Limited descriptions and the clunky booking process, had left me
frustrated with the first booking, nevertheless I was eager to find out what
this tour guided by a local will bring. That Sunday morning I was up early and
still adjusting to the West Coast time. A good meal, cup of coffee, and
exciting conversation with Shelby at one of the best breakfast spots in town
right across the street of the hotel had promised a thrilling day ahead of us.
While finishing up our meal, I received a confusing email
in not-so-perfect English informing that the guide had to cancel due to the lack of
confirmation from me, which was not true as I confirmed the tour days before.
The feeling of the thrill momentarily grew into frustration,
followed by a sense of urgency to book another activity. Due to the limited time-frame and our under-100-dollar budget, a self-guided scavenger hunt was the
only option. It was booked, and the uncertainty of what this journey will bring made
me worried, but nevertheless eager to find out what lies ahead. The best and most convenient aspect of
this booking was that the timing was flexible – we could start the hunt at any
time of the day, as long as we left enough time to finish it by the
sunset.
Our hunt began on a sunny San Francisco afternoon in the
location near the Moscone Center. Immediately we were immersed in
the hunt and after completing the first task successfully were ready to explore
the city. The whole experience has taken us almost three hours to complete. These
three hours were filled with unique attractions and experiences along the way. We
have visited 22 locations. Convenient timing and the great weather have enhanced our experience that
took us from the convention center, to the Union Square, to Chinatown, and finally
to the San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf.
One of the stops in the Chinatown was the fortune cookie factory,
where we observed the process of fortune-cookie-making and saw the
largest (almost volleyball size) fortune cookies that we have ever seen.
We
then continued to the San Francisco Cable Car Museum with a display of the very first San Francisco Trolley and cable sheaves that pull all trolleys on the four trolley lines of the
city.
Right outside the museum, we jumped on a trolley. Luckily for us they
had exactly three spots left. With the wind at our backs, a magnificent view of
the bay in front, and seemingly irritated operator of the trolley by our side,
we were on the way to the Fisherman's Wharf, where we ended our last set of
tasks.
All initial frustrations with the first tour cancellation aside, this experience was well
worth the $15 per person we paid. Would I use or recommend using Viator for a peer-to-peer
experience with a private guide? Absolutely not! Booking process was frustrating, and the last-minute cancellation while didn’t deviate our plans too much off our planned course, it would do so
for a visitor with a limited time in the city.
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