SAN FRANCISCO (USA)
02 March - 05 March 2017
02 March - 05 March 2017
This was it. The last stop on an incredible ride over the last three years that has taken me from Australia, and Inga, from Latvia, through South America, back to Australia, back to South America, through Europe, back to South America, to Europe, to Central America, to Europe, to South America, to the Middle East, to Europe, to the Middle East and now through the US. When you say it exactly like that, it's a little too hard to grasp, and even when we think of the time from 2015-2018 it feels like a hurricane of thoughts, images, hotel and airports. But for me at least, I wouldn't of had that time any other way.
Not that I justify the amount of travel completely but when looking at my life from 18 yrs of age I spent nearly all of my time out of high school both studying and working. First I completed a B.Business, then a Masters in Economics, then a Juris Doctor, all the while working without purpose or direction, in the hope that my studies would elevate me to somewhere that I wanted to be. Of course, in hindsight that strategy was the arse backwards approach, where really, had I have started in an industry where I had a real interest and then studied something in parallel, well, I may have lined up things with far more wisdom and direction then I have up until this point.
The three years that we took to doing what we wanted is the trade-off for the 20+ yr grind. And I recognise that people may say do you think yourself entitled? To that I say, absolutely not, but why not take the opportunity when its there for you? How many people dream of doing things and then regretting the opportunities that they never took? I won't.
San Francisco surprised me. Occupying 75 square kilometres of hills at the tip of a slender peninsula around the southern entrance to San Francisco Bay, its actually very small. In my head I always considered San Francisco to be a major US metropolis, in the 2.5-3.5 million vicinity, and perhaps that's true if you take into account the combined area of San Jose - San Francisco and Oakland, but on it's own, San Francisco has a population of a little under 850,000, although, it is one of the might highly densely populated areas in the US, and certainly the most on the West Coast.
Presidio of San Francisco - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
To get in here you need to have some type of wealth, the scarcity of land means that you're going to be paying through the nose for anything reasonable. Real estate prices are on par with Sydney, in fact, Inga and I, with the assistance of my friend Tia, went to an open house for a 2bdr/2bath/no car space in the cool suburb of Ashbury Heights and found an asking price of $1million. Probably not the extreme disaster when exchange rates were at parity but these days the conversion would get you close to $1.5m AUD. So when I think about what that could get you in either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, then I'd say San Francisco is now forming a league of its own.
Alcatraz Island - San Francisco Bay - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
To me San Francisco is kind of like the Australian version of Melbourne, being on the coast however still doesn't give it the power, or the right, to be identified as a beach bunnies getaway, it's not any sort of L.A. Temperatures are consistently in the mid 20's and Winter will get you into the 15's, which aligns to what we experience here in Melboutne. With that said, a lot goes on here, in spite of the weather, in spite of its small footprint, the ideas, political movements, hippie boho vibe, artistic endeavours, anything that you could want to be developed or imagined will probably get a creative spark from right here, and that makes the city desperately cool. What it packs into a small area is exactly the fist to the jaiw that can knock you out for the night - if you missed the idea I was going for there what mean is that it packs a punch.
Pier 39 - Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco - California - USA
Haight Street - Haight-Ashbury - San Francisco - California - USA
Hobbson's Choice Cafe - San Francisco - California - USA
Despite being a hilly town it's still relatively accessible and quite the attractive city. It's harbour is open &l arge and its entrance, punctuated by the Golden Gate bridge, quite the dramatic statement.
One of my favourite areas that we went to was Haight Street, as invited and directed by my friend and former OzEmail/UUNet/MCI WorldCom colleague, Tia Barnard. This street cuts through the well known Haight-Ashbury area and gives you access to cool bars, BoHo stores, restaurants and all many of other great things. It's very much like Brunswick Street in Melbourne or King Street in Newtown, you know its different and that's what makes its such a welcome change.
San Francisco - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
San Francisco - California - USA
And that my friends, was that. Three (3) years after leaving Australia, for what at the time I thought was going to be a permanent departure, now sees me coming back home, albeit to a different city.
The Year Full of Saturdays has certainly had a wild ride and there were times when I thought that I'd dropped so far behind with my entries that catching up with be a total impossibility, and whilst I'm still not quite 100% on the mark, my arrival back to Australia puts my in a place where I consider myself to be very much in the ball park.
And so we wait for the next adventure.
