a renowned gay hangout, and we could see why. The main street, Castro Street, hung the gay flag with pride and the street was lined with trendy boutiques, bars and clubs. All of a sudden, Shay seemed to be one of the only girls in the area and Ollie felt a little under dressed as guys minced around with the latest fashions and hairstyles... it was F for Fabulous.
　
A Baby-Sized Burrito
　
The Mission was only a short walk away, and the Lonely Planet statement that it has the 'best burritos in the world' was enough to get us there. As we left the Castro and entered the Mission there was a drastic change in atmosphere... we moved from the uber cool, glittery Castro to the vibrant and bustling Latino vibe of the Mission. After a long walk down Mission Street, we finally made our target, 'La Taqueria'. As warned, the line for the so-called 'best burritos in the world' was out the door, but we had come this far so we jumped on in. The line went down quite quickly and soon we were handed the biggest burrito we had ever seen, stuffed with tasty meat, sour cream and guacamole. We have to agree that the Lonely Planet got it right!
　
After 3 1/2 full days of exploring this amazing city, it was time to get down to business. We now need to hit Craigslist with full force to find ourselves our new travel companion, or as Alan Wiesbecker would say, 'La Casita Viajera'. Our home for the coming year.