Bicycle Touring Around The World: Arriving in the USA

My latest bicycle touring around the world update, arriving in the USA. Auckland to San Francisco. New Zealand to the United States of America. In San Francisco. Groundhog Day! I arrived in San Francisco half an hour before I left Australia! Very strange, but I’m now in country number nineteen.

First impressions of America, the customs officers at the airport weren’t friendly! No sooner had I stepped off the plane than customs officials were shouting and yelling at everybody to show their passports, and they certainly weren’t polite about it! And that’s before they knew about me not having an onward flight, which I was supposed to have!

After queuing for nearly an hour to get to the immigration desk, I was then refused entry and had to go for an interview, which involved more hanging around. Eventually, I was taken into this small room and interrogated. I mean, interviewed. The customs officer asked me where I was going and if I had enough money to cover my stay in America. He then gave me a lecture about not getting an outbound flight before coming to America. And that he really shouldn’t be letting me into the country. But on this occasion, he would!

At The Hotel

I got a taxi from the airport to my hotel, which was about fifteen miles away near Union Square. A lovely old-fashioned hotel over seven floors, and I was right at the top. My first job to keep myself busy and awake was to reassemble my bike. And I had the bike fully assembled in less than an hour. I’m getting good at that now.

After getting my bike back together, I went out for a walk to try and get my bearings. I only had a short walk before returning to the hotel for something to eat and drink. As I was eating my supper, I could feel myself nodding off. I hadn’t slept on the plane, and I think it was starting to catch up with me. Luckily, I soon found some people to bore with my story, first an Aussie from Perth who was here on business. Then, an American lady from Los Angeles who was here with her mother.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey around the world
• Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
• Tour page: Ride overview

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.