So I finally made it to San Fran after 2 long flights. Glad to be getting some sleep after being awake for 30 hours.
When I arrived at the hostel I was told that Tia said to only pay for one night, which was slightly odd since I had booked for 3. All the guy on reception said was "she`ll explain".
I was expecting to find Tia fast asleep in the shard 4 dorm room, instead I met her in an upstairs lobby area and she was doing her best to stay awake. As we got chatting she explained she had found bed bugs and couldn`t settle even though we had swapped rooms, we agreed to leving the next day and go to the hostel she had moved from. So suffice to say my first few hours sleep after landing in San Fran was spent on a sofa in a lobby.
The other shocker came in the morning when I looked out of our window. Not the best area to be in, lets leave it at that.
Being in the San Francisco International Hostel has been great and i`m glad we swapped. The people are friendly and fun here and the daily evening call of "FREE BEEEEEEEEEEER!" just adds to the experience.
My first day in San Fran was spent cycling through Golden Gate Park and over the Golden Gate Bridge - it was amazing! 5 of us hired bikes (myself, Tia, Patrick, Philip and Mia) The 6 hour bike ride was worth it even though we all had really really bad saddle sore bums and jelly legs. The journey back was much more pleasent, we took the ferry from Sausalito, which by the way has fantastic houses i.e. mansions, and as we came across the bay we passed Alcatraz pretty closely. It was awesome to see and it satisfied my need to see it up close, so didn`t feel the need to book a day trip to the prison. We ended the day with a few hours in "the basement" - the party area basically. I learnt a new game called beer pong and chatted to a few people whilst drinking the hours away.
Yesterday (20th July) was another tourist days which I thoroughly enjoyed. Tia and myself went to Fisherman`s Wharf, I got myself a few pieces of Salt Water Taffy and peanut butter cups and took pictures of all sorts of things when we went Pier 39. I got some great shots of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz.
We also went to Chinatown, Little Italy, Coit Tower (breath taking view) and Johnny Rocks diner for my first diner experience. We Walked through Nob Hill, Market Street where you can find Old Navy, Macy`s, Tiffany`s the Cheescake Factory plus many many more stores.
On our way back from the piers we stumbled across Lombard St, which was crazy to see so many cars from a distance just twisting and turning down this short road. We are going to take a proper look at it today and get some pictures.
Later on this evening we will begin our journey to L.A. by Greyhound. This will take us roughly 9 hours to get there.
I`ve had a great time in San Fran and i`m glad I came here even if the beginning it wasn`t off to the best start.

Stay tuned for the next installment.
Looby out! x