Adactio: Journal—Return from San Francisco

Return from San Francisco

With a mixture of regret and anticipation, I boarded my flight from San Francisco back to London. I was looking forward to getting back to Brighton and seeing Jessica again. But I had such a good time in San Francisco, it was hard to leave.

It’s funny to think that up until this year, I had never been to Shaky Town. And now I’ve just returned from my third visit. I was ostensibly there for the Voices That Matter conference but if truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have attended the conference if it weren’t for the location—especially considering the speakers’ fee (or lack thereof).

During the conference proper, I was staying at a very pleasant hotel downtown. That was bookended with a few days on either side staying with Tantek. I couldn’t have asked for a better host. He showed me around the neighbourhood, shared his WiFi and generally showed me a good time.

The day before I skipped town, I went along to the geek picnic that Ariel organised in South Park. Nibbling on a nice selection of cheeses while Hugh McLeod churned out a cornucopia of cartoons, we enjoyed the last of the Summer sunshine in the epicentre of the geek mindhive.

That evening, I attempted to repay Tantek for his kindness by cooking up a pot of my signature chili while he organised guests for a little dinner party—the second in as many days. My last two evenings in San Francisco were spent eating good food, sipping good wine and enjoying really good company. It’s always fun to hang with the people who make the web apps I use—Blaine from Twitter, Leah from Pownce, Ted from Satisfaction—ply them with booze and then slip in a feature request or two.

All in all, this trip to San Francisco was the perfect mixture of seeing old friends and making new ones. Thanks to New Riders for giving me the opportunity to visit one my favourite places and thanks to everyone else for making me feel so welcome. As always, visual documentation is provided for your viewing pleasure.

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 5:53pm

Tagged with sanfrancisco conference tantek travel