pogoism

Mushrooms

Chickens

Sagrada Familia

Parc Gaudi

Sangria

Elephant, Montjuïc

Segundo

More.

Let’s try this. Anyone who knows me should try and think of someone who is the complete opposite of me. Then ask that person where he’d like to go on vacation.

He’d probably say Las Vegas.

Oh look! Photos!

Ryanair in their infinite wisdom have suggested people could stand on short flights, if it meant the flight price was free, or 50% of the full fare. They’ve even gone so far as design some “vertical seating”. In true Ryanair class, they’ve changed their corporate song to “I’m Still Standing”. Gotta be better than this, though…

So, would you stand on a short flight, if it meant standing for free, or 50% of the fare? I know I would… Comment me, and let me know!

It’s April, and I’ve only got 5 months left in Reno before I have to head back to the UK. I feel like I haven’t really seen much since I’ve been here – I’ve been to San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Monica and some smaller places, so I’m in the process of planning some road trips…

The first one I’m going to do with Melissa before she heads off to Turkey in May. We’re going to try and do it for little money as possible, so here’s the plan… We’re starting in Reno, and driving down to Yosemite. I’ve been wanting to go to Yosemite since I got here, and it’s still the only place I really want to go before I leave. We’re going to spend a few nights there camping, eating bad food and hiking around. Then after that it’s off to Los Angeles. When I was there before, it was the weekend of the wild fires, so I hardly got to see any of LA, just Santa Monica. This time we’re planning to stay with one of Melissa’s friends and do the whole LA experience. When we’re LA-ed out, we’re going to drive up to Big Sur, on parts of the Highway Costal route, and camp there for a few nights. There are some great places within an hour of Big Sur – Monterey, Hearst Castle, whale watching and Big Sur. Depending on how far we think our money goes, we may go to San Diego too…

The second road trip won’t really be a road trip at all, as most of it will be by public transport. My brother is coming over for a month in June/July, and whilst I won’t be able to spend the whole time with him, we are planning to go north of Reno. First stop will be San Francisco, my favorite city. We’ll spend a few days there, probably not long as I’m sure we’ll be there again, but enough time for him to get a feel of the place. Then it’ll be onto the train and on our way to Portland, OR. I know absolutely nothing about Portland, but I’ve been told many times that it’s a great city. Then, after a few days there, back on the train, and off to the the rainy city of Seattle, WA. After a couple of days drinking Starbucks and getting wet, we’ll start on the final leg – Vancouver. I’m really looking forward to this, I’ve never been to Canada, and I haven’t been out of the US since I’ve been here, so it’ll be great fun.

Now just to figure out how I’m going to fund these trips…

For the third time in just under 2 weeks, I found myself in San Francisco.

I love this city, I really do. It’s the first city I’ve been to that I can imagine myself living in for a long time. It has everything – no matter who you are, no matter what you’re into, San Francisco has something for you. It’s a place where no-one cares what you do or how you act, you can just be yourself – and I can’t think of any other city I’ve been to that has that same ethos.

After a fairly horrendous drive from Reno, thanks to some completely pointless roadworks, we arrived in the city, and checked into our hostel. Originally, I wanted to stay in the hostel I’d stayed at with Sean, despite it being a bit dirty and uncomfortable, it had a great location near Union Square. However, that was all booked up, with it being New Year’s, so we opted for the other HI hostel, City Center. It tuned out that just off Union Square is a touch ghetto-like, but the hostel itself was fantastic – much more comfortable than the other one. The only downside were the 2 people staying in our dorm that insisted on getting up early and rummaging around the room chatting to each other, while the rest of us were trying to sleep after the late New Years Eve.

Melissa and I had come to San Francisco to see The Slackers at Slim’s, so we went in search of 11th Street. That turned out more difficult than we had anticipated, but after re-fuelling on some delicious pizza, we found it eventually. They had a bizarre system for determining who was under 21… if you’re over 21, you get a stamp on one hand, and if you’re under 21, you get a stamp on both hands. Which meant it was incredibly easy to wash one stamp off, to be left with one, and all of a sudden you’re 21. Support came from The Struts (who were okay, but a bit samey), and local band The Impalers (who were fantastic, and in my opinion better than The Slackers). It was a great gig, there was a good vibe, with it being New Years Eve, and a nice mix of people. Anyways, it was a different way to see in the New Year, and we had a fantastic time.

New Years Day, and feeling a bit groggy we headed to the Castro in search of somewhere to eat. Ihad my first Mexican breakfast, and it was delicious - scrambled egg, with onions and peppers. Then we went to the Chocolate shop on Castro for a hot chocolate. Still feeling somewhat sleepy, we caught the streetcar to Fisherman’s Wharf and walked along the ocean front. We ended up looking in some art gallerys, and saw some work by Dr. Seuss, which was cool. Feeling in need of some warming up, we had an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe, supposedly the first bar in the US to serve the drink. For dinner, we decided to go exploring, and ended up in North Beach. North Beach is essentially Little Italy, jam-packed with Italian restaurants and gelato stores. We ate at Ristorante Ideale, which was amazing, especially the pumpkin ravioli. Highly recommended! Walking back to downtown, we stopped off at the cinema and saw Doubt, which wasn’t as good as I’d hoped…

Friday, our last day in San Francisco, began with walking to the Financial District to go up the Bank of America building, but, as last time, it was shut, and didn’t open until 3pm. I wanted ti go to the Moscone Center, where Macworld will be held in a few days, to see if I could see anything through the windows, but all I could get was the IDG banners on the street, which said “Even the small talk will be big” – perhaps hinting at the long-rumoured iPhone nano? Maybe… but these were IDG banners, and not Apple ones, so I guess we’ll have to wait a few days to find out… Instead, we found ourselves in Chinatown, and did some tea-tasting for a few hours, thenbought some very cheap mugs/tea/therapy balls from a store. Fairly tired, we went back to North Beach, ate, had coffee at Caffe Trieste (the home of the Beat generation) and went back to the car. Our final stop was at Haight Ashbury, which seems a lot like the lanes in Brighton. We didn’t stay long, as it was busy, and we wanted to head home.

Overall, a fantastic few days in San Francisco! I really do love this city, and I feel like I know my way round it well now. Can’t wait to go back, I really can’t get enough of it.

Yesterday, Sean and I decided to go snowboarding. What a fantastic way to spend Christmas Eve.

We began the day bright and early to catch the shuttle bus to Mt. Rose. We arrived after about an hours journey to the Mt. Rose base, and sorted out our equipment. The package we got was an absolute bargain – $59 for snowboard and boots rental, a 1 1/2 hour lesson, and a pass for the 2 green lifts. Fantastic value! Sean and I began the lesson with a few other people, and tried to get the hang of turning and stopping on the flat, before venturing up “Little Jenny” and having a go going down the hill. It was difficult, but we soon began to get to grips with it (all be it, Sean better than I).

We went up and down the smallest slope (I wary about calling it a hill, because it wasn’t), and then got cold because we weren’t particularly well kitted out. We went inside, got a hot chocolate and had a good chat. After about an hour, we looked outside the window to see a snowstorm, and no-one outside skiing or snowboarding.

I’ll defiantly be coming back and having another go at snowboarding, it’s something I want to try and get good at, seeing as I have the chance of living so near so many resorts. I’ll be a pro in no time ;)

San Francisco was interesting to say the least.

Got the Greyhound bus from Reno to San Francisco, which was surprisingly comfortable. And the scenery was as always, stunning. Wish I’d taken some pictures, but I was too lazy :P

Went to SFO (after getting on the wrong BART train and getting thoroughly confused), and met Sean. It was an awkward wait, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew it could be awkward – we only broke up because I was coming to Reno, and I’d been seeing other guys since then. But anyway, it turned out to be anything but awkward – we got on just as well as we did before. It’s fun. I’m very much enjoying seeing him again :) Even though it’s going to be tough saying goodbye again…

Saturday came, and Sean and I went to Alcatraz. I’d booked the earliest slot possible, so we could get some great photos without thousands of tourists in them. It was well worth getting up early to do this, we got a tour that very few people get around the island, seeing some parts that are usually closed off to the public with a very informed tour guide. Fantastic. One of the best tourist activities I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a fair few in my years.

Spent the rest of Saturday walking around San Francisco. It felt good to be back in a cosmopolitan, vibrant city after being stuck in the cultural wasteland that is Reno. And no flashing lights for 3 whole days. It was bliss.

Just chilled out on Saturday night, hung out with Sean and caught up with what had been happening since August. Then some crappy stuff happened… But bleh.

That bummed me out for the rest of the trip to be honest. Sean and I trudged around San Francisco in search of something to do, but both of us were tired, I was zapped and we couldn’t really be bothered. We headed back to Reno, and arrived at Circus Circus at 9pm. I was very glad to be back in familiar surroundings.

And that was that. A bittersweet start to Christmas. I’m over it now, and planning some fun stuff for the next few months. They’re going to be good… :)

Last weekend a mate and I went on a little road trip to Los Angeles. The drive there from Reno, down the SIerra Highway, is absolutely stunning, really beautiful. The highway takes you through the Sierra Nevada mountains, which were covered in snow, set against a perfect blue sky backdrop. We also passed by numerous lakes, such as June Lake, Mono Lake and the Mammoth Lakes, as well as going through towns such as Bishop, Lone Pine (where numerous Westerns have been filmed), and the Mojave desert. The highest mountain in the contiguous United States, Mt. Whitney (14, 505 ft), is also on the drive.

Then we got to Lancaster, CA, the ninth fastest growing town in the US, and our place to stay for the night. Went out for a nice meal to some Mexican place, and found a place to stay (eventually). Had a good nights sleep before our day in LA…

Woke up fairly early so we could get on the road and see as much of LA as we could, and got ourselves a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to California. However, as we were driving along Hwy 5 to LA, we noticed some smoke over the hills. Uh-oh. LA county being somewhat infamous for its wildfires, we feared the worst. And we were right, We got massively diverted and ended up driving for many more hours than we should have done. In the end we didn’t get to see much of LA, but we did go to Santa Monica, and drove through Hollywood, and then to Pomona to the party we were going to.

Santa Monica lies on the coast of LA county, west of LA city. I was shocked at how hot it was down there, 90F! In the middle of November! But anyway, Santa Monica was nice, I guess I’d describe it as an American Brighton – it has a pier and good shopping and food (though the service was a bit bad).

Then we went drove through Hollywood, on the way to Pomona. Again, we didn’t see much of that either, due to a massive Prop 8 demonstration. And then Pomona – don’t remember much of that.

Woke up on Sunday morning with surprisingly little of a hangover, off to Denny’s (my first trip to Denny’s might I add, and hopefully not my last!) to refuel before the long drive back home…

So, overall, a fantastic weekend! 

More photos over on my Flickr.

Ah San Francisco – what a great city!

I actually went a while ago… so here’s some pictures.

Trolley's on Union Square

Transamerica Building

Alcatraz

Hanging on...

The seals and view of city from Fisherman's Wharf

Downtown, from Coit Tower

After a few months of my placement being on and off, tomorrow I’m finally heading to Reno for a year! Which means I can finally fill my blog with the things it was intended for :)

I’m really sad to be leaving Belfast though, I’m leaving behind some people that I’m *really* going to miss…

Anyhoo, keep an eye on my blog if you want to see what I get up to over there, complete with pictures!