Notices
Disneyland California and West Coast Trip Reports Trip Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 6 Feb 19, 09:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
oh_darling
VIP Dibber
 
oh_darling's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 09
Livin’ it up at the Hotel California (October '18) Day 2 - HoHo Bus Tour and Sausalito!

‘You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'


Day 1 - HoHo Bus Tour, lunch in Sausalito and Pier 39!

We slept really well in our big comfy bed but I woke up at 2.40am and couldn’t get back to sleep! I was super determined though so I didn’t go on my phone or anything and just lay there, willing myself to go back to sleep ha! It worked, and I woke up again t 6.15 at the same time as Benj. We both got up and dressed while watching the news and it was just fabulous.

Once we were ready we went downstairs to the reception to check out the brekkie options because we had a complimentary breakfast included! It was good as well! We grabbed some OJ and I toasted us a bagel each, then grabbed some PB and cream cheese and a few pastries and some fruit to keep us going. We took it back up to our room because it was a bit chilly to be eating outside, plus I needed to absorb as much American news as possible.

Delicious!



Our plans for the day were to get on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour of SF. We’d pre-booked tickets with Big Bus, a company we found online and deemed to be the best after reading lots of reviews. We were a bit early for the first bus from our stop though, so we decided to go for a wander and check out Cow Hollow in the morning light to get our bearings! We had the Big Bus app which was super handy (well, on Ben’s phone haha) and meant we could see when busses were coming.

All ready to go!



We walked right out of Hotel Del Sol and crossed the road toward some shops. It was honestly so so lovely. There were lots of nice coffee shops and bars, an INCREDIBLE grocery store that we made a mental note to come back to later, a Williams Sonoma which I got really excited about, hairdressers, real estate agents...just lots of nice places. It had a really lovely feeling and we both said how safe we felt even though it was still quiet.

I loved the cinema!



At one point we saw a woman tie up her beautiful dog outside the hairdressers and then go in! That proved to us what a nice area this was, I’m not sure you’d do that where we live haha! To be honest we fell in love with Cow Hollow even more during this beautiful early morning stroll and both kept saying how we just absolutely NEEDED to move there. We still talk about it all the time!

After an hour or so we headed back to the bus stop to wait for the first bus.



It was a bit late and came at 10.30am but it was fine. We hopped on, exchanged our tickets for actual tickets, then headed upstairs because you gotta sit upstairs! It was busy but luckily we were able to get 2 seats at the back (#coolkids) which was awesome!



I was immediately so impressed and happy; we got given headphones by the driver so we plugged them in and immediately started hearing really informative chatter about Cow Hollow and the area we were in! It’s weird but I knew this was going to happen and that this is why you do HoHo tours, but it was so much better than I could have expected! It was soooooo interesting and honestly, cruising around in the sunshine listening to history of the various areas of SF is one of my best memories of the holiday













We drove through Fisherman’s Wharf, through wonderful, quirky San Francisco streets, down to city hall where Marilyn Monroe and Jo DiMaggio got married! This got me super excited!



We drove through Union Square and decided it wasn’t for us haha, too many massive shops and we aren’t really shoppers so that was good because we didn’t really have time to visit there anywhere! There was also lots of picketing going on that day, hotel staff protesting against wages etc which was quite upsetting to read their signs etc but we also were silently cheering them on hah! Saw lots of annoyed tourists coming and going from the fancy hotels in Union Square but you can’t really blame them for making a stand, you’re in their city!

At this point we decided to shift our day around a bit. Traffic was really bad and the tour was taking a lot longer than we’d thought it would, on top of the first bus being late, and we weren’t going to have to time to fit our plans in haha! So, we decided to leave Haight Ashbury for another day (we’d planned to get off and explore, then get back on) and just transfer to Sausalito for lunch and exploring This ended up working really well and took up the rest of the day anyway!

We drove through the Haight and this was really exciting as we’d been watching loads of YouTube videos on the hippie movement and the Summer of Love and as a result we were really looking forward to exploring the area



Jim Hendrix's old apartment!



The bus tour was so helpful to get our bearings, I felt it really helped us to figure out where we were and how far away points of interest were. I’d so recommend this tour, especially on your first day if you can manage it! The next thing we knew we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge! This was a real wow moment for us; we were insanely lucky with the weather our whole time in San Franciscio and it was beautiful blue skies and warm the whole time, apart from in the morning of this first day where it was a bit chilly! By 12pm or so though, when we were crossing the bridge, it was simply stunning. I took an Instagram video of us crossing the bridge if anyone would like to see; my IG is libbycooks and I’ve saved all the stories we did during our California trip, they’re at the top of my profile

We then drove down to the little area where you switch busses to Sausalito. We hopped off our double decker, sussed out where we needed to catch the bus to Sausalito, and then wandered over to the crowds taking pics of the Golden Gate Bridge in the awesome photo spot area, taking care to ensure we could see busses coming in.

We took some amazing photos and a lovely family offered to take some photos of us, and we returned the favour





Beautiful!



We were really lucky because after about 10 minutes we spotted a Big Bus bus driving down to the pick up spot, so we went over and hopped on, showing the driver our tickets. It was all very smooth and we were happy to be almost at our destination.

It was a lovely short drive down to Sausalito with lots of beautiful, expensive houses that I loved looking at out of the window! We eventually got dropped off at the bus stop and the guy said that the last bus was 5.30pm. We’d planned to get the ferry back but it was good to know when the last bus was (this actually was vital information later hahah but I’ll get onto that! ). We were both FAMISHED by this point so we wandered up to a pub I’d seen online which was doing the Impossible Burger (a new veggie burger that had awesome reviews that we wanted to try). It was called the Barrell House Tavern and looked really nice from the outside so we headed on in.



It was busy inside (it was 2.30pm) but we were led to a gorgeous table right by the open double doors, with a view of the ocean! I was so happy! I felt so relaxed and happy; here we were in beautiful Sausalito with gorgeous weather, about to have a fabulous lunch Dream!



A view this wonderful called for drinkies! I ordered a lovely glass of chilled white wine and Benj ordered a fun craft beer.

The menu was AMAZING. I was in the mood for seafood seeing as we were so close to the ocean, so decided to order a couple of starters and have a few nibbles for my lunch

I ordered the calamari and a side of garlic Parmesan fries YUM!

CALAMARI FRITTO MISTO lemon, leeks, shaved fennel, fried caper aioli, spicy cocktail sauce

GARLIC FRIES Gilroy garlic, grated parmesan, ketchup, aioli – 8





Benj of course got the Impossible burger

IMPOSSIBLE BURGER 100% plant-based burger, lettuce, tomato, red onions,
pickle, with fries/ garlic parmesan fries







This food was seriously amazing. The calamari was crisp and lightly battered, I wasn’t too keen on the fennel but Benj liked that so we shared. The fries were SO GOOD with loaaddsss of Parmesan, and the waiter bought me truffle mayo for dipping too which elevated them even more!

Ben’s burger though. OMG. This was the best veggie burger I’ve ever eaten in my life and I was sort of jealous I hadn’t ordered it for myself. Impossible burger is officially my fave veggie burger; it was juicy, greasy, MEATY, it was insanely good. Look at it!



Benj ordered another beer and I treated myself to a glass of fizzy rose as i’d seen loads of girls getting them and I was envious haha! Happy Libby



There was also a super cute service husky who’d been a super good boy sat by his owners feet on the little outside verandah bit. We watched him all throughout our lunch and then at the end I went over and asked his owner if I could pet him She was like ‘sure’! So I did and it was heavenly. What a good boy! We had an awesome waiter too, he was super into the Impossible Burger and asked us how we liked it, and he also wrote Ben a note detailing what he could order at In and Out as a veggie! So sweet! Our lunch was $107 inc a nice tip for our waiter. It was an expensive lunch but we had no regrets as it was so lovely We also didn’t really have dinner as it was a late lunch, so we didn’t go over our daily spends!

We waddled out of the restaurant and then wandered down the main street in Sausalito. We just wanted to browse the cute little shops really, we didn’t have any other plans for Sausalito, so that’s what we did! We didn’t really buy much but it was nice to browse. We spent a while in this crazy antiques shop run by this absolute ledge of a woman who had collected all the stuff herself! It was really awesome but unfortunately after picking up a book I fancied and seeing that the pricetag read $52 not $5.20 as I’d originally thought, we decided it was time to hightail it outta there. It was about 4.45 by this point and we’d really done all we wanted to do so we headed over to the ferry to see about getting back to the mainland.

Unfortunately, the ferry was a. $26 which we hadn’t realised, and b. Not happening for another hour as we’d just missed one. We’d assumed they’d be more frequent! We were a bit bummed as we just wanted to head back really. We walked back towards the other end of the main street and started looking for Ubers. They were also coming out as $26-30! Eek! We decided we’d go for it though, but then when Benj tried to order one, there were literally none around! It was about 5.10 by this point and I suddenly remembered that we had FREE tickets to the bus if we could make the last one! So we fast walked/slow ran back to the bus stop (I was so knackered hahah) and we were soooooo lucky to just make the last bus! This worked out incredibly well as we saved $26 plus didn’t have to hang around any longer (we would have gone to a bar and spent more probably!) So I’d say if you’re going to Sausalito, prepare yourself for the ferry cost and also check the times!

The bus then went all the way back to Fisherman’s Wharf which we also hadn’t realised (so not like us on holiday!) so that was super awesome as we’d wanted some more time here anyway!

We wandered in and out of the shops on Pier 39 and couldn’t resist going to see the sealions again

And take some more selfies!



That sunset though



Benj wanted to go in Players which is like a video game place slash cocktail bar and I was up for! We had a little wander round the games and played a few, including my favourite zombie game that I played in April haha! Then went to sit at the bar for a drink each. This felt like an authentic American experience and even though it’s obviously super tourist-y as it’s on the pier, it was nice and almost dive-y inside. We also had a voucher for BOGOF cocktails on the back of our tickets from Big Bus which was pretty handy! We’d also had $20 for the price of $10 credit which we used to play the games

Benj got a Cadillac and I got a fruity cocktail that was a Goose Pear Martini that had pear vodka, grapefruit juice and elderflower liqueur Cute touch with the flower! These were around $15 each so I was glad we had the voucher haha!





We sat and enjoyed our drinks and it was very pleasant, we were both starting to flag a bit by this point so I was glad we’d planned to go back to the hotel after this. One thing that was cute that happened was some service guys came in, I guess because of Fleet Week, and an older American couple next to us paid for their round of drinks Really sweet and the guys really appreciated it and came over for a chat. I just love Americans (well, most of them hahaha)

And with that, we nipped into CVS to get some chips and dips for the room and then Ubered back to Hotel del Sol. What a fabulous first day in San Francisco!
oh_darling is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Feb 19, 10:39 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Eeyore rocks
VIP Dibber
 
Eeyore rocks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 08

Eeyore rocks's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 1
The great adventure has just begun...

Just started to follow you. 😘
__________________
Jenny.


Orlando..Feb 1998, Jun 2003, Nov 2004, Dec 2008, Nov 2009, Aug 2010, Nov 2010, Sep 2011, Nov 2012, Nov 2013, Oct 2014, Sept 2015, Nov 2015, Sept 16, Jan 2017, Nov 2017, Jan 2018, June 2018, Dec 2018, June 2019, Dec 2019, Feb 2022, May 2023, Oct 2024.

Las Vegas..Dec 1998, Jan 2002, Jan 2004, Jan 2005, May 2006, Mar 2009, Apr 2011, Jan 2012, Aug 2012, Jan 2013, Feb 2014, Feb 2015 Feb 2016, Nov 2016.

New York...Nov 2018, Dec 2021.
Eeyore rocks is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Feb 19, 10:46 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
florida mad
Apprentice Imagineer
 
florida mad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

florida mad's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 1
What a fab first day sounds like a really super chilled day and the lunch with pink fizz Perfect
__________________
florida mad is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 12 Feb 19, 09:32 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
mobeckwith
Imagineer
 
mobeckwith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 06
what a great day,so exciting to be in a new city x
mobeckwith is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Feb 19, 06:13 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
IlDivoette
Imagineer
 
IlDivoette's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 08

IlDivoette's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 3
Mobile

Still loving your joy 🤗. So glad you had a good experience with the bus as this was the company I have been looking at. I'm really looking forward to Sausalito too. Looking forward to your next instalment . Need to find out where to get a few vouchers too, so any tips will be very welcome 👍
__________________
JO

Highlands Reserve-03/West Haven-04/Calabay Park-06/Aviana-07/Legacy Park-08/Watersong & HRH-10
Marco Island 12/SSR 12/Lake Berkley12 / PBH 2015 / SSR 2015 / Solterra 2015 / YC 2018
IlDivoette is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Feb 19, 04:49 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
EJSakaAnna
Imagineer
 
EJSakaAnna's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 15
Mobile

What a fantastic day! Great value out of those bus tickets, sounds like a brill way to move about the city. Your Golden Gate Bridge pictures are fab xx
EJSakaAnna is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 12 Apr 19, 07:38 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
smithlane
VIP Dibber
 
smithlane's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 15
Mobile

Wow what a fantastic day! That view from Sausalito is just amazing. Good tip about the boats back to FW I would have thought they were more frequent too, good job you got the last bus!
__________________
All my previous reports can be found HERE

IG - alicialanesmith
smithlane is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 10 Jun 19, 11:28 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
disneypars
Imagineer
 
disneypars's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 07
What a fabulous first day you both managed to fit so much in! That lunch looked superb .
__________________
2004 - 2014 WDW
2016 - 2019 WDW
disneypars is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2347
CaxtonFX  $1.2320
Covent Garden FX  $1.2447
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2337
TESCO  $1.2343
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 14:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1426
CaxtonFX  €1.1404
Covent Garden FX  €1.1509
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1419
TESCO  €1.1425
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 14:30 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X