After stage one of my honeymoon, the short trip from Las Vegas to San Francisco proved to be uneventful. That was until landing.
San Francisco Airport (SFO) is built right at the edge of the bay. In fact, It could be safe to say, in the bay.
As we decended, I looked out of the window and saw the ocean. It was getting bigger in the window.
It was getting very close to the wings and I thought ’’we are about to ditch in the sea here’’
Anyway, faith in your pilots is what was required as they made a perfect touchdown on the Runway.
The approach gives you a good view of the neighbouring city of Oakland. Its off to the right as you decend. You actually fly over the Oakland Bridge only a mile or so before touchdown.
Strage really because Bridges are the main reason for the relocation of the airport in the first place.
In 1936, The Golden Gate Bridge was constructed.
Due the sheer height of it, the airport, located not far from the site of the bridge, had to close due the clearance problems.
So the new airport was built out of town.
When I say out of town, Its about 10 miles from Central San Francisco, to the south.
There are 2 sets of hotels here.
One set by the airport. Handy for stopover flights but not much else.
One set in the City. Good for sightseeing and tourism but not handy for flying.
They operate a shuttle bus to and from the Major hotels and Airport. It costs $12 per person and its door to door service. The driver knows where he is going and is friendly enough.
Hire cars and taxi are also available here.
Parking is plentiful too.
The terminals in USA are very straightforward. They seem to be more open plan than here.
You are either Internal or an international traveller.
2 seperate terminals and drop off points for each.
They also ask what airline you are with when dropping you off as each airline has its own desk and location in the terminal.
Very good idea I think.
I got to fly into San Fransisco twice and out twice in 10 days.
Flying out internally is like catching a bus. Very easy. Just hop on and off you go.
Flying out internationally was the same.
Check in time is kept to about 10 mniutes maximum where ever you are. The Desks for the airlines take your bags, no matter where you are going. They sort them out once they have them. Not like our airports where its one desk/one plane.
Much less stuffy than the English Airports.
Shopping is not quite as good as our Airports though. Duty Free is restricted to a couple of shops and only a couple of places to eat.
When you think of the multiple shops we have in the departure lounge, you would be suprised at the lack of them.
Flying internally provided more choice of eateries.
Pizza Hut was one Brand I noticed and Star Bucks Coffee.
The staff are very polite which was nice, but most of them are after a tip.
That was one thing that annoyed me about San Francisco. Everyone was looking for a tip no matter how little they do for you.
Anyway, Its a nice airport that is quite modern that is very clean but lacked any decent shopping facilities.