Day Two (or is it day one...?)

Well, the 'day' started roughly 38 hours ago, dependant upon how you look at things (fun with time zones).  We are now safely in San Francisco, currently in a lovely large hotel room, pretty much smack dab in the middle of the City.  Both windows are open, the room has hardwood panelled floors and old-school ceiling fans.  Every now and then a bell rings from the San Francisco Cable Cars as Nick and I recover from jet lag.

So after the initial scare with Tongariro, everything else has gone very smoothly.  Caught up with the siblings for brunch and parents for donuts and coffee before flights commenced.  Everybody was perfectly right, you can worry about all sorts of things but once you're on that plane and the door is closed, all you can do is order a glass of wine and hope for the best.

Flight to Auckland:  Smooth
Flight to San Francisco:  Smooth - as can be expected.

I suppose one of the downsides of international travel is the super long flights.  Even if everything goes smoothly, aeroplane food is always sub-par.  There is ALWAYS a crying baby in the ailse over.  There is always the cramp in the leg right as you're trying to go to sleep.  Unless you drug up, sleeping is never long enough. And customs always takes too long

Strangely enough, one of the upsides of the travel is that personal TV screen you get.  Nothing to do with the movies or TV shows or music, but the flight data is fascinating!  Watching the plane move from its origin to its destiny, how high, how fast, very cool!

Anyway, we arrived safely in San Francisco and took the train into town.  Quick, easy option then a quick walk to the Hotel.  For those of you coming to San Francisco in the future, so far I'd higly recommend the Herbert Hotel.  The rooms are clean, tidy, and cost-effective.  They're well kept and, while they're not exceptionally well stocked with amenities, they have pretty much everything you need to keep going.

We've had a very busy afternoon so far!  We spent most of the afternoon walking - we saw the sea lions and Fisherman's Wharf on Pier 35, looked out and saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, wandered through Union Square, the shopping precinct and Chinatown, went through the Business District and saw the Transamerica Pyramid, then took lots of photos of Lombard Street.

Time to get some sleep and recover from jetlag - will post some photos up tomorrow.  Tomorrow holds a tour of Alcatraz and more than likely more walking.