Wham Bam, thank you San Fran. Part Two in a series of about Four I reckon.

Emma and I decided to travel to San Francisco by the crazy invention that is the aeroplane. I know all you eco do-gooders will be tutting in disgust due to the carbon footprint created, but those are the facts. You can therefore carry on tutting until your organic teeth fall out. If it was possible we would have got a bus, a train or something (especially as you can get nice views via this mode of transportation). The plane meant though that we could get from San Fran to LA in an hour, rather than six hours or so, and it also meant we could return home first thing Monday morning. This would give us three whole nights, which is much better than having that rubbish feeling on Sunday morning that you know you should think about leaving in a few hours.

When you work during the week you don’t always have the luxury of saving the world when you travel, you have to squeeze things in. If it makes you feel better Emma makes us recycle everything, and most of the gubbins we buy seems to be organic or free range. We even get organic cleaning products. These are rubbish and don’t actually clean half as well as proper products with chemicals but that isn’t the point. It’s worth having a stinky house just so long as you are buying organic. That is the rules these days. I’ve got no idea how we survived in the nineties when things weren’t organic, and we weren’t paying twice the price for every item to have that word sprawled across the packaging - but there you go. Emma and I are doing our bit to save the world so I shall not feel guilty about my carbon footprint. I even planted some trees a few years ago for some charity thing. It was rubbish as I got rained on and covered in mud. That is my dedication to this planet of ours though.

Anyway I digress. We were flying with Virgin America. Virgin is my airline of choice when flying back and forth to the UK. I like their hostesses. They are a bit more common than their BA counterparts but they have a cheeky charm and they are much friendlier. They also seem to be a little bustier and saucier too. I, of course, don’t care about these type of things now I’m a married man but its worth noting for all you single men. I really don’t think they are virgins themselves! I also like the fact they do seats in rows of two. If you have to travel in smelly economy (not even a man of my standing is in upper class all the time) it means at least Emma and I get our own space. Their air miles scheme is also brilliant. Emma and I already have enough miles to travel to Australia (not that I have ever thought about going there as it’s full of Australians* - but you get my vibe).

We are also close to being silver members. Without boring you with too much detail you have to get a certain amount of points within a year before you lose some of them. We have worked out by the time we return home we will be one measly point short of silver. Being a silver member gives you untold luxuries. It isn’t as good as gold but it’s on the way. I thought flying with Virgin America would at least give us the one little point that we need. Little did I know that they class Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic as totally separate companies. I was quite cross as I still need to get this extra elusive point. Damn these crazy flying schemes. The Virgin America plane was a bit weird as it had funny blue and pink neon lighting when you entered (see pic above which is exactly how it looked). It was also playing some weird ambient type music. It’s like being in a bad dance club. I stopped clubbing years ago so I don’t expect a trip in an aeroplane to remind me that I am now a man in my thirties who is too old for that kind of caper.

The flight was only forty minutes or so in proper length. I slept the whole way whilst Emma watched an episode of ‘Entourage’ (a drama on HBO). I think she enjoyed it. I couldn’t tell as I was sleeping but that’s the vibe Emma gave me. Before we knew it the plane had landed and we were soon traveling to our hotel on this tube type thing. It was very cheap, very clean and very efficient. London Underground take note is what I say to that! We did have to go through about a million stops until we got to Union Square though. This was a bit boring as we couldn’t see any scenery as we were underground most of the time.

It was about 9pm when we got to our hotel. We were staying in a hotel called Campton Place. It was the bomb! Emma’s parents had chosen it and had treated the wife and I. It was the best treat ever. The bathroom was the size of our Santa Monica bungalow, the bed was so lovely and soft and it had a great mini bar to boot. Emma was very excited about the Molton Brown beauty products. We were also right in the heart of town. The location really could not have been better and a bit of luxury never hurt anyone.

We had a nice meal in the hotel brasserie and we caught up with the Furness Family adventures of the previous week. Mr and Mrs Furness, along with young Felicity had been travelling up the west coast. They had liked Carmel but weren’t so keen on the Big Sur. They thought it was over rated and that Cornwall was in fact nicer. For any of our future guests that plan to visit that area you should take note and perhaps go to Cornwall instead. It was soon time for sleeps. Emma and I started to watch a film but before we knew it we were having lovely dreams in the comfy bed and thinking of what adventures the weekend will bring.

I shall go now. We are finally in San Fran so you can almost smell the action and adventures.

Marc x

In the next installment: Alcatraz, some big tower and stomach cramps.

*This a joke. I love the Aussies and their bar tending skills.