Short Trip to San Francisco

Haa..here I am..finally have some time to share with you my business trip to the states.

So after my conference, i extended one more day to have my own private trip to San Francisco. Din dare to extend my private trips any longer as my boss left the states one day earlier than me, so it's not very nice of me to extend for too long. We were in the states for a week plus, close to 2 weeks, so need to go back here to clear any backlog etc.

So anyway...here's my really short trip to San Francisco...

The trip was on 9 Oct, Saturday. Woke up early to catch the 6am bus shuttle service from hotel to the airport. Boss was leaving back to Singapore while me to SFO.

Thank goodness I have a colleague who used to stay long in the states, so he recommended me to a very cheap domestic budget airline. The 2-way trips was about USD$160, very reasonable price =)

It's a free seating and I got to sit near the window and started snapping photos of top view of vegas =) The view was breathtaking =)

Here I was at Oakland. It only took me an hour from Vegas to Oakland, and from Oakland, I took a BART train which only took me about 20 mins to get to SFO's civic centre.

Below are the photos taken from a shuttle bus which took me to the BART station. Another of my colleagues told me that Oakland is rather unsafe, but as far as i experienced, hmm..not really..but i couldn't agree with him more that Oakland is rather looking downtown and poor..

And finally on the BART train..was pretty lucky when a group of tourists and I met one of the Oakland residents at the BART station and she taught us how to purchase the ticket from the ticketing machine. And indeed, the machine system is kinda different from Singapore's ticketing machine, and thank goodness, I have converted my card to debit card, so i can still use it to purchase the tickets there. It was in the states when i realise the importance of credit cards.

Tada, I've reached SFO and goodness me, everything which i have planned initially started to go haywire. i had to purchase an one-day bus pass and the buses which i planned were planned for midnight travel. Thank goodness, i met really nice residents there and they helped me with the directions.

Accidentally walked into the back alley of a street. Thinking that walking on such street in the daylight would not be that dangerous, but i was wrong. The alley was rather filled with poor black americans - the drunk ones, those who just stood around in small groups..and they kept staring at me as I walked past them. i was kinda afraid, especially when i knew i was alone there. So that sudden survival instinct just nudged me to increase my pace and walk out into the main street as soon as possible. It was rather a scaring crucial moment - anything can happen.

so anyway managed to find the right bus, and goodness me, met the most impolite and rather frustrated lady bus-driver. guess almost every passenger who got up her bus had asked her the same question,"Is this bus going to the Palace of Fine Arts/Golden Gate Bridge?" haha..i was not angry but just kinda amused by her attitude.

Love this place..it's the park where the Palace of Fine Arts is situated. the sky was clear, the whole park was quiet and peaceful, and there are rows of houses around the park. I felt like staying there.....

So next stop, to the Golden Gate Bridge! getting there was a terrible experience. Waited for the bus for almost an hour due to the flight week which was on that saturday. Traffic was packed and i was very behind my travel plan. Nevertheless, the Golden Gate Bridge is a must-to-see at SFO.

The Bridge is BREATHTAKING!!!! Love the engineering behind this bridge..one of the greatest engineering project in the world.

Due to the high suicide rate which happened on the bridge, they fenced up the "popular" suicide spots and put up several signs..to kinda warn the person to think before he/she jumps.

Don't know whether this sign "No U turn" is referring to the drivers or to any suicidal victim...

Managed to ask a tourist to help take a photo of me with the bridge. was rather hesitant over it as I was very afraid of my camera to be snatched away..and well, haha..had a good pick - the tourist can take photos pretty well. =)

And there there, again i waited impatiently for the bus to take me to the fisherman's wharf which was my next and final stop. but the bus was taking a long time and with no further hesitation, i grabbed a cab to go to the wharf. i was already very far behind time.

And there i was at the wharf, super crowded with people..!!!! it was fleet week when the sailors had their fleet docked at the wharf and airshows were going on..and goodness me, there was a huge jam at the road of the wharf..totally crowded, i couldn't see much, and i was behind time, i was losing patience.

So before i left the wharf, bought myself a small bowl of clam chowder (highly recommended by my colleague) and the chowder was awesome!!!!!!! the clams were big and fresh, the soup was totally non-MSG..i love it and told myself that i will want to come back here again, to try out their seafood platter here.

The story at SFO was not over yet. By the time when i left the wharf it was already 4pm and i needed to catch the return flight at 6pm to go back vegas.

tried to get on a bus to get me back to the civic centre but it was so jammed up in the traffic that walking can be faster than travelling on the bus.

So what i did in the end, was to get down the bus, put my camera in my backpack, strapped my backpack tightly and i started to run down south to the civic centre.

i don't know how long i have run, but with the map in hand, i just knew i needed to run all the way straight down to the town centre..i ran past the chinatown street, ran past the financial centre when i got almost lost there. i could not find the BART subway as indicated on the map, my watch showed 4.50pm and i was totally desperate for help. I asked a few passersby for direction and they just gave me a reply ,"I don't know".

I was completely devastated..kept thinking that I needed to catch this flight as this was the last flight to get me back to vegas for that day, or else i will need to extend one more day in the states.

At that desperate moment, i found a 24-hour store at the financial centre and quickly approached the staff for help.

And thank goodness!!!! The staff gave me the direction and I managed to find the BART station, returned to take the BART train, grab the BART shuttle bus just in time and reached the Oakland airport at 5.30pm. And I still managed to check in to grab the flight in time.

PHEW.

Haa..well, poor planning, you may think of me. Well, i agree with you. But thinking back, because of my poor planning, i had an extremely extraordinary journey at SFO in exchange. Price of the experience - priceless. =)

So all well, at least i'm glad i managed to grab my flight back home on 10 Oct, which took me almost a day to reach home on the 12th.