Take the family to San Francisco

I am traveling to San Francisco (+ Los Angeles), USA from July 28 to August 3.My husband had to work in San Francisco, so as soon as he was done, my two daughters and I would join him.I had made it into my schedule. I hadn't been to the U.S. since I was a student, so it had been 14 to 15 years since I had been there... Time flies.

From my parents in advance.'Can I really go to America with a four-year-old and a one-year-old on my own!'They were quite worried about me, and in the end, my parents followed me to the airport to see me off. At first I said, "Oh, no, it's not that big of a deal... I'm sure they'll be fine," but I'm really glad they came along...

As for entering the U.S., it seems that security has become much stricter these days.You'd have to get ESTA in advance, andWhen checking in for an airplane, you need to enter the name and address of the hotel, etc.(I got my tickets through Expedia)I had to deal with a lot of troublesome situations. At such times, I was glad to have my parents watching my wandering children...

Checked in without incident, baggage checked, through the departure gate, came to the international boarding gate for the first time in a while, and there was a space for the kids to play!(And no one was playing.)We didn't have anything like this before - I wonder how long it has been there.

Arriving safely in San Francisco!

The flight schedule was a little later than scheduled, but the plane took off safely without the effects of the storm and arrived in San Francisco after a short 10-hour flight.(I still almost didn't sleep.)When you get there, thanks to Softbank's unlimited US service.(I didn't specifically apply in advance or anything)My phone was connected and I was able to meet up with my husband without any problems.I thought the rental car this time was a GLS, but it was not, it was a Toyota "4runner".(GLS is a rental car they rent in Los Angeles.) By its real name, it's a Toyota Hilux Surf. It was my first time to drive it, and the ride was more comfortable, spacious, and pleasant than I expected.

We arrived at the hotel and spent a half day relaxing yesterday, with the real sightseeing starting today.During this trip, I was going to take pictures of all the Porsches I met in the US.（What are you doing there?)I would also like to visit the Porsche Experience Center in Los Angeles if possible, and I will blog about that later.

In fact, we were supposed to be guided on this trip by Mr. N, a business associate of my husband's who used to live in San Francisco, and yesterday on the way to the hotel by car, he told us that he was going to visit a friend of his who used to live in San Francisco.I was able to learn a lot about the car situation in San Francisco.I didn't know that! I learned a lot, and I also noticed some things when I saw the cars actually running. For example...

Car Situation in San Francisco

(1) Toll roads and roads with a limited number of people on the highway.

The freeway has aThe leftmost lane is a toll road called Express LaneIn some places, the police will find a car that has been registered as a "car with a special registration device". Only vehicles equipped with special registration equipment are allowed to drive in these lanes, and if they are caught by the police, they will be fined. In addition to the toll lanes, there are alsoCarpool LaneThere is also one called This is also located in the leftmost lane and can only be driven if there are at least two or three people in the car. If you are driving normally, you will be fined as well.

(2) Almost no one drives slow on the highway.

On the highway, theEveryone was running at about 120-130 km/h normally.Our car was going 60 mph (almost 100 km/h), but it was being passed by cars following us. When we drove on the autobahn in Germany before, there was a clear difference between slower and faster cars.(If a fast car comes up behind you, you'll all be killed.)But everyone in America is fast. I wonder if everyone is in such a hurry (laughs).
But there are about four lanes, and the lanes are wide.Easier to drive at speed than on Japanese highwaysMaybe. I also think the autobahn was a worse road.(But the straight line was more on the Autobahn, I think.)

(iii) Clean car

In my image of American cars, I had only imagined them to be sloppy and very dirty.(Image of foreign drama)Mr. N said that in the past, there were many cars in San Francisco that were sloppy with dust and dirt, but nowadays, many people buy new cars on loan.(I hear the U.S. is a loan society, which is also a social problem)He said that more and more families are driving beautiful cars.

(4) Many Honda Civics.

I don't know Civic well enough to recognize it at first glance. I don't know Civic well enough to recognize it.My husband says, "Oh, another Civic!" "Oh, here's another Civic!" I've seen so many Civics, I'm starting to want a Civic! LOL!"and Civic was mentioned a lot, so I knew that there were so many Civics - so many Civics. In Japan, only a limited edition Civic Type R was available from 2010 to 2016, and I don't think we see that many of them.(But I have a feeling there are a lot of people who like Civics)I also heard that the number of Japanese cars made in the North American market is quite large, and there were usually many Japanese cars on the road.

(5) Many Hyundai/BMW

The other thing I often saw was BMWs, although there were a lot of Mercedes-Benzes as well.There were many BMWs running from SUVs to sedans.I guess there were a lot of Audi's - I don't know.Also, there are a lot of Hyundais running around, which you almost never see in Japan.At first I thought it was a Honda because of the "H" emblem, but upon closer inspection, I was surprised to see that it was not. I was surprised.

However, I haven't been to the center of San Francisco yet, so I guess things may be different if I drive in different places. By the way, I saw only 4 Porsches so far (Boxster, Panamera, new Panamera, and Macan). I brought my SLR camera to take a lot of pictures, but so far I have only taken a few with my iPhone...

So today I'm off to do some serious sightseeing!