Kaʻiulani and her father Cleghorn sailed from Southampton to New York on October 9, 1897. After a brief stay at the Albemarle Hotel in New York, the two traveled to Washington, DC, to pay their respects to Queen Liliʻuokalani, who was staying at Ebbett House in the US capital to lobby against annexation. Afterward, Kaʻiulani and Cleghorn took a train heading west and reached San Francisco on October 29 where they stayed at the Occidental Hotel. During her travels across the United States, many journalists interviewed her, although her father made sure to shield her from topics of politics. Many detractors of the monarchy had painted a negative image of Hawaiians, especially of Kaʻiulani and her aunt Liliʻuokalani. However, interviews with the Hawaiian princess dispelled these rumors. A journalist of San Francisco's "The Examiner" wrote, "A barbarian princess? Not a bit of it ..Rather the very flower — an exotic — of civilization. The Princess Kaʻiulani is a charming, fascinating individual." According to historian Andrea Feeser, the contemporary portrayals of Kaʻiulani were "shaped by race and gender stereotypes, and although they aimed to be favorable, they granted her no authority" with emphasis placed on her Caucasian features, Victorian manners, feminine fragility and exoticism.