mtofell

So, is it just me or is the staging area completely idiotic? The pickup zones say, "Level I", "Level II", etc. and the "zones" are on the same level.... forward and back of one another, painted on the ground. "Level" (when speaking of physical location) traditionally means just that - up/down, top/bottom.

So, I manage to find my Lyft (thanks to someone explaining to me what "level" means at SFO) and we take off for my hotel. Now, I suppose this is partially my fault as I just entered the address of the hotel rather than the name as it seemed quicker. We start driving and right away I tell the driver we're not going where I need to go. I don't know SFO at all but am pretty good with North/South, etc. and we are going north and my hotel is south. He basically ignores me but to be fair there is a language barrier. Well, it turns out there are two very similar address (same #, street) within about 15 minutes of each other. Driver says, "Yeah, they are in different cities." Different cities?????? I just landed in one of the biggest cities in the country... on earth can I leave one city and enter another with 8 minutes of the airport??

Eastbay1K

It can be confusing, as some of the chains have a North and South of airport location (that is why the shuttle drivers often make sure that you're going to the correct hotel). I've never found the Lyft/Uber pickup particularly confusing. But as far as "different cities?" Why, yes, along the 101 corridor from where the airport hotels start on the south side to San Francisco City Limits (approximately 8 miles north of SFO), there's Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Brisbane, prior to FINALLY reaching the City and County of San Francisco, near Candlestick point.

By the way, South Airport Blvd. is north of the Airport, but it is on the SSF street numbering system, so at some point, there's just Airport Blvd, which is north of South Airport Blvd, but well, there you go.

(Edited to add ...) My 23-ish mile drive to SFO goes through 3 counties and 7 cities, and if I lived a few minutes' walk north of here, 8 cities, and if I lived 2 miles north of here, 4 counties and 9 cities.