Travel Blogger Learns What’s Happing This Summer In The Bay Area At This Press Event
I rolled up to the Loews Hotel valet in Hollywood and as I got out of the car the attendant asked my name and said “welcome to the Loews, Mr. Wilkerson. I’ll be your personal valet tonite.”
I then went inside to the concierge’s desk, told him I was there for an event on the 19th floor and he escorted me into the elevator.
I felt like somebody famous! And I was in Hollywood!
And so it was in such a jovial frame of mind that I arrived at the San Francisco Travel media dinner for Los Angeles travel journalists. I was not originally on the list but then on Sunday evening the PR director, the friendly Laurie Armstrong Gossy, send me a message on FB Messenger saying “I’m doing this event and kept saying to myself that something is missing. I couldn’t figure it out. Then I realized you were missing! Somehow you did not get on the invitation list. Please say you will come to it!”
Now that is when you know a professional relationship has also become a personal one. I was touched. I guess it goes back to when we met out at a dive bar, one Huey Lewis used to play in before he hit it big, in Larkspur outside of San Francisco (the Silver Peso). Personal time and bonding does wonders, folks!
And what an event!
It’s difficult to organize these press events to get your messages across without boring everyone in the room. Including those giving the presentations. San Francisco Travel always brings along more than a dozen partners – representatives from hotels, museums, attractions, even neighboring areas like the Sonoma County wine country (which supplied the wine for this event, thank you very much!) – so there’s a lot to cover.
Laurie solves this by having the media sit at a table and three representatives rotate around to different tables every 10 minutes. It’s very much like speed dating and it works.
On this night, while we ate San Francisco treats like delicious Shanghai-style Siao Long Boa and seafood cioppino, the representatives gave us rundowns and answered any questions we had about their topics.
Here’s a few things I learned between bits and sips of Sonoma wines:
• The Sonoma County Wine Country was pretty much untouched by last fall’s fires. The wineries are all open and are receiving visitors. Downtown Santa Rosa – the “Charlie Brown town” as I call it because there are statues of Peanuts characters – is still a fine place to visit.
• The Exploratorium has “After Dark” events for adults that involves cocktails. In fact, there are wine and other events at nearly every museum in town, including the Museum of the African-Diaspora and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
• The Hornblower Cruises has a bay cruise featuring bottomless mimosas. I need to look more in this one!
• The Presidio is getting its first full-sized hotel this summer (you’ll be able to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge) and it also has a craft brewery and a distillery. And its golf course is open to the public.
• Pier 39 has two new attractions coming this summer that visually takes you visually up and over the entire city and the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m also getting a list of Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf Happy Hours, one of which is at the new Hotel Zoe.
• The City Pass includes unlimited rides on the cable cars. Considering a cable car ride is now $7 – even if you just go for couple of blocks – this is highly recommended for any extended stay in “The City.”
• The “March Madness” of rugby is taking place this summer as the world’s top teams play in a three-day single-elimination tournament. It’s the Rugby World Cup Sevens, July 20-22 at AT&T Park. I know from a couple of PubClub rugby-loving gals that this will be a party!
After dinner and our “speed dating” sessions, we then did more meeting and mingling and I was given a number of leave-behind materials, which was in a California Republic backpack that is sure to be the envy of everyone I encounter when I wear it.
Going to this event, seeing familiar faces and meeting new people was certainly a treat from San Francisco.
Thanks again for inviting PubClub.com Laurie!
Related Posts:
• Top 10 Recommended Things To Do In San Francisco
• Where To Find The ‘Cable Car Cocktail’
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