Hiya! What a manic four days in San Francisco! We started off by trying to find the hostel-located in the 'ghetto' area!However the hostel was really nice and everyone so friendly there! Our first lesson to be learnt was DO NOT look like a tourist at night in the ghetto area- yep we wapped out the maps looking for the road where the best thai place was. In a matter of 5 minutes there were 5 different people offering to help, asking where we were from and following us!! We certainly didnt do this again! Did i mention the weather was lush for the complete time we were there at 25-28 degrees!!hehe!!

Day one and were jet lagged, so a little cap-nap was in order. FIVE hours later were awoken by a new room member! Afterwards we found food at the Thai express (very lush!) however we all looked like zombies, so back to bed!

Day two and were up bright and early- try 6am!!We eventually got back to sleep and after our bagels for brekkie, we headed off to downtown San Francisco! Oooh so many pretty shops but we weren't too distracted!?! We eventually made it to Bloomingdales, looked at all the gorgeous shoes that were slightly out of the backpackers budget price range (by about $300!) before arriving at the toursit info. Everyone really was super friendly and helpful that no matter where you ended up, you were never lost.  We took the tram down to the Fishermans Wharf which is rather posh.  It was from here that we booked our trip to Alcatraz for the following day and went to Pier 39.  Pier 39 is where all the sealions hang-out! They were fab entertainment! We then took a strole down to the end of the pier looking for this Diner that had been recommended. Obviously we'd gone the complete wrong direction, so half an hour later we find it and by godd was it worth it! The milkshakes were to die for and the burgers looked as though half a cow was stuffed in a bap!!I would definately recommend the Fog City Diner, Fishermans Wharf! Thanks Vicky for the tip from Mr Stone!! We then got the tram back and decided another capnap was in order before heading out to a recommended part of town-luckily out of the ghetto! So only two hours later this time, we awake at 9.30pm, get ready and out we go for 10.30pm, thinking its a bit late. How wrong could we be as anytime after 10pm and it starts getting busy. We end up at some really nice bars, had a few cocktails and danced the night away.  An american girl recommends this place called the 'End-up' which is open until 6am, so we go! Its only when we get in that we realise its a gay bar full of half naked, toned bodied men-result!! So what could we do but dance! Catherine gets friends with this american guy(straight), who was really nice actually and we end up staying there all night just chatting away!

Day 3 and were awake at 9.30am-only 3 hours sleep but were not wasting the day! So off we trot to Fishermans Wharf to go to Alcatraz.  The boat ride over was a bit shaky and Amy wasnt feeling her best but she managed to not vomit (just!).  When you arrive at Alcatraz, you get an eerie feeling that sticks with you for the duration. It is a truely amazing place and i would recommend it to anyone going there. The tour is one of those audio-visual ones with the voices of some of the inmates on-creepy!.  However on a more brighter note, the views of San Francisco skyline were just breath-taking. I got a bit 'snap-happy', hence some black and white pics and believe me, many were deleted! Once back on dry land again, we headed back to the hostel as were being taken to the 'posh' area of San Francisco called Pacific Harbour. It was here that i met a very nice young man-you know who you are! who kindly posed for the picture i have sent to all the nurses on Paddington and Disney ward, Northampton. I hear they were all very impressed and it definately put a smile on their faces!

Day four and its our last day! After not getting to bed until 7am after a fab night, we had to be up to pack, check-out and sightsee a little more! After a mad rush to pack in 10minutes, we head off to get some much needed coffee! It was after breakfast that we head for the bus to go to the Golden Gate bridge. Unfortunately we miss the bus, however this police man comes over and offers us a lift! So being the trustworthy people that we are, we get into this police car-amy definatelty had the best seat at the front.  Me and Cat were on the hard plastic seats with the cage bars up!It was hilarious and i couldnt stop laughing for the life of me! Luckily amy kept him talking about music etc until we reached the Golden Gate bridge! At one point in the journey, his radio went off and we had to be silent which was so hard to do when youve got the giggles!! Obviously we had to have a picture taken with 'Ringo' (as we called him because he liked the Beatles) just to prove to you guys that it really did happen! However when we arrived at the Golden Gtae bridge it was really foggy and we couldnt see a thing, so we headed on the bus back to Twin Peaks.  This was adventure number two of the day as we got lost and ended up getting a taxi-so worth it! Twin Peaks is a mountain that gives you a complete view of the whole of San Francisco- what an amazing sight.  So after all the picture taking it was time to make our way down and what a long walk it was!! We eventually found a road and hopped on a bus to just take us anywhere, but luckily ended up not far from our hostel as time was running out before we had to get to the airport. After hoisting our mammoths of backpacks on our backs, we got the shuttle train to the airport. By this time were feeling rather knackered but weve got to get a transfer flight from LA to Fiji! We eventually make it on the flight to LA-im falling asleep on the plane.  However when we arrived at LA airport there was only an hour before departure.  This was where the fun started as to cut a long story short, we were knackered, in the wrong terminal and had only 15minutes until our plane departed for Fiji- HOLY S***!!We ran to the correct terminal , heard our names being called and got pushed through security with some bloke telling us to hurry up when weve got to take our shoes off and practically all clothing whilst going through american security!!Also people were telling us to be quiet!!God, we sprinted like no-bodys buisness and made it on the plane with a minute to spare.  Least to say, we slept well on that 11 hour journey!!  Lesson number TWO- also check your gate number before falling asleep at the airport!!!

 Overall San Francisco was awesome and i loved it!I am so going back one day to do all the other stuff we didnt have time to do!!