Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Assuming you aren’t renting a car (you don’t need to), here’s how I would break it up by day (in any order, but just lump these things together because they’re closer). I’ve included a couple things you COULD do with a car, and packed the days up beyond what you can actually achieve in a day, but these things all make sense to do in the same day (as in, if you’re trying to maximize your time, I wouldn’t do day 1 stuff with day 2 stuff, for example).

Transit is really good, so you can take the train/bus/ferry mostly anywhere. Load up a clipper card to make it easy.

DAY 1
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Sausalito
- Muir National Monument
- Point Bonita Lighthouse (some nice trails in the area)
- Baker Beach
- Palace of Fine Arts
- Point Reyes Lighthouse (if you have a car)
- Hog Island Oysters (near PR, again if you have a car)

DAY 2 (1.5 days maybe?)
- Alcatraz
- Fisherman’s Warf/Pier 39 (I hate this area but you’re there anyway if you’re doing Alcatraz so might as well have a look)
- Coit Tower
- Lombard Street
- Chinatown
- City Lights Bookstore
- Ferry Building
- SF MOMA (highly recommended)
- Oracle Park Tour
- (if you’re into live music, worth trying to see a show at the Fillmore, Orpheum, or Warfield)

DAY 3
- The Castro
- Haight Ashbury (worth a quick stroll just to see but kinda whatever)
- La Taqueria in Mission (get a burrito)
- Golden Gate Park (this could be a whole day by itself, includes the following:
- Japanese Tea Garden
- De Young Museum
- California Academy of Sciences
- Windmills)

Depending on what you like, there are also a crazy amount of food options and bar/lounge options to close out the night.

There is also a ferry that goes between a lot of spots in the bay. Doesn’t take too long and gives you some nice views. Might be worth taking the Ferry to Jack London Square in Oakland, exploring for an hour or so, and taking the Ferry back.

No tour through the Tenderloin on Day 2? For shame

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

No tour through the Tenderloin on Day 2? For shame

If you did that, there wouldn't be a Day 3.

[bizaro86]

I like PepsiFree's list. I'd add take a Waymo for one of his "drive" choices. They're self driving Jaguar EVs. Approximately the same price as Uber (and you don't tip), and it sort of feels like living in the future. I also thought they were driven more safely than the average Uber.

[GranteedEV]

re: san francisco

i'm in the bay area that week too, I'm curious if there's any preferred way to get good shots of the bay bridge. my understanding is that it's not too pedestrian friendly unlike the golden gate but i'm very intruiged

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

DAY 3
- The Castro
- Haight Ashbury (worth a quick stroll just to see but kinda whatever)
- La Taqueria in Mission (get a burrito)
- Golden Gate Park (this could be a whole day by itself, includes the following:
- Japanese Tea Garden
- De Young Museum
- California Academy of Sciences
- Windmills)

I'd throw Delores park in there while you're in the Mission. Grab some beer or wine, sit on the grass and look at the skyline and people watch for a bit.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

re: san francisco

i'm in the bay area that week too, I'm curious if there's any preferred way to get good shots of the bay bridge. my understanding is that it's not too pedestrian friendly unlike the golden gate but i'm very intruiged

You can get some cool angles from Treasure Island. You can take a ferry for $5 and you'll get some good views on the way there and back as well.

[ah123]

My wife is heading to France next week and looking at eSIM options. Anyone have experience with Nomad eSIM? Is Aerolo better?

[btimbit]

I've never used Nomad, but Airalo was simple and worked great

[Dodsdomd]

Originally Posted by ah123

My wife is heading to France next week and looking at eSIM options. Anyone have experience with Nomad eSIM? Is Aerolo better?

I just used Ubigi in Japan. Easy to purchase and setup. Great coverage, zero issues.

Looks like they have a France 30 day 10gb for 9usd. 30 day 25gb for 19usd if she needs lots of juice.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by ah123

My wife is heading to France next week and looking at eSIM options. Anyone have experience with Nomad eSIM? Is Aerolo better?

I’ve used Nomad in Mexico and Aerolo in Northern Europe. Both worked well for me, but my son said the the Nomad in Mexico kind of sucked.

[chemgear]

wtf

https://calgaryherald.com/news/calga...rks-complaints

Calgary airport officials considered runway shutdown amid flurry of fireworks complaints

Calgary police are investigating eight fireworks complaints after fielding more than 150 related noise and safety calls that included concerns about air travel Friday night.

At one point the fireworks’ proximity to the Calgary International Airport led officials there to consider shutting down an active runway.

[Johnny199r]

1st day in San Fran. Cool city and the tales of massive amounts of methed out homeless people taking craps on the sidewalk was also true.

[Cappy]

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

I haven't but my mom has three or four times in the last two years. It is pretty much no frills but reliable so she doesn't complain.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

Yeah, it was fine. We used it between Calgary and Frankfurt last summer. No real issues other than the meal service being pretty meh.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I'd throw Delores park in there while you're in the Mission. Grab some beer or wine, sit on the grass and look at the skyline and people watch for a bit.

I took your suggestion. Cool spot.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

We flew to YYC-FRA last spring, they were fine. I've flown WestJet and KLM transatlantic in the past year and I'd say the service level was comparable (in economy) in my opinion. Seating on their aircraft (A330) is 2-4-2 compared to 3-3-3 for both WS and KLM which is very attractive depending on how many are in your group.

Seamless transfers with Lufthansa to/from Frankfurt. Only other item of note is they operate out of the C gates at Frankfurt which is a pretty long walk to Lufthansa's gates.

[marsplasticeraser]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

We got aeroplan reward business class with them to Frankfurt and it was fine, though I'm ok with any business class just to get more space to spread out and sleep.

But it was probably the worst business class I've been on in a while.

It was a seriously old plane and seats. And the Entertainment was terrible and the in-seat plug didn't work for my wife and I.

So if you go download your own movies and bring your own power bank.

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Anyone fly with Discover Airlines.

Appears to be the discount version of Lufthansa which took most of their routes in Canada. from my review it seems ok?

It's the "leisure" version of Lufthansa as they like to call it, Air Canada codeshares on the route and they pretty much handle all their ground ops here (boarding, baggage, catering, etc...) It's fine to fly, nothing wrong with the flight, only thing is I find meals a bit smaller than on long haul flights with Air Canada, about the same size as the trans Atlantic flights on WestJet.

If you're connecting in Frankfurt and you have to clear customs to enter the Schengen Area, good luck. If you're not sitting in the front of the plane, the wait for customs in Frankfurt can be looooooong!

[sa226]

Any recommendations for San Diego with 3 kids under 5?

Holy crap there are a lot of things to do, it seems everyone has a generic list, just wondering if anyone has some personal experiences like "avoid sea world at all costs, its gross" or "the aircraft carrier is really cool, but don't bother dragging a 3 year old through it" or "Our kids just loved playing on Coronado beach" or "Do the zoo, but skip the safari park"

Stuff like that, we've done San Diego before, but never with kids. It'll be early December so i'm sure there will be some good Christmas fare as well.