tel aviv, 2018

Coming soon...... (promise)

san francisco (part 2)

One of the main reasons for visiting the US was to visit my friend Kush, he looked after me over the time I was there. He showed me the fancy cafes, the famous gay bars. Most of the time he did have to work and so I had to fend for myself but luckily (and £50 bill later ---- oops) he was available to call. Note to self, read the rules on international sims.

He took me wine tasting in Napa, which was a very fun drive into the countryside to see where they make all the famous Napa wine. He got me tickets to go to the California Academy of Sciences for an over 21s evening. It was a fantastic experience filled with albino crocodiles (see the photos album) and an exploration of space in the planetarium. I was even encouraged by buy a CAS mug and t-shirt (which I unashamedly wear most places).

I was very fortunate to meet his friends who are all very fun loving and welcoming people. It was however, strange to be around so many Americans at once. In London, you can usually hear an American voice from a mile away allowing you ample time to steer clear. It was even stranger that, people in San Francisco also really do have their own little micro-identity, even more particular than just being 'Californian'. One taxi driver told me that in SF, being 2 hours late does not even count as late. San Franciscans seem to reject chain stores. I counted 1 McDonalds, 1 KFC and 1 burger chain (that I can not remember) that is popular on the east coast of the USA. Everywhere else, the cafes and restaurants are independent or from very small 'local' chains. It was nice to see in comparison to London where everything tastes the same but with a different big corporation name on it (generalisation perhaps but pretty accurate too).

I don't think I can talk about San Francisco without mentioning in more detail the gay village, the Castro. You know it straight away by the flag, who's size could match the Royal Standard flown from buildings occupied by HMQE2. It is huge!

The Castro itself is like another little self sufficient city within the walls of SF. You see same sex couples walking around everywhere all well dressed,  with immaculately kept facial hair and all, yes, I mean all, walking small dogs. The streets are clean (compared to the neighbouring Mission district). It is quite a polar opposite to our well loved, grimy streets of Soho. The area does not really seem to reflect that once upon a time, most things homosexual were illegal. The only reminders are the occasional wonderfully drawn murals of prominent patrons of the LGBT cause. The night life was different to what I expected too. Most people there are settled and in couples (or so it seemed to me) and although the bars were full...well...it just wasn't London.

I think that going to SF was a good first choice for breaking into America for the first time.  I would be wrong to say it was one of my favourite places to visit but I met nice people and they made it worth while. Maybe New York is next?

san francisco (part 1)

I am sat in Heathrow Terminal 2 about to jet off on my second holiday of the year (check me out) when I notice that actually I have not finished writing the blog for the first big holiday of the year - San Francisco. I have never actually been to the US of A and so what better place to start than one of the worlds most important gay holy cities. Famed for its rainbow crossing, Alcatraz (did not visit - sorry) and the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco was definitely a place to visit. 

Travelling from Termnial 2 with United Airlines, I have to say, I half expected to get dragged off the flight for double booking - the media scares you like that. In reality, it was one of the most comfortable flights I have ever had. An entire row to myself, no children and very friendly air hosts. I was even offered (and gladly accepted) second meals. Speaking of food, SF was not good for my average body mass. The food was just exceptional. Mexican, Korean, Chinese, American, Italian, Japanese, anything you can think of, they had it there and it tasted amazing - albeit a little expensive compared to lots of other places I’ve been. That is to be expected I guess considering people like Mark Zuckerberg and other tech nerds with big salaries live there. One Mexican place in particular sticks out, if you walked in to the same place in the UK then even if you are not a snob about the state of restaurants etc, you would probably have raised an eyebrow. This place was well and truly local and you could see that although very friendly, they clearly didn’t worry much about losing business from snooty tourists. They didn’t have to worry though, the burrito I got was the size of my head and (unlike the UK) actually packed with stuff that tasted heavenly - you didn’t even have to pay 80p extra for guacamole!!

Aside from the food, San Francisco has a very split personality. It is a city famed for being close to Silicon Valley, the 5 sisters and its ‘caring’ attitude towards the homeless and lost. In fact, as you walked around the city, there are homeless people literally everywhere. You can at one moment be walked through very very fancy looking houses and apartments but around the corner a totally different picture. On one occasion, I was walking down a road and there was a guy sat there injecting himself with some amber looking stuff. That said, walking around these sorts of areas should seem threatening and indeed, if I was in the same sort of area of London then I would feel threatened. But in SF, these two worlds just sort of rub against each other but do not mix or bother each other. Nobody tried to ask for money, nobody even looked your way, they just went about their own business, chatting with each other etc. I suppose if the wealthy were being harassed on a regular basis then something would be done.

It is nearly time to board so I think part 1 will end there. Part two very soon, with photos I hope if this iPad does as I want.

what's sort of travelling is not fun...

... Commuting!!!

Most of my blog page is about travel but unfortunately, I am not loaded with spare cash so it's not always possible to jet off randomly. I do however suffer everyday from a very un-fun sort of travelling, one that is common knowledge to many people living and working in London....the morning commute.

I think I want to dedicate this little piece to what is probably the most stressful part of any day.

My shift patterns are pretty strict and I either start at 8, 9 or 10. This means that I can catch fixed trains and you'd think would have a pretty robust routine that would lead me walking into work smack on time if not before. Wrong! Unfortunately, my area is covered by Great Western Railway. Anybody who speaks to me knows the of the utter contempt in my voice whenever I mention that company. There is a reason of course, mainly the £3550 they charge for an annual season ticket from my home to London Paddington. From July 2017 till January 2018, the trains were old, cramped and delayed. From January 2018 they are new, cramped and delayed.

It actually baffles belief but since the start of the new year, my trains have been on time 6 times only. The rest have been cancelled or delayed from 5 mins to 1hr 30 mins. As I have an annual ticket, I am not entitled to compensation. Instead, they assume that I want to renew my annual pass and will make it a bit cheaper for me to do so if the punctuality % is below a certain amount however, the 3.4% increase in January will likely cancel any savings I make out so either way, I am stuck.

 On what planet can a company have such poor performance yet continue to increase charges? SO why post this rant? Is it important? Yes! The UK has some of the worst performing yet most expensive railways in Europe (opinion based on experience). It is maddening that rail users have to continue to pay too large a chunk of their monthly salary (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/03/rail-fares-cost-commuters-up-to-14-of-their-income-says-study) to private companies for such a shitty service. End of rant.