In early November, I traveled to San Francisco in partnership with The Cultured Collective and #SFTravel to find out why San Francisco remains one of the happiest citys in America. Before heading up to the City by The Bay, I read that San Francisco had lots of outdoor activities, a world-class museum culture, amazing places to eat, and much more, and I was planning to experience it all. The task was simple; I’d spend the weekend reviewing The Clift, San Francisco, as well as tourist destinations and attractions around the city provided by Smart Destinations Go City Card San Francisco Explorer Pass and San Francisco CityPASS. While I intended to do this all by myself, I quickly realized I couldn’t do it alone, so I enlisted the help of one of my friends who lived in a city nearby.
The truth is, for a City like San Francisco, you can’t take it on alone. Well, you can try, but I find having a friend or two with you will make your experience so much better. While Nunu would have been great to join me on my adventure around the city (just look at her excitement), her human, (my friend) Brandon Anderson has thumbs and can take great photos. By default, I had to bring him instead.
I’m just kidding. As a frequent traveler, I have found that knowing someone local when visiting a new place can dramatically enhance your experience. Brandon agreed to accompany me on a few activities, most of which I have compiled and into the blog post: How To Spend 48 Hours in San Francisco. Another truth I came to learn, is that there’s so much to do in San Francisco and the surrounding area that a weekend wasn’t enough to take advantage of everything #SFTravel had to offer.
The Best Way to Travel Is With A Guide
If you’re like me, you love guided tours at museums, are quick to buy a ticket for the Hop-on Hop-off Red Tour Bus, and impulsively google search “Things to do…” in whatever city you’re about to visit before you arrive. As much as I enjoy the flexibility of just going with the flow or bearing the responsibility of my own travel experience on most of my travels, I thoroughly enjoy learning about a place from someone more informed than me, and or experience a well put together activity by those in charge of your experience. While preparing for my visit to San Fran, I had the perfect guide to rely on considering there was so much I wanted to see and do, #SFTravel. While Brandon proved to be an exceptional travel buddy, we both relied heavily on #SFTravel to chart our daily excursion–thanks CityPASS!
#SFTravel is the is the Official Destination Marketing Organization for the City By The Bay. Whether you’re a first time visitor or a long-time local, their website www.sftravel.com has a wide variety of resources for all things San Francisco. From local guides and recommended sites to pre-arranged Trip Itineraries based on the number of days you’ll be visiting, you won’t regret taking a second, or an hour or two browsing through the site. Given my trip was sponsored by #SFTravel, I was able to browse through their list of Partners and select a few places that stood out to me. I choose a few excellent spots like:
AsiaSF: A San Francisco restaurant icon which boasts the ultimate entertainment experience. Guests enjoy celebrity transgender performers including stars from the American Reality show Transcendent while enjoying a three-course meal with five-star service. AsiaSF was my first stop upon arriving in San Francisco, and I enjoyed it so much, I returned the following night and ran into American writer, TV host, and transgender rights activist, Janet Mock. Be sure to check out my forthcoming blog post about this experience.
Aquarium of the Bay: San Francisco’s popular attraction for all things marine life. From sharks to bat rays, spiny Lumpsuckers and Garibaldis (California’s state fish), to sea stars, anemones, and eye-grabbing river otters, you’ll be sure to leave (if you leave) this place with a smile on your face! Be sure to read about my behind the scenes tour experience with Jack in my blog post: How To Spend 48 Hours in San Francisco. My favorite part of this experience were the jellyfish!
Oakland Museum of California: One of the Bay Area’s best art, history, and science museum. As an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, visitors enjoy one of the most stunning examples of mid-century modernism in California by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kevin Roche. From perusing throughout galleries of California art and extensive garden terraces featuring outdoor sculptures to rolling around in spin-top like chairs in The World of Charles and Ray Eames exhibit, fun would be an understatement describing this experience!
These are a just a few highlights of some of the things I experienced, although my options were limitless thanks to Smart Destinations Go City Card San Francisco Explorer Pass and San Francisco CityPASS. My Explorer Pass served as a digital gateway to 3 attractions and tours from 27 options including the Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Bus Tour, Aquarium of the Bay, Cruises, and more. My CityPASS provided me with a booklet of tickets that allowed me to save on multiple attractions and skip most ticket lines on things like the Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise Adventure and the Exploratorium. Although I didn’t use up all of the attractions on my Explorer Pass or the tickets in my CityPASS, my Explorer Pass is good for one year, and my CityPass is good for nine consecutive days beginning with my first day of use. It’s safe to say I’ll be revisiting San Francisco, and soon.
For a complete review of all of the places I visited during my time in San Francisco, check out my blog post: How To Spend 48 Hours in San Francisco, Coming soon!
Disclaimer: This post has been created in collaboration with #SFTravel and San Francisco CityPass. Images, words and opinions are my own.
Brian Stewart is fun and ambitious traveler. He has traveled to over 16 countries and has visited luxurious hotels and destinations around the world. Brian aims to inspire fellow travelers and everyday people to get out and enjoy life. When he’s not traveling you can find him indulging in a glass of wine, because it’s always Wine O’clock somewhere!
Follow him on Instagram at @whenbriansmiles
