Have you been to San Jose and Santa Cruz? If you don’t drive a car, you would think that you couldn’t go there. However, you can! I am proof that I have been there without a car driving by myself. Let me know how to go there by train! First, you have to go to the Caltrain station which is located east of San Francisco. You can buy a paper ticket or buy a clipper card. Buying with a clipper card is cheaper than a paper ticket, so use your clipper card! At first, if you tap your clipper card, it will cost more than 13 dollars, but if you tap again after leaving the train it will refund about 4 dollars. So, it costs about 10 dollars! Also, if you visit the Caltrain website, you can find train schedules and choose your time. If you take a train, you will ride for more than 1 hour and you will arrive at San Jose Torridon Station. You arrive in San Jose so easily! I went to San Jose and Santa Cruz for one night and two days. On the first day, I headed to Santa Cruz right away by bus. If you get out of the San Jose Caltrain station, you could get on the 17 express highway bus to Santa Cruz. They don’t accept a clipper card or our student ID, so pay for cash or tickets which are bought by application. It costs 7 dollars. I went to the pasta restaurant in Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz, many Italian Americans live there, so there are many delicious Italian restaurants, I think. You can enjoy real Italian Carbonara and Vongole, of course coffee too. After having lunch, I headed to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I could go there by just walking. It is a beach called Santa Cruz and I thought I have to go there because I’m visiting Santa Cruz! The beach was large and peaceful. Nearby the beach, there was a small theme park with a casino. There were roller coasters, a pirate ship ride, gondola and so on. Many families visited there with their kids, because they could spend time with them. My friends and I took a gondola and drank some juice. I took an Uber and went to Shark’s Fin Cove which has some nice cliffs and a beach. We spent more than one hour in Shark’s Fin Cove. We could see a couple who took a wedding photo. It means that the place has a really good landscape. The cliff looked like a shark's fin and there was a small cave where waves came through. You will enjoy the view. I took Uber again and headed to San Jose. I know that it could be quite long and expensive riding, but Shark’s Fin Cove was quite out of the way so there was no other way. I visited Haidilao in Cupertino. It is a famous hot pot restaurant in Korea and China. My friends and I really wanted to eat a nice hot pot, so we chose to go there. The hot pot was really cool. We enjoyed lots of vegetables, meats and fishes. I highly recommend that you should try fish. There are no bones, and it will melt in your mouth. We reserved a hotel in Cupertino and there are many business hotels in Cupertino, because many people visit San Jose to visit Silicon Valley. You could reserve nice hotels easily with affordable prices. So, the first day has come to an end.
Day 2
The second day was a shopping day. Before going to the shopping mall, we visited a delicious brunch place. It was called “Bloom” and there were many people, so we had to wait for 30 minutes. We thought that 30 minutes is a long time to eat brunch, but it wasn’t. It deserved to wait a long time, because the food was so tasty. I could see many people who live there visit the place and it means that it is proved by them. After having lunch, I went to the great mall which is a large outlet mall. The mall was really huge and there were lots of clothes. If you walk around the mall diligently, you will be able to buy a lot of pretty and cheap clothes. My recommendation is Levis! I think that they sold nice jeans at a low price. We looked around the mall for more than 3 hours and took an Uber again to go to Westfield Valley which is the mall too. The great mall was an outlet which sold at a reasonable price, but Westfield Valley was kind of a department store which sold fancy things. The reason that we went there was because we wanted to see Gentle Monster, a glasses brand, which is not in SF. There were many good glasses and sunglasses which were quite expensive. Also, you could enjoy looking around lots of brands which were not in the great mall. If you like shopping, there will be a paradise for you. We took an Uber because it was time to go back home. The station and the department store are close when you take a taxi, so I called Uber again. The method that came back to SF is the same as going to San Jose. Take a Caltrain which is heading to San Francisco. The cost is also the same. We fell asleep right away after taking a train and woke up just before arriving. It was late to take a bus, so we took an Uber again to go to our dorm. This is the end of my journey to San Jose and Santa Cruz. I know that I took lots of Uber and taxi fares accounted for 40% of travel expenses, in fact. However, I think that this is the best way to visit San Jose and Santa Cruz without renting a car and driving ourselves. Also, if you are an international exchange program student, you should visit San Jose and Santa Cruz, because you are in SF! Living here is a good opportunity to visit there, so I hope you don't miss it and have a good trip using Caltrain. Hope you enjoy your trip!