Billanook College Sports and Snow Tour 2013: DAY 1

Well after a jam-packed 48 hours. We finally have time to start the Blog!

After saying, ‘Good-bye’ to our loved ones, we headed through the many customs and security checks and headed to Sydney.

In Sydney we were greeted by Brad, our booking agent for the trip, who handed over our Disney tickets and wished us luck. We grabbed some brekky at Sydney airport and headed for L.A.

All flights were comfortable and entertaining but the trip was a lot longer than many students expected. After watching four movies they couldn’t believe there was still six hours to go on the flight!

At customs in LA we had to give our fingerprints and get a photo taken, then we boarded our connecting flight to San Francisco which was only about an hour in length. After about 24 hours of travel we finally arrived at our hotel in San Francisco. Although we were tired, we were very excited. We checked into our rooms, had a quick shower and changed our clothes, then walked into town to see the sites. Our hotel is very close to Galileo High School, whose past students include such people as Joe Demagio and O.J. Simpson.

It was extremely busy on the streets as it was Black Friday. Black Friday, it turns out, is the second busiest shopping day of the year and is the Friday following Thanksgiving. It is called ‘Black Friday’ because it is the point most retailers move from the red into the black as the majority of the country uses the day to do their Christmas shopping. We walked along the old docks area which had lots of street entertainers from musicians to ‘Bush Man’, who is a homeless guy who sits very still on the side the footpath with a branch in front of him and scares people that walk past. We had lunch down by the wharf then headed along to catch the famous cable car. We queued for about an hour but it was worth it. The staff were enthusiastic, and as we left the driver dinged his bell to a funky rhythm as the traffic conductor did a funky dance while he directed pedestrians and traffic. The cable car runs on tracks like a tram, but is pulled by an underground cable. Some of the more adventurous students hung on the outside of the car. We enjoyed the ride and especially the views as we rode the hills of San Francisco all the way to Union Square in downtown.

We had free time for an hour to peruse the sales then had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen where we were served by our enthusiastic waiter Sean. After a long day, we caught the bus back to the hotel and went to bed for a welcomed rest.