Pre-Lockdown SF
For my last pre-pandemic alt-travel experience, I took a quick weekend trip to San Francisco! I didn’t plan for this to be my last alt-travel experience: in fact, I already had trips to Boston and Philly lined up too (iykyk). Little did I know, this would actually be my last trip before COVID locked everything down in North America just one short week later. Thankfully, it was a weekend full of friends in a city I’ve come to feel comfortable visiting.
Henry graciously let me crash on an air mattress in the living room at his place in Dogpatch for the weekend. Cora offered to let me stay too, although she had recently moved to a new place with a bunch of roommates. The journey from the airport involved a bus and caltrain. I even bought separate fare because I didn’t realize I could use my clipper card to tap on. In the future, I’d probably just Uber.
On Friday, I took the Caltrain (again!) to Palo Alto. I visited Stanford GSB in the morning. It was an idyllic warm day in March. I actually found some of the students unrelatable, until I sat in on Glenn Kramer’s Winning Writing class. There, I found more down-to-earth types who were super-friendly to the guest visitors. I was surprised to discover that most of the students spent their time online shopping during class. With the benefit of hindsight now, I’ve come to realize that the in-class vibes at HBS suited me well.
That afternoon, I went to China Live for a happy hour with Brandon, where we ordered shenjianbao, jajangmian, porkbuns and tofu panna cotta since neither of us liked drinking at the time. I then met up with Henry, Cora, and Michelle for a second dinner at Pot&noodle.
That evening, we went bar hopping. The first place we visited, Li Po, felt like a high school Tumblr-aesthetic basement turned club. Then we checked out the Tonga Room at the Fairmont, which felt too touristy. No one was really there to hang out; everyone was just standing around taking pictures. But so were we! Finally, we capped off our night at Pacific Cocktail Haven for real bar vibes (vs. dive bar/club or tourist destination vibes).
I liked this plant store that played k-hip-hop!
The next morning, we went for brunch at Starbelly in the Castro area. Castro is so different! We saw so many shirtless Barry's-type people milling around. We then went to Hayes Valley for Urban Ritual. I got a vitasoy bubble tea, but it was strangely too gingery. We then checked out a lot of fun shops in the area. We spent our time checking out DTC brands like Warby Parker, Away, and the first Blue Bottle store, plus we went shopping for comfy outdoorsy clothes at Alternative. Throughout the day, we spent time comparing our Co-Star astrology results and generally browsing in the way that sauga folk are predisposed.
Although the morning was rainy, it suddenly cleared up in the afternoon! I could hardly believe it was the same day. We went to Marshall Beach, which had a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We also visited Marco Polo in Sunset (thank goodness Tingaling had a car). They had the mangosteen and green tea ice cream of my dreams. I LOVED this place.
That evening, we held a barbecue at Henry's place (The Landing). Jeet also came around, and we had fun hammock times while eating sausages, skewers, and Tostitos.
Lazy Sunday
The next day, I got dim sum for lunch with Alex and Anaëlle! I wanted to go to this place because it went viral for a giant xiaolongbao. Afterwards, we explored Japantown and got a bunch of matcha ice cream. I swear they weren't both mine!
Later that afternoon, I hung out at Cora's place with Henry. Cora commented that it was nice that my visit was very chill, as though I lived there. Since I had visited so recently, I mainly wanted to spend the weekend hanging out with friends rather than hitting up all the tourist hotspots.
We went to the Mission that afternoon. I tried getting white rabbit ice cream at Garden Creamery, but they didn't have it that day! Instead, we went to Boba Guys (still a fav of mine) and Grocery Outlet for cheap groceries. We ended off my visit at Barzotto, a pasta place which was featured on Worth It.
Overall, I had a lovely and chill weekend. Big thanks to Cora and Henry for being so hospitable and hanging out with me all weekend. After just one more week traveling around, I spent the rest of March quarantined in an Airbnb by myself in Toronto. I'm glad I had this last hurrah.
Trip date: March 5-8, 2020