Sarah and Rachel do Hawaiifornia, July 2009 - Day 1

[DisneySarah]

The cast:

Me (Sarah) 24 – Disney addict and holiday planner extraordinaire

Rachel, 21 – Lover of sleeping in late and not doing a lot else. Partial to a little Disney. Oh, and my little sister.

Day 1 - London to San Francisco
Monday 13th July

We both slept really well and our alarms went off at 5.45am (ouch!) followed quickly by the wakeup call we had forgetten we ordered, just to make really really sure we were up!

We showered and quickly dressed and were out of the door by 6.40, picking up the complementary newspaper on the way out - a nice touch. We really liked the Radisson and would definitely stay there again. ..good thing since we would be back to spend the night at the end of the holiday!

Shuttle bus came at 6.45 and we arrived at Terminal 1 at about 7am. We had tried and failed to check in online so had to check in again and were given 'departure management cards' and told to collect our boarding passes at the gate. This made me really nervous that we were somehow bumped off the flight because we've never had this before. We found the United check in system rediculous overall; We had tried to check in online, which didn't work. Then we had to use the electronic check in at the airport, which didn't give us boarding passes or let us assign seats. Then we had to do bag drop, and still didn't get our boarding passes from the staff there. Which of course meant we had to go to the staff at the gate.

That is 4 attempts at getting boarding passes - I know United is trying to save money by using electronic check in, but it just seemed to backfire in all the airports we went to on the trip, it actually seemed like there were MORE United staff needed than when they had a regular check in in the past.

Anyway, I forgot to take half the liquids out of my bag at security so I got a thorough search, serves me right really, and we were finally able to get breakfast at Cafe Nero. A quick stop at WHSmith to replace the water we had thrown away before security and we sat waiting for our gate to be announced.





We shouldn't have worried because the staff had our boarding passes printed waiting for us at the gate and we had been upgraded to premium economy! Woo hoo! so we took our seats in 23 A and B.





Lots of leg room:



Last minute texting/facebooking on our phones and we took off a bit late at 11.20am with no problems at all. We spent the first few hours reading and we both watched, 'He's just not that into you' which I had seen before but still enjoyed. We didn't fancy any of the other films showing so we watched 'The Hills' on my net book until the battery ran out and then on my iphone. We had amazing views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco bay area as we came in to land, and got lots of pictures before we landed at about 3pm SF time.







We had decided in advance to grab a taxi as we were fed up of waiting for shuttle buses by then and just wanted to get to the hotel. It felt lovely and hot as we stepped out of the airport to get the taxi, I love that feeling when you realise you are really on holiday! The taxi took about 25 minutes to get to our hotel on Fisherman's Wharf and cost $44+tip.

We were staying at the Best Western Tuscon Inn, which was lovely on first impressions and we were given a room on the 3rd floor, which unfortuantely only had 1 queen bed, they didn't have any rooms with 2 queens when we asked, but it didn't end up being a problem. By now, Rach was starting to feel really ill with an upset stomach - uh oh - so we rested for a while and made use of the free wireless until Rach decided that she was probably ok to go out and explore a bit.

Our room:


It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day, probably the best weather I have seen in San Francisco, about 80 degrees with a warm breeze. We had a walk around Fisherman's Wharf and up Pier 39, talking photos and enjoying the atmosphere (Well, I was. I think Rachel was feeling too ill by this point!)







At the end of Pier 39 we stopped to look at the sea lions (so cute!)



and look at the view.

We had planned to get dinner somewhere on the wharf, but Rach really wasn't feeling up to it so we grabbed some snacks and drinks from the Seven 11 by the hotel and ate them in our room instead. We made it to 7pm before falling asleep for the night!

Tomorrow; Alcatraz and shopping.

[Guest]

Wow how did you manage to get upgraded? Nice pictures by the way.

[Tinkers]

Great upgrade, hope Rachel feels better tomorrrow.

[tracyh]

You were very lucky getting the upgrade and the views of the GG Bridge and bay look amazing.

[Mazzy]

Wow, those ariel shots bring back some memories, though when we landed in August 2007 it was flippin' freezing! You did well to have a wander round straight after the flight, we were all really tired. Great photos, looking forward to the next one!

[ashc13]

Lucky you getting upgraded! Great pics! Hoping to make a return trip to San Francisco next year! Hope your sister gets better real soon

[DisneyMadAng]

What a fantastic upgrade! Lucky girls. Lovely photos. You did well to stay up. Come on Rachael, get better!

[Cannavar]

Great report! We had to make do with bog standard United seats on our flight Lucky you

[Guest]

Lucky with the upgrade, great journey!

[purple myra]

Lucky you getting an upgrade...Can't believe you were fresh enough to go walking about when you arrived... lovely photos though, It looks so warm!