7 July 2017. Natalie had arranged for us to meet her friend at the Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto, so needless to say, I was pretty damn excited. We had only gone to see the Like sign on 1 Hacker Way, but by meeting Stuart, we’d be given inside access to the Facebook campus. Obviously, that isn’t something everyone can say they’ve been able to do.
Palo Alto is almost an hour’s drive from San Francisco, so we first stopped at Philz in Burlingame for coffee. If you’re a Starbucks fan, you probably haven’t tried Philz. Starbucks pales in comparison. Philz coffee is 100% custom made per order and is sweetened while it’s being made. If you taste it and think it’s too sweet, they pour some out and add more coffee, and if it’s too strong, they also pour some out and either add milk or sugar. It all depends on what you want. They make sure you have the perfect cup of coffee before you leave, and that I thought was something really special.
Stuart asked us to meet him at around 11:30, and that’s precisely the time we got there. Parking was easy enough to find, and we headed straight to Reception where we were greeted by some security officials who handed us each an iPad on which to fill our details in. We couldn’t see much into the building apart from a steel staircase leading to the left and large glass doors with metal scanners where only authorised people could enter into. Visitors tags ready, we waited a good 30 minutes for Stuart, which we were both a little annoyed about.
I noticed people coming in and out of the door behind all the security ones which appeared to lead outside, and I tried my best to get a glimpse of what lay through it. Alas, it was practically impossible. I also noticed a fridge full of cold drinks and water from which people would just help themselves to. I had heard that Facebook employees got free food and drinks all day, but seeing staff just helping themselves without having to pay (or anywhere to pay, for that matter) was still fascinating to me.
When the tall, rather nerdy-looking ginger finally met us, he lead us through the very door I was trying to peer through, and straight to a shuttle bus. The Facebook campus is huge, so employees either use the shuttle bus or cycle between the different blocks. The shuttle bus has a scanner in the form of a Like button which employees swipe their access tags against as they enter the bus. I had to pinch myself cos I wasn’t really sure it was all real. I was literally inside a Facebook bus!
After driving around the campus for 10-15 minutes, we finally arrived at Building 12. Within seconds, we entered a hidden town.
It was actually surreal walking through the campus; it was almost like a university with the students walking in between classes. The only difference was that there was a different restaurant with every step – one for every kind of cuisine. The only downside was that I felt as though we were practically running, but I didn’t say anything because seeing some of the headquarters was better than not seeing it at all.
We headed inside one of the buildings which is basically a visitors’ centre. There, Natalie and I stood on a particular spot on the ground and had to look up for a few seconds.
Round the corner was a huge interactive wall with the world map on it. It so happened that the people examining it before us placed the focus on South Africa (I wonder why?) so although I didn’t move it around myself, I could see what it was doing: it would display the number of Facebook users for a particular country that you selected. I didn’t catch how many there were in South Africa, but the total number of Facebook users worldwide was over 2 billion!
When we were done, we went to grab something to eat. Stuart asked what we wanted and I opted for Mexican food since I had never had a burrito (or even tacos of that matter) before. I know, you may judge me – even I thought it was shameful but what better place (outside of Mexico) to have your first burrito than in the very heart of Facebook, right?
I had heard of the food at the Facebook (and Google) headquarters being free of charge, but it was still very strange yet fascinating to experience it. We walked into Teddy’s Nachos and I had no idea what to do because all the ingredients were laid out deli style so it wasn’t as though I could just say hey make me this kind of burrito. I asked Natalie for some advice and she told me the basic ingredients to order and what I could add. As I walked along the counter, I pointed to each thing I wanted as the guy put it together. He then wrapped it in foil and handed it to me. All the time I was looking for a cash register, but there was none. I grabbed some serviettes and sat down with Stuart with Natalie close behind me. I was not at all disappointed and to date, it was the best burrito I’ve had. As it turns out, Teddy’s actually serves one of the best burritos in the Bay Area. Lucky me!
After eating we took another brisk walk to the merchandise store where Stuart literally gave us about 5 minutes to look around. I could tell that Natalie was as annoyed as I was, because we both really wanted to get a souvenir from there – at least a shirt or something – but Stuart was in a rush. I quickly accepted that I wasn’t going to get anything, so we left the store and went back to the shuttle to the main entrance, where we said our goodbyes and headed back to the city. All the while, Natalie and I complained to each other about how rushed the visit was and that we could have asked another one of Natalie’s Facebook-employee friends to show us around. Oh well, now we know for next time.
After relaxing a little at home, Natalie and I got an Uber ride downtown – we had tickets to the Giants game at AT&T Park that evening and I couldn’t wait. Alfredo asked us to meet him there as he was working, so we left a little early so we could have drinks and a bite to eat. I was also hoping to get a Giants shirt.
The Uber driver who picked us up must have been in his late 40s, and he drove like a complete idiot. Not only was he not really paying attention (Natalie yelled at him at one point because he almost drove into another car while changing lanes), but he also took us through the absolute dodgiest part of the city. I had connected to Natalie’s wi-fi hotspot (she has unlimited data, something unheard of in SA) so we could chat without him knowing, and she told me about the area we were going through. He had actually taken the long way round, and didn’t use the freeway. I wasn’t in the city for long but even I knew that AT&T Park is pretty much straight off the freeway, barely 20 minutes away from Natalie’s house.
We were stuck in near-standstill traffic behind all the other people who were going to the game, so Natalie waited until we got out of the dodgy area before she told the driver to let us out so we could walk. We were literally walking faster than the traffic was moving, and our frustration with the driver quickly dissolved as we chuckled over how he must have been swearing us for moving ahead – he definitely wouldn’t have had a way out of that traffic.
Once we got to the stadium, we walked around a little looking for place where I could get an official Giants shirt. I knew it would be expensive, but it was something I had to get. We ended up going to the official store where I got the jersey for…wait for it…$90. Yeah, I know.
We then went straight to Pete’s Tavern which sat across the road from AT&T Park. While waiting for our drinks order, I went down to the bathrooms to change into my shirt. I just had to, as the entire tavern was filled with Giants supporters in their orange shirts.
We had a lot of time so kill so we took our time eating the tortilla chips we had ordered that came with awesome salsa and guacamole. The salsa we get in SA is absolutely crap – we really need to get that right.
Alfredo eventually met us and we made our way into the stadium. We went straight to get some proper food – it wouldn’t have been right if I didn’t get a hot dog and a beer, otherwise what kind of baseball fan would I be?
While the game was on, a guy was walking around selling corn dogs. That was another thing I had to try and I must say, I was very disappointed. It kind of tasted like cardboard. But I guess a game isn’t the place to get it, so I’m open to trying it again from some place more…reputable.
Long story short, the Giants lost. It would have been a bonus if they won, but I was just thrilled to experience the atmosphere of a live baseball game – something I had never done before.
The locals are clearly passionate about their home team, and even though it was obvious that the Giants were going to lose, the majority of the crowd stayed until the very end. We weren’t one of those people however, and decided to get out of the stadium before it became a mad rush. Alfredo had parked at least 2 blocks away so we had a long post-game walk to do too.
It was my second to last night in San Francisco, and my last bucket list item for the city had been ticked off.