1.03.2014

CALIFORNIA TRAVEL DIARY





Santa Monica
West Hollywood
Newport
Newport
Newport
Newport

San Francisco Apartment
San Francisco Apartment 
Muir Woods
Muir Woods
Muir Woods
Muir Woods

Golden Gate Bridge
Sausalito

All photography by the very talented Michael Hughes

I have finally got around to writing part one of my travel diaries from Michael and my trip to the US of A. I think this is where dating a photographer really comes in handy, my heart fluttered when he finally handed over the photos then came the post-travel depression. I first of all have to thank him so much, him taking all the photos meant I was able to experience it all without having to worry about capturing it. And lets be honest - he captures it better.

 I thought it would make sense for the posts to follow the same path as our whereabouts so I have started off with California

After surviving a 13 hour plane flight with the lingering smell of warm Vegemite we got in at LAX at 6am determined to stay awake the whole day and not give in to jet lag. And I am not going to sugar coat it - it was easily the worst day I have had in a long time. The mixture of no sleep, getting served crisps when I asked for hot chips (Note: Chips are crisps, Fries are chips) and the shock of the homeless and gangsters did make this day the worst day I have had in a while. Staying in West Hollywood, I was expecting a lot of raw, fresh cafes to try out and instead what met us was more adult stores than food. That night we settled for pizza.

Los Angeles did get better though, we travelled down to Newport the next day and that was absolutely lovely. I felt like I was Marissa Cooper from the OC (minus the drug/alcohol problem). Another absolute plus about this little beach town was everyone had the prettiest little flower gardens out the front of their houses. Needless to say that sold me.

After two days in LA we took our beast of a hire car and left for prettier pastures - San Francisco. I would highly highly ditching the plane for this drive up, it was one of my favourites. Another thing I would highly recommend is using Air Bnb for accommodation. Our adorable little san fran apartment was my favourite and it was super close to food and shops but much more affordable than hotels. San Francisco was probably my biggest surprise of the trip, it was beyond beautiful even more so than I had imagined but it was a city of contrasts. The amount of people struggling in this city is unbelievable, and it is such a strong contrast because of that mixture.

Anyway instead of running through my day to day adventures a few things I loved and would recommend;

Filmore St - This street may be incredibly long but it has some of the best little stores as well as places to eat
Jane - The closest thing I had all trip to an Australian granola with perfect muesli / fruit / yoghurt ratio (and on filmore!)
The Mill San Francisco - Try their pumpkin butter on sourdough!
Golden Gate Bridge - don't really need to say why
Sausalito - This town was one of my favourites and just beside the golden gate - it was the cutest
Lombard St - Where there are pastel houses & copious amounts of flowers you have to visit
Muir Woods - You may have to walk 2km just to get to the entrance due to there being no parking but it is definitely worth it


New York & Nevada Travel Diaries & Outfit Posts to follow

jasmine x 

18 comments:

  1. I absolutely loving looking at traveling photos - the world is just so beautiful. I went to San Fran once when I was younger so I don't remember much, but we are planning a trip there sometime this year. Your photos are absolutely lovely! I am looking forward to your New York and Nevada post!

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  2. Such incredible photos! Michael is definitely very talented! Ah you're making me want to sell everything I own and go travel! x

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  3. Oh they are beautiful. He is definitely talented! What a great trip you must've had.

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  4. Beautiful post! I can't wait to travel to America all those beautiful phenomenal sights captured by your boyfriend are totally helping me not touch my saving funds.

    XO's

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  5. I went to cali for the first time over the summer, it's absolutely beautiful!
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  6. The photos are beautiful. It looks like you visited a lot of beautiful places, even if there was a lot of culture shock and new things to get used to.

    Away From The Blue

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  7. sweet, thanks for the tips!

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  8. Your man is very talented :) I love all the photo's. I really like the one of you in the window, they really make me what to travel America too xx

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  9. Your first day in LA sounds so similar to the day I arrived there on my trip last May. We also landed about 6am but couldn't check into our hotel until later. We were staying at Venice Beach which was great but walking along the board walk at 7am when there streets were lined with homeless people was really confronting! Beautiful photos again and I have to agree that San Fran is amazing. So glad you did the coastal drive as well :)

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  10. California is all time my favorite destination. I had many great travel experience of California. You just remind me some old memories.You have a great list of pictures. Images quality is so good. You have good knowledge about photography.

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  12. California has a various beautiful places for visit. I visit in California on last 4years ago. I visit in parks, museums and other public places. It’s so beautiful and has a great value for their tourists. I have recently taken a boston bus tour for my coming holidays. I hope this too will be happy and pleasurable for me similar to my California tour.

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    Replies
    1. I am agreed with you Cristina. California is a nice state for visiting. I am also visit in this state after my niagara falls bus tour with my husband. It has various places for visiting. My favorite place is Yosemite National Park. This park is the major tourist attraction in California.

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    2. I agree with you JANI Jack. It’s a great park with a lot of natural beauty. It has a wide area of 747,956 acres. More than 3,853,404 Visitors come here to see this Governing body. This is the best place to visit in summer vacations.

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