In 2008, when planning a wonderful wedding at the winter end of November, Mr Fletche and I never once gave thought to how we would celebrate our subsequent anniversary celebrations. And more importantly, with Christmas budgets looming, that it would not be feasible to jet off somewhere hot and sunny (a la our Maldives honeymoon) every year. So wedding anniversary Number One was spent in…

Our final full day in the US… and the final leg of our journey. Cambria to Los Angeles. We pack the Fletchemobile once more and set off at 9:30am after grabbing a light breakfast from the hotel office. We decide to fill up at the gas station that we passed driving to Main Street last night – only to find that they don’t accept credit…

The alarm tolls at 8am – a veritable lie-in this morning – and after grabbing a quick pastry for breakfast, we’re all checked out and ready to leave Monterey behind. As we return to Route 1, it is clear how foggy it is today and we can barely see the ocean. However this leads to some dramatic scenery as we pay our $10 daily fee…

"The ocean is rough – very rough – and it’s not long before the first passenger is hanging over the back of the boat, expelling anything they may have eaten for breakfast. Once one person starts – that’s it…there’s a queue of people vomiting"…

Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travel List - How many of these amazing sights have you visited - and do they deserve their place in the top 20? …

We’re only almost ready to leave San Francisco behind; there are still two things that we have to do.  We pack everything into the Fletchemobile – raring to go after a 2 day rest – and check out of the Hotel Del Sol at 8:30am. First thing: Driving down Lombard Street – the crooked bit. At 8:45am on a Monday morning, there are no queues, and…

A good night’s sleep does little to soothe our aching feet, but with so much of the city still to see, we are up and out at 9am after a quick coffee, juice and pastries for breakfast. It is another hot day; we leave some of our layers behind after being fooled yesterday. We never ended up getting a Muni Pass, so we check that…

It’s Saturday morning, it’s 8:30am, it’s time to discover San Francisco! Of all the places visited on this road trip, it was deciding on an “itinerary” for our two full days in San Francisco which gave me the biggest headache. The city has so many iconic “must-sees” that it became something of a nightmare putting them into a workable itinerary! I decided to cut the…

It's time to leave the National Park behind and head from Yosemite to San Francisco. No more mountains, trees and meadows - it's all freeway and skyscrapers…

Refreshed by our early night, we’re up and out of the Yosemite View Lodge at 9am. We’re off to spend the day in the Valley, and we re-enter Yosemite itself via the Arch Rock Entrance. We turn off to the Bridalveil Fall Parking Lot, and walk the short way to the base of the fall. We were prepared not to see roaring waterfalls at this…