Thing to Do
Created by Jeff and Emily
Trip to San Fransisco
Fri 02/15/08 (day 1)
Trip to San Francisco - Day 1
Other Journals
* Boston
* Seattle
Overview
This was a trip we had been looking forward to making for awhile. We had planned on going to a conference in San Francisco in the summer, but we had a change of plans and decided since we weren't going over summer, we'd go ahead this spring. We went with some friends this time, which was alot of fun. This was definitely a sightseeing trip and we packed as much in as we could. As always, we try to do as much as possible, as cost-effective as we can. If you're looking for luxury, our journals may not help you.
Day 1
We arrived in San Francisco about 2pm. We went for a quick bite to eat once we got to the hotel and then headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf area, arriving at around 3:30pm. One recommendation for anyone is to avoid the taxis!! We were staying in South San Francisco, not too far out of town. For a 15 minute drive it cost us $55. I think we expected it to be like New York where you can get just about anywhere on the island for a reasonable amount. Needless to say, we learned the local subway and trolley system pretty quick. Although it took an extra hour to get in and out of town, it was $25 cheaper. Here is the website. It's a little confusing and definitly not as easy to find information as New York and Boston's transit system website, but financially worth it.
The first day was just to look around and get our bearings. Do a little sightseeing. Plus, we wanted to go buy some Go Card passes. These are cards that are somewhat of an all-inclusive to a number of sightseeing events. We found them to be a pretty good deal. We spent $65 each for a two day pass and figured it would have cost about $100 to do everything we did. Keep in mind, we also did a number of attractions, simply because they we're included in the package. For the most part, we were pleased. But we did have one problem with it. We'll get to that later.
Here is our number one suggestion. If you decide to get a Go Card, order it before you go. This is the website . There is one simple reason. If you plan to go to Alcatraz, you MUST book ahead. If you wait till the day you get there to book a spot to go to Alcatraz, whether you get the Go Card or not, you will almost definitly not get one. We are a luck example of this. We called at 2pm on Friday. They had no spots for Friday or Saturday, but 50 for Sunday. We had no Go Card, so within an hour and a half, we got down town and bought one for each of us. By this time, they were completely sold out through Tuesday!! Alcatraz is unquestionably difficult to get to. We lucked out in that we called over to Go Card and got a really helpful person, who found us the last 4 tickets to Alcatraz on Sunday, which were set aside for people who buy Go Cards. This alone made it worth it.
Once we had tickets, we used the rest of the day to look around the Fisherman's Wharf and see some of the free sights.
Fisherman's Wharf - Everything is located around here. This is the first place to go in San Francisco, as almost everything you'll want to see is near here. We looked on the website before we went and thought this would be a waster of time, as we'd never heard of any of the stores. However, it was really interesting to look around. Although expensive, especially if you're looking to eat.
The Cannery - We read alot on this. This is touted as a "must-see." Unless we missed something, there wasn't a whole lot to see. We didn't even really go in. Day 1 overall was alot of fun, especially for not really spending any money. However, it was alot colder than we expected, especially according to the forecast. I suspect being right on the water had something to do with that. The first day was a great chance to see the heart and soul of San Francisco. San Francisco Car Show - We didn't end up going in. It was going to be $5 a piece for 4 of us and figured we'd have better ways of spending our money. But they had a lot of really nice cars out front too.
Musee Mechanique - Okay, this was a free museum. We were told it was "carnival" type museum, but it was free, so what did we have to lose. It was right there beside the Wharf. Incredibly, this may have been one of the most fun things to do. They had tons of old coin operated machines, they had all the old arcade games (i.e. San Francisco Rush, NFL Blitz, etc) and some really cool coin operated bowling. To top that, they had the Hockey game you play with the flippers. Think foosball, but with hockey and you can move the players around. Made this Canadian boy very happy. Turned out to be one of the most fun stops of the whole trip!
Ghirardelli Square - Similar to the Cannery. It was cool where to see where they used to make Ghirardelli chocolate and they give out free samples at the store there. But unless you're going into their restaurant, there isn't a whole lot else there.
Planned Activities
Fri 02/15/08 (day 1) - San Francisco
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Shopping
Sat 02/16/08 (day 2) - San Francisco
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Shopping
Sun 02/17/08 (day 3) - San Francisco
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SF native here ! Just wanted to let you know. Parking in SF can be a little difficult. If your staying in the downtown area look into public transportation, buses (muni), BART, cabs, and not to mention the famous cable cars ! So you may not need to rent a car for the entire 11 day trip. But then again again it depends on what your wanting to do. Hope this helps. Have a great trip !!!