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Silas Valentino

Silas Valentino

Travel Editor at SFGate

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Silas Valentino
sfgate.com

SF's rotten reputation is killing tourism across the Bay Area - SFGATE

As tourism in San Francisco cratered during the pandemic years, another Bay Area county saw something unusual: Visitor spending hit a record high. Sonoma County reaped the rewards, as folks ditched cities to travel north on Highway 101 in pursuit of more space among its vineyards and coastline. Visitor spending ballooned to $2.3 billion in 2022, notching a new benchmark. But prosperity was fleeting. Soon after the start of 2023, the county’s tourism CEO, Claudia Vecchio, noticed a problem. A…
sfgate.com

Former airline ramp agent reminds everyone of this easy travel hack...

Like a dog chasing its own tail, travel hacks tend to go in circles, reappearing on the internet over time — like the skiplagging hack that people were using for at least a decade before it made national headlines last year. The latest travel hack to show up on social media feeds is an easy cellphone tip for keeping tab on your flight’s status. A digital creator named Darby Maloney revived the technique — which she called her “#1 day of flight hack” — in a TikTok clip that’s been viewed nearly…
sfgate.com

Investors for iconic downtown SF building stopped paying on its loa...

A real estate developer connected to a luxury hotel building in downtown San Francisco has started flashing warning signs that it will default on its loan, adding to the list of owners struggling with solvency in the city’s shaky hospitality real estate market. Westbrook Partners, which acquired the property for the Four Seasons San Francisco at the Embarcadero in 2019, was served a notice of default this week that said it had not paid on its monthly loan since December and is currently behind…
sfgate.com

SFO reopens checkpoints, roadways after protest ends - SFGATE

LATEST March 13, 12:16 p.m. Following two hours of protests by activists inside and outside the airport, San Francisco International Airport officials announced that “A & G checkpoints in the International Terminal are now reopened” and “Roadways and checkpoints have reopened resuming normal operations.” March 13, 10:52 a.m. Protesters flooded the international terminal and curb outside the San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday morning calling for a permanent cease-fire and waving a b…
sfgate.com

Airbnb overturns policy used by hosts and hated by guests - SFGATE

One of the more unpleasant feelings for an Airbnb guest is the subtle sense that the host is surveilling you via cameras placed around the unit. The watchful eye from an invisible homeowner is a disturbing element for what’s supposed to be a vacation. It can leave guests feeling insecure or distrusted, as was the case for one SFGATE staffer who shared a 2021 experience when he and his family fell under the scrutiny of a host who monitored when his daughter arrived and whether a dog visited the p…
sfgate.com

Boeing plane loses landing gear tire after SFO takeoff - SFGATE

A United flight lost a tire while taking off from San Francisco International Airport Thursday morning, and it fell on an airport employee parking lot. United Airlines Flight 35 to Kansai International Airport in Japan lost a portion of its landing gear tire during takeoff around 11:35 a.m. SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told SFGATE that the debris fell onto an airport parking lot used by SFO staff. There were no injuries, and the airport’s runway was briefly closed to clear debris. It has since re…
sfgate.com

'Survive the night': Stranded Calif.-bound family forced to sleep o...

On the night of Feb. 17, a family of six arrived at Hawaii’s Kona International Airport for their red-eye to California, a stopover on their way home to Idaho. They had no idea their vacation would end in a nightmarish event for any traveler. Shortly after Idaho Falls resident Timmie John arrived at the airport with her grandmother and four children, the family learned their flight was delayed. They settled in to wait. Then, around 11 p.m., United Airlines staff informed them that their flight w…

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sfgate.com

California beaches close after 1 million gallon sewage spill - SFGATE

More problems arose on the Central Coast following a wild storm Monday that flooded the region and transformed the runways at the Santa Barbara Airport into a flooded plain. The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department announced Thursday that it was closing two beaches in the county indefinitely, after waterways were contaminated by thousands of gallons of sewage spilling from a sewer line and manhole that were damaged due to the storm. Goleta Beach is closed from 1 mile east to 0.5 mile we…
sfgate.com

Travel experts reveal best day to drive to Tahoe for a winter weeke...

If you frequently drive to Tahoe from the Bay Area, you have a system — or, better yet, a rule — for when to beat the traffic. “Our rule was to never drive up on Friday and never leave on Sunday,” Steve Nelson, a spokesperson for Caltrans, told SFGATE about his family’s system for visiting Tahoe City. “Some weekends it’s fine, others it’s 10 to 12 hours from the bay and back.” Driving the nearly 200 miles between San Francisco and Tahoe City via Interstate 80 takes at least 3.5 hours on a typica…
sfgate.com

Tahoe braces for winter storm, Ski Week, major event all in same we...

The yearly exodus to Lake Tahoe for some Bay Area families is about to begin and hotels around the lake say they’re preparing for a particularly busy week as several factors such as weather and a World Cup event coalesce around the same time. Every February, some Bay Area schools allow students to take the entire week off following President’s Day, which falls on Feb. 19 this year. Many people take off for the mountains on the Friday before the holiday, which is often the worst day to drive to T…
sfgate.com

Diverted SFO flight calls into question if airline broke federal ru...

The first time her flight tried to land at a windswept San Francisco International Airport during the atmospheric river on Feb. 4, passenger Crystal Ross told SFGATE that she felt her body leave the seat. But when the Cathay Pacific pilot tried for a second time to land at SFO, Ross said the dramatic drop in the sky sent half the people around her reaching for barf bags. “The plane was rocked so hard each time that half the plane was getting sick,” she said. Following a third failed attempt to…