Tag: San Francisco

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA to LONDON HEATHROW UK

So, it has started. Our plane out of San Francisco is delayed by 30 minutes and when we arrive in Chicago a plane has broken down in our docking bay and we waste more time sitting on the tarmac for a further hour or more. We are now hard on gate closing time for our connection and despite valiant efforts of the assistants from the airport helping us catch our plane we miss the damn thing by minutes.

We go to customer service to reschedule our flight, and the next flight out to London is tomorrow afternoon with British Airways. We receive vouchers for accommodation and meals. We are 1 day behind in our itinerary. We are given a voucher for a hotel – Best Western in the Boonies – even with the shuttle driver going like a bat out of hell we take 15 minutes to get there and its now after 1.30 am Chicago time.

Our sleep is broken but by 7.00 am we are in the breakfast room for our complimentary breakfast at Best Western. Kerry had arranged the cancellation of the hire car and had booked a new car with our friends at Green Motion Car Hire. Our check out time is 11.00 am so we catch our shuttle to the airport but there is a sense that everything is not right. We arrived at the airport very early and had to await the crew to arrive for the gate opening. However, we did not expect to be told by the BA check-in chick that our tickets were invalid. No panic just yet there was 4 hours before our flight was scheduled to depart. We fronted American Airlines. More bad news there was no room on the BA flight and American Airlines only had a flight going that evening after 6.00 pm. Over 5 hours away and we could not sit together on the flight, as we were literally given the last 2 seats.

We get assistance (wearing my neck brace against possible injury to my broken neck earns me that right) and make it to gate K 15 with hours to spare. So, we pull out the dinner vouchers grabbed some food at Starbucks and wait. Even after waiting 5 hours when we boarded the flight it again was delayed but this time there was no connecting flight to worry about – just collection of the car at Green Motion.

The flight was tolerable. I got to sleep for about 5 hours with the flight only taking 6+ hours and we arrived at Heathrow. Once again, we were met by the assistant to give me a ride to the exit door of the terminal. We now hoped to catch the shuttle bus to Holiday Inn and the depot for Green Motion. Great timing – we got to the bus stop 20 minutes before pickup so we felt we could now relax – what else could go wrong. Waiting at the bus stop, I noted the traffic exiting the area was stationery and remaining stationery with no traffic coming in. The terminal was becoming chaotic with passengers trying to catch their flights and those trying to exit the terminus. No one could explain what was happening other than a serious motor vehicle crash has stopped all traffic. We had to think of another way to catch the shuttle bus but not one caught in this jam. We dragged all our luggage around the terminal to the underground and rode the subway to Hatton Cross. I hailed a cab and told him our destination. The driver warned that everything was closed down by the crash in the terminal 2/3 tunnel and we should return and wait for the traffic to clear.

That was not possible as we had to collect the car and then drive to Ipswich. We had to try another direction and Kerry thought that we needed to go to terminal 5 as it was unlikely to be closed down by the traffic delays crippling terminal 2 & 3. The plan worked but it took a further 2 hours to pick up the car whereas it should have taken 20 minutes. Not happy Jan.

After going through the painful process at Green Motion we obtain a car – not the one we had requested but a car bigger than Kerry wanted and a hybrid. Kerry soon got the hang of driving the bigger car and the drive to Ipswich and our hotel took over 2 hours but we made it and were surprised by what awaited us. My next blog will tell you of our stay at Ipswich and our rushed visit to Sutton Hoo. Read all about it in “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – LONDON HEATHROW UK to IPSWICH & SUTTON HOO UK”

PS no pictures due to stress, worry and a not to cheerful disposition.

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA

We arrived in San Francisco on time and ready to start our holiday. Our son Ben arrived at the airport as planned and Angus is with him to greet us. It is great to see both and during the ride to their home we hear all the gossip about Felix George our 1-month-old grandson number 9 amongst grandchildren. Angus is a little uncertain as we drive to their home. We are having a brief stay so that we don’t disturb their routine greatly. Part of the plan is to stay at the motel shown below for a couple of days and catch up with them each day. Peet’s coffee is nearby and we make use of that along with Taco Bell which we gave a big swerve. Felix at 1 month.

Jee greets us with Felix in her arms, and it is a great start to our holiday. Angus introduces Felix to us and I share some toast with Angus – peanut paste and honey I recall. Kerry gets as many cuddles as she can with Felix.

The few days fly quickly, lunch with Dad (Ben) at his new work (well a café near work really) and playing with Angus who loves building forts and racing his cars through the fort and knocking it all down, but we now have a game of “lets clean up”. Next is a jigsaw puzzle then cleaning up out in the yard. Kerry is cleaning the leaves off the back deck, and I am helping but Gus wants to help so he gets the broom, and we all play let’s clean up.

And so it goes, nothing special just being together.

We visited the local “Farmers Market”. Angus was somewhat disturbed by the spider on the wall of this house. Whilst there we notice there is a lot of street art in downtown Alameda and we captured a few to show you. Kerry and I took a walk through Alameda and stumbled across a museum of pinball machines from their inception to today. Every kind of machine I have seen and many I had never seen. We took photos to record our visit and spoke with the owner who serves behind the counter and gave us the run down on how it all started with the purchase of some of the earliest machines.

All in all, a couple of special days. On our last day Ben picked us up from the Motel to visit Jee with Gus and Felix for final farewells and then dropped us at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight to London via Chicago, but it would prove not a smooth transition. Our flight departure is delayed then our flight arrival is also delayed by a plane broken down in the air gate meant for us to dock. Read about it all in my next blog “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA to LONDON HEATHROW UK”

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – BRISBANE/SAN FRANCISCO USA

Ever wondered what it would be like to go around the world dropping in at various points of call, visiting relations and friends and visiting new points of interest? Well, we did wonder and now I am here to tell you what it was it was all about. Welcome to our holiday blog – The Retirees go around the World in 51 days.

It started with booking a cruise from Japan to Taiwan and return then taking fright at the cost to travel to Tokyo to catch the cruise ship. This caused us to investigate traveling around the world with connecting flights starting with a flight from Brisbane to Sydney, then Sydney to San Francisco departing on 24th January 2025 and arriving there the same day due to the time zones.

Our son Ben collected us from the airport and put up with us visiting them in their home for 5 nights enjoying spoiling grandson Angus and learning about Jee’s progress with Angus #2.

We played Garage – getting out boxes of cars and trucks and racing them down the track. We then had a mess, and we had to pack it away under grandson’s supervision. Then we visited his preschool at Saint Joseph’s Basilica, played in the park with a new friend and found a new park developed over a discontinued rail line.

Photo

It was just a few days with them but being so far away makes it difficult to connect. Gus is such a personable child I never feel as though we have been away. After those glorious few days, sadly, we waved goodbye. Angus is a joy for grandparents – not so sure it’s always that way for Ben and Jee.

Ben took us to the airport where we then flew from San Francisco to London Heathrow, where we collected a hire car from Green Motion Car Hire. The car collection point was outside of the airport, but the hotel shuttle bus got us to the collection point easily. From there Kerry drove to our accommodation in Hove. A tip for all travelers – ensure you understand the local rules regarding parking. Brighton / Hove Council has made parking on the street a costly dance to avoid the parking costs and fines. We found ourselves finding overnight parking up to 200m away from our B&B in weather down to freezing at times. The parking could easily cost £30 per day on the street. My cousin Therese (Terri) and her husband Mick (former residents of Hove but now gite owners in France) met us at the B & B and wisely had parked their car with friends outside the parking limited areas and caught a cab into Hove.

Read on with my next Blog – The Retirees go around the World –San Francisco/Brighton-Hove.

The Retirees Visit San Francisco – the highs and lows of living in the city

After some very hot weather in Southern California, we were looking forward to the cooler climbs of San Francisco. Carly had arrived in Irvine the preceding day so our role as Guardians of the Grandchildren was completed without injury to anyone. Vincent drove us to the airport on his way to work and with hugs all round our time in Irvine concluded.

We were flying domestically so we were able to use John Wayne Airport (alias Marion Mitchell Morrison – his given names) named after the rootin’ tootin’ cowboy himself but referred to as Orange County Airport or Santa Anna Airport with the code SNA – strange but true. So when you are looking for your flight to wherever don’t expect to see John Wayne Airport on your arrivals and departures board.

It is a short flight to San Francisco. Probably the busiest airport I have seen with planes flying beside you landing and taking off around you – they must have changed the rules about proximity to other aircraft as we had another plane on each wing and another plane landing beside us albeit on a different runway.

We made our way to the BART, the local name for a train servicing the airport to the city. Our son Ben met us at the airport terminal and showed us the ropes providing us with travel cards permitting us entry and use to all the transport in San Francisco but due to a hiccup Kerry was stranded at the end of our journey with insufficient funds on the card to allow her to exit. Always resourceful and independent she worked out how to top up the card and we were soon on our way to Powell St cable car station outside the BART station.

Now we still had our luggage (two pieces each) so we thought the cable car would be the go to get to our hotel which is just off Powell St in Bush St but bloody tourists were queued for the cable car (trams really) and we were in for a long wait or a walk. Ben insisted the walk was doable so walk we did. Now Bush St is past Union Sq (two blocks from the cable car terminus) then the hill really starts to climb for another two blocks before we reached Bush St. San Francisco is known for its hills and we soon learnt the reputation was deserved. Dragging our suitcases made it even more difficult. Meanwhile Ben strode on not thinking about his parents’ health or hearts one bit.

Of course, we made it, but it was a rude shock the first time we did it. We were to repeat the walk many times (without suitcases of course). Our hotel Cornell Hotel De France was 15 metres from the corner with Powell St and looked unassuming from the entrance but on entry I felt I was either in rural France or a museum of Joan of Arc memorabilia. It turned out the owners were from Orleans and had decided to create their own corner of Orleans in San Francisco.

There was a distinct French accent in the air and all of the staff laboured with a French accent to speak in an American English. We were given a ground floor (in the US 1st floor) room which suited us nicely. The bathroom although pleasant was not entirely functional – a deep claw foot bath with a shower curtain encircling it – was uncomfortable as the shower curtain stuck to you as you showered and the step out of the bath for us oldies was a bit hairy.

Anyway, the room was comfortable, and the hotel proved to be central. In a town where accommodation is expensive we were happy with our little French hotel and its price.

San Francisco, Spanish for Saint Francis, is the cultural, commercial, and financial centre of Northern California. San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, all named for St. Francis of Assisi. The mission building remains and can be seen in the Mission a suburb of the city.

The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. Three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire. In World War II, San Francisco was a major port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theatre. It then became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, along with the rise of the “hippie” counterculture, the Sexual Revolution, the Peace Movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a centre of liberal activism in the United States.

San Francisco is known for its cool summers, fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Fisherman’s Wharf, and its Chinatown district. It is home to number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the De Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the California Academy of Sciences.

That evening we ventured out on a Segway tour around San Francisco. Although not the best tour we have been on we did get to see many of the sights of the city. Below a mural from China town, San Francisco’s highest building, and the harbour bridge at night

The next morning we walked back to the Wharf area to get on the Hop on – Hop off bus and see the whole of the city. Only problem was the sea mist had rolled in and it was so thick we could not see the Golden Gate Bridge. On the way we walked passed the zigzag street seen in many movies, Fay Park Garden, the backyard of a past resident of San Francisco. Ben and Jee joined us at the bus stop and we boarded the bus with a chilling wind and mist over the water. The bus firstly went to the Bridge but with nothing to see but mist we moved on to the gardens with gale force winds and single digit temperatures. Past the gardens we arrived in Haight Astbury, the place of the Love in the 60’s. From there we went to Union Sq and the heart of San Francisco and down to the Wharves where we hopped off at pier 39 and its famous sea lions. Lunch at the pier and we joined the bus to finish the circuit back to the beginning where we wandered to Fisherman’s Wharf. That night we had dinner at Lolita in the Mission.

The following day were learned to use the bus system and traveled to Alamo Park and the Painted Ladies – a series of different coloured 19th century San Francisco houses. In the park we found this mobile coffee shop.

We then picked up the bus again to go to the Mission and our food tour. The Mission is one of the oldest districts in San Francisco and has one of the oldest Spanish mission buildings in California. Our tour was started in front of the Pirate Supply Store 826 Valencia St Mission. Our first stop was Craftsman and Wolves pastry store where we enjoyed a sort of scotch egg. At my feet the grates exhibited a Spanish myth regarding Halloween then we went past a women’s refuge emblazoned with murals and outed some of the shops and houses in the community ending up at Taqueria la Cumbria.

The next day we walked down to the wharves once more this time to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. We went through China Town and then the Transamerica  Redwood Park before arriving at the Ferry.

San Francisco is also famous for Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island is located in San Francisco Bay 1.25 miles (2.01 km) offshore from the city wharves. The small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison (1868), and a federal prison from 1934 until 1963. In 1972, Alcatraz became part of a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Today, the island’s facilities are managed by the National Park, and  it is open to tours. Alcatraz Island is home to the abandoned prison, the site of the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast of the US, early military fortification, and natural features such as rock pools and a sea bird colony.

On our way home we decided to catch the cable car up California St. The tourist cable car runs up Powell St so this was a different experience where we got to see the operation of the cable car close up.

Our second last day we chose to visit a redwood forest – Muir wood. For this we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear day and caught a further bus to the wood. This is not the giant sequoia but a relative that grows tall rather than thick. The forest was beautifully restful and a lovely day out.

Our last day and we headed back to Haight Astbury and the De Young Museum.