Oahu, Hawaii (23.11.2013 – 28.11.2013)

After visiting the island of Maui I flew to Oahu, another island more to the north and more known for its city Honolulu, which is the capital of Hawaii and its famous beach Waikiki. I didn’t bother too much with sightseeing anymore in my last days of the trip and dedicated a big part of the time being at the beaches, which are beautiful here, and snorkling along colourful fishes and turtles.

Kailua Bay and Beach

Lanikai Beach

Hanauma Bay

Makapu’u Beach Park

Waikiki Beach and Skyline

Ala Moana Beach Park

Iolani Palace

Aliiolani Hale with King Kamehameha V statue in front

Hawaii Army Museum Society

And my last photo shot at Ala Moana Beach Park with Waikiki skyline behind.

Maui, Hawaii (19.11.2013 – 23.11.2013)

Hawaii should be the last stop of my trip. I chose Maui as the first island to visit, which is the second largest of all of them. It has a big diversity in landscapes ; from volcanic and desertic to tropical rainforest and nice exotic beaches.

Road to Hana

From Hana back to Wailuku around the other side of the volcano. It got more dry and the vegetation more scarce as you can constate on the pictures.

Iao Valley State Park

Lahaina Jodo Mission Buddhist Cultural Park

Kihei

Sunrise on top of the volcano Haleakala

Haleakala Observatories

Makena State Park (Big Beach)

San Diego (18.11.2013)

Back in San Diego the weather was better and we also had more time to visit the city. We mainly moved between Seaport Village and Gaslamp Quarter and finished the day in Ocean Beach where we said goodbye to each other with some beers. Everybody is going its own way again but the trip continues for all of us. We agreed to meet up again back in Switzerland. Thanks Carlos, it was a great experience having travelled with you for a big part of my trip!

 

Rosarito, Mexico (17.11.2013)

Rosarito was the second city we visited after Tijuana. We enjoyed the great tacos with barbecue meat at “El Yaqui” and the promenade on the beach.

Later in the afternoon we made our way back to the border with the United States and the queue this time was much longer. An older man in front of us who had been crossing the border every day since 1986 in order to go to work said that one hour in the queue was a good time.

Tijuana, Mexico (16.11.2013)

Since San Francisco Carlos and me had in mind to drive all the California State Route 1 until Mexico and today was the day when we finally would arrive to our destination. We were not 3 friends anymore, but 4. The night before in the hostel in San Diego we met Benjamin, a nice young backpacker from Switzerland who was also interested in coming with us. Together we crossed the border almost at noon, no waiting queue, no pass control…

Tijuana was almost, if not, a culture shock. The life on the street felt defenitely more alive and sometimes also a little bit chaotic. Lots of traffic, Mariachis playing guitar and singing traditional folk music and everybody trying to sell you something. Even if not with my Canon around the neck it looked obvious that we were not from this city and country, especially when having Benjamin in our group, blond and with blue eyes.

Even if Tijuana is considered one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico we decided to leave the main street, named “Avenida Revolución” in order to head to a concert more in the periphery. The landscape of the streets was sometimes not very welcoming but nothing bad happened and we spent a nice evening together with the locals.

San Diego (15.11.2013)

This time San Diego should only be a transit day on our way further to the south and we only planned to stay one day but knowing that we would come back again. We mainly checked in in our hostel after arriving and spent our time at Ocean Beach and the hostel. The day was not very warm and nice but on the other hand the people at the hostel were very sympathetic and friendly. We made soon some friends and took advantage of the spaghetti dinner including salad and drinks offered at the hostel for only 4$.

Los Angeles (13.11.2013 – 14.11.2013)

Los Angeles is an enormous city in terms of surface. The main beauty of Los Angeles to me are mainly the periphery suburbs. The ones we chose to visit were Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Hollywood.

Santa Monica

Santa Monica is also the place where the Route 66 ends. It has a really nice pier including an amusement park on it.

Venice Beach

Hollywood Boulevard and Hollywood Hills

Chuck Norris, the star I chose to take a foto with

And here my star on Hollywood Boulevard 🙂

Inglewood, Los Angeles was also the place where I had to drop off my campervan. After 9’723 miles the time came to say good bye.

Paramount Ranch (13.11.2013)

After leaving Santa Barbara we made a stop at Paramount Ranch. To me this stop was quite important. Some of my favourite series and films have been made on this site or at least some chapters and I always wanted to see a real western film set. The Paramount Ranch is still used today for filming and is therefore in a good condition. The visit was really nice and my friends and me enjoyed the short time we spent here very much!

Santa Barbara (12.11.2013 – 13.11.2013)

After doing a big part of the California State Route 1 we arrived in Santa Barbara where we decided to stay over night. We enjoyed some of the nightlife in the city and went for a nice walk on the beach promenade the next morning.

California State Route 1 (12.11.2013)

After leaving Santa Cruz not too late the new group of friends composed of Carlos, Daniel and José headed to California State Route 1. The highway is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the USA.