Into San Francisco

The 10 and a half hour flight went as well as could be expected for an economy flight on a full plane with no in seat entertainment. Food was fine and I chatted with Thibault, read and dozed.

The good hour it took to clear immigration was less welcome. A very long snaking queue. Nevertheless in the end they seemed to buy my story that I was a tourist and not an international terrorist intent on smuggling fruit and livestock into California in my hand luggage.

But at least after all that time our luggage was awaiting us on the carousel and the airport shuttle to our hotel was quickly found.

The Aloft SF is very decent as airport hotels go.

As it was mid afternoon we showered and headed out into Millbrae, a suburb of SF.



Thibault had left his trainers in the office so wanted to buy a cheap pair here before dinner..We interrogated reception for the nearest shoe shop and was told it was in a mall in neighbouring St Bruno. Then the tricky part. How far? Americans are of course notoriously addicted to driving and aren't very familiar with the concept of walking. So when Thibault said we weren't driving but asked if it was about a couple of miles, they seemed to leap on that measure. It wasn't. Well over 3 miles in my book. And it was more the weather for shorts, rather than jacket and chinos that I had chosen.


So off we headed along the main road. Even a very untouristy area is interesting in.a new country. The broad roads, almost total absence of pedestrians and the predominance of Asians in this district were all interesting. And along the way we could have bought.a any amount of food, especially Chinese, drugs, furniture, cars, real estate, financial services, pedicures, dentistry,  tattoos, piercings, massages, acupuncture,. Even faith healing could easily have been purchased along the way. Just not shoes or clothes. The first mile was interesting, the second just more of the same and the beyond, well we were beginning to flag. But eventually we reached our holy grail in the American equivalent to a Primark.It  was large and at the back had a big section devoted to trainers. Thibault duly tried on a few, settled upon a pair and we trudged back across the emporium to the check out. At the very point at which we reached the front of the queue he turned to me and said "Do I really need trainers?" Needless to say I tried to avoid my jaw-droppng. Or asking why he hadn't considered that philosophical dilemma a couple of hours and a lot of sweat ago. A quick decision in the negative and we exited empty handed but grateful to the wonders of Uber for taking us back to our chosen restaurant without the long trudge back .

Our chosen Hunan restaurant (and there were more Szechuan restaurants to choose from just along our walk than you could probably find in all of London) was very decent. We avoided the temptation to over order. The pork and beans dishes were excellent: the frog less so, but you can't fault me for not being adventurous. The two cold Chinese beers were best of all!

Then back and in bed by 8 pm, or by British time 4am. You can see why we were flagging after a 5:30 am start. And a sweaty and abortive trek across Millbrae for excessive footwear.

Oh and in case you think I have the hump after my march along a highway for no purpose, not at all. I just thought it was funny. And good material for my blog. And on a higher plane, a fair sign of what good friends we are. And maybe Thibault will cut me some slack for snoring.....