So… here it finally comes, a little "short" story to all the photos you've seen.
We flew
with Norwegian airlines and their bran new air plane Dreamliner air shuttle 787. I am
kind of afraid of flying and absolutely don’t like it but I must say the ten(!)
hours flight to San Francisco both went quick and smooth. The plane was spacious,
comfortable and the light setting was regulated to set the passengers jet lag to
its minimum which worked very well. During the flight we saw a couple of movies, slept for 4-5
hours and ate the two meals served and then we arrived. The worst part with the travel
was the security queue that we had to stand in for at least 1,5 hour, really
annoying.
We rented a
car straight at the airport to take us around to the city destinations we had chosen to visit and
Christoffer proudly choose the most American car they had at the car rental
parking, a Dodge Challenger. In my eyes it was the most ugly car I had ever
seen but as Christoffer was the only one driving I let him choose and now
afterwards I can say that the ugly car offered a very comfortable drive experience.
Our first
stop was Santa Cruz, one of the most famous surfer cities on the Californian west
coast. We didn’t see much of it and wasn’t overly impressed so we stayed very short. In the evening when we went for a long walk it just felt dark and insecure. The morning
after was better as we headed for a morning walk so see the sunrise at the pier
and for a great breakfast at one of the coffee shops along the sea coast. We were impressed to see lots of sea elephants and pelicans which we didn't really expected.
The first
day we travelled 450 km along the amazing High Way 1. The sea view and the landscapes
around where absolutely breathtaking. We had one major stop at the beautiful Hearst’s
castle and then obviously we stopped hundreds of times to take pictures of the impressive scenery. Our second night we stayed in Santa Barbara, another cost town slightly
bigger, much cleaner and more organised than Santa Cruz. We liked it a lot.
Third day
we had a short drive of 15 km down to Los Angeles and we stopped at the massive
Camarillo fashion outlet half way. Here many of the famous fashion brands were
sold at what we know as “H&M-prices” but we didn’t buy that much anyway. Our
third night we stayed in Hollywood and got quite of a shock when we first
walked out on Hollywood boulevard. So many impressions at the same time; weird people,
impressive buildings, strange shops and then all the famous stars underneath our
feet on the “walk of fame”. Let’s say that Hollywood by night was a fun and
unforgettable experience.
All our
days during this trip were full of plans and things to do but our fourth day won
it all. We managed to cruise though the massive villas in Beverly Hills in the
morning, have lunch down the sea in Santa Monica, have a romantic walk in Venice
beach and along the Venice Canals in the afternoon and go shopping and stroll
around down town Los Angeles in the late afternoon/evening. Great day but we
were deadly tired when we finally got back to our hotel in Hollywood.
On the fifth day
we took off early for Las Vegas, had a lunch stop at another fashion outlet half way and arrived in Vegas in the late afternoon. We were prepared that Las
Vegas would be impressive, all fake and kind of weird so we didn’t get the same kind of chock here as in Hollywood. Actually Las Vegas was much
better than I would had ever thought. Even if everything is fake and full of copies of
famous monuments from France, Italy, New York etc I did believe everything was
very well made and I found the attractions beautiful, impressive and fun to see. We stayed
two nights in Vegas and except for a half day tour in the Red Rock Canyon national
park and a couple of hours by the pool we spent hours of strolling around “the strip-street”
in Vegas and I could definitely have stayed longer so see more of it. I actually
loved it.
But the time
was short so two days later we headed off to Palm Springs; a beautiful, cute
and kind of posh little town in the middle of the desert. We both loved it and
spent the whole evening strolling at the main shopping street which was
full of different kind of small shops and restaurants. Not the big and famous
fashion stores or fast food restaurants we had met everywhere during our American trip so far.
Our 8th
day we stayed at the pool in the morning before it was time to drive off back
north along the coast and towards our next destination Pismo beach/San Luis Obispo.
Not a famous place at all and the reason we headed here was to visit a friend
of Christoffer, a French engineer working in the US since few years. We spend
the evening with him and his friends and saw his beautiful favourite surfing
places where we saw jumping dolphins, ate at their favourite restaurant and heard lots of interesting stories
about California. It is always great to
have a private guide taking us to all the places worth to see instead of searching in guide books. By the way, San Luis Obispo is famous for one thing - being the happiest city in America :)
Ninth day
and we drove all the way back to San Francisco, our last destination. Don’t ask
me why but neither Christoffer or myself had very high expectations of San Francisco
and that is why we had decided only to stay one nigh here. Oh, we were so wrong! The
one and the half day we had of exploring San Francisco were far too short as
the city was fantastic. It felt like it had collected the best parts of New York, Los
Angeles and Palm Springs and had left the bad parts out. It was cosy but
big and impressive at the same time. It had it all. We felt in love with it and
I really hope to go back one day to stay much much longer.
I guess this was one of the best holidays in my life. It was filled of so much adventures and impressions that will be lifelong memories.
xoxo
xoxo
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