The USA was surprisingly picturesque. Everything there seemed grander. Although I did only get to see L.A, San Francisco & Vegas. Their winters are harsh however, I mentally & physically prepared myself for the freezing so it wasn’t that bad. I stowed away on a 22 hour flight (one way, I know kill me right?) with a handful of girlfriends and we partied and shopped and had an amazing experience over there, what a 23 year old should experience when they go travelling. We met amazing people, walked until our feet were almost shredded away, drank, ate and got fat. We finally got to see a sunset by the beach (since I live in Sydney, the sun only ever rises on our beach fronts) at Venice beach which was spectacular. We zigzagged through their extremely talented buskers at Santa Monica.
Vegas was a whirlwind of shows, shopping and hangovers. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Everyone from all over the world was there just to have good clean (maybe not so clean) fun. We did the mistake of having our Grand Canyon helicopter ride on new years day (it wasn’t much our mistake as it was our tour assigning us with the worst time to fly) and ofcourse knowing me, I drank the most the night before and had the worst flying experience to this date. The poor german family next to me thought I was going to get sick all over them but luckily I just passed out.
San Fran was a delight (apparently they’ve never heard of their city called “San Fran” before). Everyone was extremely nice. It was uncanny. Especially after they heard our Australian accent they got all excited! (“Are you from England? Oh Sydney! Your accent is SOOooo cute!”) One taxi driver stopped the meter just to give us a little tour of the place we set out to (I think it may have been the Castro region). San Fran was very similar to Sydney but had a more elaborate terrain. Apparently it gets quite foggy there and they say “all the filo’s have put their rice cookers on” since there’s a huge filo (Filipino) community there. I thought that was hilarious.
First stop was L.A. My friends and I were lucky enough to have a local take us around by car. He drove us to Venice beach which boasts amazing sunsets... and it didn't fail to impress.
two people walking past me set a mood. To me they looked like 2 chess pieces fading away into the sunset ready for their next move.
Everyone gets ready to pack up and head off. although it looks quite warm, I was there in their winter and it was still a bit chilly around this hour.
I was walking towards iHop (international house of pancakes) and I saw this stunning flower in its full glory. The sun was creeping up and i thought the transparency looked quite appealing..
Next stop was vegas where we ended up on a helicopter hovering around the Grand Canyon.
just beside this cactus, there was actually a couple getting married! They flew in via helicopter. It was freezing, I don't know how the bride was able to survive the chill.
Last but not least was San Francisco. Tired bike rider reflecting on his thoughts.
Golden Gate Bridge.
My friend staring out at China Town in San Fran.
Lights up at the stores in union square.
The rest of these images are based on Alcatraz. Peering out of the chilling prison out towards the trees.
Alcatraz island in the background.
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