You can leave your hat on!

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Hey Guys!!!!!

Wow. America is crazy, everyone is so fucking American. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that they all have American accents, and they really are larger than life, real characters. And i have to say, i've always hated Americans and in just one week they have completely challenged my preconceptions of them, so far the Californians have been some fo the most lovely, helpful, friendly, outgoing people I have ever met, but then I am comparing them to your average English shopkeeper who couldn'y care less if you dropped dead in their shop, so maybe the bar has been set rather low.

We left San Francisco yesterday to start our Griffer-Ander-spoon road trip down the West Coast, with a brief visit to San Jose, the second time we've been to a city with that name on this trip (last time was in Spain) and lunch in Santa Cruz, and stopping in Monterey for the night, it's a lovely town, although the weather is absolutely shit, there are sea lions hanging out sunning themselves at fishermans wharf, in the distance we have uninterrupted views of the snow-capped Mount Toro, and just a few miles away is the seaside resort of Carmel-by-the-Sea (famous for it's mayor, Clint Eastwood) but we haven't been there yet so that goes in the next blog.

Firstly I must tell you all of our departure from Heathrow, which was interesting to say the least. I'll begin by telling you all about my Grandad's hat that my Grandma gave to me when I first got to England. He passed away just over three years ago, and so this hat is very much my only physical connection with him, and it fills me with pride that I have been given something that obviously holds much importance for my Nan. Well, what happened is Dad dropped us off at Heathrow, we had a beer at the Wetherspoons before we went through security, we said our goodbyes and then went though the x-rays and junk, bought some stuff at the shops etc, and waited for our boarding call. We got called to gate 50, and began boarding, and literally three people from the gate, Niki turned to me, and asks
" Sion, where's your hat?"
"Fuck" I think was my response.
We figured out that i must have left it at Wetherspoons, and so with less than ten minutes to get all the way across Heathrow airport and back, I started running. I got to security, explained the situation (they had some trouble understanding why i cared so much about a hat) and they wouldn't let me through, a no-exit point aparently, but they said if i went back to gate 50 there was an arrivals gate i could go though. So I ran back, only to be told that i had to go to security and ask them to let me through, so i ran back again (remember the plane was boarded at this point, me being the only one not on the plane, and Niki waiting for me, with no clue what was going on) I told them they had to let me though, and was met with the response, "I'm just an immigration officer, what do i care?" I managed to talk them into sending someone though to the pub to look for my hat. He returned a few minutes later, empty handed. I almost cried.

Then as if the cloud had lined itself with silver, the guy behind the counter holds up my hat and asks "Is this it?" Relieved beyond belief. i grabbed my hat, profusely thanked everyone in site and ran back to gate fifty, with literally seconds to spare, they were about to leave without us, but I made it, so we boarded and after taxi-ing past the crashed British Airways Boeing that was still sitting on the runway from the week before, we took off and had a slightly Jonnie Walker induced drunken flight on which we made friends with a nice chap called Matt, an English businessman who ended up paying for our taxi from the airport into downtown San Fran. We had touched down in the States, a very strange feeling.

What did we do in San Fran? Well, we met up with my cousins, Carl and Becky, eventually. It took us a few days of arsing about with phones and missing each other, but we managed it in the end. We did the Alcatraz night tour which was pretty cool, the four of us did a bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge and into Sausalito, which was really cool, quite exhilarating being on the bridge. We rode on the cable cars (trams that are pulled around the city by cables running under the ground), which are driven by some really funny Californian's, we walked up and down lots and lots of hills, we checked out Lombard Street, known as the crookedest street in the world, we went to Janis Joplins old house in Haight Ashbury, the junkies are still there in hordes. And in true Aussie/British fashion we sampled lots of the local brews. we hung out at a an old beatniks pub where Jack kerouac, Bob Dylan, Alan Ginsberg and many others used to chill, and where they've filmed heaps of movies (Eddie Murphy's Metro is one of them).

Anyway, we're now in Monterey, but thats for the next blog. San Francsico was pretty special, and made about a million times better by the fact that we're hanging out with my cousins, and we can't believe we're doing a road trip across California, its going to be awesome. MIss you all guys, we'll be back soon. To everyone in England, thanks again for all your love and support, we couldn't have survived without you all.

See you all soon yo.

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Photos

The Land of the Free
Taken on-location in a maximum security prison.

Lombard Street
"The Crookedest Street in the world"

The Golden Gate Bridge
Just before we crossed it.

Sea Lion
These guys just hang out at down at Fisherman's Wharf, aparently they started coming here right after the 1906 earthquake.

San Francisco Skyline by Night
taken from Alcatraz island

Sea Organ
a series of pipes that are controlled by the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks, you should be able to see Alcatraz in the background.

Dodgy Geezers
Check out these bunch of freaks

Don't Jump
help is available. We figured if you've got the guts to go up there in the first place, you've gotta have something going for ya.

Dodgy Geezers 2
After we crossed the bridge, just to prove we made it.

Heaven
68 beers on tap. mmmmmmm.

Comments

[Dad/Kev]

You're gonna meet some gentle people there.
Sounds wonderful. One of the world's truly great cities. Keep on enjoying. dad xxx

[Tom]

God bless
I do love that clever photo of God-less America. Can't wait for you guys to get back, have an awesome time in Arnie's state!

[Ben]

Awww.
You two are still off having fun and I'm stuck here working. On public holidays no less. Damn AWA's. Let me know in an email or whatever when you're getting back. That is, if you even know for yourself. Make sure to keep safe and have fun out there. No more missing or almost missing planes.