I am sitting writing this final blog post in JFK airport at about midnight having earlier arrived from San Francisco, and I'm just waiting for my flight on to London in the morning. It's quite a strange feeling to consider that I've been away from the UK for almost 6 months and after all the excitement of travelling and seeing the world I'm now on my way back home to normal life.
My last post ended on Saturday and so I shall continue from Sunday morning. I had actually originally booked to stay in a different hostel when I arrived in San Francisco but ended up changing my plans a bit and heading up to San Francisco a few days earlier which is why I ended up in the free beer hostel (which was pretty crazy but also expensive and not really the nicest place in the world). So on Sunday I checked out of said hostel and headed a couple of blocks over to the Adelaide Hostel (I have no idea why it's called that). After having got into my room about midday I headed out for some lunch and then ended up walking across the city through the civic district to the Golden Gate Park which is a big green area containing things such as a lake, botanical gardens, museums and art galleries. It was actually a fair bit bigger than I had anticipated, but it was quite a nice walk through it and out to the beach and the Pacific Ocean on the far side. It was good fun and a pleasant walk especially after having spent so much time surrounded by city buildings. That night I took advantage of a $5 dollar meal at the hostel and afterwards headed out with my Italian friends (who had also moved hostels) and a couple of guys from Virginia (Geoffry and Michael) to a pub called the Hemlock for some live music. There were three acts (a chilled out band featuring a pretty good female lead, a funky electro-pop piano female singer who was helped out by her friend who played the clarinet and bass clarinet which was an interesting mix, and an acid rock band called the Ganglians with a lead singer who looked like he could have played Jesus in some kind of film). All the music was surprisingly good and it was cool to do something a bit different for once.
Most of the next day was pretty chilled out as I wandered around some shops to see if I could find anything worth buying to take home. Later I was sending some emails and checking Facebook when a guy (Richard) from Girton came online and said he was also in San Francisco. A short conversation followed and it soon transpired that he was not only staying in the same hostel as me but was also on Facebook in the same room. Shows what a small world it is. He was heading off to meet Sylvia (who was also at Girton a couple of years above us) and her boyfriend for dinner so I happily tagged along.
We arranged to meet up again the next day to go to a lunchtime concert in an old church (Four-hands piano performance of some Bernstein and the Rite of Spring) and afterwards headed down to The Mission where there are lots of murals and thrift shops (for Sylvia and Richard to buy supplies for there upcoming Burning Man experience). We had planned to go to one of the fancier hotels for a free wine-tasting and film (The Maltese Falcon) but when we arrived it was rather busy so we opted instead to go for a walk across the many hills in San Francisco taking in the views and eventually finding some dinner (I had a very nice bacon and apple pizza) before heading back to the hostel.
On Wednesday Sylvia and Stephen (her boyfriend) were heading over to the Golden Gate Park to visit a science museum place, but Richard and I opted to instead head up to the Presidio (a park/recreation area where the Golden Gate Bridge is located). We got the bus and then walked along the bayfront although to begin with we couldn't see any of the bridge due to the famous San Francisco mist that rolls in off the sea. Fortunately by the time we were a bit closer to the bridge it had cleared enough for us to at least be able to see some of it and we walked out a short way along the bridge just to get a feel for it. It was quite strange to be walking along a bridge surrounded by mist with the cables from the bridge reaching up into nowhere. I decided to get the bus back afterwards so that I could pack (and purchase an alarm clock) while Richard opted to walk. That evening all 4 of us reconvened and we headed up to the top of the Macy's department store to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was definitely popular and it took a while for us to get a table but it was definitely worth it (and besides, we had the entertainment of watching live music happening below us in Union Square with people dancing (Sylvia in fact went and joined in). It was a great meal (I had Salisbury Steak) and after stuffing ourselves with some exquisite cheesecake we were completely sated. From there we headed back over to Foley's (the same piano bar I had visited earlier in the week) for a few drinks and some entertainment (the others even dedicated a performance of Should I Stay Or Should I Go by The Clash to me) before heading back to attempt to get some sleep.
I didn't really sleep properly before I was up early to check out and catch a shuttle to the airport. Just to finish in style my flight from SFO to JFK was delayed by about 4 hours but other than that everything went smoothly and I'm now sitting in JFK airport in the middle of the night (although it's still surprisingly alive) waiting for my final (and I believe 16th of the trip) flight home. This trip has been such a fantastic experience and I would definitely love to do another one in the future. I've learned a few things from this one and probably wouldn't do it quite the same again but I've loved every second of it and it's probably going to take me a while to adjust back to normality. Farewell world, and I hope this blog has brought you at least some entertainment.
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