Time has run away from us the last few weeks. We’ve obviously been having too much fun! It’s early morning at LAX and we have a couple of hours before our flight to the East Coast so it’s a good time to grab a coffee, reflect on our adventures, and write the next post.
We crossed the state border into California on July 9. We imagined passing through a magic, invisible screen at this point and being instantly transported to a land of golden beaches, endless sunshine and temperatures ten degrees warmer; it’s called ‘The Golden State’ after all. We quickly noticed, however, that Northern California shares Oregon’s climate: warm but not swim-in-the-ocean-in-just-your-board-shorts warm and we had a few more miles of forest to go before we hit those Californian shores.
I heard an English accent at the hostel we stayed at just out of San Francisco, which sounded all too familiar, I had to ask: “Where are you from?”
We whittled it down from England to South of London, to Epsom to: “Do you know Kingswood?” It just happens to be across the road from where I grew up! The world really is a small place.
It was lovely meeting Elliott, who is spending five weeks in the San Francisco area, before heading to New York, then home to the U.K. We chatted over dinner and breakfast at the hostel, sharing traveling tales.
Elliott’s studying Geography at Southampton University and he confirmed that Jester’s nightclub is still going strong, thankfully.
He is so down-to-earth and mature, for 20 years old…it must be all the solo traveling he’s done already.
Elliott – good luck with the Kilimanjaro climb in September and hit us up if you make it to New Zealand one day.
Well, they let us into the U. S. of A. It helps traveling with a Kiwi, they’re liked in every country. I also become flustered when I go through customs so thank god Tim was there to do the talking; when I was asked where I was going I answered, “America, obviously”.
Expectations were high for Vancouver. We’d been told it’s a lot like Wellington but bigger and therefore, better; a city sitting on the water, surrounded by mountains, the people are outdoorsy and the coffee is good. But we have to admit, we weren’t totally blown away.
Jorge was our tour guide in Lisbon but he doesn’t like the title ‘Tour Guide’, he prefers ‘Story Teller’, which is exactly what he is.
Stepping off the plane in Faro, Portugal we were greeted by a wave of hot, sea air and we knew we were now “on holiday”.
This little lady is my beautiful Mutti (Mum).
If you’re after a stay-cation in the U.K. and you want soft, sandy beaches, good food, rich history, an abundance of activities, and warm weather (it’s one of the sunniest places in England) then look no further than Cornwall.
Following our mini-break to Paris, we spent the rest of the week in the Big Smoke, catching up with friends and family.
