The Electric (Tour) Company

According to hundreds of reviews posted on TripAdvisor.com, touring San Francisco is best done on a Segway. Until recently, Segway tours offered by 2 different companies hogged the top 2 spots on the rankings of recommended activities in San Francisco. This month, a guided walking tour bumped the Segway guys down to 2nd and 3rd place.

Well these walkers probably had no clue what they lost out on in San Francisco by choosing to pump their legs instead of zipping around on a Segway, besides maybe a few hundred more burnt calories than us wheelies.

Not to say that tackling those infamously steep Frisco slopes isn't fun. It is - for one's first day in the city, when we went without a car in SF earlier this year. After that, we started noting which way the slopes rolled and planned our walking route around avoiding the uphill climbs. This time, on our second visit to SF, we wanted to see more of the city - on a set of wheels.

While the cost of renting a car within SF isn't expensive, parking in the city is a bi*ch. Multi-storey carparks (or garages, as they are called in the US) are few and far between. Curbside parking spaces are limited and leaving our car lurching at a 45-degree angle for hours at a stretch is rather worrisome. So is not having enough coins to feed the greedy metres which gobble up to US$1 for every 15 minutes.

Forking out US$70 each for a Segway tour isn't cheap either but the rave online reviews convinced us to give it a go. Traveling is all about discovering new experiences and given the limited authorised usage of Segways in Singapore, it would be our first time on one. I think you can now sample a ride on a Segway within the confines of a building in Singapore, but we're a long way from seeing tourists zipping around on these neat machines alongside vehicular traffic down Orchard Road.

Morning Rush

We woke up bright and chirpy, hopped onto the 'F'-line streetcar to Beach Street, only see a guide on a Segway trundle out of the tour office and down the road, with a lone tourist on her (w)heels. We had arrived 10 minutes too late and had missed the morning tour! Since the tour company only ran 1 daily tour in winter (as compared to 2 tours a day in summer), we had missed the boat for good.

The nice owner pointed us to another tour company offering a similar city tour on wheels. We practically ran over to the office and found the morning's participants already decked in safety vests and helmets and in the midst of the briefing. Argggh. Too late again! Thankfully, this second tour company offered afternoon tours and we promptly signed up for the 1pm ride.

So in the meantime....

A hot fudge sundae for lunch!

As with our first sundae experience at Ghirardelli Square last year, the ice-cream and chocolate samples were really good. One tip though: stick to the plain ol' sundae with milk chocolate fudge. I love dark chocolate but the fudge tasted strangely sour. And lay off the incredibly salty peanut butter. Sour and salty are not great flavours for a sundae.

Back at The Electric Tour Company, 1pm:

The Electric Tour Company offers electric bike tours over the Golden Gate Bridge as well as Segway tours in San Francisco and Sausalito. The name reminds me of this television series for children in the 1970s and 1980s - The Electric Company, which I loved watching after I got home from school. Some of you may remember it:



Participants have to attend a safety and introductory briefing before being allowed anywhere near the machines. After that, we are assigned our wheels and taught how to operate the controls, mount and dismount the Segway safely, how to accelerate, steer, brake and stop, etc. We putted across the parking lot at 'training speed' - 10mph (16km/h) - slaloming through tiny orange cones.

No training wheels - just training mode

So is the Segway a dangerous machine?

Well, as with any bicycle or motorised vehicle, the Segway on its own is probably less dangerous than a horse, given that it can't go anywhere by itself without a driver. But under conditions of misuse, horseplay or inconsiderate riding, yeah, somebody could get hurt pretty badly. The directional handle bar is highly sensitive to movement, so tilting it too far and too suddenly in either direction could send your Segway into a crazy whirring spin. And just like cycling or in-line skating, you cannot let the wheels of your machine touch that of another machine while in motion. One lady did just that. She sent her Segway tripping in 1001 different directions at once and fell right off it.

With our guide convinced that we all had our Segways under control, he took us out of training mode with a few jabs at our control panels and raised the maximum speed limit to 16mph. We filed up in pairs, forming a Segway convoy and hit the road alongside cars, trams and buses.

Each individual Segway is equipped with a walkie talkie. The guide speaks into his set and we get a wonderful introduction to San Francisco as we had never known it before - quirky stories about the residents of Little Italy, the woman whom Coit Tower was named after, the best restaurants and pubs in town and an overview of the architecture around us. The guide brought us to a swimming area at Fisherman's Wharf and showed us a crazy Irish man languidly doing the backstroke in the freezing water. We expertly navigated gentle slopes and pedestrian crossings, and avoided potholes like plague. One place we weren't allowed to go was Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world. That is for the Advanced Segway Tour. Serious!

Terrorising the city on wheels is much more fun than on foot!

Stopping for a break at Washington Park

Being left to run amok up and down a pier at Fisherman's Wharf

We created quite a spectacle on the streets of SF. Tourists snapped photos of us. Cars slowed down for the people inside to gape at us. We waved and posed for photos and felt like mini-celebrities for the day!

This guy, however, was not impressed

I wish...

I wish we had Segway tours in Singapore! In SF, anybody can buy a Segway to ride about town. Anybody who has about US$30,000 to spare, that is. But seeing how I can't even blade down the designated cyclist/skater track along East Coast Park in SG without requesting that people keep to their lanes and yelling at walking mobs to move over to the pedestrian path instead of strolling four abreast in the face of bikes and skates, I'm not too excited at the thought of dodging errant Segways anywhere on this island. However, guided tours where users are briefed on how to operate these wheeled machines in a controlled environment would raise the bar for fun city tours in Singapore.

If we do eventually get Segway tours in SG, just remember, for goodness sake, not to ride in the park (note somebody's sheepish look in the clip):

Sans Snow In San Francisco

The Last Few Days In Snow City

Every December, Flagstaff transforms into a vast white winter wonderland, perfect for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts to take to the snow bowl for some powder action. Fully aware that we were not well-equipped for a day on the icy slopes sans ski suits and waterproof gloves, we settled for a more relaxed afternoon at one of the designated snow parks just minutes from the city.

Unfortunately, we got off to a late start that day. It certainly didn't help that while queuing for what was intended to be a snappy lunch at the KFC next door to our motel, somebody decided to upgrade his 2-piece combo into a full blown chicken buffet. I don't blame him. That's just how American fast food chains sink their claws into you. US$5.95 for 2 body parts with 2 choices of sides which we don't particularly fancy (coleslaw - ugh; whip - ugh; corn on cob - gets stuck in teeth; biscuit - ugh; fries - coming outta my ears already). US$7.95 for all-you-can-eat-chicken.

Frolicking in snow vs eating unlimited fried chicken in a nice warm restaurant. It was obvious what the one-man Kentucky Fan Club wanted. Plus, even the heartless Tin Man from Oz wouldn't have been able to turn down those pitiful pleas of, "Please, please, baby, can I have the buffet? Please?"

The late afternoon buffet, coupled with a 4.30pm sunset literally looming on the horizon, meant that we wouldn't make it to the snow park before it closed for the day.

We improvised by swinging into the open field down the road from our motel and turning it into our playground. The snow was fresh, thick (knee-deep in some parts!), soft and untouched. Well, no longer!

We made snow angels...

Guess who made the incredibly neat angel, and whose angel has a dead plant crawling up its skirt.

You know how kids in those Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strips build snowmen by trundling a snowball around the snow field until its as big as a person? Well cartoons lie!

We tried piling the snow up and shaping it into a ball to form our snowman's body. We couldn't get the snow to stick and stay in place. The powdery slopes just kept crumbling. Needless to say, we didn't even get round to creating a head for our snowman. The snow soaked through our woolen gloves, jeans and sneakers and numbed us from inside out. I was on the fast track to turning into a snowman instead of building one.

It's funny how frozen fingers can be stone-numb and yet feel unbelievably painful. In the end, we gave up and simply tossed handfuls of snow into Dan's buttoned-up jacket. We managed to get some semblance of a lumpy crooked torso.

The snow clung to us, creating a frozen layer over our clothes, which slowly melted and soaked us in cold water.

Project Snowman 2 wasn't much of a success. In fact, our snowman just looked like a bigger less-cute version of our baby snowhutt in Project Snowman 1, which we did last April in Yosemite.

Dan refused to acknowledge the two snow-things we created were the same. According to the man, our snowman-building skills have improved because now, we've added snow-aliens to our repertoire. Talk about skills upgrading.

(Note: I just learnt the secret of snowman-building from a friend a few days ago. You need to have a flask of hot water on hand and sprinkle the water over the snow as you shape it, to melt the icy crystals and set them in place. As Dan suggested, hot pee should work too, if you don't mind having yellow snow-chinaman.)

Blue Peter is up for grabs for the next Alien vs Predator movie.

The sun set not long after, turning fields of snow into fields of gold.

Bye bye snowy place

Fleeing Flagstaff...

And from the fields of gold, we headed back to Phoenix for our flight to the Golden State.

Enough of savouring the Golden State from a Tetra-Pak. We're off to California!

HOLA SAN FRANCISCO!

It was our second time in San Francisco on this trip. We loved it when we first arrived in the city in April. We found a new reason to love it more this time round - it doesn't snow here. We stayed at the Travelodge on Market Street again. At about US$30 per night for AA members, it was once again the best deal out there. Some of the rooms were under renovation in April last year and we were pleased to be assigned a newly refurbished room. We giggled when we saw the same crusty old man at the reception who roared my name out with gusto on our last visit, "Tan YYYYYEEEEEE Lin!" We snickered into our hands like before when he thundered, "Tan YYYYYEEEEEE Lin!" for the whole of America to hear when we checked in. He was alot nicer to us this time, alot less crusty. Which was nice.

We love the motel's location on Market Street. The F-line streetcar which trundles down Market Street all the way to Fisherman's Wharf stops right outside the motel. It's also within walking distance to the shops on Market and the Orpheum Theatre. Which was absolutely fabulous because...

All happy and smug that the snow didn't follow him from Flagstaff to Frisco

...we were in town to catch a musical at the theatre - WICKED!

All exited to be finally watching Broadway's Biggest Blockbust...

The star character whom the show was named after

I've been wanting to watch Wicked since 2008, when I was in Melbourne on a work trip and chanced upon a theatre that was showing it. My CEO mentioned that it was a really good musical but I didn't get a chance to watch it then. Another chance passed us by in New York City in May - the tickets on Broadway were sold out for weeks.

I was pretty thrilled when I found a used copy of the book for US$3 at a bookstore in the Florida Keys a few weeks later, and made a mental note then to return to San Francisco to catch the song-and-dance version of the story before we flew home.

People were all dressed up for the theatre. Well, we wore the best we had.

Following the not-so-yellow carpeted road to the Land of Oz

Our verdict of the musical: Definitely worth catching. Funny, witty and an interesting narrative of how the Wicked Witch of the West got her title. The show doesn't follow the written version completely, which may be a good thing, given the traditional story's unhappy (unhappy for the witch, but not for Dorothy and her friends) ending. Unfortunately, the songs were immensely forgettable. I can only remember one key tune from the song "Defying Gravity" and that's only because the song title is printed on the back of Dan's souvenir t-shirt.

Sitting on the plush blood-red theatre seats, it was hard to believe that just a week before, we were roughing it out on a volcano in Central America and traipsing down the spine of the Andes a few months ago. And now there we were, treating ourselves to a Broadway musical.

I don't think I will ever stop counting our blessings.

USA In Review: Top 5 Beaches

Most of our friends know Dan and me as beach bunnies, sun worshippers and scuba lovers. Most of our holidays during our time together have been either scuba trips with dive buddies or to beach resorts. Getting to know each other on a beautiful beach in Galle, Sri Lanka (with 10 other journalists and travel agents) in February 2004 must have really set the tone for our future vacations together.

Back home on a Saturday afternoon, you can find us gazing at Sentosa (Fort Siloso, to be accurate) and Labrador Park while lazing on our favourite deckchairs, placed right smack between the Keppel Club pool and the sea. On Sunday, we'll be at Carpark F at East Coast Park at 4pm, snapping on our blades, all ready to glide from the Fort Road end to Changi and back. All for the love of the sun.

On this trip, we've experienced a wide range of travel destinations - cityscapes, wintry mountain regions, lush green countryside, red deserts, quaint towns, placid lakes. But there's nothing quite like a warm sunny sandy beach to make us feel right at home.

We had a few opportunities to experience beaches in the USA. For fellow beach-lovers out there, here are some valuable tips from your soon-to-be-broke friends here (but we're still dishing out travel advice FOC! I used to get paid for doing this....)

Evaluation Criteria (this term reminds me of drafting tenders for work... ugh)

1) We actually set foot on the beach. Driving past a beach or looking at it from an elevated viewpoint does not count.

2) The maximum amount of body cover comprises a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Wearing sweats and a jacket to the coast does not qualify as 'going to the beach'. It's called 'freezing while staring at seawater'.

3) It has sand. I've never met a rocky beach that's comfortable for lounging on.


Coming in at No. 5: Golden Gate Recreational Area (San Francisco)

This patch of sand offers a great view of the famous Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands beyond. It was buzzing with activity when we got there - families with kids, and pet owners with their pooches, and is a great place for busybodying. It's really cute to watch the dogs bounding into the waves to fetch a tossed twig. As long as you don't reach out for any random bobbing twig and realise instead that it's a cute doggy turd swimming towards you.

Trekking all the way from the Rockies to find a warm sunny beach?

Welcoming the first beach on our itinerary

Keeping it up at No. 4: Crandon Park (Key Biscayne)

Points for the most quiet and secluded public beach ever. More points for the presence of free natural shade in the form of palm trees. The Atlantic turns an fetching shade of emerald here. The only sounds you hear are that of the waves crashing onto shore, the rustling of palm fronds in the wind and the occasional musical tinkle from the ice-cream van.

You don't have to pay US$10 to rent a beach umbrella here. Not that there's a rental stand anyway.

It's nice to share the beach with other non-human visitors. If we could see them.

Lots of fun in splashing the seabirds which fly so low to the waves

Coming in strong at No. 3: Little Patch Of Sand At The Pelican Cottages (Key Largo)

This sandy pocket attached with our inn. It's not the softest or whitest, but it's all yours, and with comfy deckchairs and a hammock big enough for two. The ocean breeze is the best out there - when it doesn't get too enthusiastic about blowing us off the face of the earth. Need shelter from the rain? Just run back into the cabin!

We've never had a beach all to ourselves before! What a thrill!

That's all the sand there is

Blue is a cool favourite here

A hammock big enough for two

Putting in a close fight for the top spot is No. 2: South 'SoBe' Beach (South Miami Beach)

Tres sexy! Tres sassy! Tres happening! This is where all the good-looking people hang out. The world-famous golden trophy bodies of Miami are displayed for all to see. Plus the top-optional culture here makes sure that there is more to see. Set in Miami's historic art deco district and lined by hip eateries, hotels and boutiques on Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, this is the place to be seen.

Art doesn't come just in the form of toned bodies here. Even the buildings look good.

You can roll all you want in the plentiful white sands here. But that would probably be considered uncool on this hip planet.

Crowded on a weekday!

You NEED a beach umbie here on this shadeless beach

The most beautiful aquamarine water ever

And winning our list of Top 5 Beaches In The USA According To Us And Us Alone is.... *drumroll*....No. 1: Haulover Beach (North Miami Beach)

It's really important to read the signs here.

Nude beach. 'nuff said.

And that's a wrap for the beaches of USA!