Every year I go to the RSA Conference in San Francisco and share my experience. I have had many great experiences like this visit in 2019.

I can definitely say it is conference season as the airports are packed with waves of business travelers all with carry-ons and jamming up TSA pre-check lines!

The real question is whether downtown San Francisco has recovered or has homeless, crime and trash been a major blocker from people visiting?

I will first say the views have returned.

And the fancy shops are open and people are visiting them again.

You can tell when a Rolls Royce pulls up to the Tiffany shop in Union Square, people like shopping here again. The downside is most of these shops close at 5 PM and are not open at night.

The downside is cars get broken into even in front of hotels! No fun…

So, I can only recommend taking ride share and not renting a car. In San Francisco, you can even get rides in Waymo drivers cars! Except it did make a left turn through a red light which was scary…good thing it was later at night!

and lots of cool activities happening around the city. Rappelling down the Grand Hyatt as an activity was a fun choice for some people.

Did I go running early in the morning?

The views are always great. and I am not just talking about Alcatraz. Look closer in the picture at all the “homeless” sea lions 😉

Of course I did, the San Francisco waterfront is one of the best and popular with runners and absolutely safe!

The run made for a great panel I joined on the first day of the conference with some good external press coverage. Much better than I got from 16 years ago when I mentioned Windows Vista UAC!

Summary: It is really coming back and I think in another year, San Francisco may be a great choice for weekend visits again!