San Francisco, here we are

Up at 4 am. Waiting for the Avis gates to be opened at 5.15am. Soft rainy morning. Going through Agricultural Control screening and exit immigration control at this time of the morning was positively delightful. The officials were all as cheerful and friendly as they were scrupulously thorough. They seemed happy in their jobs. I’d give Kauai Airport the award as sweetest in the world.

We had a long wait for our SF connection out of Honolulu but that airport has good food, good coffee and lots of computer charge points. We had a pleasant wait.

Hawaiian Airlines, however, was a bit on the underwhelming side. It has a very clunky in-flight media set-up and it is pay-per-view for quite elderly movies. It is pay for drinks and snacks, too. But, Hawaiian brags that it is the last airline serving free hot meals. Not that there is choice when the meal trolly comes down the aisle. If you don’t eat chicken and rice, tough luck. It was OK. The flight was only 4 hours 49 mins.

Small world syndrome hit with an hilarious wallop when the passenger beside me turned out to be an Aussie called Dave Kirwin, a former TV weather man and reporter now running his own voice-over business. In two seconds flat, we had established the darling Adelaide gossip columnist and cabaret superstar, Matt Gilbertson, as a mutual friend. Dave took a selfie and sent it to a surprised Matt.

At the Alamo Car Rental desk we added roadside service to our contract and were told to go and choose whichever compact SUV we fancied from the row next door in the garage.

That was fun, albeit they did not have any Rav4s as we had expected.

We climbed in and out of various cars, checking mileage and comfort and finally settled on the Rogue. It’s a Nissan. It had only 14,000 on the clock, had a reversing camera, was comfortable and spacious and was the most unusual colour I have ever seen in a car - a dark, sparkly olive green.

Our new “home”.

I popped a little Aussie flag on the petrol cap just to make it stand out in the crowd. It doesn't really, but isn't it cute.

Bruce loves driving it. And thus have we hummed around SF preparing ourselves for the next 6 months on the road.

We arrived with basic luggage.

We now have to pad out the wardrobe and work out the logistics of carrying our world with us.

We settled in to the old Sofitel at Redwood City in Silicon Valley with a view over the lagoon to the dramatic round towers of the Oracle Corporation (pictured below). Bruce was an Oracle Spatial consultant based in New Hampshire and on the work trips to Oracle HQ here, he used to stay in this handy hotel, as so many tech workers do. It is quiet and serene. El Camino is a stone’s throw away. SF itself is just a traffic jam or ten away.

Sofitel (small pic) a beaut hotel. It prides itself on being very French. It has a nice outdoor pool. We have stayed here together three or four times now.

We’d gone through more time zones. It was late. The toy food on the airline was not enough. Dinner service was over.

We hit the bar for a Bloody Mary and the room for a Club Sandwich. And slept the sleep of the weary traveller.

Oh, American shopping.

It is wonderful to be back in its ample thrall.

Hello Macey’s and Kohl’s. I love you.

The local Safeway supermarket is massive. Of course the Starbucks is right in the door so one can shop and sip. And the fruit is freshly picked and ready to eat. It has not had to travel far.

We stocked up on favourite snacks - Chex Mix, Jerky, String Cheese, cherry tomatoes, nectaries, cherries - and the makings for Bloody Marys, since that seems to have arisen as our drink de jour.

And went back to the Sofitel so I could do what I do best.

Notice announcing a new rule in the store.

You must take liquor through the human checkouts, not the self-checkouts. Hmm.

Notice warning shoppers in the carpark.

If shopping carts are taken beyond the supermarket carpark boundaries, their wheels will automatically lock up. Hmm. I wonder how they do that.

Note : American supermarkets and also the drug stores such as Walgreens all have loos for their customers. It is another of the things one likes about the USA.

Also: In shopping centre carparks. Pedestrians are given right of way. Their movements are anticipated by drivers. Everyone stops politely if they see one intends to step onto the crossway - from harassed hockey mums in giant SUVs to shaven tough guys in utes shuddering in a cacophony of doofdoof. It is lovely.