Disclaimer: Here's our San Francisco journey which I've tried to detail as much as possible, because I fail to do so in real life. And I hope you make it through to the end of the post. ❤

After more than eleven hours, our Philippine Airlines flight from Manila started its descent to the San Francisco International Airport.

Some minutes before 19:00, we finally marked our first step in the Arrivals area, and as my father and I waited for our relatives to pick us up, we breathed the famous stateside smell and felt the slight chill through our spines that only I could hear about from stories before.

Unbelievable, isn't it? It was only in February 2018 that I booked a ticket to another place, with “USA” last in mind. Three months later, I found myself, along with my parents, in line alongside other US tourist visa hopefuls at the embassy. In August, we booked our first trip to the Land of the Free for Thanksgiving 2018, mainly with the hopes to see and uplift my uncle as he fought his way through the big C journey. Circumstances, however, rerouted to another course. But for a better purpose - encouraging words from one of my aunts.

Once we got settled with our luggages, we drove straight to Denny's - 20 to 30 minutes from the airport - to have a sumptuous American dinner.

In and around Embarcadero

USA | Summer 2019

Getting devoured by the coldness of winter