Third day, San Francisco: Roadtrip!
Day 3, San francisco Roadtrip, Kilometers traveled: 450
I woke up at 0700 again, took a shower and forgot my towel. I just used my tshirt instead.
Today Bart and I wanted to go to Berkeley, we arranged a lift with Lara. A German girl that works here to live in the hostel. At breakfast we ran into Sam, Jack, Liza and Sahana, who suggested to take a raodtrip to the Monterey coast. We rearranged our schedule and took the BART -Bay Area Rapid Transport train- to the airport. We checked rates online and decided we would try and get a six person luxury SUV, like the Cadillac Escalade gangster car. We got in line at the Alamo rental station, showed a creditcard and a drivers licence and got the keys to a Buick Rendezvous. It is a seven person SUV, 3.8 liter turbo v6, three rows of power adjustanble leather seats, cd player, cruisecontrol and automatic gearbox. I was the assigned driver for the day. The prospect of driving around a brandnew luxury car full of people, in a city with a population of 6 million, made me a bit nervous. The feeling quickly disappeared after the first mile of driving. All roadsigns in America are real clear, East-west roads have even, and north-south have uneven numbers. The principle of 'keep your lane' is great. It means one can drive on any lane with any speed. People are allowed to pass left and right if they are faster. It is so much better than traffic in Europe: even the biggest cities are easy, quiet and relaxing to travel. There is no speeding, honking or roadrage anywhere. Even the city center with its grid streets and hunderds of crossings is never crowded or confusing.
Four nations in one car, we took highway 1, heading south to Monterey. The car was very great but the suspension and brakes could have been a lot better. So, after a comfortable two hour drive trough the mountains we stopped for some food. Bart and Liza wanted to try the car so they drove arounf the parking lot a few minutes. We continued to the 17 mile drive, 'the most scenic route in whole of America'. We payed $8.75 and entered the park. After 10 miles of road, we wondered: were we heading for the 17 mile drive, or are we actually on it. It was just like driving a road on the Veluwe in the Netherland. We started wondering about the name of the drive. They should have calle it '17 mile ripoff'. The 17 mile stands for the distance you drive before you realize you have been ripped off. Near the end of the drive we reached the sea, took some pictures, including one of the biggest perm known to man.
We took highway 101 back to the bay area. This road was much mure scenic than the previous one. We drove straight trough the countryside with it beatifully sculpted brown hills. Into san Jose and San Francisco. Here we had to dropoff Sahana, she had to fly to Washington to meet some friends. We continued the 101 northbound, trought the city, passed the touristic Fishermans Wharf, drove down the famous twisty Lombard street, stopped for gas. It was $44 for the 450km we traveled, about 1 cent per kilometer. Quite okay for such a huge car. To end our trip we drove across the impressive Golden Gate Bridge.
Finally we returned the car, after nine hours of driving. Took the BART back to the hostel and went to bed. I slept horribly dreaming about crowded streets and sudden stops with a car that has chewing-gum breaks. Must be all the impressions from the whole day. The roadtrip was tiring but awesome. Thanks for the great time guys (and girls!).
I woke up at 0700 again, took a shower and forgot my towel. I just used my tshirt instead.
Today Bart and I wanted to go to Berkeley, we arranged a lift with Lara. A German girl that works here to live in the hostel. At breakfast we ran into Sam, Jack, Liza and Sahana, who suggested to take a raodtrip to the Monterey coast. We rearranged our schedule and took the BART -Bay Area Rapid Transport train- to the airport. We checked rates online and decided we would try and get a six person luxury SUV, like the Cadillac Escalade gangster car. We got in line at the Alamo rental station, showed a creditcard and a drivers licence and got the keys to a Buick Rendezvous. It is a seven person SUV, 3.8 liter turbo v6, three rows of power adjustanble leather seats, cd player, cruisecontrol and automatic gearbox. I was the assigned driver for the day. The prospect of driving around a brandnew luxury car full of people, in a city with a population of 6 million, made me a bit nervous. The feeling quickly disappeared after the first mile of driving. All roadsigns in America are real clear, East-west roads have even, and north-south have uneven numbers. The principle of 'keep your lane' is great. It means one can drive on any lane with any speed. People are allowed to pass left and right if they are faster. It is so much better than traffic in Europe: even the biggest cities are easy, quiet and relaxing to travel. There is no speeding, honking or roadrage anywhere. Even the city center with its grid streets and hunderds of crossings is never crowded or confusing.
Four nations in one car, we took highway 1, heading south to Monterey. The car was very great but the suspension and brakes could have been a lot better. So, after a comfortable two hour drive trough the mountains we stopped for some food. Bart and Liza wanted to try the car so they drove arounf the parking lot a few minutes. We continued to the 17 mile drive, 'the most scenic route in whole of America'. We payed $8.75 and entered the park. After 10 miles of road, we wondered: were we heading for the 17 mile drive, or are we actually on it. It was just like driving a road on the Veluwe in the Netherland. We started wondering about the name of the drive. They should have calle it '17 mile ripoff'. The 17 mile stands for the distance you drive before you realize you have been ripped off. Near the end of the drive we reached the sea, took some pictures, including one of the biggest perm known to man.
We took highway 101 back to the bay area. This road was much mure scenic than the previous one. We drove straight trough the countryside with it beatifully sculpted brown hills. Into san Jose and San Francisco. Here we had to dropoff Sahana, she had to fly to Washington to meet some friends. We continued the 101 northbound, trought the city, passed the touristic Fishermans Wharf, drove down the famous twisty Lombard street, stopped for gas. It was $44 for the 450km we traveled, about 1 cent per kilometer. Quite okay for such a huge car. To end our trip we drove across the impressive Golden Gate Bridge.
Finally we returned the car, after nine hours of driving. Took the BART back to the hostel and went to bed. I slept horribly dreaming about crowded streets and sudden stops with a car that has chewing-gum breaks. Must be all the impressions from the whole day. The roadtrip was tiring but awesome. Thanks for the great time guys (and girls!).
posted by Branko | 1:20 PM
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