US TRIP - Sydney to San Francisco

In September 2017 Oliver (aged 13 at that time) and I went to America for a 5 week holiday. I started blogging about it elsewhere and because I'd planned a jam-packed holiday I didn't end up writing too many posts. Still, this blog is where I stash some of my memories, so I thought I'd gather the posts I'd already done, and maybe try and drop a few more in. It's also a good reminder of what worked and didn't work, which is hand as I'm planning on going overseas again as soon as I possibly can!

So here's my first US post: 

There's no getting around it, the flight from Sydney to San Francisco is realllllly long. And because I'm not rich, really uncomfortable. I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times, but when stuck in the middle seat of an economy row.....

Still, we finally got to San Francisco around 9:30am and got a couple of lucky breaks. We breezed through customs and despite arriving at our hotel 5 hours early they checked us in and we were able to have a shower. So good!

First task was a visit to the huge Nike store in Union Square, where Oliver picked up a nice jumper and some new shoes. I'm more of a Reebok person, s I didn't buy anything. Yet...


On out way back we stumbled across Lori's Diner, which was an awsome first experience for American dining. Our meal were huge (we ended upgetting two meals out of it!), and it had the proper decor and even a proper American pickle!

Enough for two meals!

Lori's Diner

Lori's Diner

We headed back for a quick nap and then headed down to Pier 39 for a wander. It's really quite vibrant at night, but rather touristy.

Sunset from Pier 39

Oliver wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge so we headed off on a huge walk through the streets but of course by the time we got within site of it, it was dark and covered in fog (in hindsight, that's probably why we didn't see it from Fisherman's Wharf, lol). Oh well. It was still an interesting walk. Seeing the Palace of Fine Arts at night was really cool!

So, a huge night and we tired ourselves out well enough to get a good night's sleep. The beds were really comfy and we were up high enough that when the window was closed it wasn't too noisy.

A great start to our holiday!