Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
25
Tips
Don't Stow It—Ship It
Though pricey, it's sometimes worthwhile to travel luggage-free. Specialists in
door-to-door luggage delivery include
Virtual Bellhop
(www.virtualbellhop.
com),
Luggage Express
(www.usxpluggageexpress.com), and
Sports Express
(www.sportsexpress.com).
Oakland International
Airport (OAK)
Oakland I nternational
(
&
510/563-
3300;
www .flyoakland.com) consists of
two terminals, one of which ( Terminal 2)
is pretty much dev oted to S outhwest Air-
lines. Both terminals hav e A TMs and
information booths. All the major
rental
car companies
have counters inside the
terminals as w ell. I f y ou ar e driving into
San Francisco, exit the airpor t on H egen-
berger Road. Follow it nor th to Interstate
880 to ward S an F rancisco. F rom ther e,
follow the signs to I nterstate 80 to S an
Francisco. When you reach the Bay Bridge,
you'll stop at a toll booth and pay $3 to
cross. O n the other side, take the 5th
Street exit to get to Union Square.
All ground transportation at the airport
is on one level.
Bayporter Express
(
&
877/
467-1800;
www .bayporter.com) is the
best choice for a shuttle. I t picks up pas-
sengers fr om Terminal 1 at the center
island and fr om Terminal 2 ar ound the
corner fr om baggage claim. The far e to
San Francisco is $26 for one person, $38
for two in the same par ty, and $7 for kids
under 12. You need to make r eservations
for the 45- to 90-minute driv e. Cabs will
run $40 or more depending on traffic and
take 30 to 40 minutes.
BART is another option. You can catch
the
AirBART shuttle
(
&
510/465-2278
),
which r uns ev ery 15 minutes in fr ont of
either terminal. The far e is $2 for adults
and 50¢ for childr en for the 15-minute
ride to the O akland Coliseum BART sta-
tion. From there, you'll transfer to a BART
train into San Francisco; the fare is $3.15.
upper-level center islands; a uniformed
guide will dir ect y ou to the appr opriate
van. B e pr epared to wait fr om 10 to 20
minutes for the one heading in your direc-
tion. Look for exact shuttle far es posted
throughout the airpor t—most ar e no w
charging ar ound $13 per person, which
may make a cab a better deal.
Super-
Shuttle
(
&
800/258-3826;
www .super
shuttle.com) is my favorite of the services,
and y ou don't need adv ance r eservations
from the airpor t. ( You do need r eserva-
tions for a shuttle
to
the airport, however.)
After years of wrangling and millions of
dollars in construction, the
Bay Area Rapid
Transit
(BART;
&
510/464-6000;
www.
bart.gov) extension to SFO is no w opera-
tional. The airport's BART station is located
in the International Terminal. The AirTrain
connects passengers to all terminals, the
2
BART rail station, and the Rental Car Cen-
ter. The BART train, which depar ts fr om
the international terminal, takes about 30
minutes to r each downtown San Francisco
and costs $4.95, making it b y far the most
inexpensive way to r each the city . I' m a
huge fan of mass transit and would encour-
age you to use BART, but I have one caveat:
If you're traveling with lots of luggage and
not enough hands to manage it, take a cab .
Otherwise, you may end up at the P owell
Street BAR T station facing a 10-minute
walk to y our hotel. (S an Francisco doesn't
have huge numbers of taxis on its str eets
like London or N ew York, so don 't count
on catching a cab .) I f y ou're also dealing
with tired children, the journey from BART
to your lodgings isn't going to make a won-
derful start to the vacation.
