San Francisco
San Francisco was pretty nice - reminded me a lot of Melbourne.
Very easy to get around, didn't see anything touristy so not much to report here.
Stayed at a place called Hotel Metropolis which was right near Market Street, however it was in an area where people like to 'congregate' which meant that although I never felt unsafe, I always kept my wits about me. Would recommend this place for a simple, yet convenient hotel with fairly good rates. Very easy to walk to Union Square and most shopping areas. Trams also readily accessible from this area.
Great restaurant here called Starbelly which could fit right in anywhere cool in Melbourne. It had boutique beers on tap, great food, and a laidback feel which made dining here very pleasant and also very un-American.
San Francisco - Las Vegas
This flight was just a 'hop' and was with United - again felt very similar to AA and made me think just how good we have it in Australia with our domestic carriers.
What can I say about Vegas? This would have to be one of the strangest places on earth...Having said that I'm sure it would be a great party town if that's what you're there for.
A few comments include that there were a lot of very elderly people there, especially people with mobility issues. I was a little surprised as it is not really that easy to get around in Vegas...
My friend had a much better time here than me, as I was 'lucky' enough to get sick and need to experience the fine US health system...
Long story short I saw a person who was a 'physician's assistant' which is along the lines of a 'nurse practitioner' here. She was almost a doctor, but not quite, however had the right to prescribe. $95 later I had my prescription after the longest doctor's consult in my life (upwards of 30minutes). FYI - I had tonsillitis and knew exactly what it was, however apparently she needed to take my blood pressure and ask me a million questions...
Las Vegas – Miami
This flight was with AA also. Couldn't quite work out the service model (as I'm an AA newbie) but the FA kindly mentioned that drinks were complimentary (softdrink and the like) but food had to be purchased.
As my friend points out, in America Economy class is referred to as 'Coach' for a reason – as I mentioned earlier, it was like travelling on a bus.
Miami
If I didn't have a friend studying here, there was not really anything that appealed to me about Miami...now I've been there I have changed my mind though...
Miami is everything that you would expect from seeing it on TV – everyone is brown, nobody seems to work, there is a big Spanish influence (great when you're hungry), and every car has a sunroof.
We stayed in South Beach at a hotel called Nassau Suites. Nice spacious one bedroom apartment with a double fold out bed in the living area and a couch big enough for an extra. Staff here were extremely laid back (allowing us to intermittently use the car park over three days with the end charge only being for one). Very good location one street from the beach and presumably a little cheaper than staying right on Ocean Drive. Since people visiting Miami seem to have enough money to enjoy themselves, we ended up partying on penthouse balconies and meeting models etc. We had it tough here...
We found South Beach was very easy to get around by foot, and only took a taxi once when particularly lazy.
Miami – New York
Another flight with AA – by this stage I was completely over feeling like I was on a cattle truck, but hey, I got points for the trip and by this stage knew how to entertain myself...
When we arrived in New York we had organised an apartment through a website called 'Air BnB' which specialises in short term holiday rentals of either rooms or full apartments in many cities.
The apartment we chose was in little Italy right on bustling Mulberry St where there are many great Italian restaurants (funny that). The apartment itself had one enclosed bedroom, a living area with couch and tv as well as the second double bed, a decent sized kitchen with dining table as well as another fold out couch/bed.
The apartment in total cost us AUD$1000 for five nights accommodation, making it much cheaper than hotels whilst giving us much more space to spread out. Sure it wasn't modern, was a second floor (our first floor) walk up, and could do with a bit of fresh paint etc – however it was more than adequate because who really spends much time inside in NYC anyway?
As we had met some people along our way and also had friends from Australia living in NY we mostly spent time socialising with them rather than doing anything touristy.
On our last night the apartment wasn't available so we decided to splash out and stay somewhere 'nice'. In the end this was a hotel that is part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World called Iroquios on W 44th in the heart of Broadway.
This cost us around $400AUD with an online special, and after our stay I would say that this wasn't worth it. The doorman was slow getting to the taxi (meaning one from another hotel approached and we had to tell him we were staying next door, and so he called out to the doorman...) which wouldn't normally worry me because I hate being fussed over. It was just inconvenient and if I'm paying $400 in my mind things should be a little more seamless. Check-in was easy and the porter came over and waited with us at the elevator that I can easily say is the slowest I have ever encountered – one to service a ten floor hotel is simply not enough. The staff were over attentive – reception gave me a welcome letter, the porter showed us around our small room and asked if we had any questions, then as soon as he had left reception rang to welcome us again. Go away and let me enjoy my holiday!!
Small room, fire escape the only thing we could see out of the window, bathroom was nice but old, beds very comfortable. Nowhere to put our luggage – put it down and then have to stand it up to get around the room etc.
I left some shopping in the hotel foyer and so after a few issues getting through to the right person, they have given me a few options for shipping the items home. Sigh – the postage will cost nearly as much as the items themselves, however they happened to contain a present for my mother so I'd like to get them back.
Going home we got the Qantas flight from JFK to LAX which was very pleasant, and much better than any of the American offerings I would imagine.
Flight home with Qantas also – I requested an aisle seat and ended up with the last one before the galley which meant that I could fully recline with plenty of room in the knowledge nobody behind me was wanting to stab me with their plastic knife for reclining into their personal space.
Looking back on this post I apologise for the essay, but when I think about it we did a fair amount of travel in several weeks and crossing the US is a little like visiting a few countries...
Appreciate all of the information that everyone has posted over time here as it has all helped with my planning and experiences greatly.
Please let me know if you would like any more information on anything I've posted and I'd be happy to provide.
Also, I've left it out as I'm not sure it would interest most here, however my friend and I did pretty much every gay bar in the cities we visited as well as restaurants and the like too. If anyone would like anymore info on these, also happy to provide.
