On a more positive note, I’ve made arrangements to go back to San Francisco for a week in July. It is my fervent desire to spend that week finding and purchasing LOLCat Manor v.3.0, but even if the timing isn’t right for that to come to pass, I’m looking forward to the trip.
This time, I’m going to stay in a hostel. Part of that decision is because I’m cheap, but the other reason is that I would like to be able to go do things with other people, even if it’s just going to a movie together one night, or doing something touristy like the Japanese Tea Garden. I’m also pretty well reacquainted with getting around SF and the Bay Area, and up for trying new places to eat, so getting to share a bit of local knowledge and do something new with other people could be fun. Plus, I hardly spent any time at all in my hotel room on my last visit, and can see no point at all in spending crazy tourist-season rates for the perfunctory use of a shower and a mattress.
Besides–if, after four or five nights in a hostel I am sick to death of it, I can always go get myself a quiet, luxurious room at a fine hotel for the remainder of my stay.
And while I try not to live completely sealed inside my Magical Realist Bubble of Self-Absorption, I admit to being a bit surprised at how easy it was to get my reservation at the hostel. Last February, as I was weighing summer travel plans, many of the hostels I considered staying at (in both Vancouver and San Francisco), were either already fully booked, or I could only reserve a bed for part of my stay. This time? No problem at all. And I shouldn’t be surprised at that, given the state of the economy and the way people are cutting back on unnecessary spending, but I still had that “Oh, wow–” moment.
