You hear stories of this sort of thing but never think it'll happen to you! Sjane and I have found that it is NOT POSSIBLE (as in, it can't be done) to hire RipStiks in Santa Monica, LA. Un-fricken-believable. Many equipment hire places don't even know what they are!!! Can you imagine?! For our Suitcase Of Dreams, Brandan and Kate elected to put some money towards ripstiking along the pier at Santa Monica. Because these backwards ignoramus-es (I'm certain tha...

Today is our last day of car hire, so after our slow progress days we needed to get a wriggle on to get to LA. We didnt wriggle too fast though - today we were met with lush green rolling mountains, a plethora of vineyards and a waterfront paddock housing some very lucky cows (I hope they know how fortunate they are - prime location, amazing views!).    Santa Barbara seemed like a nice stop for some coffee and picnic lunch by the water. Think palm trees and r...

Day 2 saw us leaving Monterey heading to Cambria. This stretch is renowned for its beauty - ocean views, cliffs, mountains and National Parks. The name Big Sur alone evokes images of grandeur and majesty. It didn't disappoint. The morning started with our near-compulsory early morning run for whenever were staying somewhere that has running spaces. Once on the road, we stopped almost immediately; a couple of miles out at Point Lobos NP we went for a hike a...

Our road trip from San Francisco took us three days, all of which we've written a separate blog for. We found our days so full, and each day so different that we figured they deserved a bit of time spent outlining each. Initially we weren't going to do it at all. Financially a three day car hire is pretty expensive in comparison to bus, train or even flying. As it happened we were both pretty over being surrounded by high rises on all sides (ironically e...

It's hard to describe San Francisco and our experiences with it clearly. There have been times we've understood people's intense love of the place, and others we've wished we were anywhere else in the world. Let me explain. San Francisco is a wonderfully beautiful place. Perched on the end of a hilly jut of land, surrounded by water on three sides and gifted with a soft fog that slowly burns off to reveal blue-bird skies every morning; it is always going to be...