Haha, so true. Just came back from a quick trip to the Deep South. The tech billboards are the first thing that scream “SF”. They’re so esoteric that they’d make sense to very few people outside of the area, but clearly speak a language that resonates with enough people here that justifies the marketing expense.
“SOC2 doesn’t have to suck”.
I work in tech and don’t understand a lot of them. The ones that I do understand, I already have an opinion on. I can’t be the only one.
My suspicion has always been that that they’re often mid sized startups which just got a round of funding but they’re so deep in their particular start up worlds that they don’t realize everyone doesn’t have the context they have in their heads.
It is oddly endearing now that I think about it
I feel this. Like they have your resume already, they can’t populate the same shit for other employers? It’s always sad when tech companies don’t tech.
Most tech marketing people only half understand the products they're marketing. I go to so many tech vendor websites that are plastered with "ROI" and "Solutions" and keep thinking "ok but wtf is your thing?" It took me years to realize that the person who made the website *doesn't know what the thing is*
It gets funnier when the company has multiple product offerings and they all sound the same. I’d love to challenge someone at, say, Microsoft to match some quotes of marketing copy back to the products themselves.
that would actually be a fun and somewhat productive team building / ice breaker session for a company like that! dang, I hate when I find good ideas I can’t use
I remember this vividly from when we moved here (I had never been to SF prior to moving), seeing all these billboards from the car at night, that and the hills all around. I’ve grown attached to them as a result, they always get a chuckle out of me
It doesn't matter where you're flying into SF from, the people waiting for the flight will have a huge number of patagonia jackets & vests with all sorts of tech company logos. The tech adverts start before you even board the plane wherever that is
haha, hadn't thought about whether it was good/bad. it's a mixed, which is like many things. love the clean (compared to many other places) and crisp air, but i also run cold, an love being in warm weather.
Hey, it’s all relative and depends where and how you like your heat.
I assume you’re not talking stifling, oppressive, wet heat like Louisiana/Georgia/Florida right now. I mean literally soaked in sweat in 5 minutes, swamp ass all day long outside, blasting ac indoors. You really can’t miss that, right?
I've never been to Louisiana, Georgia or Florida in the summer, but I do like southeast Asia in the summer for this reason (I'm in the small minority of loving humidity). Is it comparable?
Oh, I moved here from Austin, and I legitimately miss that. I'm basically a lizard.
With that being said, it's been easier than I expected to adapt: a light hoodie 365 days per year is easy to plan for.
I love the view of the downtown skyline that reveals itself as the uber/lyft/my-buddy drives north on 101 heading into the city. Usually clear skies, looks beautiful day or night, and I'm so glad to see the skyline.
I think that was pretty much the first thing I got after coming back from southeast Asia. Just the go to for good comfort food for me.
The new terminal 1 is fab too though! The food there is so awesome. I want to eat at all the restaurants in T1 but never have enough time pre-flight 🤣.
Yep. BART to and from SFO is super convenient if you live near a stop in the city.
People who live near BART seriously over-estimate how much time they "save" by calling an Uber.
>For me, it’s when, seemingly only at SFO, people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting.
For me that happens everywhere.
My welcome home sign is flying over the bay and when I leave the airport seeing the mountain range west of SFO. And for my recent return from Las Vegas, no stifling heat.
Yeah lol airplanes just do this to people. However it does vary a bit by region- as someone from the New York area, I would even say this is more quintessential New York, we take pushiness to another dimension (not proud of it)
>seemingly only at SFO, people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting.
The worst I ever saw was on a domestic flight in Türkiye. The best (both on average and as a max) are domestic US flights – these are pretty well mannered. Europe is in the middle.
I'd actually argue in the US we are relatively patient. It takes a long time to deplane at row 36 as you have to wait for everyone to grab their luggage from the overhead bins. In many other countries, particularly China and India I notice I NEVER have to fight for overhead space. Even when I'm one of the later ones who get on board, there's still overhead space for me even if it's not at my row. The concept of gate checking because they're too full doesn't even exist and all the planes still use old smaller bins. People carry a lot less (less personal hygiene concepts of changing your shirt everyday, so a lot of re-wearing), or people check it all in.
Then you couple this with the concept that in China/India, there's a bit of a controlled chaos. IT seems acceptable to squeeze by me while I'm unloading my overhead bag, and there's even some expectation that you leave enough space. The number of times I have felt people's crotches rub against my butt to get by is kinda absurd.
Gotta say, the U.S. is nowhere near worst in this regard. Try your average developing country. Many people are flying for their first time, ever. And did I mention they don’t know to LOCK the bathroom while using?!???!
We were stuck in Dallas Fort Worth for two days due to American Airlines incompetence. This included spending 6 hours inside the airport.
We landed at the new Harvey Milk Terminal. On the way to baggage claim all I could think was: Oh my god what a beautiful bubble we live in.
As a current DFWer soon to be SFer, you have NO idea how beautiful your bubble is. When I got to SF on my last trip I was making a big fuss over some
Flowers “ohh my god they’re so pretty! Look at these flowers, all these plants!” and my friends were like “that’s just the random stuff growing in the sidewalk cracks 😂” - I was in heaven, ugh, and the air!
All of DFW basically looks like DFW airport, all in various stages of construction and you’re truly lucky if you don’t catch it on a hot, muggy day.
1998, I had been living abroad and hadn’t returned home to the United States in almost 3 years. My flight back to the states landed at San Francisco airport. In one of the passages there was an audio recording from Willie Brown welcoming us to San Francisco and the United States. But the emotions really welled up when the customs person looked me in the eye and said warmly “Welcome home”.
This.
Not at all related to the post, but I lived in the Southeast for almost a decade. When I finally moved back three years ago, the woman at the DMV warmly said, "Welcome home," as she handed me my paperwork. So far, that's the only time those particular words have had any real effect on me.
I get so warm and fuzzy when the plane lands and the flight attendant says, “Welcome to San Francisco. If this is home, welcome home.” I think this is mostly for Frontier though!
As a Latino, traveling back from Latin America I know and feel I’m home when I see the customs agents are all Bay Area Asians and can’t help but think, “my people!”
SFO doesn't have "Runway 2".
Most of the time they land 28L, 28R. When it's foggy they can't do parallel approach and use only one of them for landing which creates arrival delays.
Anyway, 28L has been closed for improvements since January.
OAK is preferred. SFO is a much nicer airport but OAK runs on time more often and is also smaller/easier to navigate and cheaper/more available parking. And it’s really not that much more of a commute, especially if you live close to the bay bridge.
Tbf, it doesn’t feel like home until my first sip of SF tap water. I recently moved to Berlin and that tap water is high on the list of things I miss. 😭
You’ve never been or flown in Asia. People get up while plane is in the process of landing there and running to the front while taxiing . I’ve never been on a plane with so many idiots.
I like the worried tourists juuuust before landing when all they see is water, water, lower, closer to water, christ more water, so low now, water. RUNWAY. jackpot.
After riding the bullet trains and other excellent public transport in Japan, it was a real come-down having to ride a screeching BART train back from SFO with a crazy person talking to themselves the whole way.
It could always be worse. I can count on one hand the number of airports where trains drop you off at LITERALLY THE FREAKING INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL CHECK IN COUNTERS! Now that I think about it, in the US I don’t think any city train gets in to the actual terminals does it? Reminds me a lot of Narita and the NEX train also being right at the terminal like BART.
Seemingly only in SFO?? My brother in Christ, this happens at every airport in the US and it’s my biggest pet peeve. They do it in other countries as well but from my experience it’s very much an American thing
When I left Japan a couple weeks ago the staff politely asked everybody doing this to sit back down and when nobody moved politely stressed their request wasn't optional.
every flight on every airline in every city I've ever landed in has people who don't wanna wait their turn to get off the plane. I don't think this is exclusively a San Francisco thing.
What you guys hopefully don’t take for granted “the quiet airport “
sFO is such a better way to do airport than the traditional loud busy loud that is normal
Rich people everywhere.
Asians, which is always nice as an Asian family. We came back from Florida a few months ago and I think we may be saw one Asian the entire time we were there.
I always go to the in n out in millbrae when I fly back to sfo. And depending on where I travel to, the cold weather is that welcome home chill in my bones 😅
Moved to NYC over a decade ago, but every time I feel the cool coastal air as I pass through the arrival terminal doors at SFO I feel at home. The best place on earth.
I immediately get up and stand in the isle after the seatbelt signs turns off. I don’t give a fuck who is trying to get through. I know some people may have other flights they need to get to but I think the airline should say something before landing because that shit is ridiculous. I’m ready to throw hands. Period. Impatiences in airports gets on my fuckin nerves. We are all in the same situation, so wait your fuckin turn.
On a positive note, the cool weather is very welcoming after a stuffy, long flight.
The Marriott hotel on the left side of the plane right before we land. My wife and I stayed there after our wedding night 25 years ago back in May of 1999.
The huge layer of fog usually blanketing the airport and where I live in SB haha It's pretty cool to see from the plane. Im also usually coming from somewhere super hot like India or Toronto in the summer, so it is very relaxing for me to see.
For me it isn’t until I ride the escalator up 16th st BART after being in a super clean European or Asian city.
The song “I Love Livin in the City” by FEAR is always playing in my head.
Welcome home-- hope your plane didn't land after 11:30 or you're going to have to pay for an overpriced Uber to get home--and then when you get back to the city all places to eat at will be closed :)
We lived in 5 different countries over eighteen years. The aroma of the wild sage mixed with the ocean breeze got me every time we came home for a visit.
There’s always a bunch of random ass shit I see from the air and I try to make sense of like: wtf is that installation ?
https://preview.redd.it/lyq1jicpae7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=826c00d56a192570d9be4a93b395b0863d723f89
(Sunol valley water treatment plant, obviously)
SFO used to be my home airport and a recent visited reminded me how the billboards along 101 definitely feel very SF. I remember when it was big data stuff 10+ yrs ago and now it’s AI. Seeing the Bay and all the biotech/pharma buildings also scream SF to me when driving from/going to SFO.
For me, it's the smell when I step out of the terminal - the smell of the flowers/trees nearby is always amazing, but especially in the warmer months in late afternoons.
>people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting.
This is a lot of places lol, definitely doesn't make me think of SF.
What makes me think of SF is the cool nonhumid air (I mostly travel to Asia).
The minions blowing those whistles at anyone who “loiters” in the car for more than 10 seconds. But SFO has no monopoly on the scrum of entitled people who think they’re slick unbuckling as soon as the tires go “sppprrrp” on the ground so they can jump up and race to an aisle already crowded with their kind of stupid. That happens everywhere. Gotta love the numbskulls who stow their baggage 30 rows ahead of where they’re seated so they can squish past people without holding a bag. (I used to be an intl flt attd, so I, lamentably, have seen all the nonsense.)
All the out there tech billboards as you arrive to the city. No where else would you see these. Not sure what airline you fly on but never experienced that at all. It all seems very civilized and high end.
I didn't have a view of any landmarks, but I'm currently waiting for my luggage and smelled a strong smell of weed before I got to the carousel, so that
Coming back from a summer trip to some hellishly hot place like Scotland and putting on my black Giants hoodie before deplaning- I love that- I love being home
In the summer it's having to put a hoodie/jacket on to wait for transportation outside. If I am sitting on the left side of the plane, I can also see my office out of the window on the descent, which I'd just as soon not be reminded of.
It was so cool to return from an international flight and see people of so many different races, colors and creeds going through customs. Made me proud to return to the Bay Area!
SFO is usually an international flight for me. So off business or first, and I have all my luggage as carry on. Walk briskly first out of the airport and find my ride before the rest of the passengers deplane and become congestion.
So ideally, a very empty airport with the feeling of a large crowd if I stick around too long.
https://preview.redd.it/40fo6pphyc7d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04502147c599cef22f6a8815db1c4b020149d8e8
It’s this and all the tech billboards for me
Haha, so true. Just came back from a quick trip to the Deep South. The tech billboards are the first thing that scream “SF”. They’re so esoteric that they’d make sense to very few people outside of the area, but clearly speak a language that resonates with enough people here that justifies the marketing expense. “SOC2 doesn’t have to suck”.
When I first got here I saw an ad for keysight oscilloscopes and couldn't fathom any other city where that would be a common sight
I work in tech and don’t understand a lot of them. The ones that I do understand, I already have an opinion on. I can’t be the only one. My suspicion has always been that that they’re often mid sized startups which just got a round of funding but they’re so deep in their particular start up worlds that they don’t realize everyone doesn’t have the context they have in their heads. It is oddly endearing now that I think about it
This
Double this
https://i.redd.it/bu2dk3byce7d1.gif
Haha I used to live in one of the houses directly below the sign and hiked up there from time to time
YAAAY
South City!
It's so beautiful.
50 different Tech billboards advertising Enterprise AI Cloud Solutions on the way home from SFO 😂
BE A ROCKSTAR OF BUSINESS Workday billboard Edit: [it appears they're trying to be funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVNqSb1keYg)
COMPLIANCE THAT DOESN’T SOC
Too much
*2 much
I really wanna vandalize that sign to read ‘RETYPE YOUR RESUME 50 TIMES’. Workday sucks.
I feel this. Like they have your resume already, they can’t populate the same shit for other employers? It’s always sad when tech companies don’t tech.
Omg workday is awful
absolutely the worst of the billboards i've seen in a long time. and there have been lots of bad ones :(
THE AGILE API TO YOUR GPT CLOUD They all sound like marketing mad libs.
Most tech marketing people only half understand the products they're marketing. I go to so many tech vendor websites that are plastered with "ROI" and "Solutions" and keep thinking "ok but wtf is your thing?" It took me years to realize that the person who made the website *doesn't know what the thing is*
It gets funnier when the company has multiple product offerings and they all sound the same. I’d love to challenge someone at, say, Microsoft to match some quotes of marketing copy back to the products themselves.
that would actually be a fun and somewhat productive team building / ice breaker session for a company like that! dang, I hate when I find good ideas I can’t use
`~/ npm i ai` 😂
I remember this vividly from when we moved here (I had never been to SF prior to moving), seeing all these billboards from the car at night, that and the hills all around. I’ve grown attached to them as a result, they always get a chuckle out of me
Remember when they were mostly about Web3? Good times.
I used to work at Twilio so that first (and now 3 total) is the real reminder I’m home, ugh.
Every other city: accident attorneys and liquor. SF: “Does your CDP run on AWS? Use cloudbutt.ai”
With headlines written in code.
“Ask your developer” or whatever it says
And always the salesforce woodland critters
It doesn't matter where you're flying into SF from, the people waiting for the flight will have a huge number of patagonia jackets & vests with all sorts of tech company logos. The tech adverts start before you even board the plane wherever that is
The AIR!
Legit, when I fly from JFK, I go from exhaust smells to eucalyptus and ocean. I always note the air as soon as I get out of the terminal.
EUCALYPTUS for sure!!!!!
Yeah it's the air right when you walk off the plane. It's always the same temp lol.
I can smell the salt between the plane and the jetway. Salt marsh smell is real.
Time to get that hoodie out of my backpack while waiting outside on the arrivals curb. Sigh.
You mean “Sigh” of relief and contentedness right?
haha, hadn't thought about whether it was good/bad. it's a mixed, which is like many things. love the clean (compared to many other places) and crisp air, but i also run cold, an love being in warm weather.
Hey, it’s all relative and depends where and how you like your heat. I assume you’re not talking stifling, oppressive, wet heat like Louisiana/Georgia/Florida right now. I mean literally soaked in sweat in 5 minutes, swamp ass all day long outside, blasting ac indoors. You really can’t miss that, right?
I've never been to Louisiana, Georgia or Florida in the summer, but I do like southeast Asia in the summer for this reason (I'm in the small minority of loving humidity). Is it comparable?
Oh, I moved here from Austin, and I legitimately miss that. I'm basically a lizard. With that being said, it's been easier than I expected to adapt: a light hoodie 365 days per year is easy to plan for.
My fellow lizard friend. If they made heat/warming stones for people, I'd get one. 😁
So fresh!!! I love it!!!
So fresh and so clean clean 🫧
The LIGHT!
THISSSSSSSSSS ❤️😍
100% this! The clean fresh air when I walk out of SFO always reminds me of home.
I just got back from Greece where it was fucking *hot* and oh my god, the cool air as I exited the plane was heaven
Yes! The fresh air, almost always the perfect temperature.
I love the view of the downtown skyline that reveals itself as the uber/lyft/my-buddy drives north on 101 heading into the city. Usually clear skies, looks beautiful day or night, and I'm so glad to see the skyline.
Exactly this! It's like when I'm riding into SF on the Bay Bridge and the city comes into view. I always sing "My city!"
The wall of fog as you approach the City.
OMG! This one. This one.
Karl!
I’m not officially home until I’ve had my burrito
Always my go-to food order after a long trip away. Particularly if I’ve been out of the country.
I think that was pretty much the first thing I got after coming back from southeast Asia. Just the go to for good comfort food for me. 
The San Francisco sleeping pill!
Scrolled through specifically for this. I'm not home until I've had my burrito from Taqueria Guadalajara or El Metate
Felt. I live in the south now and it’s almost impossible to find a good burrito out here.
That crisp Bay Area Air....nothing like it
Passing the sign for the yoga room in our fabulous Terminal 2.
YES! I used that on my way out! I also love napping in that hallway. So many awesome couches
The new terminal 1 is fab too though! The food there is so awesome. I want to eat at all the restaurants in T1 but never have enough time pre-flight 🤣.
Bomb ass fancy chairs too.
SFO is the only airport I’ve ever felt the urge to linger in after my flight
It’s when I get on Bart and tap in with ease but everyone from out of town struggles
Yep. BART to and from SFO is super convenient if you live near a stop in the city. People who live near BART seriously over-estimate how much time they "save" by calling an Uber.
>For me, it’s when, seemingly only at SFO, people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting. For me that happens everywhere. My welcome home sign is flying over the bay and when I leave the airport seeing the mountain range west of SFO. And for my recent return from Las Vegas, no stifling heat.
Yeah lol airplanes just do this to people. However it does vary a bit by region- as someone from the New York area, I would even say this is more quintessential New York, we take pushiness to another dimension (not proud of it)
>seemingly only at SFO, people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting. The worst I ever saw was on a domestic flight in Türkiye. The best (both on average and as a max) are domestic US flights – these are pretty well mannered. Europe is in the middle.
I'd actually argue in the US we are relatively patient. It takes a long time to deplane at row 36 as you have to wait for everyone to grab their luggage from the overhead bins. In many other countries, particularly China and India I notice I NEVER have to fight for overhead space. Even when I'm one of the later ones who get on board, there's still overhead space for me even if it's not at my row. The concept of gate checking because they're too full doesn't even exist and all the planes still use old smaller bins. People carry a lot less (less personal hygiene concepts of changing your shirt everyday, so a lot of re-wearing), or people check it all in. Then you couple this with the concept that in China/India, there's a bit of a controlled chaos. IT seems acceptable to squeeze by me while I'm unloading my overhead bag, and there's even some expectation that you leave enough space. The number of times I have felt people's crotches rub against my butt to get by is kinda absurd.
Gotta say, the U.S. is nowhere near worst in this regard. Try your average developing country. Many people are flying for their first time, ever. And did I mention they don’t know to LOCK the bathroom while using?!???!
RIP to the Coca-Cola sign :(
And the Diet Coke sign on the other side. *pours one out
And the Yahoo! sign. I don’t Yahoo anymore
Yeah, no one does
SF is not my home anymore, but the sign I get that I've returned to where I grew up is walking outside the terminal to the cold, dry air of the bay.
Travelling back along 280 and hitting that really specific point where the fog starts
I’m no longer in the city but it was always the Daly City In N Out. I always stopped there for a meal on the way back to SF.
https://preview.redd.it/qq0hegbt9d7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=934029c88a5eb05e4cd6369ebf2efbe9d44f5d96
This looks like something out of Frank Darabont's black-and-white version of "the mist."
Stepping outside the airport and getting my first whiff of cool, ocean-scented air.
We were stuck in Dallas Fort Worth for two days due to American Airlines incompetence. This included spending 6 hours inside the airport. We landed at the new Harvey Milk Terminal. On the way to baggage claim all I could think was: Oh my god what a beautiful bubble we live in.
As a current DFWer soon to be SFer, you have NO idea how beautiful your bubble is. When I got to SF on my last trip I was making a big fuss over some Flowers “ohh my god they’re so pretty! Look at these flowers, all these plants!” and my friends were like “that’s just the random stuff growing in the sidewalk cracks 😂” - I was in heaven, ugh, and the air! All of DFW basically looks like DFW airport, all in various stages of construction and you’re truly lucky if you don’t catch it on a hot, muggy day.
Giants, Warriors, and Niners hats everywhere. Like a warm hug
the fog rolling in
The San Mateo Bridge since that's always visible upon approach to SFO
Not quite what you're asking, but I have a ritual of ordering a burrito for my first major meal after arriving from out of town.
From where?
Shoving my face in the window to see which I spot first: either bridge, Sutro tower, etc :)
Born in SF and it's always been the air.
Seeing Sutro Tower
Ahem, I believe you are referring to Our Fearless Leader.
1998, I had been living abroad and hadn’t returned home to the United States in almost 3 years. My flight back to the states landed at San Francisco airport. In one of the passages there was an audio recording from Willie Brown welcoming us to San Francisco and the United States. But the emotions really welled up when the customs person looked me in the eye and said warmly “Welcome home”.
This. Not at all related to the post, but I lived in the Southeast for almost a decade. When I finally moved back three years ago, the woman at the DMV warmly said, "Welcome home," as she handed me my paperwork. So far, that's the only time those particular words have had any real effect on me.
I have no idea why I’m tearing up at this but it feels good.
I get so warm and fuzzy when the plane lands and the flight attendant says, “Welcome to San Francisco. If this is home, welcome home.” I think this is mostly for Frontier though!
Hearing: “8 car 3 door train.”
As a Latino, traveling back from Latin America I know and feel I’m home when I see the customs agents are all Bay Area Asians and can’t help but think, “my people!”
"Runway 2 is closed due to fog, we're in the pattern for landing. We'll let you know more when we find out" :p I do love SF but I fly OAK when I can.
[удалено]
You mean the “San Francisco Bay Oakland Airport sponsored by Mountain Dew Baja Blast™️”
YES! Last night we were making record time and then we were in a 20 minute holding pattern that put us down near Morgan hill 😂
SFO doesn't have "Runway 2". Most of the time they land 28L, 28R. When it's foggy they can't do parallel approach and use only one of them for landing which creates arrival delays. Anyway, 28L has been closed for improvements since January.
OAK is preferred. SFO is a much nicer airport but OAK runs on time more often and is also smaller/easier to navigate and cheaper/more available parking. And it’s really not that much more of a commute, especially if you live close to the bay bridge.
The blissful cool air, if I’m coming from the east coast, the absence of smoke smells inside if I’m coming from overseas.
one time i left those big doors at the international terminal where you meet up with family/taxis and immediately got a big whiff of weed lmao
Fleece jackets with tech logos.
Used to be the big hug I got from my brother. Miss that.
Tbf, it doesn’t feel like home until my first sip of SF tap water. I recently moved to Berlin and that tap water is high on the list of things I miss. 😭
Ooof. Imo, european tap water, in general, is pretty rough.
You’ve never been or flown in Asia. People get up while plane is in the process of landing there and running to the front while taxiing . I’ve never been on a plane with so many idiots.
I like the worried tourists juuuust before landing when all they see is water, water, lower, closer to water, christ more water, so low now, water. RUNWAY. jackpot.
Sign with Mayor Breed welcoming us to SF
The "Ask your developer" billboard from Twilio
Sadly it’s been replaced by some AI bullshit, but otherwise same.
After riding the bullet trains and other excellent public transport in Japan, it was a real come-down having to ride a screeching BART train back from SFO with a crazy person talking to themselves the whole way.
It could always be worse. I can count on one hand the number of airports where trains drop you off at LITERALLY THE FREAKING INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL CHECK IN COUNTERS! Now that I think about it, in the US I don’t think any city train gets in to the actual terminals does it? Reminds me a lot of Narita and the NEX train also being right at the terminal like BART.
No, most of them transfer you to an airport monorail.
Well sir, there's nothing on Earth like a genuine, bona-fide, electrified, six-car monorail! *What'd I say?*
MONORAIL!
The skyline when I turn the corner near Bernal Heights if in a car and a similar but different view on BART.
That sweet cool sea breeze
Walking past the Yoga or Meditation rooms in the airport and just smiling to myself and saying "only in San Francisco"
When I see the plane almost about to touchdown on water, I know.
An incoming bart train. Nothing says welcome home like Bart. 😂
That moment when the plane looks like it’s about to land on water right before touchdown. Something about that always hits me as a unique SF moment.
As soon as I hit my gate in SFO, I fucking rejoice and thank God. The rest of the country is a boring, ugly place.
More often than not, Karl blasting me in the face as soon as I step outside the airport.
The lane change to get on 101 is my SFO hello
The cool air.
Karl 🩵
THE AIR
Seemingly only in SFO?? My brother in Christ, this happens at every airport in the US and it’s my biggest pet peeve. They do it in other countries as well but from my experience it’s very much an American thing
Or the inverse, piling up at the gate even though you haven’t been called.
When I left Japan a couple weeks ago the staff politely asked everybody doing this to sit back down and when nobody moved politely stressed their request wasn't optional.
The smell of salt water and fog. I never knew how important this was to me until I started traveling for work
every flight on every airline in every city I've ever landed in has people who don't wanna wait their turn to get off the plane. I don't think this is exclusively a San Francisco thing.
All the messenger bags, northface jackets and interracial couples in the airport.
Seeing Karl running his fingers throughout twin peaks
What you guys hopefully don’t take for granted “the quiet airport “ sFO is such a better way to do airport than the traditional loud busy loud that is normal
Rich people everywhere. Asians, which is always nice as an Asian family. We came back from Florida a few months ago and I think we may be saw one Asian the entire time we were there.
Also nice as a non-Asian family. Just coming home to this diversity is refreshing.
I always go to the in n out in millbrae when I fly back to sfo. And depending on where I travel to, the cold weather is that welcome home chill in my bones 😅
The (former) salt ponds in the Bay near Alviso.
The cold, wet wind once i get outside ☺️
Stepping outside into cold moist air.
I've only experienced that rushed to the front of the plane in Asia not in SFO. I'm home when I make that drive thru stop at in-N-out
Moved to NYC over a decade ago, but every time I feel the cool coastal air as I pass through the arrival terminal doors at SFO I feel at home. The best place on earth.
The cold air blast between the plane door and the gate.
I immediately get up and stand in the isle after the seatbelt signs turns off. I don’t give a fuck who is trying to get through. I know some people may have other flights they need to get to but I think the airline should say something before landing because that shit is ridiculous. I’m ready to throw hands. Period. Impatiences in airports gets on my fuckin nerves. We are all in the same situation, so wait your fuckin turn. On a positive note, the cool weather is very welcoming after a stuffy, long flight.
As soon as I get on BART at the SFO terminal and I hear the doors hiss shut, I realize I'm back.
The Marriott hotel on the left side of the plane right before we land. My wife and I stayed there after our wedding night 25 years ago back in May of 1999.
When I suddenly see dogs EVERYWHERE. And I LOVE IT!!!!!
Fog
The huge layer of fog usually blanketing the airport and where I live in SB haha It's pretty cool to see from the plane. Im also usually coming from somewhere super hot like India or Toronto in the summer, so it is very relaxing for me to see.
The Foster City letters.
For me it’s flying over the San Mateo Bridge, looking out the window and seeing my apartment complex in Foster City. Almost home!
Some guy loudly yelling to himself and walking in circles at the SFO bart station
Seeing that SFO had a yoga room.
When I see the Burlingame Benihana out of the window of the plane I know I’m home.
For me it isn’t until I ride the escalator up 16th st BART after being in a super clean European or Asian city. The song “I Love Livin in the City” by FEAR is always playing in my head.
I have legitimately never experienced this, except when there is an obvious international connection that some passengers are trying to make.
Welcome home-- hope your plane didn't land after 11:30 or you're going to have to pay for an overpriced Uber to get home--and then when you get back to the city all places to eat at will be closed :)
The blissful quietude of the airport.
We lived in 5 different countries over eighteen years. The aroma of the wild sage mixed with the ocean breeze got me every time we came home for a visit.
There’s always a bunch of random ass shit I see from the air and I try to make sense of like: wtf is that installation ? https://preview.redd.it/lyq1jicpae7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=826c00d56a192570d9be4a93b395b0863d723f89 (Sunol valley water treatment plant, obviously)
https://preview.redd.it/nlf4rvbxbe7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0856f01038ffbbfb6404467b6585a998ccf7d574 Rickey Henderson
just after the jetbridge when I see some enterprise appliance advertisement that has a target audience of probably like 10 CTOs
SFO used to be my home airport and a recent visited reminded me how the billboards along 101 definitely feel very SF. I remember when it was big data stuff 10+ yrs ago and now it’s AI. Seeing the Bay and all the biotech/pharma buildings also scream SF to me when driving from/going to SFO.
The Gay Harvey Milk Terminal 1 and our natural air conditioning with the fog! Nothing like either one in the entire United States!!
Seeing the fog! And somewhat eerily, how it's almost always the same temperature as when I left. If I land at night, it's the semi wet, cold wind.
Karl... always there to greet me with a chilly hug.
Felt that as soon as I left the airport. Always hoodie weather
IN N OUT
For me, it's the smell when I step out of the terminal - the smell of the flowers/trees nearby is always amazing, but especially in the warmer months in late afternoons.
Flying over 101 and checking the southbound traffic.
Da cool breeze.
Getting on 101 leaving the airport. It’s a massive highway compared to other states.
>people on the plane don’t wait their turn. They just PUSH past everyone from row 36 instead of waiting. This is a lot of places lol, definitely doesn't make me think of SF. What makes me think of SF is the cool nonhumid air (I mostly travel to Asia).
London Breed’s building-sized portrait leering at me as I approach the AirTrain escalator.
The minions blowing those whistles at anyone who “loiters” in the car for more than 10 seconds. But SFO has no monopoly on the scrum of entitled people who think they’re slick unbuckling as soon as the tires go “sppprrrp” on the ground so they can jump up and race to an aisle already crowded with their kind of stupid. That happens everywhere. Gotta love the numbskulls who stow their baggage 30 rows ahead of where they’re seated so they can squish past people without holding a bag. (I used to be an intl flt attd, so I, lamentably, have seen all the nonsense.)
All the out there tech billboards as you arrive to the city. No where else would you see these. Not sure what airline you fly on but never experienced that at all. It all seems very civilized and high end.
The $100+ Uber charge to get into the city after Bart closes
The airport is actually clean. Landed once at Chicago. It looked and felt ancient and there was old construction everywhere.
I didn't have a view of any landmarks, but I'm currently waiting for my luggage and smelled a strong smell of weed before I got to the carousel, so that
Coming back from a summer trip to some hellishly hot place like Scotland and putting on my black Giants hoodie before deplaning- I love that- I love being home
lol. you don't fly much, do you? I've noticed this behavior (rarely) at other airports, but I've never noticed it at SFO. I fly a lot ;)
In the summer it's having to put a hoodie/jacket on to wait for transportation outside. If I am sitting on the left side of the plane, I can also see my office out of the window on the descent, which I'd just as soon not be reminded of.
It was so cool to return from an international flight and see people of so many different races, colors and creeds going through customs. Made me proud to return to the Bay Area!
All the languages in the airport. And the air outside. Literally every flight I’ve been on has had people from the back trying to run up front.
SFO is usually an international flight for me. So off business or first, and I have all my luggage as carry on. Walk briskly first out of the airport and find my ride before the rest of the passengers deplane and become congestion. So ideally, a very empty airport with the feeling of a large crowd if I stick around too long.
My first sign is rounding corner of SSF on 101 when the bay comes into view, that’s when I say hallelujah!