| When traveling to most cities of the world, finding | | | | Hotel at $180 a night. We had a rollaway brought for |
| discount accommodations when arriving to your | | | | my two children and spent the rest of the day |
| destination is always a possibility. Not so in the | | | | recuperating for our previous nightmare. |
| diverse and complex city of San Francisco. From the | | | | That evening, we ventured out to walk around the |
| hills of Daly City to the plains of Berkeley, the | | | | Streets of San Francisco and I must tell you it was |
| environments and people are so diverse that your | | | | scary. There were destitute people lurking at every |
| vacation could with one dial of the phone be a | | | | doorway, down every alley, sleeping above the |
| paradise made in heaven or an inferno designed in, | | | | street vents for warmth. This was a haven for the |
| well you know, that other place. | | | | homeless and I am not sure where the tourist fits in. |
| Families making their hotel reservations at the smaller | | | | It was both sad and a frightening, especially since |
| hotels that dot the periphery of San Francisco might | | | | coming from an isolated small town in Minnesota. I |
| be able to land a bargain, but find they may find | | | | passed out quarters to those asking as if I were |
| themselves sharing accommodations with other | | | | passing out flyers for a corner store. |
| crawling critters that would make even the toughest | | | | We eventually found a Starbuck near Union Square |
| among us parents squirm. | | | | and quickly ducked in. After a family meeting to |
| I did this once. I came to San Francisco on a budget | | | | discuss our situation, we decided to catch a trolley |
| and thinking to wing my accommodations; I found a | | | | car and make a dash to the famous Fisherman?s |
| phonebook and booked a motel for $59 a night. Well, | | | | Wharf and Ghirardelli?s Square. We scampered out of |
| the minute I saw the hotel along a poorly lit side | | | | Starbucks and caught the next trolley. It was a wild |
| street I knew we were in trouble. This hotel was | | | | ride straight up and straight down a city built on a |
| something I would expect to see in medieval Europe, | | | | mountain. We all screamed with joy. We spent an |
| not in actuality. But it was late and we succumbed to | | | | enchanting evening among all the tourist shops, |
| our basal instincts for sleep and it was ?just one | | | | street performers and family attractions that |
| night.? But the bed was so grimy we actually slept on | | | | populate Fisherman?s Wharf. We bought a big pound |
| the floor, and the occasional voices we heard in the | | | | of fudge at a fudge shop and drank coke and |
| alleys were so hair razing I don?t think sleep was an | | | | champagne until late in the evening. |
| option for any of us - and we were in their ?best | | | | Our lesson from all this, at least regarding San |
| room!? | | | | Francisco hotel reservations, make your hotel |
| The next day I called numerous hotels in San | | | | reservations in advance. Don?t waste time looking for |
| Francisco city proper. You know, where the Trolley | | | | a hotel room when you get there, the city is just too |
| Cars roam and the street performers perform. I | | | | big. Since writing this, we went to San Diego. I |
| found a number of places, ranging from the low | | | | booked all our accommodations off the Internet |
| 100?s and going up to the high 600?s. We got in our | | | | which featured discount hotel reservations with |
| car to make our investigation and inspected one hotel | | | | pictures and prices clearly explained. Welcome to the |
| after the other, some dark and dank and some | | | | 21st century. |
| bright and classic. We settled on the Grant Plaza | | | | |