I realized that I never blogged about my san francisco trip! :]

what made me go on this trip was 1) a latent urge to just book a ticket and go somewhere along with 2) my friend nick mentioning that he was going to the maker faire in san francisco that coming weekend. so I thought about it that evening and got my own plane ticket the next morning. I think I was brave enough to do this due to the knowledge that, if I really screwed up somehow, there’d be a friend that might be able to help me in a strange city.

some background info: up until that trip, I’d never flown alone before. also, I have a really bad sense of direction, even in areas I live. :p

a note to people booking tickets last minute: you will get really bad flight times and really bad prices.

prior to leaving I prepared a lot, since I’m definitely not travel-savvy enough to make decisions on the fly. booked a hotel for the first night, bus tickets to and from the airport and my maker faire ticket. felt very proud of myself. ;p

since we were staying in two different hotels, I knew I’d have to carry around all my belongings for much of the weekend. all I brought with me was this backpack and the contents you see in it. I highly recommend traveling light when on your own, and definitely with only carry on items (I hate checking in luggage..). :]

for awhile now I’ve said that I want to live in san francisco in the future, but I never really knew much about it (I visited when I was really young once but don’t remember much). as soon as we left the airport I fell in love with the california land/city-scape. look at all the colors of the buildings! it was pretty much like that everywhere we went that weekend.

I ended up booking the aida plaza hotel since it was the cheapest I could find ($50 a night after tax) and it was conveniently located inside of san francisco. my dad was wary because of the price, but I was paying for this trip out of my own pocket so I chose it anyway. :p all I really want in a hotel is a place to sleep and shower so luxury wasn’t really a concern.

it ended up being a hostel despite it being called a “hotel.” there was a sink in the room, but the toilet was in a tiny room down the hall and the shower was in another. but hey, you get what you pay for. ;p

I quickly checked in to the hotel so I wouldn’t lose my reservation, then ran out to see if I could make it to britex fabrics before it closed. turned out to be four tall floors of really organized, expensive fabric and notions. the norm for a yard of fabric there was $20-$50 a yard it seemed. I went there without the intention of buying fabric (I’d have to carry it all weekend!) so the prices didn’t bother me. I did end up buying some rainbow fabric trim that reminded me of karen o, it was light and small enough to not make a difference to my backpack. c;

next I wanted to visit the angelic pretty store (I’d never been to a japanese lolita-brand store in the US before!) before it too closed for the night. I didn’t dare take photos inside, asian stores are usually pretty strict about that and I was the only customer in there at the time. ;p

then I headed over to chinatown since san francisco is known for having a very large one. I ended up staying on the touristy street and didn’t find the bakeries on side streets until they were closed. :c didn’t buy anything besides a bubble tea and the scarf below (for $5 :D )

then finally I headed back to the area around the hotel and market street and walked around until it got dark. as a warning, the streets around the aida plaza hotel probably isn’t the best place to walk around alone as a small girl at night. so make sure you’re paying attention as you explore. :]

I fell asleep and later my friend nick made it to the hotel around 1 or 2 in the morning (he got a cheaper, though less conveniently-timed flight than I did). and there ends day 1 of my trip. ;D

how do you guys feel about the length of this post? I’m attempting to use tumblr as both a real blog with long posts and stream-of-thought short posts.. :o