Don't Burden Yourself on Vacation, Pack LightWritten by Jed Clark
When I was backpacking through Europe and staying in hostels, I met a 56-year-old woman who was traveling around world. Eileen related to me story of how she started her trip with three suitcases and a carry-on. The three suitcases were too much for her to maneuver in planes, trains, buses, airports and stations. Three weeks into her trip, she had purchased a small backpack and had discarded 80 percent of stuff she started with. Though this story is exceptional because Eileen was traveling around world, a trip that she expected to last a year, and she started with an oppressive amount of luggage, lesson learned can be taken to heart by traveler in all of us whether we're going to San Francisco for weekend or to New Dehli for a few weeks. Packing light enables you to easily maneuver yourself and your belongings through all mazes of airports, train stations and bus stations. How do you go about packing light? Well, packing light requires a special mindset when you are packing. First, you may want to start with a goal in mind. For example, you may want to fit everything required for a trip in a small piece of checked luggage or go one step further and aim for carry-on sized luggage only. Also, you really ought to save some space in that luggage for any souvenirs that you want to bring home. After you have selected your desired luggage size, start planning and laying out all clothes, toiletries and personal items that you think you'll need. You may want to check weather report for your destination so you'll know types of clothes you'll need. Once you have everything spread out on your bed, go through each item and determine if it is essential. If an item is not absolutely essential, leave it behind.
| | San Francisco Streetcars - Unsung Historic TransitWritten by Jed Clark
You probably already know about San Francisco Cable Cars. They cost $3.00 a ride and are famous for carrying passengers over steep Nob and Russian hills. Another historic way to get around city of San Francisco is to take an F-line streetcar. For $1.25, you'll be riding a vintage electric street car. The F-line streetcars were purchased from cities around world, so you may get on a car that was originally in service in Milan, Moscow, Philadelphia, New York or Cincinnati. The electric streetcars first appeared in San Francisco in 1892. After 1906 earthquake and fire, they began replacing cable cars as San Francisco's main transit system (except for really steep hills) because cable cars were slower and more difficult to maintain. Cable cars run by grabbing onto a constantly moving cable under street, while streetcars have an overhead pole that connects to a single power wire. At one time Market Street had four sets of streetcar tracks (two for Municipal Railway and two for its privately-owned
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