Prep List: Water bottle, book (for those who already know the lines), phone, cash/card, ID, Clipper app for BART transit, MUNI app (this connects to Clipper)
I decided to travel into San Francisco again. This time to the beach! But this would require getting onto busses. And I don’t much care for busses.
To give some context, let me tell you about my hometown’s primary method of public transportation. It’s buses. And it’s seen as “only those who can’t afford cars use public transportation.” At least, that was what I heard from terrible family growing up in the 90’s. That must have stuck by me when my mom tried to get me used to it. I just didn’t like it and felt like it was too slow.
Whatever the case, I never learned how to navigate public transport until I went to New York City for the first time. Another story for another day, as that trip is worth telling one day. But right now, I live in Oakland, California.
I tend to travel to places chaotically, which generally gets me some so-so or very fun results. And I like that, but for this trip I expected planning would benefit me. And after the morning I had planning to go to NAB in a few days, I was already in Planning Mode.
I got onto the subway from my stop in Oakland as per usual. But I got off at the first stop in San Francisco, which is Embarcadero. I went up an escalator and found it to be in front of the Muni Lines, where you can quickly go west into the city. While this city is walkable, I’m a slow walker that likes to look up at buildings. Buses and trains are essential for me.
I had to download the MUNI app, which thankfully didn’t take long. I needed to fill out information on who I am and provide my card info, and I was past the turnstyle in less than 5 minutes. I wanted to go to Golden Gate Park and decided on the N Line (the red line). To get an idea of how long the train would go, I figured going to the end of the line would be good. All in all, with BART and quickly transfering to the N, it took about an hour.
Most of the way over there are just apartment complexes with stores underneath. It was fun to see the different restaurants around, but I wanted to see the Park and the ocean. The end of the N Line is Ocean Beach. I have more photos of this on my Instagram account (@sweeneylenscreative) since I cannot post more than one photo on these blogs at a time.
I walked up the beach until I reached Golden Gate Park, where I walked to the Queen Wilhelmina Garden and the windmill there. I was pretty tired at this point, as I hadn’t had any food or water since lunch. So I got onto the 5R Fulton Rapid (the pink line) above the Park.
I realized I would got past the Painted Ladies, and went to Alamo Square Park (blue circle). I ended up taking a tour of the Blue house (another post by itself). From there I got back onto the 5R line and made my way back home. I was exhausted.