Waiting...

The trip here wasn't too bad - the flight (on BA) was pleasant enough, a little hot, but otherwise fine. Good choice of films too. I went for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - pretty good & Hugo - I got 10 minutes in and realised that a 5 inch, low resolution screen wasn't doing it justice. I stated to watch Sherlock Holmes: Book of Shadows, then I realised that I had a good version of Sherlock (Moffat's) on my tablet, and decided to watch that instead.


Then...


Then came the waiting. 


Waiting at immigration for 45 minutes (due to the thorough, but heavy-handed security measures). Then, and this was baffling and infuriating in equal measure, waiting for 15 minutes for one of three lifts - that's THREE lifts - for everyone that is hiring a car. More waiting for the train to get to the car rental (a fun thing to do, but it really needs two trains - one going in each direction. It took seven stops between arrivals and car pickup!


More waiting for the car (little tip, don't go with Dollar - not because they're bad, but because they're VERY popular). 25 minutes later we were packing our bags into the back of a 2012 Ford Escape.


Then came my biggest fear - that the tech wouldn't work.


...


It did. Perfectly.


If you're after a great satnav app for your phone, go with Sygic. Apart from using the Incredibly. Clipped. British. Accent. That. Pauses. After. Each. Word it was great. We missed a turn, and we were rerouted before I even realised. 


Maybe driving through San Francisco at rush hour wasn't the smartest move either (however, if we could've got through immigration/ car etc more quickly, we would've missed it). It was worth it though. 


The sight of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance as we crested a hill was more than worth it. 




The drive to Napa was stunning as well. Huge hills and vineyards everywhere.