LOCAL’S TIPS FOR VISITING SAN FRANCISCO

Before you embark on your journey, here’s a couple of tips from us locals.

Because you’re in notoriously chilly San Francisco, always bring a jacket, even if it’s sunny (at the moment). It gets cold at promptly 6pm or wherever Karl the Fog is lurking. Yes, we named our fog. He’s adorable.
Never, ever, EVER call San Francisco “San Fran”, “Frisco,” or any other cutesy nickname. It makes our ears bleed and we get uncharacteristically pissy about it. If you must use a short name, SF or The City are both acceptable.
You will see a lot of homeless folk. Don’t worry. They are in far more danger than you are, and they will not hurt you.
There are a lot of sticky fingers in the city. The vast majority of offenders are opportunity thieves – so don’t give them the opportunity to steal your stuff. Do not use your phone on the street or on public transit. Everyone I know has gotten a phone stolen in San Francisco.
If you take BART, there are 2 unspoken rules, and everyone will get silently cranky if you don’t follow them.

* Rule 1: On all escalators, stand on the right, walk on the left.

* Rule 2: Line up on either side of the doors to wait for your train. Even if the next one is or isn’t your train. Just stand in line.

About that line thing: anywhere you see people standing in line in San Francisco, it’s a best practice to just quietly follow suit. We love standing politely in lines. San Franciscans once stood in line for hours just to get some day-old bagels flown in from New York City (no, I’m serious). At first I thought that was ridiculous, but after years of living here, I totally get it: San Francisco has awful bagels.