Category Archives: Trip Reports

San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 2: Hollywood Cafe Breakfast, SF Half Marathon, Lombard Street, and Sea Lions

This is part 2 of my short weekend trip to San Francisco.  Please check out Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review to see the first half of my trip report.  As I mentioned in part 1, our room was overlooking the Hollywood Cafe, a small family run restaurant with crowds always waiting outside.

Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Window View

On Sunday morning, we were looking for a place to get breakfast and Yelp told us the best place within walking distance was the Hollywood Cafe, how convenient…

Hollywood Cafe Yelp

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review

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San Francisco Weekend Trip – Part 1: Cable Car Ride and Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel Review

Good evening everyone, this is a short trip report from my short weekend trip to San Francisco with my parents.  If you like pictures of cable cars and inside hotel rooms, this post is for you.  In part 2, I will share some of the other activities I did in San Francisco.  First off, I’ve wanted to ride a cable car for as long as I knew what a cable car was.  I finally got the chance to take a ride from the Powell Street BART Station down to Taylor Street, which is a few blocks from the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf.  Taking the BART from SFO to Powell Street took about 30 minutes and cost $8.65 per person, each way.  The cable car ride lasted about 20 minutes and cost $6 per person, each way.

Cable Car Route Powell Street to Fisherman's Wharf

When you exit the Powell Street BART Station, you will see a big wooden turntable where the cable cars turn around.  Line up behind everyone else and wait for your turn to ride.  We waited about 25 minutes, but the time went by quickly since there were many street performers entertaining us nearby.  You buy your ticket when you board, $6 cash, no credit cards.

SF Cable Car Turntable1

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Marathon Man: “Manufactured Spending is like Card Counting” and my #WestCoastDo Thoughts

Card Counting Casino

Marathon Man: “Manufactured Spending is like Card Counting” and my #WestCoastDo Thoughts

Don’t worry Marathon Man, your secrets are safe. The one thing you said that I will share is, “manufactured spending is like card counting.” That is such a great analogy that fits perfectly.  Just like card counting, MS is not illegal, but it is definitely frowned upon.  The comparison to MS is wonderful.  After catching up on some sleep, I have a few points I want to share about the #WestCoastDo and the other travel conferences I have attended.

1 – First off, great job to Matt @ Saverocity for putting together and pulling off a great travel conference.  I am sure those in attendance would agree.  The lunch was fabulous and the extended happy hour was much appreciated. Thanks for all the hard work, time, and money you spent on this conference.  You da’ man!

2 – Uber is great in Phoenix/Scottsdale.  I used Uber a few times to get to/from my Holiday Inn Express hotel (please don’t screw me over Into the Nights) as well as to get to the airport.  There are lots of drivers at all hours of the day and night.

Uber in PHX

3 – George @ Travel Blogger Buzz is much nicer in person.  I have been a long time reader and friend of George, but this was the first time meeting him in person.  He is very nice, funny, and just fun to hang out with.  He shared his thought on #WestCoastDo here.

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iPhone 5 / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus Lightning Cable Adapter for iHome and Older Accessories

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iPhone 5 / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus Lightning Cable Adapter for iHome and Older Accessories

Most of the hotels I have stayed at lately have an iHome alarm / clock / radio / docking station near the bed.  These were great when you had an iPhone 2G / 3G / 3GS / 4 / 4S since they all used the same 30 pin connector.  Unfortunately, Apple replaced the old 30 pin charging connector with an 8 pin lightning connector on their new iPhone 5 / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus, leaving millions of iHomes behind.  (See how sad the iHome looks without an 8 pin connector?)

Hotel iHome

Back home, I have an old iHome alarm / clock / radio / docking station near my bed.  I did not want to replace the entire iHome just because Apple released a new iPhone, so I found a way to compromise: keep my old iHome and charge my new iPhone…

iHome Standalone

To read the whole article, please click here.

Trains and Buses from Orange County to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Diego International Airport (SAN)

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Trains and Buses from Orange County to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Diego International Airport (SAN)

This post was inspired by my recent Amtrak trip from Seattle to Los Angeles on the Coast Starlight (link).  I was curious if/how it were possible to get from Los Angeles Union Station to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  After doing some research, I found out how to get to LAX from Orange County.  Then I figured out how to get to San Diego International Airport (SAN) from Orange County.  There are several airports in SoCal, but I did not look into flights out of Long Beach (LGB), Burbank (BUR), Santa Barbara (SBA), Ontario (ONT), San Diego McClellan-Palomar (CLD), or Palm Springs (PSP).  This particular post is probably only useful for SoCal readers, but the thinking process can probably be applied to many other regions of the country.

To start, I looked at the Pacific Surfliner Amtrak train route.  Since the train travels between San Diego and San Luis Obispo several times per day, you can probably use this train to get to and from LAX and SAN.

LAX Union Station to Irvine to San Diego

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