Hope you all started the New Year well? We sure did.

As we said good-bye to 2018, it was time to start thinking about our upcoming travel plans for 2019.

Thanks to different annual leave schedules (one by tax year, one by calendar year), every year Mr T and I end up with a week’s worth of annual leave that needs to be taken in the first three months of the year. So what to do and where to go? Last year we went to New York end of January, the year before it was a week in Normandy in February.

Our first idea this year was to go to Snowdonia for a week in March, to pack hiking boots and bikes and have a relaxing yet sporty week, ideally in a comfortable spa hotel in a scenic spot somewhere in-between coast and national parks.

Which would be great, if you could guarantee good weather. If we end up with a week of rain (and lets face it, this is a big possibility in the middle of March) it wouldn’t be quite so great.

So the other week I just happened to roam a little through the British Airways website on the hunt for offers and stumbled across a good deal for return flights to San Francisco for less than £400 for the two of us. Mmhhh… San Francisco versus Wales? No-brainer to me.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Wales and I was actually looking forward to Snowdonia. But I am even more excited by the prospect of going to San Francisco.

We always wanted to go and see San Francisco, yet in our mind it was always part of another US road trip, combining it with Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Gran Canyon and Yosemite Park (not necessarily in that order obviously).

So should we do Frisco as a separate trip? Or should we postpone and do the road trip later in the year instead?

The more I thought about it, the more I really really wanted to go. It might have taken Mr T a little longer to warm to the idea, but eventually he was on board and we decided to go ahead and book the trip for March.

So here we are. Flight and hotel booked, six nights in San Francisco to look forward to.

And enough time beforehand to read my guidebook, spend hours on travel blogs and Pinterest to find the best that San Francisco has to offer and put together our itinerary for the week. Oh and get over the fact of having to endure an 11 hour flight to get there (yep, he has already started moaning about it).

So what is there to see and do in San Francisco?

I mean there are the classics that will absolutely have to go onto our itinerary (well on everyone’s itinerary really):

• Golden Gate Bridge
• Golden Gate Park
• Alcatraz
• Lombard Street
• Cable Cars

We have already agreed on hiring bikes for the day and exploring the city (and crossing Golden Gate Bridge) that way. What I haven’t decided yet is whether I am spending a little extra to hire myself an electric bike instead (just to level the playing field a little, since Mr T is much more into biking than I am).

And we are toying with the idea of a day trip. Yosemite would be great, but I am a little unsure if that really is worth it for just one day (after all it is a 3 to 4 hour drive one way, doesn’t really seem the best use of an entire holiday day). But maybe Nappa Valley?

Over to you.

What needs to go onto our perfect San Francisco itinerary?

What places do we need to visit?

And most importantly what should we eat in San Francisco? Is there a local dish that you absolutely must try? Like bagels in New York and cheesesteak in Philly? Please don’t let it be a fish dish though.