San Francisco: The Golden Gate's other side

Writer Seth Stevenson's new book Grounded recounts a journey around the world with just one catch—no plane travel. Stevenson and his girlfriend hopped aboard cargo freighters, ferries, rickshaws, and double-decker buses to get around, starting in D.C. and finally ending up in L.A. after crossing two oceans. We picked his brain for some of his best travel tips. Q: What made you come up with this idea, to travel around the world without getting on a plane? A: I was getting a little restless in my day-to-day life and was craving an adventure and a challenge. I also despise flying—the security lines, the cramped seats, the dry, recycled air. Making it all the way around the globe without the help of airplanes felt like a finite challenge that might be difficult but doable. And now I feel a sense of accomplishment. Q: Of all the transportation modes you used (boat, car, train), did you have a favorite? A: There is nothing like being on a ship in open ocean. There's something incredibly calming in the act of looking at a starry sky or an empty horizon as you hear only waves slapping against the ship's hull. Cargo freighters, in particular, are an amazing experience. You can eat your meals with the crew and hang out with the officers on the navigation bridge. Q: What surprised you most about the trip? A: Once you become accustomed to living out of a backpack, it's amazing how little you miss the possessions you left back home. We'd put some things in storage, and at one point I realized I wouldn't care one bit if all those objects burnt to ash and blew away. Also, before you go: You might want to have a game plan—or at least be emotionally prepared—for dealing with Asian squat toilets. Q: You traveled with your girlfriend. What's some advice for couples who travel together? A: When traveling with someone you love, be positive it's someone you want to spend a lot of time with—like, 54 straight hours in the cabin of a Russian train. Difficult situations will always arise as plans fall apart, or ships are delayed, or visas don't come through. You need to support each other, lift each other's spirits in glum moments, and be willing to compromise. Q: What's a story from this trip that you'll be telling for ages to come? A: Our entire quest to make it around the globe without using airplanes was put in jeopardy in Singapore, when a cargo freighter refused to take us aboard at the last minute. We frantically searched around the Singapore docks—even sneaking into private yacht clubs—desperate to find another ship headed toward Australia. I'd just about given up hope when we spotted a cruise ship in the harbor. I ended up sprinting down its gangplank with no luggage and only the clothes I was wearing, and jumping aboard just seconds before the ship pulled away from the pier. My girlfriend didn't make it aboard the ship in time. Q: What did traveling the "old-fashioned" way teach you about the places you visited? A: Staying on the ground gives you a much better sense of the earth's size. It turns out we live much closer together than we sometimes imagine. For instance, the modern traveler can get overland from London to Beijing in a little more than a week. In the past, Londoners might have thought that China was a different planet. But sitting in a train car and watching Europe melt into Asia, you realize the earth is actually rather small...and thus fragile. And precious.

Concerts on a floating barge When it comes to a little night music, a converted coffee barge moored by the Brooklyn Bridge delivers an only-in-New-York experience. Chamber musicians perform for a small audience as the barge sways, not necessarily in time, and the lights of downtown Manhattan and the bridge glow in the background. Bargemusic returns from dry dock on April 16 with a concert devoted to Schubert and Dvorak. Tickets are typically $35 ($30 for seniors, $15 for students), but April 29 brings Jazz Night for $25 ($20 for seniors, $10 for students), and there are free matinees at 1 p.m. on April 24 and May 1. A new fair on the Lower East Side Hester Street Fair opens April 24 on the corner of Hester and Essex Streets (about a hundred years ago, the same site was crowded with pushcarts). Already being dubbed the Brooklyn Flea of Manhattan, the fair has enlisted vendors such as Devotte shoes, Virginia-based Malbon Bros. BBQ, and Luke's Lobster. Check the Hester Street Fair Facebook page for news updates. Browsing, at least, is free; Saturdays and Sundays through December, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain or shine. A festival celebrating international writers The PEN World Voices Festival brings together 150 writers from 40 countries for a week of mostly free events, April 26 to May 2. On opening night, Andrea Levy, Mohsin Hamid, Sofi Oksanen, and Salman Rushdie are among the luminaries who'll read from their works in the original languages (with projected translations), $20. Another event with natural appeal is New York Stories, a moderated, more intimate conversation between three novelists and critics, Colm Tóibín, Roxana Robinson, and Darryl Pinckney, April 29, $15. Cherry blossoms in Brooklyn The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 42 varieties of cherry trees bloom in different stages throughout the viewing season, April 3 to May 2, and the CherryWatch map is tracking their progress. It looks like some of the weeping cherry trees along the pond are already starting to peak. Saturdays are free from 10 a.m. to noon (instead of $8); it's $15 for Sakura Matsuri, the closing weekend's lineup of taiko drumming, ikebana flower arranging, and tea ceremonies. After a few hours at the garden, you might head next door to the Brooklyn Museum, whose current exhibits include "Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt." It's free the first Saturday of each month, otherwise a combo garden and museum ticket is $16. Spas on sale Sightseeing in the city can take its toll. After a day out pounding the pavement, rejuvenate at one of the 80 Manhattan spas participating in Spa Week, April 12 to 18, when treatments cost a flat rate of $50. Options include a 90-minute foot reflexology treatment at Le Peau Day Spa, a 60-minute purify and control facial at Fresh, and a 50-minute deep tissue massage at Graceful Services. Ahh.

Spring is blooming in San Francisco! These are five things on our calendar this month: The Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Japantown's festival stretches over two weekends and features tons of exhibits and activities: taiko drumming, tea ceremonies, anime costume contests, samurai sword demonstrations, and food stalls. The event, held here since 1967, culminates with a parade that starts at the Civic Center—expect floats, dancers, musicians, kimono-clad beauty queens, and portable shrines. April 10-11 and 17-18, free. Japan Center, at Post and Buchanan Streets. Parade (April 18) starts at 1 p.m. Last Gasp comics celebrates 40 years Last Gasp, an underground comic book publisher, is celebrating 40 years of alternative art and literature with a party Thursday. The show will feature the artwork of some 50 artists, including Robert Crumb, Ed Hardy, and Mark Ryden, representing what they call "the haut monde of lowbrow." There will also be readings by writers including the legendary poet Laureate Diane DiPrima. The party will go late at 111 Minna, a downtown spot that's part gallery, part night club, part bar—and worth a visit no matter when you're in town. April 1, 6 p.m.-late, free, 111 Minna Street, 415/974-1719. 21+ older. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence party Celebrate Easter in true San Francisco style at Dolores Park with the city's fabulous drag queens, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The naughty revelry will feature the annual Hunky Jesus Contest, Easter Bonnet Costumes, and a huge crowd of partiers. April 4, noon-4 p.m., free, Dolores Park, 19th Street and Dolores Street. The Cal Academy of Sciences: Extreme Mammals exhibit Opening April 3, the new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences brags the "Biggest, Smallest, and Most Amazing Mammals of All Time." Featuring both live animals and reconstructions of extinct species, the exhibit allows you to meet beavers the size of grizzly bears, the minuscule, mole-like Batodonoides, and the Indricotherium, the largest land mammal ever discovered (thankfully, he's not one of the live animals). Adult tickets are normally $25, but take advantage of free admission on April 21, the third Wednesday* of the month. Mon.-Sat. 9:30 a.m.-5p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 55 Music Concourse Drive in Golden Gate Park. 415/ 379-8000 *Corrected: We originally had the wrong date here. Our apologies! SF Symphony Open Rehearsal Every now and then the San Francisco Symphony offers $20 tickets to see live morning rehearsals. It's a chance to hear the award-winning orchestra and get a behind-the-scenes peek. This month, Jeffrey Kahane will be conducting two of Mozart's later symphonies, Haffner and Jupiter as well as Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1. Come at 8:30 a.m. for complimentary coffee and donuts, followed by a half-hour talk at 9. The performance/rehearsal starts at 10. April 21, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave, 415/864-6000

Given the recent infatuation with Prohibition-style bars, the timing seems about perfect for this small new museum that shines light on the role of bootleggers and gangsters in the 1920s and throughout U.S. history. It's located in a once-notorious speakeasy at 80 St. Marks Place, which happens to be down the block from one of the city's new-wave speakeasies, PDT (enter through a phone booth in Crif's Dogs). The museum's main gallery won't be ready until late April or early May, but co-founder and curator Lorcan Otway has started giving informal preview tours that draw on his personal connection to the building—his father bought it from gangster Walter Scheib in 1964. When I stopped by last weekend, Otway gathered us in a group by the mahogany bar, lined with artifacts including vintage whiskey bottles, a Tommy gun, and newspaper clippings and photos. He told us that shortly after the purchase his father came upon two locked safes in the basement. "He called Walter Scheib, and said he was too curious to own a building with locked safes and too cautious to open them without him," said Otway. Together they uncovered $2 million in gold currency meticulously wrapped in newspaper. Armed with hard hats, we went down to check out the basement's series of rooms, including a beer locker and the office of Scheib's partner, Frank Hoffman, who rigged it with a near-impenetrable door, radiator bars with copper wiring, and a phone system so that bartenders could alert him in the event of an FBI raid. We learned Hoffman also paid off business owners along First Avenue in order to dig a series of tunnels out through their basements onto the avenue. Otway and the museum's co-founder, historian Eric Ferrara, are still uncovering new stories about what went on in the speakeasy. They've got ambitious plans for neighborhood walking tours (launching tomorrow, April 1) and eventual workshops, lectures, and historic reenactments. Even the bar will be back in business soon—they've applied for a liquor license—which will also be dandy for patrons of Theatre 80, with which the museum shares the building. Museum preview tours, Mon-Fri at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Sat. at noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.; $10 suggested donation, no reservations necessary. MORE ON COCKTAIL CULTURE 9 Places to Party Like It's 1929