Day -1: The Flight and arrival in San Francisco

So it all began with a delay of an hour at the airport.  Rohan and Julian were ok and they enjoyed the extra running around time. Thankfully I had packed vegemite scrolls otherwise no one would have coped.  The 14hour flight to Los Angeles wasn’t too bad all things considered.  Rohan ended up having 2 naps – 45mins and 4hours which was fantastic.  Julian only had an hour and was absolutely buggered. 

Ready to leave

Los Angeles

 Los Angeles was hot and humid, so the walk between terminals wasn’t pleasant.  Our plan was to check in and then get something to eat however, the thought of burgers at 8am (LA time) didn’t not enthuse anyone, so we had cold drinks instead.  Thankfully we managed to pass the time at the airport watching planes, then Julian and Rohan had a sleep for the hour to San Francisco.

So we arrived without much fuss and took a taxi into the city.  It was a nice clear day about 22C.  Then we arrived at our hotel which was in Powell street, near Union Square (a great spot) however that is when the fun began.  We had ordered 2 Queen rooms with a shared bathroom so that we could all perhaps get some sleep with a bit of bed juggling.  However we were given 2 Queen rooms which shared a communal shower room and toilet down the hall!  Surprisingly I was not happy and I said this is not what was shown when I booked.  They did find us a deluxe Queen room with bathroom attached but Julian would have to survive on a rollaway bed.  Unfortunately there is very little that we can do as the city is packed with Fleet Week activities and there is no accommodation to be had anywhere, so on we trudged up to our room.  We were exhausted but we thought we could squeeze in an early dinner, so we popped over the road to Tad’s Steakhouse.  

Tad’s Steakhouse: OMG what an absolute hole!  The reviews online were so positive, so we overlooked the drab, tired décor and took a chance on the food.  We ordered 3x Grilled Ham and cheese sandwiches with fries and salad.  Far out they were disgusting to all our senses.  Steve and I closed our eyes and ate.  Rohan ate a couple of bites before refusing.  Julian cracked it after 1 bite and said that he didn’t like American food!  Great start I know!  The best thing was when we heard the Blue Angels flying over the roof :)

The "salad"did not look appealing to anyone!

It was even more revolting to eat!

Thankfully there was a Walgreens supermarket next to the hotel so we bought milk and yoghurt for Rohan and returned to the hotel to find no rollaway bed or portacot.  Over 1.5hours had past, so after a couple of calls, we had them both.

Both the boys were bathed happily and were ready for bed.  Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Rohan to get to sleep but Julian was so overtired he just couldn’t do it.  After some tears and a few hours, he also slept…