High fiving a Mexican skeleton

All photos: Lauren Quinn

Lauren Quinn is Matador’s voice from the “Sucka Free, Yay Area.”

THIS IS HOW Lauren, aka laurenq, defends her status as Matador’s destination expert on San Francisco:

Exhibit A: I was 17 before I learned that people outside of the Bay Area don’t say “hella.”
Exhibit B: I can tell you how to get anywhere in the Bay Area on public transit.
Exhibit C: I know which taquerias have the best burritos.
Exhibit D: I spent my high school Halloweens partying with drag queens in the Castro.
Exhibit E: I wouldn’t live anywhere else in the United States.
Exhibit F: As Matador’s SF Expert, I can now say “I represent the Yay Area” with no irony whatsoever.

We didn’t really need convincing, though. Matador was happy to add her to our crew of international destination experts after working with her to produce content for several Matador Network sites. Check out some of her work below:

Día de los Muertos: 5 Places to Celebrate
5 Destinations for the Tattooed Traveler
Who Defines Dangerous: Should Travelers Pay the Cost of Their Rescues?
5 Views of a Lesser-Known Morocco
My Hometown in 500 words: Oakland, CA
[Note: “My Hometown in 500 Words” is one of many assignment prompts given to the students of MatadorU, Matador’s travel writing course.]

Lauren Quinn

Just a couple weeks ago, Trips published Lauren’s What NOT to Do in San Francisco, a guide to avoidable Bay Area attractions (and behaviors) and what you should do instead.

There’s a lot of solid tips in there for visitors, but if you have other specific questions you’d like answered, you can connect with Lauren directly. Sign into your account (if you don’t have one, joining the Matador community is super easy), click over to laurenq’s profile, and send her a message.

And definitely make sure to check out her personal blog, Lonely Girl Travels.

Community Connection

Matador wants to fill the world with experts. If you’re interested in joining up, shoot me an email at hal@matadornetwork.com.