The city that felt most like zzx’s.
A PRIVATE ROAD STORY · CALIFORNIA 2026
South Along
the Pacific
Ten Days in California with zzx & wws
01
After they came home
When wws looked back, one thought came first:
how lucky it was to have found someone like zzx.
It was their first trip together, just the two of them.
They hoped it would be the first of many places still ahead—and countless views they would one day share.
zzx × wws · CALIFORNIA 202610 DAYS35 FRAMES01 PACIFIC COAST
The route
Where the road took them
From the streets of San Francisco to the San Diego coast,
zzx and wws kept heading south—until the route began to feel like theirs.
01
TokyoAPR 2802
San FranciscoAPR 28–3003
StanfordAPR 3004
MontereyAPR 3005
Big SurMAY 0106
Los AngelesMAY 02–0507
San DiegoMAY 05–0608
San FranciscoMAY 06–0709
TokyoMAY 07TOKYO → SAN FRANCISCO → STANFORD → MONTEREY → BIG SUR → LOS ANGELES → SAN DIEGO → SAN FRANCISCO → TOKYO
CHAPTER 01SAN FRANCISCO
A little startled, then completely won over
San Francisco made zzx nervous first.
On their second day, a stranger suddenly came in for a fist bump. After that, every walk Downtown had zzx holding close to wws, braced for the next strange encounter.
They joked that zzx was basically a Kardashian: Downtown was best experienced from the safety of a Range Rover.
DELICIOUSDIM SUM
The unexpected favorite
One takeout box meant for the drive became the meal they went back for before leaving California.
They first picked it up on the way to Monterey. Only after opening the boxes in the car did they discover how good the water chestnut cake and sago cake were. When they flew back from San Diego, they made a second trip—and carried the dim sum onto their flight home.
SAN → SF → TYO
REC 00:04:30
FRAME 29
FRAME 09MEMORY / 01
Two hats that said
NERD
On the way from San Francisco to Monterey, they stopped at Stanford. After buying the hats, they turned on the camera and laughed their way through a vlog.
It felt like a silly little moment then. Later, it became one of the first memories wws returned to.
The things between the stops
Not every memory needs a pin on the map.
CHAPTER 02 · BIG SUR
The ocean takes the lead.
The ocean kept returning beyond the windshield.
At McWay Falls,
they finally stepped into the view together.
MAY 01 · PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY
Chapter 03 · Los Angeles
It was easy to see
how much zzx loved it there.
Sunlight, shopping, movies, and the Jeep that carried them south.
Los Angeles became zzx’s favorite city.
THE SHOPPING FIND
SKIMS
zzx found a T-shirt
and a workout tank worth returning for.
MEMORY / 02
No countdown
at the mirror
zzx stood at the mirror fixing their hair. wws lifted the camera from behind.
No pose, no “one, two, three.” That was exactly why the frame felt so much like them.
MAY 04UNIVERSAL
STUDIOS
STUDIOS
They gave the whole day to the movies.
MEMORY / 03
Nothing ahead
but ocean
wws drove. zzx mapped the route, searched for places to pull over, and kept the conversation going.
Music was playing. Just before San Diego, the ocean suddenly filled the view. zzx gasped, reached for a phone, and started filming.
It became the clearest picture of how they traveled together.
Chapter 04 · La Jolla
At the blue end of the road
Once the highway slowed down,
there was only ocean, sea lions, and colors that almost looked unreal.
zzx’s California answers
The things zzx loved,
as wws remembers them
A first draft of zzx’s California answers.The coast appearing again and again beside the road.
Water chestnut cake, sago cake, and every reason to go back.
A T-shirt, a workout tank, and a promise to return.
What made the trip theirs was never any one stop.
wws drove.
zzx turned the distance into the next place to pull over.
wws held the wheel→zzx read the route→They looked for turnoffs→They talked all the way
The travel archive
Ten days, ten chapters
The planning was over; only the route, hotel names, and flight milestones remained.
They became the skeleton the memories still hung on.
DAY 01APR 28Tokyo → San Francisco＋
They landed, picked up the car, and walked into San Francisco together for the first time.
STAY · Club DonatelloDAY 02APR 29San Francisco＋
Steep hills, cable-car tracks, the Golden Gate Bridge, and an afternoon with Monet and Venice.
STAY · Club DonatelloDAY 03APR 30San Francisco → Stanford → Monterey＋
A NERD hat, a very unserious vlog, and the moment Delicious Dim Sum became their instant favorite.
STAY · Sunset Inn Pacific GroveDAY 04MAY 01Monterey → Big Sur → Lompoc＋
Cliffs, coastline, and McWay Falls—where they finally stepped into the view together.
STAY · Hilton Garden Inn LompocDAY 05MAY 02Santa Barbara → Malibu → Los Angeles＋
They kept following the coast south, with the Jeep carrying them from one view to the next.
STAY · Hilton Los Angeles Culver CityDAY 06MAY 03Los Angeles＋
Shopping, SKIMS, and a hotel-mirror photo with no pose and no countdown.
STAY · Hilton Los Angeles Culver CityDAY 07MAY 04Universal Studios Hollywood＋
They handed an entire day over to movies and a theme park.
STAY · Hilton Los Angeles Culver CityDAY 08MAY 05Los Angeles → Carlsbad → La Jolla → San Diego＋
Music in the car, ocean across the windshield, and all the little towns they wanted to revisit slowly.
STAY · Best Western Plus Bayside InnDAY 09MAY 06San Diego → San Francisco＋
They closed out San Diego, then took a short flight back to where the road had begun.
STAY · The Inn at Union SquareDAY 10MAY 07San Francisco → Tokyo＋
One last Delicious Dim Sum run, then they carried the cakes—and all ten days—onto the flight home.
STAY · In flightThe full roll
Travel film · 35
Every frame stays.
Select any photograph to bring it back to full size.
Homebound
Even the billboard felt like an end title.
Dim sum in their carry-on. Photos in the camera. Their first trip together was almost over.
Their first trip together ends here.
Seeing the world together
is only getting started.
zzx × wwsTO BE CONTINUED.
Back to the beginning ↑