Spiders, heat, the (not so) driest place in North America and crazy huge storm!

Arches NP(19.09) still camping near the Arches NP. I took a shower in the morning, we packed our staff and went to the park. The main attractions are probably the Delicate Arch, Balanced Rock and the Windows. The trail for the Delicate Arch is only 5km long so we only took water and camera. We kinda forgot the fact that we are in (half)desert so we ignored time and hiked it at noon. Dumbasses. In two hours we drank 4 litres of water!

There was another 12km long trail but now we were a bit smarter, skipped that and continued to Las Vegas which took us about 8 hours. 

We thought we're gonna book some cheap hotel (there is plenty of them in LV) but again- we forgot that it is friday and the only affordable hotels will be super creepy (as we found out later). We tried a campground in LV as well but it looked more like a squat so to save ourselves we decided to leave asap. At last we ended up in a camp 40minutes away from Vegas.10$ per night. Bargain!!! 

Las vegas (20.09) We found out only in the morning why it was so cheap! - when we woke up and finally saw where we are. About 30cm away from our tent there was huge tarantula!!! It was dead already but anyways. It scared the crap out of me! (And it was not the first one that we saw on the trip. I'd rather see black bear, grizly and mountain lion at the same time than having a huge tarantula or poisonous black widow spider in my tent.) Later we found out that we are in area where tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes and widdow spiders are at home here. Which made the dessicion about next night pretty easier- we are not gonna spend any more time on the ground. We tried to book a hotel but during weekend it's not that cheap so we are spending next night in the same camp. In a car! 

(BREAKING NEWS 20.09) That was the best decision because there was huge huge storm during the night and car is the safest possible place. I haven't seen such big storm and such heavy rain in months!!! (We kinda enjoyed it because in SF there was no rain at all for the whole summer) Breathtaking! We even had to leave the camp because it was too low and too close to the lake. We drove to the Visitor center about 5 minutes away from the camp and there was already flood on the certain parts of the road! We were taking photos and videos on GoPro so you'll hopefully see it too. The storm was right above us for an hour and it lasted for almost all night. We could litterally feel the electric tension in the air everywhere around!

*Damn nature, you're scary!*

...During the day we went to see the Hoover Dam- which allowed us to be in two states at the same time (Arizona and Nevada) and than drove almost 4 hours to Death Valley NP. It is the most driest place in North America and guess what?? It was raining all the time that we were there! We were watching lightings all the way there and back which was beautiful and scary at the same time. 

At the end of the day we decided that we are gonna be fancy bitches tomorrow- our last day in the US- so we booked a room in hotel with bath tub, pool and everything. Suit-up Bro! Yay!

Bryce Canyon!!!

We spent the night in the camp near the Bryce Canyon which is only 130miles away from Zion and I couldn't believe how cold it was!!! It was freezing! We had to leave the tent, go to sleep to the car. The cold woke me up every two hours so I turned the car heating for a while and went to sleep again. It was really surprising after the day when the temperature reached 40•C...

Let's see about the temperature in Bryce during the day...

(16.09) Bryce Canyon-  we spent the whole day wandering through the Red Canyon Park but it was more piqunique than anything else... Today just was not our day. 

In the evening we (Juri) baked delicious potatos and our lovely 'camp-lord' she brought us blankets so we won't be freezing again during the night. 

(17.09) Bryce Canyon- we booked a horseback ride at 8am in the park ( I was waiting for that since last year) so I was super excited! When we came there they picked one horse to each person. At first I thought it was about the riding skills- they gave me the smallest horse because I haven't riden a horse since childhood and Juri got really big one because he was riding as a teenager. But after few moments we found out that Juri's Gates was a mule and not a horse so he was as lazy as a donkey :D He barely walked... And my sweet P.J kept up with the guide all the time! It was FUN!!! (Besides the fact that my butt hurts like never before and my muscles do too, even those muscles that I had no idea I have :D) After the horseback riding we hit the road to Arches- our last narional park. 

We found an awesome campsite! Not only with restrooms, showers and wifi... But also with a pool!! When we found that out, we took our clothes off( we didn't even bother to put on our swimmimg suits) and in our underwear jumped into the pool and played like children. We also tried my GoPro in the water-I hope we made some good underwater videos :)

Then we bought one sixpack and got drunk in the car with the sounds of Billy Barman, Vypsana Fixa and Kadebostany...

(18.09) 

Beautiful Zion National Park!

 ...

4. Zion NP (13.9. 12.30am) We came to the Zion area around 12am so there was no time for looking for a campsite. We came to a town called Hurricane, park our car in front of someone's house and just slept there- At one point during the night I woke up and saw two strangers next to our car looking at us through the window which scared the hell out of me. I was pretending I am asleep and they left eventually but it was fucking scary!

In the morning we  finally found a store with GoPro accesories !!! I love you Target <3 at arround 11am we came to the Zion NP, had a picnic there and went for a short hike to try the new GoPro. 

In the evening we accidentaly found a campsite near Zion so we 'booked' two nights there. Unfortunatelly there are no showers so we will have to "take showers" with wet napkins for some more time :( :)

5. Zion NP (14.9.) 

The view in the morning was amazing! The camp is actualy near some lake so the morning sunshine was glittering on the surface of the lake which gives it a special touch. 

After the breakfast we packed our stuff in plastic bags (food, extra clothes, camera, water) because the plan for today was the Narrows which is a hike where the Virgin River is the path. I was looking forward to this hike since last year! It was fun at first to wade through the river with the red canyon above our heads but after some time it was all the same so we just turned around and went back to the starting point. Don't get me wrong- it was beautiful and fun but I guess after Half Dome we just need something much more challenging. We'll see about tomorrow Angel's landing hike.

We spent the evening looking for some store where they would sell vegetables and fruits and I know it may sound easy, it is not here! We had to go to St. George and ask some locals for directions because everywhere there were just fast-foods! (On the road trip I can see perfectly how much I need fruits and vegetables everyday!) 

We spent next night in the same camp, woke up at 6am and repeated the morning routine as we did yesterday.

6. Zion NP (15.9) Today's plan was the Angel's landing hike which appeared much more challengind than the Narrows so I was looking forward to it so much! (Please google the Angel's landing so you have any idea what am I talking about before I add any photos ;)) It was challenging mostly for me because I am fearfull of heights, I feel dizzy very often and sometimes I faint. 

After all it all went great! It took us only 1 hour and half (which was pretty dissapointing actually) and my fear of heights is really getting better after all the craziness we've done (Mt. Tallac, Half Dome, ... ) we were videoing the whole journey on my GoPro so after I cut it into something watchable I'll let you know ;) 

After the hike we had to leave the Zion area heading to Bryce Canyon. We found a campsite with very nice managers and finally and what is the most important thing- there are SHOWERS!!! Warm cosy beatiful showers! You can't imagine the feeling after few days of hiking! ;) (and on the top of that there is wifi- connection too) 

See you tomorrow, Bryce Canyon ;)

P. S I'll add some photos as soon as possible ;)

The road-trip begins!!! <3

1. Los Angeles (11pm)We are now sitting at the Greyhound station in Los Angeles waiting for our next bus to Las Vegas. The journey was quite pleasant- there was enough space for our feet and that's important! We've had some issues with our luggage- we could only bring one big suitcase 50lbs max so we had to get rid of few things in SF (well... Get rid... We just put it in different bag and after they put the label on our baggage we put everything back :D nailed iiit) however, we still have a huge pillow, longboard, a ball, two backpacks and two bags full of food (because we were supposed to go by car)

I can't wait until we put all our shits into the trunk!

2. (6.30am) Las Vegas baby! 

We arrived to Las Vegas at 4.30am took a bus to the airport where we already rent a car- black Kia with enough space for 5 people just for two of us! 

The fun begins!

3. Grand Canyon! (12.30pm) We saw several elks, two coyotes, hundreds of squarels and tousand of tourists (that is a special animal too believe me). Eventho I've been to Grand Canyon last year it took my breath again. The view is just spectacular!!!

Still looking for some shop with GoPro accesories!!!

Plans may change- that´s why we never plan anything!

Our "plan" was to rent a car in San Francisco in the morning (we even made a reservation!), leave San Francisco arround 9am and spent next 17 hours in a car driving to Grand Canyon.

Everything changed when we arrived to Alamo Rental and both our credit cards were declined. Well poor student like us just dont have ""spare change"" on our cards.

But it couldn´t stop young wise travelers like us. We are now booking our Greyhound tickets to Las Vegas and our car in Las Vegas... so the ""plan"" is now:

1. Take Greyhound to Las Vegas (12.50PM ---> 4.30AM)
2. Pick-up car at the Airport in LV
3. Hit the road to Grand Canyon

It actually doesn´t sound that difficult right?   Well.. we´ll see about that...

Hiked it. Liked it. HALF DOME!

The biggest challenge during this summer was waiting for us in Yosemite National Park.
Juri, Frank and I decided to "play" the lottery on Monday so we can get the permission to hike Half Dome on Wednesday. There were some difficulties with Frank´s day off but in the end everything was how it was supposed to be. Frank got a day off. We won the permissions.

On Tuesday in the morning we went to buy some very needed things like headlights, gloves, food etc.. and then arround 10am hit the road to the Yosemite NP. I was the driver again- because I can function perfectly with almost no sleep at all.

We "booked" a place in the nearest campsite, cooked some sausages on a fire and got ourselves ready for sleep at around 7pm. The plan was to wake up at 11.45pm and hit the road around 12.30pm so we can be at the top of Half Dome with the sunrise.
We were probably more tired than we thought because Frank woke us up around 12.45pm (the alarm clock wasn´t working) so eventually we started at 1.15am.

We put the headlights on our foreheads, packed our backpacks with gallon of water each, some snack bars and fruits and the rest of the food and cosmetics put into the bearboxes near the parking lot. (There are bears everywhere in Yosemite so it is against the law to leave anything eatable in the car)

It was super scary! Three backpackers. The woods. The darkness. The bears. I was really almost crying how scares I was and really wanted to turn away and go back to the safest place around- car.
But Frank and Juri were playing like everything is alright and there are no bears at all  bla bla bla... I knew anyways that they are scared to death as well as I was.

The beggining was the worst. I don´t know why but everytime when I start hiking I am dying at the beginning! I couldn´t catch my breath and it was not even that steep at all. I was really thinking about going back. But fortunatelly I overcame that.

We were hiking during the night for almost 5 hours and it was not as hard as I expected. It was more difficult on our psychical skills rather than physical and personaly for me the elevation was not good for my dizziness at all. It was so dark that I couln´t see anything other than meter or two in front of me so I really didn´t know where am I going, But that was actually good as I found out when we were on our way back during the day because if I saw where am I going I would´t go there for sure.

We reached the top at 6.05am, it was freezing, we were tired and hungry but it was all worth the view! Sunrise on the top of the Half Dome was truly stunning!

On our way back it was crazy hot so it was actually he best idea to do the hike during the night- If we hiked it during the day one gallon of water wouldn´t be enugh for sure.

Why is it better to hike Half Dome during the night:

* You can see the sunrise from the top
* You don´t need that much water as during the day (so gallon is actually enough)
* You won´t get tired as easily (because of the temperature)
* You don´t have to "share" the trail with other people (just bears)
* You can´t see where are you going so eventho you are scared of heights you can climb it
* Especially on the cables you can take your time as you need it because there is nobody else
* You can see the beautiful sky FULL of stars
* Nobody will find it weird if you´re screamimg on bears during all way up

Mt. Tallac- Lake Tahoe

This time it was five of us doing a roadtrip to Lake Tahoe- Juri, me, Frank, Alex and Colby. I was the driver so I had the best seat in the car and Colby and Juri were taking turns next to me mostly because of navigating. We woke up at 7am picked up the car 2 blocks away from our hotel and left San Francisco.

On our way we picked up Colby in Oakland (that´s where he lives) and went to Safeway and SportsAuthority so we could buy everything needed. We spent almost 2 hours in the malls so when we finally hit the road to Lake Tahoe it was almost 10.30am but we didn´t plan any hikes for today anyways.

When we got to the Tahoe at first we went to the Visitor Centre where a lovely lady gave us a map with all campsites and hikes near the lake. We picked the closest camp to the most difficult hike in Tahoe- Mt. Tallac hike. There were two different ways to get up to the top- easier but longer one or more difficult but a little shorter. We decided to make the choice the next day.

We chose the Fallen Leaf campsite because it was very close to the lake Fallen Leaf where we could swim before it got dark. We parked at our spot, changed our clothes into bathing suits, put all the food in the bearbox and went to the lake. It was kinda cold at first but after some time rather refreshing. Only me, Juri and Frand dared to swim- Colby and Alex were just sitting on the rocks in the water. It felt amazing to take a swim after so long and what was the best- surrounded by beautiful nature.

After the lake we got back to our camp, set a fire and prepared everything for the dinner. We bought some sausages (for me and Colby the vegetarian ones), vegetables, fruits, snacks, chips, many beers, three bottles of wine... It was plenty of food for the whole bear family :))) After the dinner we sqeezed into our sleeping bags near the fire talking and watching the stars.

In the morning we decided to go the more difficult way up to the top of Mt. Tallac. We just made one huge mistake- we didn´t take enough of water for the five of us so if was very difficult to finish the hike and get down to our car again. At first we started all together but after some time we found out that me, Juri and Frank have the same tempo so it was more like the three of us heading first and Alex and Colby behind us. (That was pretty interesting to find out- I get tired more easily when I go slovly rather than fast)

We had enough food but not at all enough water so in the heat we had to take many breaks (especially me- I got dizzy very easily because of the dehydration).

After we reached the top we took a short break, had some fruits and snacks and took some pictures together as a proovement that we did it!

The way down was suposed to be easier but for us it wasn´t at all because of the dehydration. I felt dizzy most of the time and was really scared about fainting. On our way down we dipped in the lake that was near the trail but we couldn´t drink the water so it was more against the heat than the dehydration. 

After 2 hours and 30 minutes we finally got into our car where unfortunatelly wasn´t even a drop of water- only beers. I drank almost one whole beer before I realised that I am the driver. We didn´t even wait for Colby and Alex and drove to the Visitor Centre which was only about 5 minutes away. There were the water fountains where we could hydrate ourselves and fill up the bottles for guys when they finish the hike.

It all ended allright. everybody is okay, no permanent "mark" on us. Only for Colby it was kinda shock- it was his first real hike in life! (He is from Florida that´s why)

That was kinda preparation for me Juri and Frank for Half Dome that we plan to climb in September :)

Hitch-hiking. Surfing. Camping.

On Wednesday we finally had a day off so we agreed to go to the beach and to our "second home" - Muir Woods- Bootjack campsite. Frank (our friend from Czech Republic), Juri and I woke up at 6am because we wanted to be at the beach as soon as possible. We took a bus to the Mill Valley and then we were supposed to take another bus to the Stinson beach. Unfortunatelly we were waiting on the wrong side of the road so we were watching our bus passing us by. Next bus goes in more than 2 hours so we decided to hitch-hike- we made a banner from a cardboard that we found near the road. It sais: STINSON  BEACH adn Juri was holding the sign ME TOO so many people who passed us by was laughing at us.
We were lucky after about 15 minutes with a reporter for L.A. Post who was just driving to Stinson Beach to make some interviews about the drought in California. Unfortunatelly it was at the time when Juri decided to pee but because he wad trying to be heroic ("When a car stops, leave the banners on the road for me and go") we just went. :D It was kinda long way to the beach and all the time we were thinking about Juri and how will he get to the beach.
Then we got there we went to the local grocery store to buy some sweets, water and wine and decided to go to our spot on the beach to wait for Juri. It was the est surprise when we saw him already on the beach waving and smiling at us. He stopped another car only about 5 minutes later after we left! It was awesome!

Afer an hour or so sleeping on the beach we went to the local store to rent surfs and wetsuits. I almost died when I was carrying the board on the beach :D My first time surfing and the waves were soooo big!
After few (many) "drinks" from the ocean I finally was able to get myself and my surf behind the biggest waves and try to balance and the board and later even try to actually surf. Juri and Frank have already  done this before so they gave me some advice how to do that so the only thing left was try, try and try. It was fun!!! Few time I´ve had a feeling that I am drowning but I guess it belongs to it :)) The best thing about the whole surfing was that all the time there was few dolphins and sea lions swimming with us! It was adorable (and sometime even scarry at the same time)

After several hours of surfing we had to return the surfs and the wetsuit back but it was the hardest thing to do! The shop was only few minutes away from the beach but after few hours of serfing we were so tired that we barely can lift them up. It was real struggle and it was even worse when we realised that we have to hike up the hill to the campsite and there was just no energy left for that. We decided to try our luck again with hitch-hiking and guess what! The second car stopped for us! We couldn´t believe! So instead of 2 hours hiking in the forest up the hill we spent 15 minutes in a car with a beautiful local girl. :)

In the campsite we paid the fee for the camping spot (25dollars) and set a fire so we could prepare the food that we brought- best dinner ever! After that we lay down on the ground and watched the night sky- there were milions of stars- we saw few shooting stars which was super awesome and it gave the moment even more special atmosfere.

Since we were super tired from the whole day we went to sleep super early- no tent- just sleeping bags, grass and the night sky. Poetic. (Well it was poetic for me and Frank because Juri was stupid and forgot his sleeping bag at home so he had to sleep on the ground :D.)

After the night we hitch-hiked another car back to the Mill Valey so we could catch our bus back to San Francisco. It was awesome day off!!!

P.S. Unfortunatelly we don´t have any photos from the day- we were just too busy being excited about the surfing that we completely forgot about the camera :))

Muir Woods National Park

We are sick of people, cars, traffic, sick of the feeling that we no longer know how does SILENCE sound.

So we decided at first to make a trip on bikes- across the Golden Gate Bridge, up north riding along coast and enjoying the nature from our bikes. However Juri wasn´t quite allright- cough, sore throat and other stuff so we decided to change our plans a litte bit.

Paja planned a trip and it was fabulous. We took a bus to the Mill Valley- it took about an hour to get there from SF, we bought some food- fruits, nuts, hummus etc. and hit the road. We didn´t really know where we should go but that makes the trip even more fun!

The Mill Valley is a small city, very cosy and friendly. It looks exactly like those little towns in the Tatras, down in a valley completely rounded with moutains which gives the town the special atmosphere.
Paja was the "Alfa-dog" so we went wherever he told us and his "GPS" skills didn´t fail.
At first we went to the visitor centre of Muir Woods NP where they gave us a map and some good pieces of advice about where can we lay our head during the night.

We went through the woods and it was BEAUTIFUL. The trees. The rocks. The creeks. The silence. The smell. ... Heaven.
After 3 hours we finally found the campsite we were looking for- Bootjack Campsite. It looked very good for us so we left our backpacks in those natural lockers, used my heart-shaped lock (which was btw VERY easy to break) and continued in ur journey. We wanted to get to the beach before the sunset so we had to hurry up. We tried to hick-hike but since it is forbiden in the US nobody even noticed us on the road.
Except one car.
It was a girl and a boy in the car who at first looked very cool and friendly but after few turns and few words we found out that the lady who is driving is completely drunk and high. It was no longer funny and we were really scared at some points. But luckily we survived and we got to the beach on time- just enough to play with those waves for a while, make some photos and with the sunset getting back to our camp.
However we kinda didn´t thing about the fact, that in the woods the night comes much sooner so we basicly had to get through the thick forest in the dark- only using Paja´s phone to get any light. It was kinda scary (the forest looks exactly like in those series with Bear Grylls) but exciting and beautiful at the same time.

We got happily to our camp- it was night already. After that crazy journey back to our camp we were super hungry so we set a bonfire and baked our bread on fire with hummus and some vegetables- I can tell you after few hours of walking and swimming it was the best meal ever!

We went to sleep very soon- even before 11pm- Paja slept on a table and Juri and I slept togehter on the piece of cardboard on the ground. Our sleeping-bags were taking care of us not getting cold all night so it was pretty much a comfortable sleep.

At around 5.45am I woke up and I saw one of the most beautiful views- sunrise. I woke up Juri and we went to this small rock sat down and just silently watched the beauty of our world. Sunrise. Mountains. Oakland. San Francisco. Fog. So epic.

After Paja woke up we had to hit the road again because I had to go to work at 5.45 and Paja at 6.10pm as well... We went through the forest again, we met some cute dogs (who I just HAD TO pet for "hours") and as a reward when we got back succesfully to the Mill Valley we had a delicious coffee on the square.

It was truly amazing trip, it recharged me completely.

P.S. We decided to be very polite- we are no longer alowed to swear- and for every bad word we have to do 5 push ups (or 5 squats) and believe me it looks very easy but it´s not :D

4th of July

Typical american holiday The Independence Day was not as I expected. I was scheduled to be at work at 5.45pm but I was late anyways. I took my longboard (I do that everyday) so I could be at work faster. It didn´t work out that way unfrtunatelly...

I fell down while riding pretty fast, because I was pushing hard so I could catch the green lights on the crossroad. And that was my mistake. I fell down hard, tear my pants, hurt my ellbow and knee and was almost hit by a cab. At first I thought it will be okay but during the shift I fell down second time (on the stairs at work) and from then on I couldn´t even bend my knee. I limp as retarded, it hurts as hell and I had to call off work today because of the pain (and cough also).

Hope it´s gonna be better very soon...

GAY PRIDE in SF and more

On Saturday and Sunday there was the famous festival to celebrate LGBT community. Unfortunatelly I was at work both days (am shift) but the harder we celebrated it during night
On Saturday we went on Castro street were the whole thing was held. There were tons of people in the streets- men, woman, gay, bi, straight, black, white... Everybody was different ... and at the same time everybody was equal. There is huge difference between Gay Pride in Slovakia and America... In Slovakia there is only few people on the Gay Pride and the whole event must be watched by officers all the time to prevent any fight or assault. In America there is almost everyone, no officers needed to prevent fights against other people- only to take care about people who need help because they drunk too much.

On Saturday we hit the streets (shtreet as Paja would say :D ) at 10pm, bought some booze across the street (we are kinda regular customers there) and get on metro to Castro Street. It was hilarious! There were thousands of people dancing and singing and wishing everybody happy pride!
We met this cute guy Erik and spent with him the whole night. We went to a club to dance oddly and to have few more drinks. When security told us that it is time to leave (not because we were drunk or something, just because here in SF you can´t have fun longer than till 2am) Anyways... as Ted Mosby keeps saying "After 2am nothing good happens" and this time it was more than true.
After we walked out of the bar we decided to buy some more booze in a gas station (it was few minutes before 2am so we had to hurry up). Not completely sober Paja run into the street and was hit by a cab. It was terrible! Just like when you see it in movies. He stood up, waved his hand a told that he´s okay and just keep on going to the gas station. We didn´t even have time to buy anything but ice cream and we already saw officers looking for Paja. It was 8 of them, taking their job too seriously so we spent with them about an hour filling out some papers, re-telling the story and waiting for a doctor. After few moments we were good to go, everybody in terrible shock.

And what is more...that was not over. On our way home we found a man lying on a street covered in blood. I guess he got into a fight, his face was smashed, blood everywhere, he can barely talk. We wanted to get him into stabilized position, I tried to talk to him if he know where he is, what happened and what day is it today. I also tried if he doesn´t have damaged his spine- if he can move with his fingers and toes. Juri called 911 but some guy (I suppose his friend) took the guy, "helped" him stand up really quickly and just marched him away without any help provided.

And in that moment it was just too much for me- I collapsed, started crying without any chance to hush me. I could barely walk, felt so weak so Paja had to truss me all the way home. I was silent all the way- only my cry was distorting the silence. Because of this I am hypersensitive about cars and ambulance hooter.

It was a hard night, lucky...it´s over. We are okay, Paja´s back is fine fortunatelly.

On Sunday we went to Castro street again but this time nothing that bad happened. We met two nice girls- lesbians- Lisa and (***) don´t remember so we spent the night with them. We went to their amazing house, had a glass of champagne, dip in their jaccuzi and talked all night. It was better than on Saturday- no drama, no officers, no ambulance...

After all...it was pretty fun....Don´t worry and please... don´t tell my mum :)

And the fun begins...

Since Saturday I am an official Server of Hard Rock Cafe in SF and that means that my tips will be pretty much my whole salary. I was looking forward to it since last year when I was a foodrunner because being a server has its advantages- I am on my own and mainly- it only depends on myself how much money I make during the shift.
It is pretty difficult to start because we ussualy have 5-6 tables to take care of. It means I have to think about which table needs what in this particular moment all the time and I can´t forget about any of the steps of service. But it only takes time and practice- a lot of practice!

 It is also very interesting to talk to the people- there comes people from all over the world and it is interesting to hear out their stories how they got here, what do they do etc. The next thing that I found out is that they are truly interested in my story too- they are always surprised that I am from Slovakia (if they even know where it is...) and they find this whole "Work-and-Travel" thing very brave to do. I also had few customers who were surprised that I am not a local because of my English- which is always very very good to hear :) Some are very nice, some of them are not... but I always try to make my best...it is only up to them how they like it :)

Today Juri has his last day of training which means he has to pass a test as well to be a regular Retail Sales Assistent, but it won´t change much in his salary because he is paid by hour and not getting any tips.
Paja is still working in Bubba Gump Shrimps and on the top of that he is making some money with playing his ukulele in the metro station. He is pretty good! (once he made 30bucks in an hour!)

The next thing that happend- we are staying in this hotel for good- we were supposed to move in a house pretty far away from job, but it didn´t work out (I hate hate hate hunting for accomodation in SF!!!) Few minutes after we found out that we went to Ross and bought a "double electric burner", pot and a pan- so we can finally cook some real food here! We were SO excited about that! :)))

Hope you are doing great our dearest friends! :)

Final test- done! :)

Today it was my last day of training what means that from now on I am an official Server of Hard Rock Cafe. It took me 6 days to finish so I didn´t need any extra days which is good for my walet = I am gonna get tips sooner :)
The last day of training was pretty okay, my final trainer was Alex (my favourite) so it went pretty smooth. I made only few small mistakes that were easy to fix. After the last shift I had to pass the final test and lucky for me- it was the only day when our manager Cat wasn´t in charge of testing. Don´t get me wrong, she is awesome, but when speaking about testing people she is very very strict. My final test was with Mike so it went pretty good and smooth, I knew pretty much everything :)

I am kinda excited to be a server on my own finaly! We´ll see later how it goes :)

Juri is still on training and he has to get up at 6am ussualy, but hopefully that will change after the training shifts.

Our secret mission has been disclosed

I don´t know if I told you already, but we live already in third hotel in San Francisco. The first one- Hotel Moritz where we stayed for two nights, than Hotel GateWay Inn where we stayed three nights and then Hotel Krupa where we are now and it´s been already one week! Today I paid for another one week so this will be the longest time we ever stayed anywhere.

There was only this problem... we´ve got a room for two and it´s three of us and obviously none of our landlords knew that in the room for two live actually three people. It was not a big deal in Moritz or GateWay where we stayed only for few nights...but when you´re staying somewhere for more that 5 nights it is pretty obvious that sooner or later the landlord will find out and it only depends on him/her what happens next. And since our landlord is cool indian lady she only smiled at us and let us live there for another week :) Yupi!!! P.S It looks like we found another place to live from June 25th but.. we´ll see...

What´s new?
Well...I still have my training at work I already passed 4 days but another two will be the hardest ones. I have to know all items on our menu and of course drinks and what are they made of which is not that easy as it may seem. My trainers have been pretty cool so far (Brendon, Xtina, Andrea and Alex) so I start to love to work in HRC again :)
It´s Juri´s Orientation day today finally so he can have his training too. It will be a little shorter than mine tho.
Paja is working hard and making good money so he can spend it on expensive accessories to his ukulele.

That is pretty much it for now, I hope you are having an amazing summer! XOXO

Days of Training

Since I know from the last year that in Hard Rock "what you don´t ask for you don´t get" I sent an email immidiately after I got my working schedule- My first day of training was supposed to be on Friday 20th! That would mean that I would have to "survive" with no salary for two maybe three weeks and that is just not that easy in SF as it may seem.
So I sent the email to my manager Cat, told her about my situation, and since I work for Hard Rock Cafe where they care for they employees (true story!) she changed my schedule immidiately and now I work on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, (Wednesday and Thursday are my days off) then Friday, Saturday (which will be my last day of training) and on Sunday it will be my first day as a real server :) It is a long proces but believe me there is so much to know so 6 days of training are just enough to provide Kick-Ass service :))

My first day a little hectic because it was Saturday so there was plenty of  people and my trainer Brandon was a little weird but it was okay I would say. My second day was WAY better- my trainer was Alex (he is from Russia) and he was a darling! He was talking to me all the time, explaining everything I needed to know he even got me some tips we made eventho I am not supposed to have any during my Training. :) The time flies so fast with him.
My third day will be also with Alex so I am really excited about it :)

Also...after every day of training I have to pass a test from manager so he would know that I am learning properly and I am ready for next day. It is not that scary as it may sound, it is more easy to learn something when you are in contact with that all day long :)

We´re about to go to park now, to have piq-nique so I´ll write you later :)

Hunters...

San Francisco is amazing! The only thing that is not so amazing is the weather (fyi- we went to sunny California and the temperature is 50% lower than in Slovakia :D wtf really! )

On Tuesday we finally went to Hard Rock Cafe to do some paperwork... honestly I haven´t sign so many papers in last year than I have today :D It was kinda crazy and the lady in charge didn´t really know what to do, but after 2 hours we did it and so we became valid employees of HRC-SF :)
On Thursday it is the Orientation Day- that means that we´re gonna spend whole day in Hard Rock watching videos about the history of HRC and other not so interesting videos, we´re gonna get our uniforms and other stuff and what is the best part- we will be paid for this whole day of doing nothing! (and maybe even get a free food after)

Today it´s our day off so we have to take care of few things. Juri have to go to the Social Security Office to get his SSN so he can start working asap. We have to go there early in the morning because later it looks like someone gives free stuff there or in the communist times when people were waiting for oranges :)
Then we plan to go to the beach also but our priority is looking for an accomodation because we still have to live in expensive hotels. Finding a place to stay in SF is ridiculously difficult, everything is either taken, too expensive or just uninhabitable. We´ve sent heaps of emails but only few responded back and on the top of that- two woman tried to gyp us with their basic strategy: "I have an amazing house where you can stay fot the whole summer, I don´t have time to show you guys the place or meet you unfortunally but you can sign the lease agreement that I´ll send you via email and pay me in advance 1000 dollars so I won´t give the place to anybody else." Yup, just like that. So you can see it is really not easy to find anything solid.

Btw JetLag is working only for Juri- he is completely out of his mind from time to time and tired as hell... I´m sticking to my routine- sleep from midnight till 4-5am and I am tired only from the lack of (real) food and the SFs hills (but I´ll do it for my peachy butt haha).

I hope you have beautiful time back in Slovakia, enjoy the weather! We miss you! XO

Here we come California :)

We´re finally here- in San Francisco, California. :)

The journey was hardcore- we started in Prague at about 9am on Sunday, our flight was at 11.55am from Václav Havel´s Airport where there was the first problem- they didn´t like my longboard deck as a carry-on. I was told that I have to pay 70dollars (which is pretty much the same amount of money that I bought it for a year ago) so they can send it with all the other luggages. Fortunatelly the only possibility for me was to pay it with my credit card so at last it was free because their system would only take cash. Lucky as hell :)

From Prague we went to London which was pretty short flight but the worst was yet to come. The flight from London to Dallas was a disaster! It lasted nearly 10 hours!!! After 4 hours we couldn´t take it any longer so we decided to get drunk. For free, of course. So everytime the steward asked us if we would like anything else to drink, our answer was "Yeah, I´ll have white wine and orange juice, please" Fortunatelly he asked us like this couple times so eventho the cups was pretty small, we got drunk pretty fast.

In Dallas we had to pass through the (crazy) control and claim that we don´t have any food, animals and other stuff that could possibly harm America (I have no idea in what way but...well they´re Americans) There comes the second problem- I forgot about an apple in my back-pack so when I took my suitcase and was on my way out of the airport one of the security guys with a dog stopped me becasue his dog started to jump on me and licking my leg. Then he barked oddly and the guy was like "My dog just told me that you have fruits or meat in your luggage". Well the problem was clear since I am a vegetarian. the problem was the forgotten apple and believe it or not, because of this little sweet apple from Slovakia I had to go through another special control and get rid of it. 

In Dallas our flight was delayed for another 45 minutes which in our tired minds felt like eternity.
It was super exhausting- no wonder- we were traveling 24hours!!!

In SF we took a cab and went to Union Square where Pája already waited for us. I saw him after two and half year and I was very happy to see him again. He took us to our hotel (which looks pretty vintage just like at Weasley´s haha) and after few hours of talking, smoking and drinking we went to sleep tired as fuck.

Tomorrow we have to find another place to stay because we have to check out of this hotel on Tuesday so I guess the whole day we´re going to spend with looking for an accomodation.

Keep your fingers crossed for us :)

3 weeks to go!

In 3 weeks we will already be in California living our American dream.
It is unbelievable how fast the time flies... I remember the time when I just got back from the US in September and it feels like it was only a week ago.
I have these mixed feelings about it- I am extremely excited about going to California (Living in California is my dream since... well...forever) but also some part of me is scared as if it was for the first time.

It is pretty hectic in school now (exams, exams, exams) and that makes the time fly even faster. I feel like I have no time to say goodbye to my friends, and 4 months feels like eternity.

We still have no place to live, people from San Francisco are pretty weird about this accomodation thing. We have sent several dozen mails but only a small % have responded and eventho they have, it takes a milion years for them to respond to my additional questions. But maybe we´ve got a solution for that.
Yesterday I was chatting with my friend Pája- he is already in SF (he works for Bubba Gump restaurant) and he doesn´t have any place to stay either. He found out that there is a hotel in SF that we could possibly stay in for really good price- all three of us. It would be really awesome!!!

Well... take care my friends, I have to learn psychological methodology so I can go to Cali with peace in my mind :)   California :)

Last paperwork (hopefully) !!

The next step in our way to the US was to get visa. Since we are part of a Work and Travel program it really isn´t that harsh to get them but we had to fill in some papers (maaaany maaany papers grrr), prove that we are really college students and pay 130 dollars. The questionnaire for visa was just as "funny" as last year- he had to confirm that we really are not terorists ( and we don´t plan to engage any terorist group either), we haven´t kidnapped anybody and we don´t plan to have sex for money.

Few pieces of advice:
* You can probably take a better picture with your smart phone for visa than any "proffesiaonal". Just step in front of a white wall and (don´t) smile. In fact that is just the way the "proffesional" in BA did it with Juri´s photo- no chair, no lights, no DSLR, no instructions. Just like in prison but without the sign of your # :D

* Don´t make fun of those (funny) questions for visa. You never know who´s watching you :)

* Don´t bring unnecessary things to the US Embassy especially toys that looks...well...suspiciously. If Juri would have known this before he surely wouldn´t bring the intelligent play dough with yourself which looks just like explosive and we wouldn´t have to look like total freaks (if not even worse).


The last step is to find any place for staying in San Francisco which is not as easy as we thought (and deffinately not as cheap as we thought). In fact... the rent in DC was the cheapest we can get in SF. Holly crap.

Keep your fingers crossed for us :)

Counting the days!

In less than three months we´ll be in California already!

At one point it seems like te time flies way too fast because it´s already March!
On the other hand the time is slower than a turtle with a broken leg when waiting for the summer to finally come. How this could be???

We have basically nothing to write about yet because nothing (anything that would include the US adventure) is happening. We already booked the air tickets, but it is still too soon to look for any accomodation in San Farncisco and the process of getting visa is not in our hands at all. So...

The worst part of the whole thing is this one- waiting, waiting and waiting!

Well there is this one thing! We found out that Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars will perform only like 40 minutes away from San Francisco! That is a DREAM! :)

There is this AWESOME quote by Nick Miller that remonds me my summer 2013 ♥
Let summer 2014 be even better! :)

“Travel is little beds and cramped bathrooms. It’s old television sets and slow Internet connections. Travel is extraordinary conversations with ordinary people. It’s waiters, gas station attendants, and housekeepers becoming the most interesting people in the world. It’s churches that are compelling enough to enter. It’s McDonald’s being a luxury. It’s the realization that you may have been born in the wrong country. Travel is a smile that leads to a conversation in broken English. It’s the epiphany that pretty girls smile the same way all over the world. Travel is tipping 10% and being embraced for it. Travel is the same white T-shirt again tomorrow. Travel is accented sex after good wine and too many unfiltered cigarettes. Travel is flowing in the back of a bus with giggly strangers. It’s a street full of bearded backpackers looking down at maps. Travel is wishing for one more bite of whatever that just was. It’s the rediscovery of walking somewhere. It’s sharing a bottle of liquor on an overnight train with a new friend. Travel is “Maybe I don’t have to do it that way when I get back home.”

It´s for sure! June 8th we´ll become Californians!

Couple days ago I finally passed all my exams so during the day I have now plenty of time to do what I want.

And since we already both have a job in San Francisco it was about time to finally book the air-tickets! I was surfing some websites, looking for the best price but then I realised that Juri and I haven´t talked about it yet. So we went out for a beer (and vodka), I took my computer and we were trying to find the best day, time, price and mainly city that we will leave from in September.

At first we thought about going from New York so we can see also the east coast but then we agreed that we have absolutely no time for that. So at last we chose Las Vegas as our departure city (decision that I was not very happy about because of the incident last year)

So... We are leaving our home country on June 8th flying from Prague Airport to London, from London we´ll take a super long flight to Dallas and from Dallas finally to our temporary home--- San Francisco.

We will spend hopefully the best four months in our lives and then we´re leaving from Las Vegas on September 22nd to Los Angeles, from Los Angeles taking unbelievable long flight to London and from London to Prague again.

We will be home on September 23rd, well...unless we like it so much that we´ll decide to stay in California for the rest of our lives. :)

So now... we only have to wait for our visas and for the fabulous day- June 8th!

I am so happy I can LEVITATE ♥

Miracle after a sleepless night! It´s CALIFORNIA baby!! ♥

January 9th. That was the date that was supposed to change our lives for several months. And it did!

The Job Fair (interview) for Hard Rock Cafe took place in Prague again because in Slovakia there´s no Hard Rock Cafe restaurant anywhere. It was supposed to start at 8.30am so we planned to go to Brno first, sleep a little at Juri´s apartment and then at 5.00am hit the road to Prague with Student Agency Bus. It does sound good but... there were too many good friends in Brno who wanted to party all night and we couldn´t possibly say NO to that, right? :D

So at first we went to Nostra to enjoy delicious and very cheap pizza, then bought some pink wine and were enjoying ourselves. We went to three different pubs so you can imagine there was NO time to sleep at all. :D At 3 am we decided to change our clothes and have a breakfast before we went to Prague. Juri and I made super luxury breakfast- scrambled eggs with onion, salt, pepper, red paprika and Provencal herbs with bread and coffee and as a dessert we had peanut snacks. Then we changed (I wore black dress and Juri "suited up" to make the perfect first impression) and went to the bus station let´s say...not sober :D (I feel sorry for those people who must share the bus with us haha)

Delicious!

A little after 7.00am we were in Prague so we had an hour and half before the Job Fair started so we went for a walk and it was beautiful. Prague completely veiled in fog.

At 9.00am there was supposed to come two representatives of Hard Rock from the US and guess who was that? My former manager A.J. Laban from Washington DC from the last summer. I couldn´t believe that! (He texted me about that night before but I was sure he was kidding me!) We said hello, hugged each other and had a small talk before it all started (which provoked the other people who were also there for the same interview). I mentioned to A.J. that it would be super awesome if Juri and I could get to San Francisco, introduced Juri to A.J. and hoped for the best :)

We had the interview with the other representative from the US, his name was Rob. Juri went first and when he got back to our seats telling me about having only like 1% chance to get to San Francisco (because there were too many people applying for a job in SF) I wanted to go home. After half an hour it was my time for the interview and it went pretty good. We laughed a lot, we talked a lot (even A.J. joined us during eventho he had interviews to do) so I directly asked Rob if there is any chance that Juri and I can get to San Francisco. His response pleased me "I´ll see what I can do about that and I will try my best". 

We got the job in San Francisco!!! Me as a server, Juri as a Retail Sales Associate. Out of 26 people who were applying for the job in SF!!! We couldn´t be happier! :)

We didn´t sleep at all, we were hangover, hungry and super tired but IT WAS WORTH IT!!!

We are going to CALIFORNIA at the beginning of the June 2014! Can´t wait!!! ♥

Happy New Year, my dear friends!

I wish you all even more happiness, even more love and even more adventures than you had in 2013!

2013 had its ups and downs but as I read somwhere once:
*Take the bad things that happened to you as lessons that make you stronger and wiser.*

Will do!

This year I will try to make wiser decisions than those that I made many times in 2013, I will try to smile more at srangers, I will try to be more spontaneous, I will try to take more pictures, to be more friendly and open-minded, I will try not to judge anybody, I will try to live my life the way I want to.