San Francisco Trip December 2013

"THE WORLD IS A BOOK, AND THOSE WHO DO NOT TRAVEL READ ONLY ONE PAGE!"

 

     I wanted to start with a quote and the reason for this quote is because it's true. So many people go through life making a living and never LIVE. Well I understand you have to earn money for the things you have, but in the end the things will NOT matter. What matters is you life experiences, your family, and friends. So break free from the chains that bind you which is your job and go on a trip and have a great life experience. Take a lot of photos because every time you look at them they will bring back those great memories.

     Well the trip started from Dallas Fort Worth leaving on Virgin American which was a great and here is a highlight of the flight. We left on time to San Francisco on Virgin American and the customer service was AWESOME as usual. It was a 3 hour flight that didn’t seem that long due to the services Virgin has like free TV shows, movie, games, music that you can watch and listen right from your seat which makes flight time seem to pass. You can have freed drinks more than once. It’s just a tap on the computer screen to order and they deliver it, Pretty Awesome. I really don’t have anything bad to say about Virgin America or it employees, when we book a flight if Virgin is available I’ll pick them over any carrier any time.

     After arriving to (SFO) San Francisco International Airport we had to get on the Airport Tran and take a 15 minute ride to the car rentals. We rented from Advantage witch was not located at the airport however there was a bus to take us and the location it was about 10 minutes away. The customer service was great at Advantage we have used them 3 times now in San Francisco, Tampa Florida, and Las Vegas and every time has been good the only bad thing was we forgot to transfer money to our credit card that we use for travel it’s not a high limit card but we use it for car rentals, airfare, etc. So there was a larger deposit that was required since we were using a DEBT card and it was a $350 deposit along with the $180 for the rental of the SUV for the week with a total of $530 initially. We would get the $350 back about 3 to 5 days after returning the vehicle in. It’s cheaper with any rental car company to actually have a credit card, because with a credit card it’s a hold of your payment not and actual withdraw of the money. Just a little note to keep in mind for your travels.

     Now we stayed in two places both were nice in their own right but we like one more than the other. The first place we stayed in was the Wyndham Canterbury at San Francisco and it was nice I actually got this through a time share that I have. Now what every opinions you have about times shares mine may be a little different. I have always said if you don’t travel at least 3 to 5 times a year don’t get a time share. They

diffidently have their purpose. The only negative side I have is they are way over priced and availability is rare especially in major travel spots such as San Francisco we

just needed 2 nights so that was much easier to get than a week. Also if your trying to sell a time share you will NEVER get what you paid for it. If you are trying to sell one you may have you Will take a loss and it's NOT an investment no matter what they say. The experience is much different though the individuals at the Wyndham Canterbury at San Francisco were very personable, friendly, and knew your name. They just wanted to assist you any way they could. Now The travel club I’m apart of now, boy I wish I heard about them before I bought a Time Share. If we would have seen them I would have never bought a time share. The reasons are very simple. I have access to the time share industry with no presentation, monthly payments,

maintenance fees, etc. I also have access to a guaranteed lowest price on air fare and hotels or I get 150% of the difference back if I find it cheaper the same day, I just have to fill out information and send it to them and after they verify it and it meets the conditions they require I'll get the difference back in credit for my next booking and that is great. The Wyndham Canterbury at San Francisco was also in the non-business section of the city so the atmosphere was a little different.

     The Marriott Marque was where we stayed the second time it is a nice place to stay but a little pricey however were where there for $200 for 3 days that’s $66 a night. What a great price the only way we were to get that price was through our travel club it was called a dream deal. It was $99.00 per person based on double occupancy. That’s not per night that’s the total price and when we

checked in we asked what does the room usually go for and the lady replied $279 to $479 per night depending on the time of year and availability. So basically it only cost $200 for 3 nights. Normally it would have been at a minimum $837 for 3 nights and we saved at least 75% now is that amazing or what? The travel club rocks that we are a part of that’s why we share it. San Francisco wasn’t the only place we could have went to there were many other great locations like San Antonio, Tx. , Mexico, and Orlando but we decided to go to San Francisco instead. The customer service at the Marriott Marque was great but different and this is why. It was so busy that the employees were nonstop. They were nice and polite but they really didn’t have time for you. It was like your checked in no go get you luggage over there and he takes you to your room any questions have a nice stay bye. It’s about that fast not rude at all just different and even around the Marriott everything was like that no one slowed down. Basically a bunch of heart attacks waiting to happen and again not bad place just different. Out of the two places we stayed we liked Wyndham better, but the price at the Marriott was freaking AWESOME and still just as nice and comfortable as Wyndham just different. The only complaint we have and we constantly experienced this everywhere we stay "what’s the deal with the little pillows" and I don’t mean regular twin size pillow the pillows that are about two thirds the size of a regular twin pillow. That’s our only complaint I don’t know what the hotel and resort are thinking right now but really. The beds are awesome, soft, just want to sleep in a cozy bed then BAM here is your baby pillow really. Minor problem but it’s not going to stop us from traveling or we will bring our own if it gets that bad.

     We did the standard things in San Francisco we went to Pier 39 at the fisherman worf area, along with  garadellie square, the golden gate bridge, the winding road, shopping, fine arts museum, China Town. A little not I would go to Japan town it’s much nicer and cleaner we found Japan town at the last minute. Next we went to Napa Valley and we are planning on going back. The trip to Nappa Valley is only about 1.5 hours away. We went to Robert Mondavi Winery mainly because my

 wife’s parents were with us and this trip was really for them and we are game for really anything now we all had a good time the winery was really nice and we even bought some wine. Here a little not it was the wrong Robert Mondavi Winery that we were going too. We planned on going to his winery that made a certain type of wine that her mother loves. However that was about 200 miles away, so not to self "make sure there is not more than one winery and you are going to the right one". The winery was a beautiful place and the history was great to hear about the wine we even did a winetasting and the gentleman’s name was Richard that was explaining the difference in the wines and of course we all had a few and decided on Moscato D'Oro. When we decided to leave Richard mentions another winery down the road and what caught our attention was he said it was a castle not just a castle. A castle that was just like in Europe and the owner spent about 36 million just to build it. Now we had to check it out and let

me say it was just as he said a mote and a draw bridge pretty cool and the name of the winery is Castello di Amorosa. , check out the photos and we are planning on going back for the tour and several other things close by. I'm also going to see if there can be a special trip designed around this for our travel club. The travel cub always welcomes input to make it better and If you want to see what the club is like go to this LINK and click on #2 and watch that 15 minute video and get back with me if you’re interested.

We also went to the Half Moon Bay area and ate at Half Moon Bay BrewingCo. with my wife's parents and family members that live in right out of San Francisco. Half Moon Bay is about 45 minutes without traffic and much longer with traffic so plan accordingly. This is the area where they do the Maverick Surf Competition so check it out. The food was very tasty and fresh. The view of the bay where all the boats was great and was the view from the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. restaurant right at sunset and I think a great shot. After dinner we walked down to the boat docks and decided to look at all the boats that were lit up with Christmas lights and had a cool little experience with my wife parents and family members. So check them out below...

 

The trip was a lot of fun and if you ever go to San Francisco there is more than enough to do so have fun and enjoy.

Just a little note to keep in mind the air fare, hotel, car rental, and the discounts were all purchased through my own business travel site. So not only the saving I get up front being apart of this awesome travel club but I also receive travel commissions too when anyone books travel through me. The reason I can do this and so can you is it's a part time business that anyone can do and I personally only have a couple of years left so I can retire at age 50. That will be 7 years early for my carrier and I'm looking forward to that. Check it out you never know how your life could change if you tried. Here is the LINK when you get their click on #2 and watch that 15 minute video and get back with me because having your own business defiantly has its advantages.

 

I'll end with this quote!

 

"SUCCESS IS NOT FINAL, FAILURE IS NOT FATAL: IT IS THE COURAGE TO CONTINUE THAT COUNTS"