So, I'm going to San Francisco for 5 days next week and someone recommended I stay at hostel instead of a fleabag motel. The rates are $28 bucks a night for a semi-private room and they have parking available too so I'm considering it since I'll be out on the town for most of the time I'm there.


Anyone have any experiences doing this? Should I superglue my butthole closed while I'm town?

Oh, and if any SF Obners want to go out and hang I'd be up for that, just PM me. I've already planned to get together with some the folks at lala who were gracious enough to give me some recommendations and take me out to dinner.

Here are some of my tentative plans so far:

Tour the University of San Francisco
Afternoon hike in Muir national park
Riding the trolley
Chinatown
The Haight/Mission area walking and exploring
Golden Gate Bridge viewing
Pier 39, teh walruses
San Francisco Beer Company
SF Taqueria
MoMA modern art museum
Amoeba/Rasputin
Japanese gardens at Golden Gate Park
The Shins (if I can even get a ticket)
A's vs Yankees in Oakland (again, if I can get a ticket...no SF home games that week!)
bike ride?
monger

Nah, they're fine. Full of drunk aussies, likely. How old are you? Over thirty the kids start to think of you as 'that old guy.'

Yeah, over 30 but with the long hair they'll probably mistake me for a panhandler/bum so hopefully if I do this, they'll all leave me alone.

What, no couches to crash on?

What is with this Obner aversion to real accommodations?

there was a great article in the NYT recently (in the past few months) entitled "affordable san francisco" that talked about some hotels. The hostel thing is just kind of sad.

I stayed in a hostel in DC for a week once and it was fine. It was nothing fancy, but it was nice enough and you get to meet a bunch of other people traveling. I wouldn't worry about safety issues.

A good frined of mine who's been traveling all over the world for over 25 years now tends to stay in a lot of hotels now, but when he was younger, he pretty much always stayed in hostels to save money and never had a bad experience. And, since he would often be traveling to far away places on his own, he loved staying in them to meet other travelers.

See, this is the reason why I'm considering this. The place is also excellently located to where I want to go.

If I'm traveling with my family I don't even blink at shelling out big money for nice accommodations and expensive meals but because I'm going by myself I feel like I just don't need to stay at a $150 dollar a night hotel if I'm just using the place to sleep.

Yeah, staying in a nice hotel by yourself is either a waste of money (never there) or depressing. Backpackers = instant friends and drinking buddies.

I'm fairly certain you will not find walruses at the SF Pier.

If you're gonna do the tourist thing, hit up Coit Tower, the World's Crookedest Street or whatever it's called, venture up to Napa Valley, Alcatraz. If you're renting a car, leave it parked somewhere and partake of SF's public transportation.

staying in a nice clean place away from lice-infested backpackers and cum stained bunk beds is certainly worth the money

i did a hostel once. it was a positive although lackluster experience. it's basically a roof, a bed and a shower/bathroom. don't expect nothing fancy on the hostel cheap.

but we didn't need much. we stayed out all night drinking and basically just crashed.

watch your valuables as anyone can walk in & outta there (based on my 1 experience)

Yeah (seals), and Pier 39 sucks anyway. Skip it. It's just a bunch of stupid stores for tourists.

My recommendation is Fort Point. It's right below GG Bridge, plus great views of the bay, city, etc the other way. Plus, Vertigo and Point Blank were filmed there.

somewhere on the coast near pier 39 is "the only floating national museum" or park or whatever. that was kinda neat. otherwise, yeah it's just a bunch of shops.

fort point was more fun. took one of my favorite 48 state trip pix up on the roof.

Last time i was in San Fran i stayed at a hostel, good experience mate. Met some interesting people, instant drinking partners and got lucky at the end of the night. I stayed in a dorm room with 5 others.

I recommend a visit to Kayo Books, drinking at Li Po bar in Chinatown and of course a trip to Amoeba.

The only bad experience i have had at hostels was in Key West, bed bugs bite.

i used to live in san francisco - skip pier 39 at all costs.

fort point is indeed a cool spot.

Duly noted: Kayo Books, Li Po Bar, Fort Point, lock important stuff away, cum stains.






Thanks everyone! Here's hoping it'll be a good trip.

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