Well, it’s Day 1 of my big adventure. What I want to do is travel the Main Street of America, staying in as many cheap hotels as I can and catching as much music in every bar, club, dungeon, ramshackle shack that I can. I want to eat up large at diners, get down and boogie in gin joints and see what middle America does for a living. I want to travel the highways, check out the sights and go coast to coast in a big red shark. Well, not quite. I want to hire myself a Camaro or a Mustang and go from one end to the other, top to bottom.
So, San Francisco… got in at 6am and headed for a cheap hotel I’d booked online. Can’t check in ’til 2pm but that’s okay. Dump the bags and go for a walk around Union Square. Hotel is fine – found it on cheaphotels.com and booked from home. Free breakfast!! It’s on Bush St , close to Coit etc so tonight I’m going to find me a music bar and see what happens.
I’m in San Fran for a couple of days and it’s going to be busy – rent or buy the car, check out SF and buy whatever additional supplies I need. I’m going to get a pre-paid SIM for my iphone too. Busy, busy.
Union Square is cool, central to most things I wanted to see. First stop was City Lights bookstore. I headed towards the Transamerica building and it’s on Columbus. Funky, comfortable vibe, full of hipsters and books you could browse through forever.
Lunch in Chinatown; cool noodles and conversation with my first nutter; apparently I could make a fortune with him cos he’s a money trader and the markets are going crazy etc etc. Sigh. The rigours of solo travel. One highlight though!! Picked up a flyer for another music cum bookstore called Bird & Beckett which has a jazz guitarist on tonight. It’s on Chenery St, not far from the Fairmount Plaza (not a cheap hotel!) I need to book more nights in my cheap room, I think love San Francisco!
** Good news! I have found me a convertible Mustang! Not the cheapest deal in town, but hey, it’s only money. Car is sorted and now I’m off to see some music at Bird & Beckett.
