18th of November 2007: Last Day in the City
Unexpectedly PJ gives me today off as well, so I spend the morning shopping the thrift stores for clothes with Sharon, one of my fellow longtimers from the hostel. The thrift stores (charity shops for those back home) in San Francisco are amazing - huge and well-stocked with genuinely good quality clothing, and the prices compare very well. Goodwill are the nationwide chain, but in San Francisco there are also several stores owned by Out of the Closet, which have still better clothing (although it's generally a little pricier) and give most of their profits to Aids research.
In the afternoon I go with Jennifer, a recent arrival at the Adelaide, to a potluck thrown by the local group of Couch Surfers. It's an organisation similar to Servas which I already belong to - both of them provide a connection between travellers and hosts who will provide them with free accomodation. Couch Surfers is rather more laidback and anarchic, and the crowd contains several Burners among other interesting individuals. I plan to create a Couch Surfer profile in the not-too-distant future, as there are many members scattered across the countries I'll be visiting.
In the evening I gather a small crowd and we go to Swig for a last night out. It's my first time in this bar which is just round the corner from the hostel, and I regret not having been in sooner - it's a cool, dark but welcoming space with a long bar and comfortable sofas, and tonight they have wonderful live blues music. We drink and talk, I take a couple of turns on the dancefloor and turn out to be gratifyingly less awful than I would have expected, the evening rolls by. Finally, with the crowd thinning, we retire to the hostel dining room until we can't stay awake any longer.
In the afternoon I go with Jennifer, a recent arrival at the Adelaide, to a potluck thrown by the local group of Couch Surfers. It's an organisation similar to Servas which I already belong to - both of them provide a connection between travellers and hosts who will provide them with free accomodation. Couch Surfers is rather more laidback and anarchic, and the crowd contains several Burners among other interesting individuals. I plan to create a Couch Surfer profile in the not-too-distant future, as there are many members scattered across the countries I'll be visiting.
In the evening I gather a small crowd and we go to Swig for a last night out. It's my first time in this bar which is just round the corner from the hostel, and I regret not having been in sooner - it's a cool, dark but welcoming space with a long bar and comfortable sofas, and tonight they have wonderful live blues music. We drink and talk, I take a couple of turns on the dancefloor and turn out to be gratifyingly less awful than I would have expected, the evening rolls by. Finally, with the crowd thinning, we retire to the hostel dining room until we can't stay awake any longer.
Labels: couch surfers, out of the closet, San Francisco, servas, swig, thrift stores
posted by Mark at
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