North America » United States » California » San Francisco » Alcatraz
November 5th 2005

Published: August 1st 2008

Marta and I were surprisingly awake on the morning before our trip. We got to the airport in time, sighed as we re-discovered that the Toronto airport has NOTHING to eat that isn't gross.

This is an old travelogue I wrote up in 2005 outlining my trip to San Francisco with my friend Marta. We'd originally gone over there for an anime convention, but we stayed an extra week in a hostel and saw the sights. (The detail in this log is not what I write in my later logs, but it is the first trip log I'd ever written, and I felt it was appropriate to begin my new travelblog with this.)

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This report was written on the road. I left Toronto on October 28th and didn't return until November 4th, so the entirety of this was written on my pda, which would explain the present tense in some parts.

Mchan and I made the perilous trek out from the East side of the continent (Toronto, Ontario) to visit the West side (San Francisco, California).

Thursday was spent waking up early and going out and doing all the last-minute things that needed doing at my house. We traveled down to Mchan's house to spend the night, as our flight left on Friday morning and her house is a cool 15 minute drive to the airport.
Our goal was to

Looking for something...

The first day in California involved going on a hunt for food of any kind. (The hotel's remote location put us at a disadvantage.) This is me as I cross over the freeway to get to what looked like a gas station.

get to sleep at 8 or 9 pm, so as to ensure a good sleep and comfortable first few days at con. In reality, we got to bed at midnight, after doing the last-minute things that really counted.

Friday

Friday morning was surprisingly easy to get up. It seems to me that whenever I get a good 10 or so hours of sleep, that I wake up more tired than when I went to bed, but if I try to get by on 5 hours of rest, that I'm easy to deal with in the morning.
Getting to the airport went off without a hitch, and I spent $7 on a shitty breakfast that I didn't even eat most of. Price breakdown as follows:
Bottle of Orange Juice - $2.00
Danish of unknown flavour - $2.00 (this includes the time that they took to make it extra stale for me)
Cold, untoasted bagel with cream cheese - $3.00

Yes, it nearly killed me and my cheapness to spend so much money on such shit, but it was early, I was hungry, and damnit I didn't know when I'd eat again.

Once we were seated on the flight,

Finally... found *something*

Marta and I in the gas station/convenience store/wtf? They sold booze and coffee, so it was enjoyable to be in there.

everything was okay... except for one, itsy, bitsy, teeny, little thing: CHILDREN. Two of them, seated directly behind us with a mother and grandmother that couldn't seem to control them. I don't remember them actually *speaking* a word, but that was because they would whine, scream, and throw fits if they didn't get what they wanted i.e. to not wear their seatbelt during takeoff and landing. No amount of dirty looks that I gave them would make them shut up or keep their tiny little feet from kicking the back of my chair. Yes, not even a small dose of Ny-Quil could make me sleep throughout that 5 hour flight. I think I dozed for an hour, but then I was kicked awake again. Luckily for me, I got a bit of writing done, so it's not a total bust. Now I just have to pray that my PDA doesn't eat it like it did with my last chunk of writing. I'm a little scared of that happening again, so that is why I've been hesitant to actually continue using my PDA for writing. Let's just say that if you're reading this, then it means that my writing is safe,

Asking for directions

Marta is the brave one; she asked for directions so that we might find the BK at the end of the rainbow.

because I'm typing this up in my hotel room for later postage on my journal. Yay, the things I do when I have a spare minute. (I should be sleeping!)

Once we finally got to San Fran airport, we went to the bathroom where Mchan had her rings stolen from her. She forgot them on the counter and then someone made off like a banshee with them. Our bags didn't get lost and we finally met up with some friends who would be our companions at the anime convention. We decided to hike around our hotel and see what was around. There was nothing around save for a fast food joint and a convenience store, so we decided to pick up some booze from the convenience store. (I was shocked when I held the door open for someone and they didn't say thank you. Back home people always say thank you and sorry. It was a bit jarring, but I got over it quickly enough.)

Mchan and I crashed early (about 7:30 PST) because we'd been travelling all day, and because back home (EST time) it would have been 10:30pm and the time we'd be going to bed

Hunt for the Burger King

The first morning in California involved a hike to locate a Burger King that would give us sustenance. It was a long hike, but we found it!

anyways.

Saturday

Saturday began with Marta waking me from my sleep at 6:30 am to go to the gym. I had thankfully packed some pants to wear, so we went and had a great time. There was barely anybody awake when we went down, so we had the entire room to ourselves.

Once that was done, we met up with some friends to go hunting for food. The only thing close by was an In-n-Out which I'd never heard of before. Apparently it's a Southern California thing. Their logo is a palm tree, which gives me a hint at why it never made it's way up to Canada. Unfortunately, that was closed and we didn't feel like greasy burgers that early in the day (never mind the fact that I won't eat beef!). Instead Allie waited for us at a coffee shop while Mchan, Kasey, and I walked in search of a Burger King.

We were told that the BK was *right* down the street, but the farther we walked, he more unsure we became of the information we were given. There was no BK in sight and it was getting late in the morning (11:30

Meeting Friends

Here are some friends that I met at the anime convention. from L to R we have Mchan, Chris, Kasey, Msita, and Terri!

EST, 8:30 PST). Mchan stopped off at a hotel to ask for directions, where she was assured that there was, indeed, a BK down that street. Our hearts in our hands, we trudged onward, unsure of what the future would bring. Would we find the Burger King? Would he give us burgers? What was that smell that seemed to follow us wherever we went like a bad case of mudbutt? Then, when we had nearly given up hope of ever clogging our arteries further, it shone before us like some holy beacon of commercialism and logo-recognition. The BK was there and we were at the BK.

Long story short, we bought some breakfast croisandwiches and took them back to the room. Ate them and then went down to the convention. I spent a lot of money on stuff, even though I should have saved my money. (Story of my life.)

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For dinner Marta, some friends and I went to a place called Max's and it had the nicest atmosphere there. At first we thought it would be a cheap place to eat, with meals costing around $7 or so dollars. The entrees actually cost $12 or

Hotel room at the Convention

It was a nice hotel room. There were four of us sharing (I slept on the cot) and it was relatively clean. Little did we know what awaited us after the convention...

so, but it was still really good. The waiter was very polite and I discovered that my friend Terri and I share a common love: desserts. We both thought to ask for the dessert menu at the same time. Dinner was nice, and I'm so glad we went out together for a nice meal, instead of hoofing it to the Burger King to get fast food to eat in our room. At the end of the meal, Terri had a key lime pie, and I had chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce. It was so nice, and I think I put on about 4 Lbs. or so after the meal.

Afterwards (and after some convention shenannegans which don't bear mentioning here) we were trying to decide whether to go to a nice Latin club in town, or if we should check out a dance that the convention was having. It seems that the taxi to the club would have been WAY expensive, so we trekked down to the anime dance to see what was happening. I fully expected there to be dance and hip-hop music (both to my liking) and never once expected anything I truly like (like industrial).

Hotel room - killing time

During the convention Marta and I hung out in our hotel room. Notice her sleeping on the bed, and me all dressed up with nowhere to go. It was a nice, clean room with a clean bathroom en-suite.

I wore my VNV Nation concert shirt to the dance, not expecting much. The music started off with some retro 80's stuff, which was okay to dance too. Poor Mchan and Allie didn't like it very much, but I'm really glad they stayed with me and danced anyways. I had so much fun dancing with those two. I even met a new friend! She danced with me for a long time, which was really cool because it gave me a chance to get to know her. For a while, the music switched to some rap, which I continued to dance to... then... I heard the beat that made me jump up and down and scream. I thought it couldn't be true. A little VNV Nation and more Industrial music followed! The industrial music just kept going and going until 3 in the morning (technically 2 am, because of the time change, but hotel security kicked us out and we all cried... not really.

Sunday

The last day of con was spent taking our time getting ready and saying goodbye to friends. For dinner I went out to a cute, little Chinese restaurant with Mchan, Allie, Terri

Hotel room - bathroom

It was clean. Very clean and nice with all the amenities that make me believe we were at a hotel. No mystery bottles filled with mystery liquid... that would come later!

and some other people. We got one of those big, round tables with a lazy suzan on it, so we could put the dishes in the centre and spin it around until we got what we wanted. I saved up on room at dinner so that we could get some dessert afterwards. Raspberry ice cream at Baskin Robins did the trick, and then it was back to our room to pack up my stuff for the trip from the con (in Millbrae, CA) to San Francisco.

After saying goobye to Allie at the airport, it was a long trip on the BART train SF.

TRIP TO San Francisco

To begin an interesting adventure, the directions we'd been given were wrong, so we got off the train about 6 blocks away from where we had to be. So there I am, with Marta at my side, lugging 4 bags through the back streets of San Francisco, with a bunch of homeless people, drug dealers, and crack addicts watching us as we walked by them, trying to find the hostel that we'd booked for the following 4 days. I'd stupidly decided that wearing a sweater would be a good

Out for Dinner

We had a blast! This pic was taken at the *end* of the meal, after we'd packed in as much food as we could. I have been more stuffed than I was there, but it was a close second. I ate as much ice cream as I could pack down and I think I was in pain as I walked out. Now THAT is a sign of a good meal well eaten!

thing, and it only resulted in my sweating like a pig. My defensive mechanism for surviving in shitty conditions like that is to look like I'm pissed off and unapproachable. My reasoning being that if you are going to rob somebody, and your options are someone who looks scared shitless or someone who looks lost, but really pissed off, that you will choose the path of least resistance and rob the scared person.

We finally found the hole in the wall Hostel only to find that nobody was answering the door when I hit the buzzer. It took me pounding my fist on the door to get the bastard to open up. Now Mchan and I are holed up in a small room with one bed, one dresser and a bunch of hooks on the walls to hang our stuff up because there is nothing else for us to put our stuff on. The bed is presumed to be dirty, but we spend most of our time here on it because it can only be cleaner than the floor. My ass once touched the shower door when I was bathing, but I think it didn't touch long enough for

Hostel stairs - 4th floor please

The hike up to our room on the 4th floor of the hostel involved me negotiating my way up these steps with our bags in tow. The gentleman at the desk offered to carry these up for me, but I refused and insisted on doing it myself. Aside from my insane stubborn streak that won't allow me to accept help, I wasn't comfortable with him setting foot in our room.

me to pick up anything communicable.

The guy at the front desk reminds me of someone that I knew from the main street of my town back home. His nickname was Troll, if that gives you any idea of what he was like. Bathing and shaving were options, as well as regarding the legal age of majority when picking up girls. This guy here reminds me of him and was flirting with us, so we don't go to the common room much. San Francisco itself has been a blast, but next time I come here, I'll be willing to fork out a bit more money for a room with a dresser, and maybe a tv.

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The last day in SF was spent packing our stuff and trying to drink the booze we'd bought the first day there. We had picked up some jello shooters and we kept trying to con the other into drinking/eating them. It tasted like rubbing alcohol. It was interesting to try and navigate through our room without touching anything or letting our clothes touch the floor. It was around 11pm when we were finally packed up and hopped into bed.

Sudden,

Hostel Bedroom

Just another hole in the wall. What you see here is our presidential suite room at the hostel with our baggage taking up all the floor space. Yes, we got what we paid for. Luckily, they were charging extra for the lice, so we cut corners there and now we get to keep all our hair! Score!

at 2am, Marta and I both woke up at the same time. We had to go to the bathroom very desperately. Luckily, we'd grabbed the toilet paper roll from the bathroom when we'd first arrived, meaning that was actually had something to use when we went into the bathroom.

The bathroom was right beside our room, and Marta slipped out first to go. When she came back, it was my turn. She told me there was a woman in the room across the hall from us. This woman was wearing a cheap turban with a fake crystal in the centre and was just standing there, looking into her empty room. We didn't know if she was moving in or not, but we thought it was very strange. I popped into the bathroom and, as an act of mercy, left her some toilet paper so she'd have something to use when the old woman came to use the bathroom. I returned to our room and we went back to sleep, listening to the fortune teller to use the bathroom and start the shower.

We never heard her finish using the shower and the water was running for a very

The window in our room...

The bed was right up against a window (which I slept beside) and had no screen or anything to keep me from falling out.

long time.

Our flight left the airport at 6:30am. We'd arranged for a cab to get us at 4am. We woke up and lugged all our stuff downstairs and went to wait for the taxi out on the street. It picked us up and we shared the cab with a group of other people who also had insanely early flights.

When we got to the airport we were exhausted and found happiness in the form of a breakfast bar. The servers there were very busy cooking up what looked like a PILE of scrambled eggs on a skillet. Marta and I each ordered what we've dubbed the "shamu burger". It is a French Croissante that is buttered and has about a pound of eggs slapped on. It came with cheese and bacon and two of them (plus a coffee and orange juice) cost about $20 USD. It was THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER! Anyone who goes to the SF airport must try them. We called it the "Shamu burger" because, upon eating it, you will gain enough weight to rival Shamu!

It was also a good move on our part, since the airline decided to rip us off

4th story bedroom window

Did I mention we were on the 4th floor? Here's what it looked like when I stuck my head out the window

and NOT serve the free breakfast we were promised when we bought the tickets in the first place. They tried to sell us stale bagels for $5. We brushed them off and enjoyed the flight with fully bellies of the shamu burger. I think it might be a thing with Canadian airlines that they only make crappy food available. I know it's common to complain about airline food, but I've always had lovely meals at airports that aren't Canadian airports. I love Canada, but that is not unconditional love. Ex

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I had intended to write more of this report, including our trip to the Fisherman's Wharf and Alkatraz, but I cannot find the conclusion to my stunning entry. I have included pictures of my travels to these places, however, as they were pretty cool to visit!

Additional photos below

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