Many thanks, sadly neither of mine are installed at the moment so I didn't get the same greeting this morning.

Cool! Up for a minimeet when you're in CA?

Hugo

Two things that I thought were really cool, and free, to do on the left cost that not too many people do are:

«» See the taping of a TV show. I went to a sit-com and had a blast

«» Go to the off road park at Pismo beach and ride the rental car along the shore and partially into the waves. Just don’t go “off the hard pack” as they say. If you go too far from the water you’ll sink in sand up to the frame. Of course I did this and fortunately a nice 4X4 truck pulled me out.

Seeing a US TV show being made would be interesting, although a bit of busman's holiday for me. Not sure about the offroading though!

Definitely! Will sort some dates out tonight.

What weekend are you in town, Andy? I am planning an SF trip and my dates are pretty flexible.

We arrive in SF on the 6th of Sept (Saturday) then we'll be back in town on the 19th (Friday) before we fly back on the 20th. Either of those weekends should be fine!

OK, I thought you were maybe coming in the springtime which is what I'm aiming for.

I'm now looking for accommodation in the SF area. Any recommendations? Not really fussed where.

With the way the value of the pound vs the dollar and the housing market are going, you might as well just look for a good house to buy while you are here visiting. Should be about as cheep as a normal hotel stay

"cheep"?

Relatively, approx. $200 a night (between 2 adults).

I can't recommend any hotels specifically in San Francisco (expect that to be expensive!), but if you're interested in staying further down the peninsula, I've stayed happily several times at Dinah's Garden Hotel, roughly on the Palo Alto / Mountain View border. They have some nice gardens, a coy pond, and some very good omelets for breakfast.

If you're heading up to the wine country, my wife and I randomly ended up staying at the Farmhouse Inn several years ago. The rooms are a bit over-the-top posh, and the restaurant is staggeringly good.

I stayed in The Mosser last year, it's a little old fashioned (eg. thin doors, but modern locks). but cheap and cheerful. You'll probably want an en-suite bathroom but I was travelling alone and the shared bathroom was perfectly adequate, I always had use of one when I needed it. The rooms were a little small, but it's a going-out hotel not a staying in/convention hotel. It's in a great location, just a two minute walk to the cable car turn-around off Market St.

$200 should get you a nice room downtown. What it won't get you is a nice room, a parking space, and the taxes paid. Downtown hotels charge $50+ per night for parking, and most likely an absurdly high Transit Occupancy Tax that they won't quote in the rate. If you can, take cabs in the city, and only rent a car on the days that you're leaving the city.

Kayak.com is my favorite travel search engine. Combine it with tripadvisor, and you should know plenty about the hotel before you arrive.

The new Intercontinental seems to be under $200 on the random week I chose this summer. The Mark Hopkins is also. I like the St. Francis for it's location and classic building, but it seems to be in the $250-300 range the days I checked.

Matthew

Yeah, we did that, leaving the car rental until the day we left town, except that San Francisco is small enough that you can mostly walk across it. The buses are OK, too.

When you get here, be sure to give up golf. All of us Americans are giving up golf in solidarity with our poor president who also had to give up golf.


>)

Except for the times when he decided to give up giving up golf.

Bitt, just when I am on the verge of triumph (a deep, personal triumph, I might add -- something that might have made it into a made-for-TV movie) over disillusionment, you have to go and post *this*.

Damn you.