Tuesday May 17th

Being my only full day in San Francisco, the plan for the day should have been full of touristy activities: Alcatraz; the Golden Gate Bridge; Lombard Street (the steepest street in the world). However, when I  looked out the window that morning, it was absolutely pouring. And cold. So -> change of plans.

After putting on the one outfit in my bag that was suited to the weather (and my suede ankle boots - there were no rain-proof shoes in my bag), I headed out to REI for my mission critical task of the day, buying a sleeping bag. It was about a 40 minute walk through an extremely sketchy part of town, but luckily the doors opened two minutes after I arrived. A sales assistant helped me pick out a sleeping bag (the main factor being cost), and then turned to help a couple - who turned out to be on the same tour as me! We exchanged pleasantries and then I returned to the hostel to drop off my new sleeping bag.

I was considering hopping on a cable car down to Alcatraz, but the queue for the cable car was so long that I didn't bother. I had a long list of thins I wanted to do today anyway, so being a tourist flew out the window.

I walked through the CBD, marvelling at all the shops. The shops in San Francisco were amazing! I restrained myself though: to start, I'm about to go camping, and I wanted to leave most of my shopping for New York. That said, I did venture into the three floor Forever 21 and buy a couple of necklaces, and purchased sunglasses and hair ties in H&M (they are essentials!)

Next I had a manicure (almost at Asian prices, and the first since actually leaving Asia). This should last through the camping trip better than a self-done job. After waiting for it to dry, I headed out for a late lunch and then back to the hostel again to catch up on my blog.

Checking out the weather online, I suddenly freaked out. It was snowing and cold in Yosemite! Hopefully my sleeping bag and liner would keep me warm at night, but I only had one pair of pants and a softshell jacket. Would I be warm enough? I ran down to the nearby North Face  store and purchased a pair of gloves, which put my mind at ease a little.

After grabbing some Subway for dinner, I returned back to the hostel, spread all of my belongings over the floor, and proceeded to pack. My pack is already super organised thanks to my Eagle Creek packing sacks, but I needed to re-organise it for camping purposes (i.e. move the party clothes to the back of my pack!)

This took a lot longer than I expected, and by the time I finished there was just enough time for a few episodes of Community before bed.