About 9 years ago I posted this on Flyertalk thread, and this other Travel Buzz thread hoping for a little help with a big event in my life…and boy did I receive some help…more than I could have ever hoped for.
Proposal Location in San Francisco
Hello,I am new to this forum, however feel it will be a great location for this thread.
I am planning a great trip to San Francisco from the midwest, and have never been there before. In late July I plan to propose to my girlfriend and would like to do it in San Francisco.
Can anyone please speak to preferable locations with scenery in the San Francisco Bay area. Preferably near the downtown area and with a disguise to get there (ie, we’ll go here to eat/hangout/check out scenery, not get proposed to).
I appreciate any help you can provide and will certainly share the outcome of the trip.
Yeah, I had no clue what I was going to do while I town, except for one thing.
Wow!
You all are great. Here’s the answers to some of your questions.
I am a Platinum at Starwood and have reserved a room at the W. I have reserved a rental car for the entire week. Finances are not really a problem unless it involves hiring a movie star.
So sounds like there are several viable options proposed:
1) Alkatraz, which we have purchased tickets for on the second day. (Could be a great option since it will be at the begining of the trip.2) Go to the Vista overlooking the Bridge. Is this hard to get to? I would have to wait to the second day’s afternoon after alkatraz to pull this one off. Would be a good excuss to say now lets go check out the bridge. How do you get there once you cross the bridge?
3) Wait till the second night and go to a very nice dinner on the top of a building. Interesting thought, (Hilton near Union Square, Mark Hopkins, Fairmont the tower part, Carnelian Room) which one would be closest to the W?
4) What exactly is the top of Coit Tower at the top of Telegraph Hill? And how do I get there from Downtown?
5) Pier 39 or 41 is a another great option after we get back from Alkatraz. Seeing as I could just attach the ball and chain there.
So I have to say thank you all very much for the kind and quick responses. I think right now I am still up in the air, but will have to look into each of these. These are great starting points.
I was torn on the ideas on how to make the proposal. I had a back up reservation at top of the mark at the Mark Hopkins hotel. But when we got up there all we could see was fog.
So instead I called the W hotel, had them stage a nice bottle of champagne in the corner room, with strawberries, for our arrival. That way, when we arrived I could pop the question, get it out of the way, and move on to “hopefully” celebrating an engagement over a long weekend together in San Francisco.
Bottom Line
It’s been nine years since the trip. We received a lot of advice for which I’m grateful for. The trip was a huge success, not because of the hotel, the first class upgrades, but because she said YES and here we are 9 years later with a few little baby weekly flyer’s in tow. If you are reading this Mrs. Weekly Flyer, I’ve had a blast with you over the last 9 years and I love you and our little ones. Thanks for a great 9 years and I look forward to many more.
Thanks to all who helped me plan this trip 9 years ago. Since we are coming up on a big 10 year anniversary, we are thinking of going back to San Francisco.
Would love to hear your latest tips for a person planning a trip to San Francisco. Care to share your latest tips for a trip out west to San Fran?
Related Posts
• W Hotel San Francisco
• Palace Hotel San Francisco
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The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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Congrats. But first rule is to never call San Francisco, “san fran” or “frisco”. SF is OK, like DC or NY or LA. The new Bay Bridge and the cleaned up waterfront have put some polish back on the city (courtesy of the Loma Prieta earthquake – temblors do have a good side).
If you’re planning on bringing the kids, I recommend the Exploratorium. They recently moved to a new location right on the Embarcadero, so you can easily combine it with the Ferry Building and (shudders) Pier 39. If you absolutely must go to the Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf area, two cool but less crowded/touristy places to go are the Musee Mechanique (old arcade games, great for all ages) and Hyde Street Pier.
I live in SF, so I’d be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Thanks for the suggestion on SF Paul:)
Tourist – No kids on the return trip. So likely a day or so in SF and then back up to wine region.
People I know from there say use “Frisco” to be branded as a tourist. Then again they don’t seem to like any of the other terms either. “The City” seems not to offend anybody.
It was probably good not to do it at Alcatraz. That just seems like it could come back to bite you later in arguments.
Thanks Carl – We did get a pretty funny picture at Alcatraz…that I won’t be sharing on the blog unfortunately. But that little hop over to the island on a boat was a fun 1/2 day excursion .
Nothing more fun in the city for kids than The House of Air –
The ferry building water front is very nice nowadays. You can take the ferry there to Tiburon or Sausalito for a nice relaxing lunch. Or take a day stroll down Fillmore street by Japan town all the way to Chestnut street, lots of nice casual restaurant along the way too! There are lots of stuff to do, just depends on your interest! 😉
Napa is always fun, lots of little wineries with great wines and tons of wonderful restaurants! If you would like recommendations, let me know!
Hi Sharon – Do you have any specific spots in Napa you like and would suggest?
If you visit the ferry building definitely get a coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee. Hog Island Oyster Co. has very good clams and mussels.
There’s also a lot of nice wineries and eating spots around Sonoma.