Pacific Coastal Highway, California: a deep nostalgia

People have pleasant memories about things they have done for the first time. Even if it’s been long time ago.
Hence, here I am sharing experience about my first international travel through photographs that I clicked from my Canon EOS 1000D.

Travelling to idyllic destination like Pacific Coastal Highway in California makes it special. But, when you travel for the first time by an international flight route of thirty hour duration with two halts to a place of big surf, different seasons in a day and long winding roads; the whole travelling experience becomes one of a kind.

In summer of 2013, I decided to take a short break from work and hastily booked tickets to meet my friends whom I haven’t met in many years. But due to last minute booking I didn’t get tickets for flight with short duration of halt.
So, I had to travel from Mumbai’s international airport to San Francisco’s international airport by changing flight at London’s Heathrow airport and later at New York’s JFK international airport.
Hence, the immigration officer at JFK international airport had a good laugh on my answer for their typical questions like where from where to? He was baffled by my choice of flight route.

After reaching San Francisco, I had to take a few days break to recover from jet lag which I had never experienced before in my life. But I thought all this pain might be worth it when my journey of Pacific Coastal Highway started from an unknown suburb of Union City close to San Francisco.

And voilà! my thoughts were well supported by the beauty of the destination exemplified by a labyrinth of long straight highways, meandering roads and valleys bordering the Pacific Ocean.

As the journey unfolded many unknown places along the journey sprung up surprises like this cute host welcoming me with a ‘namaste’.

Nature’s sculpting skills also became conspicuous throughout the drive.

Man-made wonders like Bixby Creek bridge helped me reach the undiscovered.

But, as welcoming nature can be we should respect it’s privacy and limits. I found this out when tried to go closer to the tired colony of seals who need rest at the end of the day. They just seem to be annoyed by my presence.

Finally, I was treated with mesmerising sunset that graced the beach.
After experiencing the aura of Pacific Coastal Highway, I felt that sometimes it’s great to step aside from the rat race and let the world pass by.