The journey to SanFran from LA!!

After all the horrow stories i'd heard about the crazy greyhound system (you can book and pay for a seat but this is not guaranteed until you are there and in line - even then if the bus is full before you get to the front of the line you have to wait for another bus!! Only in the USA!) i booked a taxi from Banana Bungalow at 9am to head downtown as i was told there was no pick up from Hollywood!

Downtown was interesting - a few crazy people wandering around but inside the station was fairly safe. Bought ny ticjet and paid a bit extra for priority boarding which apparently gave me a slightly bette chance of actually getting on the bus!! Waited for 2 hours at the station until 11.30 when the bus arrived. Bus not too full so got on OK and driver really friendly chatted to me for about the first 45 minutes. Although living in LA he is from Fiji and so was telling me all about how amazing it is there so all excited about the next journey there too.

The drive was interesting to say the least. Basically it was FLAT!! The whole was was just barren almost desert land with a few farms, Had hoped we would go the scenic route along the coast but we ended up on the Freeway 5 which just headed straight through nothingness. Hard to sleep but managed a few hours. Stopped in true ameruican style at a Burger King at 4pm for some lunch - not great but no alternative! Took my refil coke back on the bus for later on but big mistake! cup was huge and as we went over all these bumps in the road it was a serious mission to stop it from falling over on me and my ipod so no more sleeps for me! worse stilli was thirsty but didnt dare dirnk too much incase i needed the loo - no other stops for 3 hours!! At least it was godo value - ticet cost $53 and took 9 hours in total so not a bad option just LONG!! Arrived at Oakland stop over around 7pm and had to wait another half an hour to catch the next connection to SanFran.

THe adventure began when the greyhound arrived. Saw two people who looked like backpackers and found they were coming to the same Adelaide Hostel. We decided to share a taxi - the plan was get taxi, get to hostel and sleep! The reality was ask person at station, find out taxi's are hard to get esp on a friday night, realise we have no phones between us, ask about payphones, get told there is ONE in the whole city - Find the one payphone a few blocks away and it doesnt work! I asked a lady in a bar nearby who called the hostel for directions for us. Decided by this time we may as well walk but after many blocks and 50 minutes a taxi seemed like a better option!! anyway, we arrived!!

In a 6 bed female dorm. Most others have just arrived too and seem really nice. Bathroom is out in the corridor but seems like a really nice place. Great big lounge and free breakfast which sounds good in the morning!!

So glad to be off that bus - looking forward to exploring and completing my SanFran missions tomorrow!!