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Made it! After 28 hours of travel we are finally in San Francisco. Our journey started at 4.30am (Sunday) from the Youth Hostel in Vancouver with a 40minute walk to the Greyhound Bus. We managed a short sleep before the US border, before the ordeal of immigration and obtaining the 90 day visa waiver. It should have been a very straight forward bit of bureaucracy, but the border guards were far more interested in us than in any of the other passengers. Surely we are an ally of the USA?
Reason for visit? Been here before? Contents of bag? Any fruit or vege? $500 dollar fine possible for non declaration. You have apples! I'll need to see those.....
So, you are a History teacher uh? (Apparently I didn't look much like one.) And so the interrogation began. What year was the Peasants Revolt? Who was their leader? What were the consequences for England? Having safely negotiated my way through the Year 7 curriculum, the appropraiate stamps were placed into our passports and we were free to pay the $12 administration fee and to enter the 'Land of the Free. ' This was also the first time we'd ever had our finger prints taken, and we now appear on an American data base somewhere, along with a sleepy photo each.
We were glad to arrive in Seattle at around 9.30 am where we swapped from a bus to train, and began a very relaxing journey. Amtrack certainly know how much leg room a passenger needs. Freight has priorty in the US and passenger trains never travel much above 40mph, so it is a very gentle way to enjoy the countryside. For the remaining leg the most taxing things we had to do: Wonder to the cafe car for tea, use the 'restroom' or have a breath of fresh air on the platforms when the engiene was being refuelled or more drinking water added. A train spotters dream, and a welcome change of pace for us.
We arrived at our station near SanFrancisco at around 10am on Monday and then took 2 buses, a short walk and a mono rail to collect our next form of transport, a hire car to get us quickly in to the heart of the countryside and the national parks.
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