Shopping For a Wireless USB Device in San Francisco

Before coming over to the US we had checked out the buying a USB prepaid wireless internet device and online it looked as if  Best Buy had the best deal.  So this morning Val and I headed out to Best Buy to check it out.

We walked down to Mason St and caught the Mason-Powell cable car into Market St which is the main street in San Francisco.  Not being sure where to head to from the drop off point we headed left down Market St and asked a couple of street vendors and in Walgreens if they knew where Best Buy is. No one knew and one guy sent us in completely the wrong direction.

In the end we caught a cab, and the young man was so helpful and took us  to the nearest Best Buy shop and gave us all the information we needed to get back to Market St. It was so refreshing to find someone who was chatty and helpful and the fare was only $12.00.  So cudos to DeSoto Cabs, if all your drivers are as obliging and helpful as this young man was then you are doing everything right.  Unfortunately I didn’t get his name but if you need a cab in San Francisco just ring 415-970-1300 and I am sure you will very happy with the service provided.

Well unfortunately, the only USB prepaid internet device available was $169.00 and then you have to purchase the amount of internet time separately and this ranged from $10 for 100MB to $60 for 1GB.

I was quite surprised at how expensive it was. I later went to another phone store and the young man had a deal whereby you can get wireless internet on USB for $60 per month but the pre paid device is $260.00.  Well the prices for the USB device is totally unacceptable and it will probably be just as cheap for me to use my Australian dodo connection when I get to Las Vegas.  At the moment I have free cable internet connection at the Holiday Inn hotel. Two thumbs up to Holiday Inn Express and Suites at Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco.

We also looked at getting another lightweight laptop for Val to use but even these were not cheap especially when you convert the dollars, so we left empty handed and disappointed. However, Best Buy do have some awesome bargains in other things such as a PS3 for $399. Now to me that is a bargain.

Following the young cabbie’s advice we headed straight up 14th street to Mission St and caught the Muni. As we had purchased a day pass for $11 each on the cable car, we also had free access to any other method of transport in the Muni system, so we rode the bus for free.  The bus dropped us at the corner of Van Hess and Market St and this meant a rather long walk to the cable car.

As we walked along we spotted a produce market on Grove St and so left the Market St to go and investigate. One thing I love about California is the fruit and so we purchased some absolutely delicious plums and nectarines to take back to the hotel.

The fruit is juicy and sweet, something we no longer seem to get back home where everything is picked way to soon and put into cold storage, so by the time you get it in the shops it is bland and tasteless.

So this was a real treat for me and took me back to my childhood when all the fruit in our orchard was as sweet and juicy.

Now instead of turning back onto Market St, we continued across the road up to the City Centre for a photo opportunity.  Its a beautiful building and this is where Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio.

Then we thought we would go to the Asian Art Center to see the ‘Lords of Samurai’ exhibition, however we were unable to go in as we had the fruit and they don’t have a cloakroom where you can leave your items. So maybe we will go back another day. Another exhibition I want to see before we leave is the Tutankahmen expo.

Now  we continued to walk up Larkin St, which of course was going in the opposite direction to where we needed to be.  So a quick check of the map and we ended up back on the right track, but it took forever to get back to the cable car station, so I used the time to take some more photos of the fantastic architecture, which I so love about San Francisco.

After finally arriving at the cable car we stood in a very, very long line waiting for our turn to board one of the cars.  We stood there for over an hour in the queue and we both got sunburnt.  Fortunately there was a saxophonist who played a great range of popular music which helped to pass the time.

Once we boarded the cable car I stood outside at the back with the brake operator so that I could take video of the trip up and down the hills from the rear of the cable car. I am hoping this footage will better show the steepness of the hills.

Last time I was here I filmed the hills from the front of the cable car and they didn’t quite show the full effect of the hills.

This cable car dropped us off at the Hyde St stop so on the way back to the hotel we stopped off at Denny’s for lunch.

I order  the Lumberjack meal consisting of scrumbled potatoes, sausages, bacon, ham and eggs, pancakes and toast and Val had a T-bone steak with scrumble potatoes, eggs and toast. The food was cooked to perfection and very tasty, but the serving were quite large and I couldn’t eat all mine although I did make a sterling effort. Val had to finish mine off.

The meal cost $44.54 with tax.

We are still having difficulty coming to terms with the time difference so Val was up till 5am playing on the computer.

Powell and Market St Cable Car at the turnaround

The Cable Car is turned around manually on the turnaround so that it faces the right direction.

The Saxophonist entertains the crowd waiting to board the cable car.

Heading up Powell St. I am standing on the back of the cable car taking the photos.

Its hard to get the right perspective of just how steep the hills are.

 

Filed under: Shopping

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!