Travellers Chanselize Booysen and Brandon Spearman
Destination San Francisco, California
Dates 23 – 29 May 2014

Reasons for visiting this destination San Francisco was our first stop of top USA destinations to visit: Las Vegas, Nevada, Orlando, Florida and New York, New York. Brandon had never been to the USA before and wanted to see all the greatest USA stops, so we started with San Francisco before we returned to the East Coast to fly home. (Brandon ended up using my dusty pink suitcase [due to unforetold circumstances]. It was hilarious watching this macho man pulling it along ever so gently.)

Our Little Black Book

The first thing travellers should do upon reaching this destination Find your hotel and then go on a hop-on hop-off bus. Find Ihop at the Wharf – best pancakes ever! Local hotels should provide you with a map.

The best place to shop The Wharf, especially the weekend market. We stayed close to union square, which has tons of top brand shops.

The best way to get around Hop-on hop-off bus. You can walk, but there are so many steep ups and downs and after one day your feet will hurt. Tram ride will be $6 per person no matter where you go.

If you want to feel like a local you should… Definitely try Ihop, and the weekend market.

Watch out for… The highest volume of homeless people, but they mostly leave you alone.

Don’t leave without… Having a Starbucks start to a day, they are cheap and everywhere. The air is wonderfully fresh, so early morning walks around the city are great. (There is almost no smog or car fumes as the city buses run on electrical cables [above them].) Also, a walk on the wharf, from the ferry house/station all the way past fisherman’s wharf is wonderful.

Insider tip I downloaded the TripAdvisor city guide onto my phone (offline version) and saved all the tourist locations we wanted to visit, before we left home. Take tons of patience, cash and warm clothes! We went at the start of summer. It was very busy and very expensive. Apparently, San Francisco temperatures don’t differ much from season to season – and I was cold the whole time.