USA 01: San Francisco

Friday, November 15, 2024

I had to wake up early this morning so I could shower and finish packing my suitcase before leaving for the airport. I had to work until 02:00 the previous evening, so I was exhausted this morning. The shower helped wake me up slightly, but I was still very sleepy when I went out to catch a Grab car to the airport. It was a bit sad when I left because I would be away from home for over three months, but I had everything cleaned and put away in my apartment and my landlord has always taken good care of my apartment when I’ve been away for long trips.

I had two Grab cars cancel on me, so Thinh ordered a car on his phone to pick me up. The car arrived shortly thereafter, and we set off for Noi Bai Airport. Meanwhile, Thinh was taking the bus from his home to meet me at the airport. He arrived before me, but thankfully only had a short wait before I was dropped off at the departures area.

Thinh and I met up in the airport check-in area and made our way over to check in for our flight. We were flying on Starlux Airlines, which was new to both of us (though I had been aware of them for a few years). Check in was a breeze and they didn’t make any hassle over Thinh’s visas (he has all of the necessary visas in his passport already – USA, UK, and EU – but sometimes checking in to depart from Vietnam can be a hassle for Vietnamese citizens).

Passport control was equally easy for Thinh. I had a moment of worry when the officer noticed that my evisa was assigned to my old passport, rather than my new passport. I had entered Vietnam in August on my old passport, but had to renew it immediately because I was running out of space for visas and entry/exit stamps. I had renewed my passport through the US Embassy and the process took about two weeks. I had then gone to the Vietnamese Immigration Office to get my visa transferred from the old passport to the new one, which took ten days for them to process. I had a new entry stamp placed in the new passport, but it apparently was still flagged when I tried to leave the country. It was quickly resolved when the officer spoke with a supervisor.

While we waited for our flight, we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks. The flight boarded shortly after 11:00 and we were among the first passengers onboard the airplane. Thinh had a middle seat while I had the aisle for the short flight to Taipei. We took off at noon and were soon served an in-flight meal. We had a chicken pasta, which was just so-so. We both knew that we could properly judge an airline by the quality of the food and this did not seem to bode well for our second flight from Taipei to San Francisco. However, the seats were comfortable, and the in-flight entertainment had an extensive catalog of movies to watch. The screens were also much larger than any other aircraft that I’ve experienced before, which I thought was quite nice.

Upon landing at Taipei airport, we quickly cleared the security screening, we grabbed a quick coffee at a Starbucks to help stay awake (well, I had coffee and Thinh had tea since he doesn’t drink coffee). Thinh has free lounge access through one of his credit cards, so we decided to check out one of the lounges for a few hours. He wasn’t able to bring in me as a guest for free, but the charge was minimal. The lounge itself was large and crowded, but we were able to grab two seats at a long table. I spent the time getting some work done and nibbled at some of the free food (the options weren’t particularly appealing to me). Thinh took advantage of the free shower facilities to freshen up before our long overnight flight.

Many of the shops and restaurants closed early at the airport and we were left with few options for dinner, so we ended up eating at McDonald’s while we waited for our boarding gate to be announced. Once the notice boards alerted us to the gate, we made a made dash through the airport to reach the gate – it felt like it took ages for us to get there!

The flight boarded at midnight and we made our way to our seats. We again had an aisle and middle seat, but this time in the center row of seats, which meant the person on the other side of Thinh could get up all they wanted without having to wake us up during the flight. The dinner meal was served shortly after takeoff and this time the food was much better than on the previous flight. Thinh then spent much of the flight sleeping, while I watched movies and napped a bit as well. The flight to San Francisco lasted around ten hours and we were served a light meal prior to landing. Overall, our experience on Starlux Airlines was positive and I would definitely fly with them again in the future.

When we landed in San Francisco at 18:50, Thinh and I hurriedly made our way to the passport control area, anticipating a long queue of people. To our surprise, there was no line whatsoever and we were able to walk right up to an agent! Our entry was smooth and the border control agents got us through in no time. Once we reclaimed our checks bags, we went to the rideshare pickup zone, where we took an Uber to reach our hostel in the city center.

The hostel was located near Nob Hill and we had already done the check-in process online, so we were able to go directly to our rooms once we arrived. We had booked two separate beds in the hostel: one in the capsule dorm room and one in a private two-bed room. All of the doors were opened using unique codes, so we could come and go to one another’s rooms. Thinh opted to take the capsule bed and the dorm room was very nice and offered a good amount of privacy within each capsule. My bed was a bit more unique. The room had two capsules in it that each contained a double bed. The capsules were large, semi-soundproofed, and had proper doors to each one. It offered more privacy while still being in a dorm-style room. We were both surprised by the size of the bed in my room because it was large enough for us both to sleep comfortably (it was not clear on the website when I made the booking) – we could have booked just the one bed, but it was too late now.

We were both worn out from the long day of travel and decided to head to bed soon after we arrived at the hotel (it was around 21:00 by this point). Thinh went up to his bed and I curled up to get some rest. The bed was comfortable and I was soon fast asleep.

 
Saturday, November 16, 2024

I woke up disappointingly early this morning – at 04:00 – and spent the next few hours in bed watching Netflix. I had started a fascinating documentary while on the flight, so I was eager to finish it. I hoped that I would be able to fall back to sleep, but sleep proved to be elusive. At 08:30 I messaged Thinh and we exchanged a few messages, but it soon became clear that he had fallen back asleep. I let him sleep for a little while long and finally, at 10:00, I went up to his room. He was fast asleep, but I gently woke him up to see if he wanted to get some breakfast with me. He said he wanted to get some more sleep, but that he would come and meet me in a little bit.

I had found a nearby café that served bagels which looked good, so I set off to walk over there. Soon after I left the hostel, I noticed several people standing around on street corners and trying to distribute pamphlets to passersby. I soon realized that these were anti-abortion protesters and that there was a Planned Parenthood nearby which had security outside to protect anyone who needed to go there. The first pair of protesters that I encountered offered me a pamphlet, which I politely declined. As I walked down the street, they began shouting at me about how awful I was for not fighting against abortion, making some really ugly and derogative comments. At the next corner were two more protesters and I politely declined their bullshit pamphlet. As I waited for my turn to cross the street, they too began to shout at me (“How can you ignore the crimes being committed?!”), which I just ignored. An older man who came walking up behind me shouted angrily at them “Shut the fuck up!” and I wholeheartedly supported him. These protesters have their right to oppose abortion, but their tactics and methods are appalling. Besides, I fully support a woman’s right to choose – it’s their body and they have the right to make whatever decisions they want. No one has the right to interfere with that. This was not a good way to be welcomed back to the United States.

The café was small and quite charming. I ordered a breakfast bagel with coffee and spent some time reading while I ate. The bagel was homemade and very good – I missed having a good bagel for breakfast! Around the time that I finished up eating and reading, Thinh messaged that he was awake and I suggested that we meet at a nearby Starbucks. He spent some time getting showered and ready for the day, while I did some more reading at Starbucks. I was engrossed in my book – the Count of Monte Cristo – and, shortly after Thinh arrived, I finished the book.

Thinh and I finally set off to see some of San Francisco in the late afternoon (later than we’d planned, but we were both exceedingly jetlagged). We took an Uber from the Starbucks to Lombard Street to begin our sightseeing. We had wanted to take a Waymo there, but the price was far too expensive for a short drive. We had both marveled at the numerous self-driving Waymo cars on the road in San Francisco, and we agreed that we had to take one at some point during our visit.

Lombard Street is known as the “most crooked street” and it definitely lives up to the label. The street winds back and forth down a hill for just one city block. We were dropped off at the top of the street and walked down sidewalk so Thinh could really enjoy the strange and unique street. After stopping for a few photos, we continued our walk and headed towards the bay.

When we reached Fisherman’s Warf, we spent a long time walking around the boardwalk, admiring the various sights. The area wasn’t overly crowded as we made our way around. Thinh loved the Ferris Wheel, though we didn’t ride it. The sun was starting to set, but I wanted to make sure that we reached Pier 39 before we lost the sun. As we approached the pier, we could hear the sealions making a lot of noise as they lounged nearby. Thinh was captivated by them and enjoyed spending a few minutes watching their antics. I pointed out Alcatraz Island in the distance, explaining that it was a former prison that we could visit.

We started walking around some of the stores in search of souvenirs or something to buy my sister’s kids for Christmas. We thought that getting them keychains with their names on them would be fun and everything started quite well: we found the names of three of the kids, but could not find one for my eldest niece! We searched in several different stores, looking at keychains, yo-yos, magnets, etc for anything with her name – nothing! It’s not even a unique name – Jane – so we were both surprised that we couldn’t find anything with her name.

I then spotted a food stall selling funnel cake and suggested we give it a try since Thinh had never eaten it before. We also got an order of deep-fried Oreos to share. The funnel cake was huge and we could only eat half of it before we were both full. The deep-fried Oreos were interesting, but not something either of us would need to order again in the future.

At 17:20 a magician began performing a free show on a nearby stage, so we walked over to check out the show. While he made a lot of corny jokes (which were perfect for Thinh’s sense of humor), the magician performed some neat tricks. He interacted with the audience quite a bit and we both enjoyed watching him. When the show ended 30 minutes later, we both decided to head out to find something to eat for dinner.

We took an Uber from Fisherman’s Warf over to a Vietnamese restaurant close to our hotel. The place was small and packed with Vietnamese who were watching an American football game. We managed to grab the only open table and ordered some familiar food for dinner. The restaurant had my favorite Vietnamese food on the menu – bun cha Hanoi – which I ordered for dinner. When it arrived, it was definitely not bun cha Hanoi as it is served in Vietnam; it was more southern-style than northern. However, the meat was very tasty and I still thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Thinh ordered bun bo Hue and he liked it as well.

With dinner finished, we then walked back to our hostel for the night. It was very cold as we walked and we were eager to get inside. We decided to share my capsule room tonight, rather than sleeping in separate beds. It was cozy and I liked having him next to me in bed. We didn’t stay awake too late after we got back – the jetlag was still draining us. We made plans to have a more full day of sightseeing the next day and then went to sleep.

 
Sunday, November 17, 2024

Thinh and I both woke up around 07:30 this morning and got ready to head out for a full day of sightseeing. For breakfast, I found another bagel shop nearby that we decided to check out. The bagels were fresh and we both thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast sandwich bagels. It was a hole-in-the-wall place and didn’t appear too inviting from the outside, but it was a delicious breakfast!

I then decided to order a Waymo car to take us over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The process of ordering a ride was very simple and a few minutes later the driverless car arrived to pick us up. I was surprised to discover that the fleet of Waymo cars were all Jaguars – a very nice way to ride around town! To unlock the doors, the car connected to my phone via Bluetooth – a genius way to keep random people from just hopping into one of the cars. Once inside, there was a screen in rear of the car welcoming us by name and an audio message also greeted us by name. We pressed the “Start Ride” button and the car set off into the city. It was incredible to sit in the rear of the car and watch it drive itself through the busy streets. I was blown away by the technology that had been developed to make a self-driving car reality. During the ride, the car had a selection of music that we could play or we could play music from my phone as well. Thinh and I both loved the experience! The car soon dropped us off near the visitor center of the Golden Gate Bridge and we set off to visit the famed bridge.

Before walking to the bridge itself, Thinh and I walked along a path to a beautiful overlook where we could see the entire bridge itself. We were lucky that the weather this morning was sunny and clear, giving us the perfect view of the bridge. Thinh was really enjoying this visit and took numerous photos, amazed at the sheer size of the bridge.

We then walked along the path so we could walk out on the bridge itself. A lot had changed since I first visited there in 2002: new safety fences lined the first stretch of the bridge and safety nets had been installed just underneath it as well to prevent people from jumping. I told Thinh about the documentary from years ago called “The Bridge” that filmed it for a year and told the stories of the people who had been filmed jumping from the bridge. It was a tragic and sad documentary but served as an insight into the mindset of those people who may have similar thoughts to hopefully help prevent further losses.

We walked about halfway across the bridge, stopping at several places to take pictures of the bridge and of the views over the entire bay area. It was a lot of fun to explore it with Thinh and see him enjoying our time on the bridge. I wasn’t overly thrilled by how high up we were – even the safety nets didn’t assuage my fear of heights! At the half-way point, we turned around and made our way back across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Thinh and I then continued to walk along the waterfront, making our way out to the beach area as we walked back towards the city. Our destination was the Palace of Fine Arts and the walk over was very pleasant, if just slightly cold. The Palace of Fine Arts complex is a beautiful building with European-style architecture: imposing colonnades and statues lined the façade. Thinh and I were both impressed with the building – definitely an unexpected surprise! We spent a few minutes walking around so we could admire the entire building before heading over to the parking lot to order another Waymo to drive us to Fisherman’s Warf. As we waited, we spotted a group of Vietnamese women nearby taking photos, all dressed in ao dai! It reminded us both of being back home in Hanoi, where the women pose for photos all around town in their ao dai.

Our Waymo self-driving car soon arrived and drove us over to Pier 33, located just down the road from Fisherman’s Warf. We quickly walked over to Starbucks so we could get something hot to drink to help us warm up. Returning to Pier 33, we made our way to the entrance of the Alcatraz ferry. The queue was quite long, but we had only a short wait before it was time to board the boat. We didn’t bother trying to find seats on the upper deck since most of the crowd had taken up the seats; instead, we sat on the lower deck for the short ride.

Once we arrived on Alcatraz Island, a park ranger gave a short orientation speech to the crowd before turning us loose to explore the island. Thinh and I quickly made our way up to the top of the lone hill on the island so we could tour around the prison complex. Along the way up, we stopped to admire the views across the bay, as well as the various buildings. Several signs remained across the island from the late 1960s when Native Americans moved onto the island in a demonstration against the treatment of their people by the US government.

At the prison entrance, we made our way through the prisoner intake area, along with the large shower room. Ascending a long flight of stairs brought us to the main prison block – a massive room of several three-story cellblocks. The cells themselves were small, used to house one inmate in each one, and there was no privacy whatsoever. It was shocking to think of hundreds of inmates living in such cells for years at a time.

We then walked through the solitary confinement area and the wing reserved for the worst offenders in the prison. The solitary cells were often completely closed off, condemning the prisons to spend extended periods in total darkness. The mere thought of it was horrific! Thinh and I then went outside to the prison yard where the inmates had been able to get fresh air and exercise during the day. It was a large open area surrounded by a large wall, but prisons were able to sit on the nearby stairs to look out at San Francisco across the bay.

Back in the prison, we visited the warden’s office and strolled around the guards’ area of the complex. From this point we had a fantastic view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge was slowly being enveloped in fog and we both remarked that it was lucky we had visited earlier in the morning when the weather was better.

Thinh and I began to make our way down the hill in search of the museum store, where we could get a refund for the audio guide that we had declined. Tickets to the island not only covered the ferry and entrance to the prison, but also an audio guide. Thinh and I had both opted to skip the audio portion, which could be refunded to us. We had to return to prison and re-enter it to find our way to the store. We had somehow missed the dining hall section of the prison, which then led us to the main exit and the store. Surprisingly, the store refunded us in cash for the unused audio guide rather than refunding it back to my credit card. We then walked down to the ferry boat pier so we could return to the city.

Once we had returned to Pier 33, Thinh and I stopped to buy a hot dog from one of the many street vendors that lined the street. They were all selling large sausages wrapped in bacon that both looked and smelled delicious. The woman we bought them from was very friendly and we got everything on ours: mustard, ketchup, onions, etc. We stood off to the side to enjoy our quick snack – it was even tastier than I had expected! We then returned to Starbucks to relax for a little while before it was time to head out to dinner.

Dinner this evening was going to be with my brother-in-law Andy’s mother (Diane) and stepdad (Tino). They lived in the Richmond area, just outside of San Francisco, so Thinh and I took the BART subway out to meet them. The journey took about an hour, during which Tinh took a short nap. When we exited the BART station, Diane was waiting for us. It was wonderful to see her again – it had been a couple of years since I’d last seen her. I introduced her to Thinh and then we went over to her car, where Tino was waiting for us. I had last seen Tino back in 2013 when he came to North Carolina to build a deck for my sister and Andy, so it was wonderful see him once again.

Diane and Tino drove us over to a nearby Thai restaurant where we had a very good dinner. We spent a couple of hours at the restaurant, talking and catching up. Diane’s youngest daughter, Irene, had recently got married and it was nice to hear all about it, especially the ridiculous exploits of my sister at the wedding. Thinh and I told them about our upcoming wedding plans as well. Tino had been dealing with some health issues over recent years, but he still had the same spark and joviality that I remembered about him. When dinner was over, we drove over to their house to have dessert. Diane had made a tasty apple crumble for us, which I enjoyed with a cup of coffee.

When we finished dessert, we spent some more time chatting before it was time to head back to the BART station. It had started to lightly rain while we were having dessert. The drive to the BART station was quick and soon it was time to say goodbye to Diane and Tino. I was so glad that we had been able to meet up this weekend, so I could see Diane and Tino again, as well as introducing them to Thinh. They are both very friendly, outgoing people who have warmly welcomed me into their family over the years. This evening was a lot of fun and I hope that it won’t be so long before we see them again.

Thinh and I took the BART back to the city and then took a Waymo to the hostel. I was thoroughly exhausted after our long day around town, but Thinh was not yet ready for bed, so he took his computer to one of the common areas to hang out for a little while. Meanwhile, I got into bed and fell asleep moments later. I left the light on in the room so Thinh could see when he came to bed. When I woke up later in the middle of the night (I toss and turn throughout the night), I discovered that Thinh had decided to sleep in the dorm room tonight. He messaged me that he was worried about waking me up when he came to bed, so he decided to let me continue sleeping and he went up to the dorm room.

 

Monday, November 18, 2024

Thinh and I had to get up early this morning so we could check out and get on with the day. Thinh came down to the room around 07:00 so we could get packed up before leaving. At 07:30, we left the hostel and hailed our final Waymo to take us to a Starbucks near to the Ferry Terminal building. We had both loved the Waymo driverless cars during this weekend – they are a glimpse into the future of car technology!

We ordered our drinks and got Thinh setup in a table in a corner of the Starbucks, where we were able to push our suitcases to one side, out of the way of other customers. I left Thinh at Starbucks while I ran over to the nearby USCIS office, where I had a biometrics appointment for my UK marriage visitor visa. When I arrived at the office, I was told that I needed to have a printed copy of my apartment letter, so I had to rush across several blocks to a UPS store so I could have them print my letter out. When I returned to the USCIS office, I had a short wait before I was taken back to get photographed and fingerprinted.

Thinh and I both had to get marriage visitor visas in order to get married in Scotland. The process had been rather stressful, gathering all of the necessary documents for the application, etc. Thinh had received his visa a few weeks before we left Vietnam, but I had to wait until returning to the United States to apply for my visa. I could only apply via the UK embassy in Vietnam if I had a long-term residence visa for Vietnam, which I don’t have (I am in Vietnam on recurring tourist visas). On top of getting the visas, we also need to provide our marriage notice to the Edinburgh City Council at least 29 days before our wedding. This shorted the timeframe for me to get my visa and left me with no other option than paying for the rush/priority service. While this all seems like a lot to do to get married in Scotland, but it was well worth all of the hours we spent preparing everything.

With my biometrics done, I walked over to the post office and shipped out my passport and application information to the visa processing center in New York. I then returned to Starbucks, where Thinh had patiently waited for me. The two of us then walked over to a nearby Hyatt Regency hotel, where we would be picking up our rental car.

The hotel was hosting a convention of some sort, so it was packed with people milling about in the lobby. We had to wait for a while at the rental car desk until the agent finally arrived. Soon after, we were outside the hotel, waiting for our car to be driven up to the curb. We had been assigned a white Chevrolet Malibu for our road trip across the western states over the next week. Thinh got his phone connected to the car via Bluetooth and we soon set off on our road trip!

Before leaving San Francisco, I wanted to stop at the famed “Painted Ladies” houses in town. We were able to find parking right on the street in front of the row of houses, and we spent a few minutes taking photos. Across the street from the Painted Ladies is a small park on a hill, where Thinh went to snap pictures, while I stayed along the sidewalk to take some pictures from closer up. We were there for one a brief time, but it was enough to admire the beautiful architecture and colors of the houses.

Setting off again, we drove south out of the city and headed towards San Jose. After about an hour of driving, we got off the highway and stopped off at Apple Park so Thinh could go to the visitor center. He is a huge fan of Apple products, so I knew he would enjoy this experience. While driving to the visitor center, we caught several glimpses of the famed Apple Park circular office building, which was as close as we could get though. I took a few pictures of Thinh in front of the visitor center signs before we went inside to have a look around.

There was a large café which sold coffee, various pastries and sandwiches, which looked good, but were far overpriced. We had considered getting lunch there but decided against it once we saw the prices. The next section was a large Apple store that also sold some merchandise specifically for Apple Park visitors. I had Thinh pick out two T-shirts that he liked so my family could give them to his as Christmas presents (one from my sister, one from my mom). The third, and final, section contained a large metal model of the entire office park. The model itself was devoid of any details – it was just smooth metal. Thinh knew the trick of the model though – he walked over to a nearby desk and asked for one of their tablets, which the attendant quickly handed over. An app on the tablet was able to overlay a detailed model of the office park on the screen, allowing us to view floorplans of the building, among other details. It shifted around as we walked around the model too – it was pretty cool. Our time at Apple Park lasted about an hour and soon it was time to head back out on the road.

Before leaving Cupertino, we stopped at Jimmy John’s to get a quick bite to eat for lunch. The surprising thing about Apple Park was that it was located in the center of a quiet, older residential area. It was a typical, average neighborhood and seemed like the unlikely location to host the headquarters of one of the world's biggest corporations. Lunch was quick and healthy, which was a nice reprieve from the heavier meals we’d been eating lately.

This was our final stop before we set off for the long drive to Las Vegas, an eight-hour drive from Cupertino. We set off down I-5 and Thinh kindly turned on a podcast for us to listen to during the drive. My mom turned me onto Dateline during Covid lockdown and I was captivated by Keith Morrison – no one can narrate true crime with the same captivating voice and adjectives quite like Keith. He had a new Dateline podcast called “The Man in the Black Mask” that we started listening to during the drive. Thinh slept throughout most of the drive, but he did wake up enough to switch to the next episode of the podcast.

When we reached Bakersfield, we turned off of the I-5 and headed east into the desert. The sun had set by this time and we still had several hours of driving before we reached Las Vegas. The Keith Morrison podcast was soon finished, so I asked Thinh to use Spotify to start on a playlist of Dateline episodes, all narrated by Keith Morrison. I am must more entertained by podcasts and talk radio than music, and Thinh was kind enough to play what I needed to get me through the drive, even though I knew the podcasts were boring for him.

On top of stopping for gas, we made numerous pit stops over the following few hours so we could stretch and take a break from the drive. The weather had turned noticeably colder as well, with neither Thinh or I having proper winter clothing to wear. We grabbed snacks and drinks along the way, but didn’t stop to get a full dinner as neither of us were very hungry.

When we arrived in Las Vegas, it was after 22:00 and I was worn out from the long, nearly ten hour drive. Before going to our hotel, I suggested to Thinh that we drive down the Las Vegas Strip so he could see some of the casinos. We started at the north-end of the Strip and drove south, driving past several of the mega-casinos: Circus Circus, Ceasar’s Palace, Venetian, the Bellagio, and the Paris. Las Vegas Boulevard was covered with fencing and barricades for the upcoming Formula One race, which unfortunately limited our view of several casinos, including the fountains of the Bellagio.

We turned around at the Paris casino and drove north along the Strip until we reached our hotel, the Sahara. I had never visited this casino during my previous visits to Vegas since it was located so far north on the Strip – it was only a short walk from the Stratosphere casino, which is the northernmost casino on the Strip. We picked the Sahara both because the room rate was affordable, but they also included free valet parking. Leaving the car with the valet, we got checked in and went up to our room on the tenth floor.

The hotel room was much nicer than either of us had anticipated. It was very comfortable, with a desk and a large bathroom. Our window faced away from Las Vegas Boulevard, so we didn’t have much to look at, but that wasn’t a big deal. I could barely stay awake by this point, so I crawled into bed soon after we got to the room. Thinh had more energy – probably a result of the long naps he had during the drive – so he stayed awake for a while longer. He got hungry in the middle of the night and walked over to a nearby gas station to get something to eat. I had no clue he'd even left - I was sound asleep! He said he enjoyed getting to see the city at night though.