San Francisco time!! Up nice an early to bring order to the bombsite that was our room, even though we had been in it for only two days!! I have to say though, I thought I was messy but these girls put me to shame. My mess x four girls = one hell of a mess! We decided to take a taxi to the Greyhound bus station as we didn't necessarily want to be lugging all our stuff around LA and god only know where we'd end up. The journey took about an hour and there is only so much small talk you can make with a greasy fat taxi driver. During the slogging taxi ride I pondered over the fact that Los Angeles so far was pretty mundane. Nothing drastic had happened and other than the gigantic portions of food we were eating, this country was not living up to it over-the-top cliché. I don't know what I was quite expecting, just something just a wee bit shocking but so far I had been pretty disappointed. As we pulled up to the station entrance, however, there on the side of the road was a buxom black lady, hands thrown in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs...naked. Completely starkers, clothes scattered all over the road, drugged up to her eyeballs. There you go, that's what I was waiting for! A bit of craziness to liven things up a bit. A part of me did become a bit nervous though when I saw the state of the bus station. The station itself was on the very outskirts of the city in a run down, shabby area and considering the amount of money that was being pumped into Los Angeles I thought it would be in better condition than it was. The taxi cost around $60 and of course we tipped, but the cheeky b***** just had to have a little dig that it wasn't enough. We checked in as you would an airport, got our tickets and headed for the waiting area, not before witnessing a rowdy, young, blonde man with red eyes, dreadlocks and blood running down his nose being cornered by three huge security guards. Ok, ok that's enough craziness for one day but they know what they say, when it rains it pours. We eventually boarded the bus with some interesting characters already seated, including several Mexicans, a huge woman who did not stop eating throughout the entire journey and a black woman who had a her phone permanently pressed to the side of her head. The bus was shabby and old but compared to some of the Asian buses I had travelled on it was practically bliss. We set off on time, thankfully, as I don't want to spend a moment longer in the bus station than I needed to. We weaved in and out through the thick traffic of the city, seeing every corner of Hollywood which just happened to be a dump. A long eight hour journey was ahead of us but I couldn't wait to get out of the city and head for the beautiful sea views of the golden coast. Or so I thought. As it was, we took the boring route. The boring route consisted of rolling hills of dusty green which eventually turned into the sharp peaks of mountains laced with rivers and vast lakes. It was a beautiful sight in fairness and I spent most of the time gazing out the window of the bus, wishing my travels never had to end. Four hours in and we stopped at services for something to eat. Hoping for a healthy salad was obviously far too much to ask as we pulled up right up to a Burger King. Starving and having no other choice we walked in just to be confronted by a wall full of numbers! This just happened to be the number of calories in each item of food which put me waaaaaaay off the chicken sandwich and fries I was about to devour. Sharing a meal seemed like the only option once again and this is a common theme with our eating habits whilst in America. Even the birds outside swooped in at every morsel left in packets outside, proving that even the wildlife in America are bred to eat fast food. Back on the road again for the extra four and half hours of the gruelling bus journey to San Francisco. More mountains, more eating by the huge woman, more ghetto talk by the black girl on the phone and more fast food restaurants than you can ever imagine. Taco Bell, Chucky Cheese, Dairy Queen, Wendys and a McDonalds every 5 miles - the typical American diet along one stretch of highway.

Eventually, in the horizon we spotted skyscrapers silhouetted against the grey darkening sky. Crossing over the Oakland Bay Bridge (just Bay Bridge to the locals) we headed straight into the heart of city. We ground to a halt at the bus station where we collected our bags and set about trying to find our way to our hostel. We found a map in the station and discovered that it wasn't too far to the hostel itself. It was a toss up between taking a taxi and walking so, being short of cash and a few pounds heavier, I encouraged the girls to take up the walking idea, much to Jenny's dismay. Due to her bad back, Jenny had a pulley suitcase rather than a backpack so the potholed footpaths proved to be a challenge for her. Kerry took charge of the map and discovered a hidden talent for orienteering. Her new found skills along with the help of a friendly bus driver helped us reach the hostel by late evening. It sounds weird but there was something about San Francisco that made me feel immediately at ease. I presumed it was from hearing so much positive feedback about the place but as a gaped up at the high-rise buildings in front of me, I realised that these power-looking superstructures seemed more protective than overwhelming. Four girls with bags wandering around the streets clearly lost should have been a prime target for any drugged up person looking for easy pickings but this was a city that obviously wanted visitors to come again. You could never do something like that in Los Angeles.

USA Hostel was in a perfect location, a short walk down from all sorts of fancy expensive looking shops, and an even shorter walk to many restaurants and cafes, from Chinese to French. The hostel itself used to be a very fancy hotel, with grand stone steps leading up to the reception, large bay windows looking out onto the city and even an old-fashioned elevator with an iron gate you had to close before to ascended to your desired floor. We checked in for four nights to begin with and set about finding our room when who should stroll round the corner but Cedric!! When he left me at the airport I had no idea where which direction he was heading. I didn't even realise he had left Los Angeles so seeing him there of all the places in America shook me up a bit. Fate I think some people call it. I gave him a big hug and introduced him to the girls before finding our room and making ourselves at home. The room was actually a four-bed dorm, perfect for us and was located nicely at the front of the building with a huge window to let plenty of light in. After being in several dorm rooms that are the size of cupboards with no windows, you begin to appreciate natural light and fresh air. The room had loads of space (for us to scatter all of our stuff), lockers and a bathroom right outside our door. With free wifi, a pool table and free pancakes for breakfast, I think it was easy to say that this hostel was borderline perfect! After emptying our bags and making it look like Topshop had thrown up in our room, we decided food was in order. Cedric suggested a restaurant round the corner that was open quite late (it was 9pm by this point) so off we set, our minds on our stomachs. The restaurant was literally around the corner and happened to be a diner, Louis Diner to be exact. It WAS awesome. It was like someone had beamed me up and plonked me into a scene from Grease. All the booths lined up with padded red leather seats, the black and white checked floor and every employee had a pinny and a diner cap perched proudly on their perfectly preened heads. We sat down, getting all giggly and excited, laughing at the fact that the focal point on the main wall as you walk in was a huge green Belfast clock. Jenny was beside herself. Pictures were taken. I strongly believe that when in a class diner, diner-food must be ordered, when in Rome and all that, but I immediately regretted my choice when I saw the size of the bloody thing. The Louis Burger Special towered over me, with seven layers of burger, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onion and gherkin inside a huge soft burger bap, surrounded by a massive portion of fries. I wasn't the only one, the rest of the group we equally as shocked with the size of their own orders, apart from Nikki who was smug that she was sensible and ordered a plate of garlic fries (even they were huge). More pictures were taken. I tucked in, pacing myself and in fairness I gave a pretty good go of it. As predicted, everyone else had similar problems so I didn't feel like I was the only one who didn't finish. We settled our bill and all agreed that a drink was in order. We quickly came across a cocktail bar called Swig. The place was as dark as a cave with every item of furniture painted black, but the place had a bit of an atmosphere and we all wanted a cocktail. Jenny eyed up a fit barman and started chatting him up, the twins took a seat and attracted the attention of a weirdo whose gender we couldn't quite figure out, and Cedric and I discussed our favourite cocktails. Turns out the barman was from Ireland, much to Jenny's delight, and the girls were desperate to be saved from this creep who wouldn't stop talking about his girlfriend but was clearly gay. Cedric and I left the bar to leave Jenny to flirt and to rescue the others from the chatterbox who was clearly in denial. After exchanging a few polite words and uncomfortable shuffles he left claiming he had to meet a friend. If you say so, love. We could then kick back, discuss girly stuff (even with Cedric there) and fully enjoy our cocktails. Overall a pretty good night. We staggered back to the hostel as wiriness from our journey kicked in wanting our beds more than anything in the world. Tomorrow we shall discover San Francisco!

We woke up late as we all slept like the dead. Showered, dressed and out the door before we really had a clue about what we were doing. Missed the free pancakes, bed seemed like the better idea, so we stopped off at a little cafe a few blocks over to have a much-needed coffee and to make a plan to make our day as full as possible. Cedric, who was quickly becoming one of the clan, came with us and helped point out bits and bobs we could do. First stop, Lombard Street! For those who don't know Lombard Street is the road that is so steep they've had to build it zigzagging to the bottom because in the times of old horses and carts struggled to get to the bottom of such a steep hill. It was quite a walk from the hostel to the Street itself, but we were able to then appreciate San Francisco's hilly reputation in all its glory, despite the grey and gloomy weather. Each road was lined up perfectly parallel with the next making it easy to locate on a map but equally as easy to get lost without one. We seemed to be constantly climbing upwards, but in between each row of houses we could get a sneaky peak of the fabulous view of San Francisco from above. We came to Lombard Street from the top. It was framed by beautifully built terrace houses and at each curve of the road was a scattering of neatly trimmed bushes which would have looked fabulous when in bloom. There was a handful of other equally as keen tourists so we didn't stick out like sore thumbs. We trudged on and headed towards Fisherman's Wharf, the line of piers and shops at the water's edge. It was a tourist's paradise - rows of tacky shops selling everything from salt water taffy to grow-your-own pearls. From there we saw our first glimpse the famous prison of Alcatraz standing proudly in the middle of San Francisco Bay. We made our way down to Pier 33 where we would be taking the ferry to the island later on in the week, just so we knew where it was when we needed to get there in a hurry. I loved the vibe of the place, with the little fishing boats moored up and all sorts of smells (mostly fishy, surprise, surprise) drifting out of each cafe and restaurant we passed. This made us hungry. Like the big kids we were we put our names down for a table in the Rainforest Cafe, a over-priced restaurant made up entirely like, believe it or not, a rainforest. It had vines, trees, full-sized electronic animals and even the ceiling was converted into a starry sky so every 15minutes there would be a storm and some sort of weather change. Magical. We looked around the shop downstairs whilst waiting for our table and it was amazing!!!! I could have bought the entire shop there and than if we didn't have to eventually take our table. I had been to a Rainforest Cafe before in Toronto when visiting my aunty when I was twelve and I could not, for one second, remember being this excited at that age. We did our usual of ordering a share platter instead of individual meals, something I think Cedric was concerned about considering his enormous appetite, but again, as usual there was more than enough to go around. More exploring and a bit of shopping later, we headed towards the turntable for the famous San Francisco cable car hoping to have a ride. When we got there however our mouths dropped at the ridiculously long line of tourists having the same idea. Instead we just took a few pictures and watched how the cable car was manually turned around on the special rotating rails at the end of its route. From there we also got a sneaky peak at the famous Golden Gate Bridge linking San Francisco to Marin County which was just about visible against the murky clouds. With our plan scuppered by annoying tourists (ahem) we decided instead to walk to Chinatown which was on our way back to hostel anyway and find the Gateway Arch to Chinatown known as the Dragon Gate. Easier said than done it seems when this particular Chinatown is the largest outside of Asia. I swear, I stuck out more obviously walking through this Asian community than I did in Thailand itself. But I felt like I had been transported right back there with the buzz of street-side selling of food that was still half alive and the smell of spices so strong it made your eyes water. Finally, after questioning several times whether this damn Gate still existed, we found it. It was basically a huge archway framing the end of one of the busiest chinese streets made in typical chinese style with huge pillars supporting the slanted green roof and two little golden dragons on top for extra effect. It was a pretty cool gate to be fair. Once we had absorbed all the culture we could out of the day there was one thing left to do...shopping!!! First stop, a huge Banana Republic covering two floors, which definitely got the pulse racing. However, after five minutes of fingering through sorry-looking sale rack I soon realised that it was actually quite a boring shop that was definitely over-priced. I tried a few things on but dismissed the idea of buying anything when I realised how much weight I had put on. Stupid American portions. It was only when we reached Macys I realised that I had left my handbag, containing all my banks cards, money and passport, in the changing rooms of Banana Republic. You would have thought I would have learnt the first time.