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Active Honeymoon: San Francisco

Oct 1, 2017 | Active Travel, Active Travel Guides, life updates, Lifestyle | 8 comments

When first planning our honeymoon I pitched the idea of Bora Bora – it has always been my number one honeymoon destination. Sadly I didn’t plan on being a student when I got married and Bora Bora was WAY out of our budget.

So we settled on the slightly more wallet friendly Hawaii, with stops in San Francisco on the way out and LA, Santa Barbara and Carmel on the way back for Tom to explore California for the first time.

British Airways Oakland Flight

We flew the new BA route to Oakland, CA just 20 minutes outside of SF (and the flights are half the price!) hopped in a Lyft and headed for our hotel, the Hotel Griffon. The time change is 8 hours which played havoc with my brain esp after 2 sleepless anxiety filled nights so Blue Bottle coffee was high on my agenda.

I seem to have a number of friends and awesome followers who have been to or live in SF so we were not short of recommendations. Our first night we took my PR friend Harry’s advice to hit up La Tech?? A rooftop bar and Mexican restaurant where we arrived just in time to enjoy happy hour margueritas , guac and chips and some other delicious dishes. A huge thunderstorm erupted while we were up there which was pretty spectacular!

El Techo San Francisco

Soulcycle San Francisco

I knew I’d probably be up at the crack of dawn so had booked myself in for the 6am Soulcycle class around the corner (not the reason I booked the hotel but a happy coincidence). The perfect way to quell some anxiety, ramp up the endorphins and stretch my legs after a long flight. I love Soulcycle – the music was epic and the studio is so snazzy, however I can’t believe how closely they pack in the bikes. Also the fact that the instructor had to come over to me mid-class and tell me that I was going the wrong way and riding left when everyone else was going right!!

It made me so happy to just jam out for an hour, stop thinking about anything other than the music and relax. And a great way to start the day. Plus I came back to this incredible sunrise…

sunrise at The Griffon Hotel San Francisco

I am a planner…especially on holiday so our first day was timed out to a T. Grabbed a free coffee and banana from the hotel lobby, quick shower and walk to breakfast at Mama’s on Washington Square. A queue had already formed at 7.45 but breakfast was worth the wait – Tom told me it was his best brekkie of the entire trip.

Best breakfast in San Francisco

Our plan for the day was Alcatraz, a must-do for any SF visitor. Our mistake was not getting the very first tickets of the day as the island was already teeming with tourists by our 9.30am tour. Despite being overcrowded, it was still an excellent experience. Both Tom and I love prison shows and films (I think Shawshank is his fave film) so we loved walking around the old prison, learning about its infamous prisoners and the attempted escapes.

Alcatraz San Francisco

I found it really interesting especially learning about the food at the prison – apparently back in the day, prison food had to be nutritious, well presented and palatable – unlike todays strict budget friendly meals. I often wonder what the impact of high sugar, high salt, highly processed food does to impact behaviour in prisons (dietitian geek!).

I’d bought tickets online for the SF Giants vs LA Dodgers baseball game that evening, and so we went off in search of some stash, knowing that it would be cheaper pre-game than at the stadium. It was Tom’s first baseball game and I was excited to know more about a sport than him! I used to go to a lot of the Baltimore Oriel’s and Mets games when I was younger and watch a lot of baseball on TV – I love it.

Giants Game San Francisco

We had so much fun cheering on the Giant’s, eating ballpark food (actually made me feel quite ill) and fighting off the jetlag. On a side note, our hotel, The Griffon, was perfectly located to walk to AT&T stadium which was really convenient – highly recommend if you’re heading to SF anytime soon.

8 Comments

  1. Catherine

    I soooo want to visit SF at some point ( maybe my own honeymoon next year!) so will bookmark this post thanks Charlie. What do you mean that you were riding left and everyone else was riding right in SC? Can’t wait to read all the other recaps. Xx

    Reply
  2. Jess Athorn

    Alcatraz is in my top 5 wish list at the moment, I’d love to see it in person, I find it a fascinating place! Sounds like you’ve had a wonderful honey moon!

    Jess | http://acornlifefitness.com

    Reply
  3. Andrea Hershner

    Looks like you had a great time!! I grew up in the town where Shawshank was filmed! They have tons of tours/events at the prison and are currently holding the annual haunted house!

    Reply
  4. Nicole

    looks like such a great first day!

    Reply
  5. Amy

    You grew up going to Orioles and Mets games – did you live in the US when you were younger?? Never knew! Looks like a great trip

    Reply
    • charlotte

      Yep – we lived just outside DC for a bit and then my aunt and uncle lived in Connecticut for 5 years so we’d visit multiple times a year!

      Reply
  6. Nina K

    SF is the best! So many different things to see and do! Did you also go anywhere else or stayed in the city itself?

    Reply
  7. Sarah

    Sorry this is too late for you, but a couple of tips for anyone else visiting SF!

    I’d reccomend getting the sunset tour tickets for Alcatraz if possible, they clear the island just before, so you are the first ones back on there. They also have extra events when the sun goes down! You also get amazing views back to San Fran.

    If you are ever looking for cheap merchandise for an American sports game, try finding a target. They stock really good merch for local teams for a reasonable price!

    Reply

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