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USA '14 (San Francisco with B)
It's no secret that I am a hypochondriac; I link every symptom to some terminal illness, and then have episodes of panic attack (where I would go around telling everyone I love that I suspect I might be dying...)Lately I've been feeling like my cognitive abilities are at the onset of failing, and the fact that I watched a movie where the female lead died of a brain tumor right before my body started showing symptoms like memory loss, blocked ears, headaches etc. really. didn't. help.
So despite the fact that I haven't been blogging for a long, long time now (posting random spurts of emotional nonsense doesn't count,) I am going to blog about my recent trip to the US of A with Bervin and Sharissa. (Because, you know, if anything happens, which, knock on wood, I want everyone to read this entry and like, wail.)
THE GRAND INITIAL PLAN
Yeah before you tell us that it's a ludicrous idea, and we must be out of our minds because we would be spending 3/4 of our 17 days on the road........... I know, I know. The locals on Tripadvisor pretty much told us all of the above. (Whatever. YOLO!)
...Okay but since we didn't want to die of exhaustion on the road, we scraped Seattle, Portland and the Bonneville Salt Flats. (Not before shedding a considerable amount of tears.)
In the end, we ditched our young, wild and ambitious plans for this instead:
Bervin bought return tickets from China Airlines for approximately $1300, which is a fairly low price considering that China Airlines (which is Taiwanese,) is comfortable and reliable.
Speaking of airlines, China Airlines and Delta are among the more reputable carriers out of all the carriers that offer cheaper flights from Singapore to the US. In fact, my only bad experience flying from the US was the one where I was on Cathay Pacific (which is ironic, since they are reputed to be pretty good.)
I got my tickets for SIN - SFO and JFK - SIN from Delta for approx. $1500, which is also a really good price for a multiple city flight.
One thing I've learnt is to always book my flights directly from the carrier's website (unless of course the third party site is offering an incredible deal, like that time I got round trip tickets to NY for $900.) It's much easier to make amendments and requests when you book direct, and you can become a frequent flier and earn mileage (which is not usually an option when you book via third party sites.)
SAN FRANCISCO
In San Francisco, we spent approx. USD$28/night on a bed each (in a 4-bed room) at the Adelaide Hostel.
Frankly speaking, this might be one of the best places I've ever stayed at while on a budget. The beds were spacious (with equally spacious lockers at the bottom of each double deck bed), bathrooms were in abundance, everything was clean, and it seemed the staff were always cleaning or making some improvements around the hostel. I LOVED IT. Oh, and the fact that the location was amazing didn't hurt either.
Also, we filled our tummies with free bagels, toast, coffee and fruits every single morning before we started exploring the city. ALL FOR $28? YES PLEASE!
In my favorite city with my favorite person. Does it get any better than this?
........oh right it probably would have been better if I had packed more appropriate clothes. I underestimated the cold in SF and packed only 5 t-shirts, 2 casual dresses, 2 pants and 2 cardigans for the trip.
#stupid #almostdiedofhypothermia
Anyway, somewhere along the way Google maps failed us and we ended up wandering up the hill on to the foot of Coit Tower (even though we were headed towards Lombart/Crooked Street.) Eventually we spotted our destination from up the hill and managed to ask for enough right directions to get there. All that walking and we didn't even break a sweat. Sigh, SF is perfect.
(Watched an amazing street artist complete this piece in 15 minutes with just spray paint, a plate, scrap paper and a scaper as tools. This piece is currently sitting on B's shelf at home.)
Oh, and if you've never visited the Musee Mechanique, YOU'RE MISSIN' OUTTTT! It's situated on one of the piers, and it houses some of the coolest vintage coin-operated arcade machines and mechanical musical instruments. Be sure to bring lots of quarters, and have a rolllllin' good time.
(We spent about $5 and 1 hour in total walking through the museum and having the time of our lives.)
P.S The "bell" in the last picture was impossible to ring. Bervin didn't make it.
P.P.S You have to check out this place the next time you're in SF
P.P.P.S It's free just to enter. So even if you were really poor, you could just pop by to take a look.
Bought a Groupon for $15, took a tour of the USS Pampanito (Submarine), gawked, marveled, tripped, learned some new things, found bird shit on the back of B's jacket (DAMN YOU SEAGULLS!) and took photos with a war veteran.
P.S Notice how tight the bunks are? I'd die of claustrophobia in one day.
(Fort Point)
Got coffee and took a morning stroll along the Golden Gate Bridge, bearing the insanely strong winds (just look at my hair please.) Fort Point is one of the best places to take photos of the bridge because of how easy it is to get there. Most other (undoubtedly better) vantage points require you to cycle or drive, and we weren't too thrilled about spending $15/hour on a bicycle each or renting a car just to see the bridge.
(On the Golden Gate Bridge)
(On the Sausalito side of the Golden Gate)
B tricked me into taking what he sold to me as a romantic slow walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, and after an hour of what I admit is a pretty romantic walk, we reached the other end of the bridge, where we presented me with two options: (1)To walk to Sausalito, which was a couple more kilometres away, to spend more money on taking a ferry back, or (2)To walk back the way we came, for 6 or 7 kilometres.
wtf.
In the end I chose Option 2, and by the time we were done we were half dead.
Moral of the story: Do not embark on a 7km walk along a road with one-way traffic. Or trust your boyfriend without doing some research on your own.
On the bright side, while trying to return to the city, we found a really interesting flight of stairs leading to the other side of the bridge. It led us right below the bridge (where I had A BALL imagining the structure collapsing on me,) and on to the dark side. .......ok no.
Anyway, the rest is history. For our remaining 3 days in SF, we went for ice cream and frolicked around Ghirardelli Square, explored the piers, mimicked the seals, walked around Union Square, visited Chinatown (where we had THE MOST DISGUSTING CHINESE FOOD AND PAID $30 FOR OUR MEAL,) and mostly walked, and walked, and walked until our legs exploded.
Moral of the story: Do not embark on a 7km walk along a road with one-way traffic. Or trust your boyfriend without doing some research on your own.
On the bright side, while trying to return to the city, we found a really interesting flight of stairs leading to the other side of the bridge. It led us right below the bridge (where I had A BALL imagining the structure collapsing on me,) and on to the dark side. .......ok no.
Anyway, the rest is history. For our remaining 3 days in SF, we went for ice cream and frolicked around Ghirardelli Square, explored the piers, mimicked the seals, walked around Union Square, visited Chinatown (where we had THE MOST DISGUSTING CHINESE FOOD AND PAID $30 FOR OUR MEAL,) and mostly walked, and walked, and walked until our legs exploded.
END OF SAN FRANCISCO
NEXT: BEGINNING OF OUR ROAD TRIP
