Day 0
So the journey begins, unfortunately at 4am. I figured if we left early morning then we would have more down time upon arriving, but I never considered the fact that I'm not a morning person.
My alarm goes off at 4am, just 3 hours after I actually went to sleep. I thought I was dreaming.... Reality kicked in though.
We boarded the flight and headed to Charlotte, North Carolina (our stopover). It was such a crowded airport especially for 9am... But it was lovely and so big. Restaurants and stores everywhere.
Our next fright rolls around and we get good seats until it all began....the man behind us had a slight problem, actually a huge problem. SNORING. from the time we sat down to the minute we landed. It was so loud, the loudest I've ever heard, the worst part was that he sat directly behind me and it honestly sounded like he was going to die. All the surrounding people around were laughing and debating on what to do. My mum was ready to spill some water on him to wake him up, she was getting a headache.
LONGEST 5 HOURS OF MY LIFE!!
It was quite the adventure, but just happy to finally arrive in San Francisco.
Arriving in San Francisco and greeted by the cold and windy weather. That's something that reminded me of England.
My dad was already in Cali so he picked us up and we did some minor sight seeing around the city. We started off at fishermans wharf and strolled along hitting up In n' Out burger. Now, this has been something I've been craving for years now. I got so excited seeing the sign and rushed in to put in my order. Delicious.
One thing that I noticed about people from Cali are that they are extremely happy and nice! They are all willing to help and always have a smile on their face.
It's dinner time - we hit up a Thai restaurant that was recommended to us! I'm so excited because I really like eating noodles, veggies etc.
we order our food to be spicy because we figured that since we were Indian, we could handle it. Boy were we more than wrong. It was the spiciest thing I have ever tasted!!! We had to get ice cream to cool our mouths.
Day 1
The first full day in California was spent roaming the streets of San Francisco. It was a typical tourist day hitting all the major sites: the coit tower, ghirardeli chocolate factory, Kara's cupcakes, Lombard street, and some famous houses.
We got to have free chocolate samples at the factory along with wine tasting at the store close by. We picked up some famous cupcakes for the journey to satisfy our sweet tooth. It was worth it.
After walking around for a little we went to the local pub for lunch. The view was spectacular, and it was nice just to be inside away from the cold and wind.
One of my favorite shows is full house, and I knew that the house that it was filmed in was in SF, so I made sure we went to see the actual house. It looked really different on the outside since this big tree was built in front but it was so cool knowing that once upon a time, all the actors and actresses were there. Also we went to the house where Mrs. Doubtfire was filmed! This is one of my favorites movies, the houses were close together so it wasn't a hassle!
We ended the day at our friends house for dinner. They had just renovated their house and it looked amazing, so high tech and modern. It felt good to have a home cooked meal.
Day 2
It's always good to relax, especially when you're on holiday.
I slept in.... We'll my parents version of sleeping in (8am), and lounged around the house admiring our amazing view of Santana row.
We played cards with the family, and my mum made a big breakfast for all of us. It was delicious. My brother and I went to whole foods for some groceries and then got a car wash. I was fascinated by this car wash lol, it was much different than the ones I've seen, so high tech and just quick. It was an automatic car wash but then they had a bunch of workers approach either car after to dry it, they were on a conveyer belt taking turns on every angle of the vehicle. We were in and out of that place in a jiffy and the car was sparkling clean.
Next on the agenda was lunch and walking around Santana Row. It was filled with boutiques, shops, restaurants, and cafés. Beautiful place to walk around and the weather was spectacular. Stopping by at Pizza Antics for lunch, we ordered two pizzas that reminded me of being back in Italy. There was so much flavor and the portions were on point. Not to mention, they had my favorite drink, elderflower.
Ending the day right by driving to Oakland for dinner. Blackhawk grill. Great food, drinks and company.
The scenery was really cool, they had this fountain filled with ducks and a bunch of stores around it. My brother bought duck food so we sat outside and fed the ducks, they all swarmed us. I put some in my hand and the ducks pecked at my hand, it felt like a drill.
Day 3
The day started early as we set off to monetary, pebble beach and the 17 mile drive. The journey felt like forever but was definitely worth it by the time we got there. The bright blue water, sandy beaches, and huge waves were so picturesque.
I distinctly remember looking out in the ocean and seeing a huge splash, and the people around me saying 'Wow did you see that?' I became extremely curious, thinking what could be out there, I took off my sunglasses to get a better look and there I saw it, a huge splash again. WHALES. There were a few whales jumping out of the water playing with each other in the distance. It was magical. My first time ever seeing a whale, well besides sea world of course.
Besides whales, we also saw some sea otters. It was kind of hard to miss as they smelt terrible and made so much noise.
This trip was different than regular beach trips because it wasn't somewhere you could sit and suntan, it was completely scenic.
What a better way to end the day than to tour the actual google headquarters!!!! I was so shocked when we were able to do this. My brother and dad had a connection with a worker there and he offered to take us on a tour. I've only seen bits and pieces from the movie The Internship and it just looked so cool.
We met up with the guy and he took us into the buildings and we saw pele working in the rooms and their cubicles. They had a gym, an arcade, bikes, volleyball court, and much more. It was such a fun work environment. We took tons if pictures and we even got to ride the google bikes around the google campus. This experience honestly felt like a dream. Too good to be true. It was sooo cool to do this.
Day 4
So everything we wanted to do on this trip was done except going to the Golden Gate Bridge, well we did go but this time we wanted to go really close and actually cross the bridge. We woke up early and all of us drove to San Francisco to look at the bridge. It was breathtaking. Since it was early morning, it was extremely foggy so it was hard to see the entire thing, but the parts that were visible was awesome. I can see why it's one of the world wonders. Taking pictures was interesting as the wind was going against us and our hair was flying everywhere, but besides the point. There was a little spot where cars could park to take a picture of the view, and it was packed with tourists. People asking each other to take pictures and taking turns to stand in front of the bridge. Completely touristy.
My brother had a meeting to go to so we were crunched for time so we went to this sandwich place that he recommended. Thankfully we went there. They had healthy sandwiches and the most amazing creeps ever. It was so tasty.
Turns out my brothers meeting got cancelled so we took it easy and wandered around downtown San Francisco. At that point, we saw the tram service going up and down the streets. My mum and I looked at each other and knew we both wanted to ride one, we hopped on one and took it for a few stops. It was so cool hanging over the edge. The man in charge had told me to stay close to the tram otherwise I'd hit the cars. Pretty crazy how they would allow that, a huge safety hazard but so worth it.
Done. Everything on our holiday check list.
It's basically impossible to go to San Francisco without shopping we left the boys at the apartment and my mum and I hit the town. There were is many stores and so many possible spending opportunities lol. *in conclusion! not that much damage was done*
That night we went to Santa Cruz for dinner. We had a chiropractor appointment for all of us and then we stayed and had dinner with the doctor himself. We went to this Italian place where the portions were HUGE. My brother and I ordered a salad and pasta to share~ the salad came out first and we were full before the main dish even came out. The food was super good though. We ended up taking home 4 boxes of food, one from each of us.
