Epic Trip II

Now to take myself, my car, and my stuff home. Here is the tentative plan:

After my last day of work on Tuesday I am going to come to my apartment Wednesday morning and hopefully sleep until around 1am (don't hate it's like sleeping til 1pm for all of you daytime folks), pack the rest of my things, and head up north to San Francisco. I am going to make a stop in Lompoc to hopefully see some flowers :).

I figured leaving at 1am is best and then I can see the sun rise and be at the airport on time to meet my bestie, Ali, when her flight arrives in the morning. Doing it this way will save my sanity (not driving in a lot of traffic and getting some rest instead) and save me some cash by saving an extra night at the hostel.

Some things we plan on doing in San Francisco is of course seeing the Golden Gate, Haight and Ashbury, Mission District, shaking our booties to some funk music at Boom Boom Room and Coda, shopping, taking a day tour bus to wine country to get sideways, and stopping by IKEA on our way down to Monterey.

Monterey will be our second leg of our trip where we will also be staying with Hostelling International. Here we plan on relaxing on the beach and maybe checking out Carmel and Big Sur.

After those few days we will head back to Kansas City with a stop in Salt Lake City (our only hotel stay).

I am not sure if anyone realizes how much one saves with utilizing hostels. Ali and I are both on (more or less) strict budgets - she being a new homeowner and me unsure of my employment status. We booked 5 nights total with hosteling international for what is going to be around $100/person for our entire stay. The hotel in Salt Lake is a little pricier at $69/night but still, we are saving so much money by utilizing hostels. The reason we are not hosteling in Salt Lake City is because Hostelling International does not have a hostel there and the reviews I read on some other private owned hostels likened them to a halfway-house. Rather than take that chance, I figure after 12 hours of driving from California to Salt Lake City and resting enough for a 15 hour leg to Kansas City, a hotel is probably the best option.

Hostels rock when you are traveling with friends. They may pose a privacy issue if you are traveling with a romantic interest - but even then most hostels now offer private rooms that may share a bathroom with another private room - still an incredibly cheap alternative to multiple hotel stays. This will be Ali's first hostel experience and I am curious as to how she'll feel about it - here's an essay on my first hosteling experience.

We plan on trying out other budget saving ideas like sharing meals. I also will have my car with me but I hope I can find an on street parking spot and not move my car the entire time we are in San Fran - I will let you know how this works out. :)

After we arrive in Kansas City I am going to be spending some more quality time with my friend at her beautiful new house relaxing in her beautiful hot tub drinking our beautiful Napa Valley Wine (or 2 buck Chuck depending upon our spending ways).

Then I meet Rob in downtown KC where we are then going to see The Flaming Lips and stay at a fabulous hotel.

It is going to be quite an exciting two weeks.

Stay tuned.

Love
L