I did something quite remarkable last week. I took a vacation!

Although I travel often, I don’t often travel like normal people do. I almost never take a journey that doesn’t have some business components like meetings with suppliers, site inspections of hotels, restaurants, venues, etc.

Most of my travels are ridiculously well-planned. I’ve researched the destination and have a plan for almost all of my waking hours. Or I’m escorting a group to a destination that I’ve thoroughly researched and planned and organized.

So this trip was different. For starters, I was going to a city that I have not visited in 20+ years, nor have I done proposals for this place, or operated a program there in recent memory. The place? San Francisco, California.

Ask me about Rome or Rio or Rotterdam and I have a mental map and a general idea of where I want to go and what I want to see.

Not so, San Francisco.

My husband, Scott, is a First Officer for a members-only airline called, Surf Air. He flies shiny new 8-passenger Pilatus turboprop aircraft up and down the California coast for its (mostly) corporate members. They recently celebrated their 2-year anniversary and all employees, including Scott who had been hired only days before, were eligible for two positive space tickets.

We drove to Santa Barbara Airport, arriving about 20 minutes before scheduled departure. We were greeted by a friendly concierge who weighed our luggage and invited us to enjoy snacks and free refreshments. Not a TSA screener in sight. It was suggested that I use the bathroom in advance – since there is only an “emergency” option onboard.

Me & my Captain in front of a plane he flies when on duty; flying over new Apple HQ; landing at San Carlos Airport

It was a one-hour flight to San Carlos, in the heart of Silicon Valley. We flew over Larry Ellison’s America’s Cup yacht, floating in a pool of water surrounded by Oracle’s headquarters buildings. WE had a view of the construction site of the new Apple headquarters building – though I was disappointed it wasn’t Apple-shaped. After landing, it wasn’t ten minutes before we were off the plane in the back of an Uber car headed to downtown San Francisco.

We checked into our hip, trendy hotel (because we’re such hipsters!), the Galleria Park Hotel which bills itself as “an urban oasis and the perfect pied-à-terre for exploring downtown San Francisco.” Our room was small, but chic, quiet and comfortable. (Contrary to what you might think, the “creative queen” doesn’t necessarily get an upgrade!)

We had no plan, but had a restaurant recommendation for House of Nanking. Obviously a popular place because there was a small crowd waiting to get a table. Because there were only two of us, we lucked out and were quickly seated. I had their special Sesame Chicken and Scott ordered Salt & Pepper Calamari. The huge portions explained why there were so many large groups waiting to get seated. Much better to have a big party with which to share!

Scott was in charge of the itinerary, so the next morning we set off to the historic (1915) Ferry Building to get across to Sausalito. Walked around, shopped a bit (SO many tourists!) and then hailed Uber to take us to the Cavallo Point Resort for lunch. (In truth, I chose that place because we have a group booked there for SuperBowl in February and I wanted to see it. But I resisted asking for the sales manager to show me around. I was on vacation, after all!)

A couple of “birds eye” views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The following day was sunny and hot. We were overdressed, especially for the climb up Nob Hill. Our primary destination was the Cable Car Museum, where – from an elevated gallery – we viewed the movement of the actual cables that were powering the four cable car lines in the city at that very moment. Really interesting – and free, too! From there we boarded the Powell-Hyde line for the experience that every tourist must do when they’re in town. We’d gone only about a block when the gripman started hollering at the hapless driver of a white Honda who was trying to parallel park on the steep hill. The driver – a man – wasn’t able to pull up far enough and get his bumper out of our path. The gripman jammed on the brakes – and we were stuck there – unable to move on such a steep hill. The poor hapless driver (did I mention it wasn’t a woman?) was also stuck – too embarrassed to exit his car. I had a chance to talk with the gripman – one of 150 cable car drivers in the city. He told me that sort of thing doesn’t happen very often, and told me that he had the “best job in the world.” I love meeting people who love what they do! After about 15 minutes, a large truck showed up to push us up the hill in order to resume our route.

Clockwise from top right: The hapless Honda, roll of wire cable, me and the gripman and the Cable Car Museum and Powerhouse.

The route ended at Fisherman’s Wharf, from where we once again hoofed up a bunch of hills to get to a trendy shopping area I wanted to visit. We had Vietnamese food for lunch, and I tried to take as many non-touristy photos as possible.

On the other side of this hill is the world-famous stretch of Lombard Street, “the crookedest street in the world.”

Shadows, colors, details and design on the streets of San Francisco.

I’ve got pink flying pigs as garden art – why not blue fiddling frogs?

Sights of the city.

And on our final night, Scott searched for “What’s trending?” and chose a hot, happening new restaurant (since we’re such hot, happenin’ people!), Liholiho.

Any restaurant that starts with popcorn and ends with a dessert like this is my kind of place!

I could certainly get used to traveling on non-commercial carriers, and could certainly get used to having my husband be my personal travel planner. Being a tourist can be fun!

What about you?  Where did you go on your summer vacation?