California

Sonoma, situated about an hours drive north from San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, is a beautiful wine county. It's location just outside one of America's most cosmetically pleasing and bustling cities, provides an equally rewarding getaway. The only problem with Sonoma is condensing all it's best parts for a succinct review! Firstly, I guess I should begin with what Sonoma is most probably famous for; it's wine. With so many wineries is the close vicinity, such as the reputed Sebastiani winery, Buena Vista, among an unmentionable amount of others, wine lovers cannot fail to be satisfied. The majority of wineries offer wine tasting, ...  Read the complete review

California - Advantages: Alot of attractions, Great climate, Nice people - Disadvantages: Alot of pollution, A long flight

The US west coast is truly an amazing place and it is definitely worth a visit. I spent December travelling from Las Vegas, Nevada, up to San Francisco, California and I have never had a better time in all my life. Check out my review for info on some of the best places I visited. I flew from Heathrow to Los Angeles on what was about an 11hour flight. This was very tiring, but it’s amazing flying in over L.A and seeing the sprawling city and massive traffic jams. Once in the airport, I had to take an internal flight to Las Vegas. Being very near to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the security was top notch; very paranoid airport ...  Read the complete review

Brief History California, which takes up a good portion of the American west coast, used to be one of Mexico's states. America wanted to expand, and waged war with Mexico. After marching into Mexico City, and taking the capital, The war was over, and the Mexicans were soundly defeated. Mexico lost half of it's land to the U.S, including the Mexican states of Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. This explains why more than half of California's cities still have Spanish names. Alot of street names also are in Spanish. In southern California, in cities like San Juan Capistrano, you can still find old Spanish ...  Read the complete review

In Oct 2001 we travelled to the USA in the wake of the atrocities of Sept 11th for one of the most fantastic holidays we have ever had. We flew direct to San Francisco from Heathrow (only 11 hours). SF is a great place, very busy around Union Square which is full of shops etc. We stayed at the Handlery which is in Union Square (very central and the cable cars are on your doorstep).Fishermans Wharf is well worth a visit, great views of the bay and entertaining street entertainers. I would recommend to try the FireEngine tour (cost approx £15) as a brilliant way to not only see SF, but also for the memories of going across the Goldengate Bridge on a Vintage Fire engine. ...  Read the complete review