San Francisco - History, People and Good Old Fashioned Fun - Part 1

So let's get this out there from the start just in case you do not get the feeling in my blog..............

I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO............ There I said it!

I feel that these blogs on the the USA are gonna take up loads of space so when i think it is needed i'm going to split them into 2 or 3 parts and then at the end i'm also gonna add in a blog of photo's for the particular place. Naughty me, changing already what I said I was going to do. I call it adapting.............

When I originally booked our holiday to the West Coast I'd been excited about the place but as it got nearer, I wasn't looking forward to it as much. I think I was expecting it to be a tad disappointing and I don't know why! I'd booked 4 nights there because I wanted to visit the Historical aspects of San Fran but perhaps I'd thought it would be pretty rubbish. Boy was I wrong.......... Thankfully

So we flew direct to San Fran from Heathrow with United. Sooooo glad I upgraded the seats to Economy Plus else this 6ft 9in, 25 stone frame of mine would have been in trouble. I just can't sleep on an airplane at all and tried numerous times through the flight but to no avail so resigned myself to watching some movies and TV programmes.

Watched a couple of decent movies on the way over.... Here Comes the Boom, Skyfall and Wreck it Ralph. Tried to watch Life of Pi but got bored of that pretty quickly. The wife earned the nickname snoorer the explorer on the way over, it was pretty loud. Surprisingly the food was pretty good but to a salad dodger like me, I even like the most blandless food available!

As with most trips all the anxieties about getting anywhere or lost sometimes engulf you. So it was a relief to get to the hotel after taking the BART from the airport. We were to be staying at the Holiday Inn in the Civic Center part of town. Hotel was lovely but Laura didn't like the area it was in and felt a bit intimidated at times. When I go back again, I'm more than happy to stay there again though I doubt Laura will.

So it was pretty late when we got there so was tired and hungry so did what most British people do and went and found something to eat that we knew. Out the door and across the road to Burger King. Food eat we had a brief walk down Market St but as per what the guides had told us there was a lot of homeless around, many speaking in delirium which I think spooked Laura a bit so she wanted to head back and get some sleep. I popped in the hotel bar for a quick beer and got chatting to the Chinese bar lady, who was very interesting. I'm rubbish with names which is something I need to improve on. Headed back to the room and settled down to watch some WWE and CSI before falling asleep.

Picture above is the Sun going down on first night. Love this picture looking out towards the Bay area!

AndyLurch - Who the hell is this guy.....

I think i'm having a mid-life crisis only i'm not in mid -life yet....... Well not according to me anyway!

So I'm Andy also known as Lurch to many of those that know me. Yes Lurch because i'm 6ft 9in tall and to be fair I don't mind the name. It has created me an identity that I'm happy to go along with.

I'm 29 at the time of writing this, married to the lovely Laura, my rock, whose Birthday it actually is today, (31 years young and yes I am a toyboy!) and she's disappeared out to a show with her Mum. Along with Laura, we are Foster Carers and have been for about 3 years now. We love it, we don't do it for the kudos and pats on the back, It's a cliche but we do it to help out those that haven't had the start in life we got.

I used to work in an office, I hated it, didn't like the 9-5 of it so got out of it. Simples. This enabled me to go to University which was one of my regrets when I originally left school. So I study History at DeMontfort Uni in Leicester. Love History and always have done so I figured to do something I will engage with!

Along with History I have a number of passions. I love Sport, most sports and Sky Sports is normally on in my house quite regularly. I play Cricket and have done for years. I can bat a little, I can bowl a little and I can catch a little. I suppose this helps me to keep getting a game with my local side.

I love Photography but if i'm honest i'm not really any good at it. I love travelling too and this is what I want to do. I want to travel, I want to write about places, I want to take pictures, I want to show my love for travel. I'm not saying i'm going to be any good at this but I will put effort into this. I have been accused of being a little lazy at times but when i want something, i have to have it!. No excuses. As a wise man once said.... Live With No Excuses, Live With No Regrets

I have traveled a few places in my short lifetime mainly Europe but i got married in 2012. She got to organize the wedding, I got to organize the Honeymoon :) So i traveled to my favourite country....Good old US of A!

I had been to the USA before as a kid with my parents to Florida and did the old Disneyland thing! To be honest I can't remember that much about it.

This time I booked us a 17 Day trip to the West Coast and this is what my first few blog's will cover. I will pick out the main places we visited and talk about them. Below is a list of my first few blogs on the following places.

Blog 1 - San Francisco - History, People and Good Old Fashioned Fun
Blog 2 - Highway 1, Stunning Scenery, Paso Robles and James Dean (Not Forgetting Bubba's BBQ)
Blog 3 - Los Angeles, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Blog 4 - Is This the Way to.........Phoenix
Blog 5 -  Grand Canyon, Route 66 and the Hoover Dam
Blog 6 - Las Vegas - Sin City

After this I will look at other places, whether it is In Britain, Europe, other worldwide places and quite a lot on America as I could spend a year travelling around the whole of it and still want an extra 2 or 3 years more. Hopefully I will get to see a lot more of the place.

I will also blog on other things such as University, Sport, TV, Music and life in general and any successes or rejection's I have trying to get into this field of travel writing. So here is a Photo of me and my lovely wife on our honeymoon to give you a bit of a taster on what we might have in store for the opening 6 blogs. Hope you enjoy reading them. Please share them with whoever you like. Any constructive criticism and help is much appreciated!