SF Foodbuzz Food Bloggers Fest – Flight & Hotel

I recently flew out to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Food Blogger Fest – which was SO much fun, as you’ll shortly see – but as is my custom, I documented everything I ate… including what crap I had to buy on the plane going there because I had a 9am flight with Delta and had no interest in trying to juggle bento and my books and everything all at once.  (Yep – I studied – on the plane ride back, but not going, and not in the hotel room like I’d planned, oops.) 

I couldn’t find a Starbucks in the terminal before I boarded (ok, I was running a little late) – by the time I got up to my gate, they were boarding, so no soy latte for me!  When they wheeled around the cart, I’d already decided on a $2 muffin – but when the flight attendant pulled out this Sara Lee muffin, I really wanted to say “Never mind, I changed my mind.”  If we look back a couple of years, these muffins didn’t impress me for free at the Rachael Ray show taping I went to, and they sure didn’t impress me for $2, either.  But I was hungry and it seemed healthy-ish…

The Treats Box, clocking in at $5, was totally worth the price.  Coupled with the yum-factor, it was actually a steal.  There were crackers, two kinds of cheese (ok, it’s not artisanal and is mass-produced & shelf-stable but it’s still cheese!), a package of craisins, Milano cookies, hard salami, and kettle chips.  I ate the cheese, crackers and salami immediately and had the rest as snacks throughout the trip.  Honestly, totally worth $5.  I’m skipping the muffin next time and sticking with this.  If you have to eat on the plane and you’re flying Delta, definitely check out their Treats Box.  (There’s another one with hummus, but I took stock of what else was in it and rejected that option, though I forget why exactly.) — Oh here’s the menu.  I skipped it because I didn’t want playing cards or an energy bar.  Or really anything besides the hummus and pita chips. 

Though I didn’t wind up eating at the hotel, I did take pictures of my hotel room at the Hotel Vitale because I liked it quite a bit.  Here’s a shot of the bed, standing with my back to the window.  You can’t see the chaise lounge to my left (and though I have a picture of it, it’s actually of Blondie lounging on it, and I don’t really post pictures of people on my site) 

Here is the bathroom… and for my girls – you know who you are – I did NOT flood this bathroom!  Hah!  Take that!!! 

And though my room was listed as a city view room, I totally had a view of the bridge & water.  Awesome, right?  (To the left of the view is the Ferry Building.)  So I really liked my hotel room, and the concierge and everyone who worked there was super nice and friendly.  My two biggest issues were first, price, which I guess is due to location right next to the water, on the Embarcadero, across from the Ferry Building… – I paid just over $800 for 3 nights (including parking and taxes/etc.).  It would have been $600 and then some with the conference discount, but – and this was my second issue – paying for parking really brought the price up a lot.  This is also probably due to location that they aren’t able to offer parking included (space is an issue, as this hotel is IN the city), and I’m pretty sure area hotels offer similar rates (having stayed at hotels on Union Square that charge comparable prices for parking privileges is my basis for that statement)… but it really aggravated me to discover just how expensive parking was, when street parking wasn’t really an option.  Very annoying. 

Otherwise, I really liked the hotel; the location convenient to lots of good eating (and the conference activities, of course), the pleasant and efficient staff, and the huge room plus view was great. 

Yvo says: Oh, yes – Delta actually impressed me this time around with its takeoff and landing times – prompt takeoff, and early landings.  YES you read that right – I landed a little bit early in SF, but I landed almost a whole hour early back in NYC.  Rock!!!  Hotel Vitale I would definitely recommend to those traveling on business (ie, expense it), but for personal, unless you’re splurging on that trip, it’s not really wallet-friendly. 
recommended

Delta
Hotel Vitale