I’m starting to get that.
It’s not complicated! It’s a wonderful trip, don’t let people confuse you.
But they could fly so (relatively) cheaply and then not have to deal with the car issue at all. And maybe come to SF in the fall when the weather is better.
It’s called “Road Trip”.
I think she may be talking about a “Road Trip” AND a trip to SF.
i would just not stress about it, take a drive up the coast. Find a few places you want to try (its not necessary if you go to every nice place) stay in a hotel so I wouldn’t worry abut the stresses of an AirBnB. Walk around, stop in a few places to eat. If need be take a drive to a restaurant or two, Overall, i think you’re looking for a trip to spend with your loved one and that’s all that really matters.
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I’ve spent up to 20 minutes driving around looking for parking when I’ve driven to La Ciccia. And I used to live in the neighborhood so I know some of the better places to look.
Similar story in many parts of town.
If you want privacy, check “Entire place” when searching.
Don’t assume there will be any legal street parking where you can leave the car. Most parts of SF you’re limited to an hour or two if you don’t have a sticker.
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We’d still do both just not at the same time. I’m not patient enough to drive to SF both ways, plus we don’t want to spend half our vacay in a car. Flying back would be part of the agenda.
This is what we’re looking at if we do both at the same time. Renting a car and driving to Monterey/SLO/Wherever along the coast (haven’t decided exact locations), spending the night in a hotel or BnB, sightseeing, eating, drinking, going to open markets. Then on to SF. Sounds lovely, so far, right? But now we have a car to deal with in a 7x7 mile urban city. Most of the AirBnb don’t offer parking and I keep getting warned about vandals with the street parking. A lot of hotels charge high parking fees per night. From what I’m learning the driving and parking situation is not great at a lot of places, which means we’ll most likely Uber a lot. Yes, I said Uber (Lyft, whichever) because I hear a lot of the cabs are still old, boxie boats. If they want to compete they should upgrade (short-term expense, long-term value). Please correct me if I’m wrong, because we’d like to help a brotha’ out. Anyway, back to the AirBnb situation. Even most of the nice ones are rooms in big Victorian houses, semi-communal, have no cable/satellite (my DH must have some kind of tv) and are expensive. I don’t mind that on the road trip (not the expensive part), but had something else in mind for SF. Plus I don’t think they’re as close to the action as we’d like. Then there’s the return. We’ll need to return the rental, get on a plane back to LAX and get some sort of transportation home. This is all in about a week or less. Seems exhausting. And possibly more expensive in the long run. So why not break it up. Drive to the northern coast and hang out for a few days and drive home. Fly to SF for a few days, stay in a hotel downtown, Uber everywhere and fly home. If the first plan still sounds better to anyone, let me know. 
Now my question is weather-wise which trip do we do first? We need to be out of our home the weekend of May 18th and would probably do the second trip the end of June or early July. But we’ll definitely do both trips. There’ll be a lot of activity at our house in the next few months and we need to escape. Have I ever mentioned that we live in a big triplex with family? That’s 3 floors of family! We have our privacy, but sometimes escaping is essential. 
P.S. Apologies for being wordy.
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May is a prettier time for driving up the coast. Greener.
You can book one-way car rentals. Sometimes it’s no more expensive.
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Yeah, Noe Valley has gotten like that. We used to drive down, Bob would drop me at our hotel, drive to NV and then take the J-Church back. Can’t do that any more.
BTW, we used to stay at Hotel des Arts on Bush right outside the Chinatown gates.
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I really like your comments. More than ten years ago we had a motorhome. We laughed at people who would do cross-country trips in theirs We would do about 100 miles a day. There were just so many things to see on the CA coast.
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I would do the sf trip second, it’ll give you more time to make reservations. you’re already past the window for getting a reservation at liholiho in may.
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Okay, we (meaning I) definitely want to go there.
Summer = Fog (I love it but many hate it.) If I didn’t leave my office at lunch I didn’t see the sun at all.
Omfg. Drive up the coast, reserve a room at the Fairmont in S.F. for two nights.
Don’t worry about having a car, I drive up and park all the time, Oakland, the Mission, Berkeley, etc. It can be inconvenient compared to L.A., but whatever, you walk a few blocks. Also, BART and Lyft are your friends, heck, catch a trolley car.
Don’t worry about reservations at the “best places”, there is so much good food in the city. Go to Zuni Cafe and the Ferry Building. Go to Chinatown and randomly order some dumplings. Try some chicharones at La Palma in the Mission. You will eat well.
It’s a normal city. They speak English and everything.
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I TOTALLY agree with the “best places” comment you made. I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever had a bad meal. Except when I’m dining with wimpy eaters 
Bund Shanghai on Jackson just a few store fronts down from Grant. Hog Island Oyster! And, you bet, Zuni Cafe. I make her chicken and it’s the best.
Zuni’s not that easy a reservation.
Certainly you it’s possible to get around by car, but on a short trip finding parking will take up an annoying amount of time. And instead of being able to wander freely you’'ll have to get back to the car before the meter expires.
I don’t recommend staying on Nob Hill or around Union Square. It’s all tourists and the traffic is bad.
Hi @Bookwich!
I’m not sure if you read my post or which part you’re responding too. It all sounds great, definitely up for the casual, not scheduling everything part (we do want at least one really nice dinner). I used to drive to PS without a plan. I’d drive down Palm Canyon, pick a cute place and see if they had a resy. I don’t think that’s doable in SF though. I’m just not feeling the planes, trains & automobiles part or sitting in a car for hours. If I was retired maybe, but our window of time is small.
Happy Road Tripping!
Yah, not feeling all that.
Thanks for the Zuni tip. It’s on the list.