Today we were all doing something I had been begging everyone to do since we’d agreed to go to America, a Segway tour of Sausalito. For those not familiar with what a segway is, basically it’s an electrical two wheeled device used to move people around; it’s like a platform with wheels. It’s self balancing, and controlled by leaning slightly forward to go forward, or back to go backwards. To turn left or right you have to push the handles in the appropriate direction. Sounds easy right?
Everyone but Mum had agreed to come. We booked the tour at 11 so we would have enough time to catch a ferry across to Sausalito and eat breakfast first. Mum would catch a later ferry, and meet us in town afterwards. The cafe near where we were meeting our tour guide, Taste of Rome, had a fairly decent review on Yelp so we decided we would have a walk around Sausalito, then have breakfast at the cafe until it was time for our tour. As a bonus, the cafe had free wifi which Amy, Pauline and I happily used on our iphones. I can’t remember much about the cafe other than it was packed, had a lot of cyclists, and had an extremely bossy guy running the show. I got yelled at for standing in the wrong spot to be served, apparently the “line” was on the other side of the room. Well sorry buddy, but maybe make the signage a bit clearer?
We finished our breakfast and headed over to the carpark to wait the final few minutes until the tour started. Amy, Fiona and Aunty Sue sat down on a park bench while being the bogan that I am, sat down on the wooden walkway where I was lucky enough to get two splinters buried deep into my hand and finger (it took me 2 days until I remembered to ask Amy for her tweezers so I could get them out – must remember to take tweezers with me on holidays from now on). Eventually our tour guide arrived, unpacked all the segways, and our tour began.
First up we got training on how to use the Segways. They were laid down on the ground, and to pick them up we merely had to put our foot on the platform, then press down so the handlebars rose up and we caught them. Aunty Sue was first up for training, and she immediately pushed her foot down a bit too fast and was almost overwhelmed by the speed of the handlebars coming to greet her. Typically, we all giggled. After turning on the segway, we then needed to move the handlebars to the centre until the light went green. The lights on the segway showed if the handlebars were too far forward, or to one side etc. Only when it is completely balanced (i.e. green light) are you able to step on. First you put one foot on the platform (the segway will beep to let you know it’s activated the stabilisation system) then you step up with the other foot. Once on, it’s amazing how stable it truly feels!
