Realized that I havenāt posted any updates in a bit, thought Iād throw one on here (Pilgrimsmaster gets what he wants 
). This should be a good halfway update.
I know that a lot of people are just going to scroll on past this, and no worries! Just throwing this into the void for anyone who is interested. My last post got a good amount of likes, so I guess some were interested? 
Itāll be a longer format, with some more pretty Pixel 4a pictures to look at. Iāll put the rest of it under an expansion thingy so it doesnāt clog up the thread. Warning: slight profanity
Update 2: SF and LA
Iām currently in my hostel in LA, I got here last night.
For my first 2 days, San Francisco was absolutely amazing. The third not so much, and Iāll get to that. The food was awesome (had proper Indian for the first time!), and the people in my hostel were great. I hung out with a different person each of the first two nights, and made some great friends. The hostel itself was fine, but it wasnāt air conditioned. The temp wasnāt too bad, although I get hot when I sleep, but the humidity was rough. Woke up sticky with sweat all 3 nights.
The public transport is awesome (
muni), and the entire city was pretty walkable. I never once wanted to have a vehicle with me.
Day 1: Burger time
The first night I didnāt do much except get In & Out. It was decent, especially for the money. Nothing groundbreaking, though.
Day 2: Alcatraz and the pier
Overall, Iād give Alcatraz an 8/10. It was really interesting as a history buff, and the island and the views from the ferry were beautiful. However, it was incredibly guided inside of the cellhouse, and felt more like a touched-up museum exhibit than a historical site. You were free to explore the island (the parts that werenāt off limits), but inside of the cellhouse you had to use an audio tour, and walk along with the audio. So, everything was in lanes with markers everywhere.
Sidenote: I got sunburned as hell that day, likely mostly from Alcatraz. Even though it was windy and a bit chilly, I should have known better. The tops of my ears are still sore. Be safe, kids.
That same day I tried clam chowder in a bread bowl from Boudin Bakery. Really good. Clam chowder isnāt my favorite dish, but it was really nice on a windy day. The entire pier area is neat, with Pier 39 feeling like a year-round state fair.
That night, I looked up the steepest segment of road, and walked there.
Pretty damn steep.
Day 3: Golden Gate and Insanity
Golden Gate day! It was a gorgeous day for this, but sadly my feet were already wrecked from the last day. Had a ton of walking to do.
It looked straight out of a film.
At about the point of this photo, my body violently remembered that Iām afraid of heights. However, I pushed on, and walked to the end and back.
The views were absolutely gorgeous, and it fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine. I also saw the full pacific for the first time. 10/10
After golden gate, I decided to check out Chinatown. This is where the sudden breakdown in fun happened. While walking to a lovely matcha cafe, I was passed by a large, very ripped black man, fully nude. I honestly questioned if I was going insane, as it looked like almost no one else noticed.
I got a delicious matcha frappe though
After this, I went back to my hostel, where I discovered that the bottom bunk in my bed was now taken up by a very grumpy 75 year-old diabetic, instead of the chill 19 year-old who I had made friends with the day before. He ranted about the hostel for a bit, and then another old man came in and got in one of the other beds, not saying a word to anyone else in the room. He then began speaking nonsense to himself, and would continue to do so throughout the day.
I then tried to get pizza. I wonāt go into detail on this one, but it was awful pizza, I missed my bus due to my phones GPS messing up, and it was an overall disaster.
While walking back to my hostel, a man walked towards me and yelled āyou better step the fuck back, right nowā. When I did as instructed, he then yelled āpiss on the wallā. I can only assume he was either on drugs or very mentally ill. Regardless, I got back to my hostel, and had the worst nights sleep Iāve ever had. The guy who was talking to himself was asleep and snoring loudly, and it took me 2 hours to fall asleep. I had to be up at 6:30am for my train. The diabetic then came in at like 1am, struggled with the lock for 5 minutes (waking everyone up), then flicked on the lights as he came in. Then he went to go to sleep, and kept making what can only be described as āold man noisesā loud enough that I couldnāt sleep. I tried for 2 hours, and then decided to just stay up.
The way to LA was uneventful, just a nice train ride. I took BART to Oakland as part of my trip (got on a bus there to take me to the train station). BART was neat, but quite filthy and run-down.
Day 1:
My first night in LA was terrible. Full of harassment by homeless people, and the state of the LA subway is a mess. My hostel is in a bit of a rough spot, and at times, I didnāt feel safe in the walk from the subway stop to the hostel.
Upon walking in, I was met with some trash on the table, and one of the beds being unmade. I assumed this meant there was another person here, but in the last day, I havenāt seen them. Wondered if they already checked out, but the cleaning lady came and cleaned the bathroom. Left the bed untouched. Idk. The room is air conditioned well though, so I slept well.
Day 2:
I first grabbed lunch from Shake Shack next door, and WOW theyāre good. I got a SmokeShack, highly recommended.
I then went to Hollywood via the subway. I know itās super touristy, but I figured I needed to tick that box.
I saw the walk of fame, the Chinese Theatre, and did one of those tours. It was a little shitty, but kind of what I was looking for. As mentioned, I love tourist trap type stuff, and this filled that role nicely. I donāt have a ton of photos of LA, so Iāll put the two decent ones Iāve got so far.
So far, I would say that I havenāt really enjoyed LA, but I think itās mainly because I donāt have a car. Everywhere Iāve been recommended is over an hour each way by public transit, and the safety on a lot of the walking routes isnāt great. LA is massive, but a lot of that is due to its physical size (rather than density).
I would feel much safer in LA if I could get from point A to point B without walking. I would just uber everywhere, but itās so damn expensive out here.
Either way, I leave morning after next for Portland, and thatās a 36 hour train ride. Iāll probably post my next update on the train back from Seattle, so they arenāt too frequent.
