Week 2 of 4: San Diego, The Story

You’ve probably read the story covering Los Angeles (if not, you’ll find that here) and have been waiting to hear the next chapter in the story. Well, here it is! After a great time in Los Angeles, it was time to head to a new city and that was San Diego, moving south towards the border of California and Mexico for another week of our adventure.

Day 7

The main activity of the day was getting to San Diego. Method of transport? A Megabus coach straight from Los Angeles to the San Diego via the brilliant coastal route that California has to offer.

Hostel of choice this time was the ITH Zoo Hostel, again booked through HostelWorld, located in the Hillcrest area and just a short journey from the San Diego Zoo. Once we’d checked in, settled in and got our stuff ready for the upcoming activities with a vague plan put into place, we had a look at what was on offer in the hostel. It seemed that we had just been in time for one of the daytime events which was to head off to the beach area of San Diego. This little tour gave a chance to have a look around a local market, experience one of the beaches the city had to offer, come across an avid hula hooper before finishing off with the group sitting on the cliffs nearby to take in the surroundings and get to know each other.

When it came to the evening, it was decided to take it easy, especially after the long journey and plan the week ahead with the activities on offer and ideas we had already come up with before the trip. So it was a chilled evening in the hostel, talk to those around us, inviting them along with what we had planned before he headed off to bed, ready for the day tomorrow!

Day 8

Today was the day for our visit to what has been voted as the best zoo in the world on TripAdvisor, San Diego Zoo, playing host to over 3,700 animals across 100 acres of land. What a magnificent place it is! Grabbing an Uber, we headed out with two others that we had recruited the night before for a nice early start and a full day at the zoo. And what a zoo it is! Though it covers such a large area, the zoo provides free buses that can take you from point to point, as well as having a free 35 minutes guided tour, which definitely helped in getting around. Alongside actually seeing the animals and learning about them, San Diego Zoo plays a very large role in the conservation of many of the species, with there being exhibits explaining what projects they have a part to play in and what they are achieving from it.

Once all the excitement was done, it was time to move into the evening’s entertainment, which was to head out on a bar crawl of sorts with the ITH hostels, being lead by the sister hostel in the downtown area, the ITH Adventure hostel. This lead us through some of the cool and chilled out bars in San Diego’s Gaslamp District before we headed to a final bar/club. Giving an opportunity to talk to other travellers and experience the nightlife of another city is always good fun! The only thing that disappointed me about the evening, was the fact that the bar stopped the music and was getting people out not long after 1:30am?! Again, it felt like the night had been cut short somewhat like it had in Los Angeles.

Day 9

After seeing the main attraction that brings people to San Diego, it was time to see the rest of the city, which meant a free walking tour with the hostel. This was the first time that I have been on a walking tour around a city and if I’m honest, they are a great way to find out about a place and it’s something that I’ve always looked for when I’ve headed to somewhere new since.

This tour was run by one of the hostel staff members at the ITH Adventure hostel and consisted of us being taken around downtown San Diego and points of interest nearby, learning about the origins of the city, what sets it apart from others.

Travel Tip: If you're ever wondering how you can see the sights, learn about them and not have to pay a large free in any city you're visiting, look for free walking tours! These may be local companies or hosted by the hostel.

Stopping off for a spot of lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, we were in for a big surprise when the DJ duo of DVBBS pulled up in their vehicle and came to check in to the Hard Rock hotel. As one of our favoured acts from this year’s TomorrowLand, as they were rolling around on their swegways, we decided to say hello, which one of the brothers Alexandre came over, took a photo, had a chat and invited us on the guest list to see their show at Omnia that night!

After lunch, the tour continued on to a local brewery in the area that made a variety of it’s own beers, to which you could purchase an array of and taste them, whilst watching the magic happen in the rear through the glass windows. Even as a sober person, this was a interesting spot to see the array of drinks on offer and I can assure you that those that were drinking around me were loving the experience and having a great time!

So there we had our evening planned out, to Omnia we went. As an evening, it was a steady one with us first grabbing some food before we headed out to the downtown area, grabbed a drink or two in a sports bar before heading over to the club. This was my first experience of a sports bar in America and if I’m honest, I had no idea where to look! There are screens everywhere, and I mean everywhere, with various sports and teams on them, it was hard to concentrate on a single one. Omnia was very different to the rest of San Diego’s laidback nature in the bars and clubs that we had experienced up until then, with it being an up market affair with everyone dressed to impress. Drinks were a bit more pricey but overall, it was a fantastic night with some good quality music and us both being very thankful to DVBBS for inviting us along!

Day 10

After the late night of the night before, some ringing ears and want for an easy day before our later activities, we spent the morning chilling out in the hostel, discussing our future plans for the upcoming cities. It was here that we decided to make a change to our itinerary slightly and sacrifice our weekend in San Francisco for one in Yosemite, whilst hiring a Mustang, as well as book some tickets for events in Las Vegas. These events I shall share with you when we get to the publishing of those weeks! Until then, you’ll have to wait.

After some food and a bit of a recovery from the night before, it was time for a new day of antics and this time, we were heading to Mexico, something we were not expecting to appear on this trip. Yes, just like that, we were heading across the border into Mexico for the afternoon and evening to explore, as organised by the hostels and was a weekly trip they did.

Taken by one of the Mexican members of staff, again at the sister hostel, a group of us took a tram from downtown San Diego to the border between the US and Mexico before simply just… walking through! It was as simple as that; you arrived, walked through the gate, down the steps and you were there, in Mexico. It was crazy! No border checks, no scanners, no organised queues. You would never have known that you were heading into a different country. All there was there were two armed border guards were just sat there, feet up and looking awfully bored! Astounding!

The city on the other side of the border was Tijuana, a place once known for cheap alcohol and weekend escapades for under 21s but now becoming a city on the rise and changing its tourism to feature food, micro breweries and traditional sightseeing.

Our tour took us through Tijuana, first stopping off for some authentic Mexican food, which hit the spot nicely. Following that, we headed deeper into the city, stopping off at a local bar which seem to be a mainstay of this tour, having drinks and finding out more about those on the tour and the city itself. One of the worrying things during this part of the tour was our guide and only Spanish speaker was becoming more and more intoxicated to the point of stumbling around and slurring her words but onwards we pressed, nervously…

Eventually, we arrived at the main strip in the city, Revolucion, which played host to the bars, nightclubs and souvenir shops.

Our destination to finish the night before returning to the US, led by our drunk guide, was a place called El Torito. (Always reassuring when the entrance of the place boasts a large “Absinth” sign!) However, once looking around, there were an array of more “interesting” signs and establishments on offer here, as shown by the sign on the left here.

Once we got to the end of the night, it was a case of heading back to the border but this time having to go through some more stringent checks, before we headed back to the hostel. What an eventful day! (And another country ticked off too…)

Day 11

It’s upon looking back at this trip that I can see the error of my ways when it comes to travelling during this period of time and how I have since developed my method for travel. It’s days like this that when it comes to writing about it, I realise that I didn’t make the most of my opportunity to see somewhere new and that though at the time chilling out was what I potentially wanted and enjoyed, I realise I missed a lot of opportunities in San Diego. It’s lessons like these when I look back on that teach me that though I may need a little time off, you have to make the most of your chances!

Travel Tip: There are always lessons to be learnt from a trip. Though you may look back on certain events with regret, there's nothing you can do about it now so ensure you don't make the same mistake twice when it comes to future trips.

In the evening, my buddy went for a date, so I decided to sit and chill out in the hostel, playing games with the other travellers. As a past time, it’s both enjoyable and can start to teach you a lot about yourself when you think about it all. Having in-depth discussions about the world and its goings on, sharing stories of travel or talking about philosophy, it’s a good time to reflect on yourself and your ingrained thoughts and feelings on things, whilst opening up to different ways of thinking. This is all alongside getting to know someone else and making new friends along the way! In the end, the evening became a very funny episode of drinking games.

Day 12

Unfortunately, the day time of day 12 of this trip is another one that when looking back, makes me reflect on my travel experience with disappointment towards myself. However, I’ve since learnt from this so onwards and upwards from here!

The evening however, was a completely different story and featured me timidly taking on a new experience, that being dancing! Whilst sat in the hostel, drinking and chatting the night away, someone recommended that we headed to a local bar to join a salsa night that was happening. Apprehensively, I decided to take up the offer and we headed across town to this bar. All was going well, we got settled down in one of the booths whilst the locals and regulars were doing their thing but when it came to the action, I got horrendous stage fright (even though I used to love drama as a teenager!) and most of the evening was spent trying to avoid this until finally I caved and went for it. Straight away I realised that there was nothing to worry about and that it’s actually quite fun. Coming from the pros too, apparently I’m pretty good but I’ll take that with a pinch of salt.

Day 13

For the final day in this city before we moved on, we headed to the USS Midway museum that we spotted whilst we were having a wander after the walking tour earlier in the week. Tied up alongside in the San Diego harbour, the USS Midway aircraft carrier was commissioned a week after World War Two and saw 47 years of active service and has since been used as a museum to look into the past of the ship and the aircraft that the US Navy have used in that time, whilst including a full area dedicated to the Battle of Midway which is where the name of the ship comes from.

As an experience, it was thoroughly enjoyable and very informative, giving an insight into the battle that shaped the Pacific theatre of World War Two, the aircraft that have been flown from the ship in its long history and how life on board a US ship was for the men that served on her. Not only did the ship itself give you got an insight into the military capability of the States but you could see a row of aircraft carriers sat alongside across the harbour!

As the evening came around, it was planned to be an easy one again before we had an early start and a long coach journey north to San Francisco. The reason for deciding to go for a coach again was to lower the budget, as the internal flights were too expensive and would have broken the bank. What started off as chilling out in the hostel with a few of the other travellers, sharing stories, playing games and having a few drinks, ended up with a few of us heading across town to a chilled out gastropub, The Duck Dive, just shy of the beach front. A good evening of meeting some of the locals and having a laugh, rounding off my time in San Diego.

And there you have it, the story of my time in San Diego is complete and it was on to the next stop of San Francisco and Yosemite, which you can look forward to in the next instalment of these stories! However, next is the review blog attached to this one which comes out later this week. Stay tuned for that!

Overall it was quite an array of experiences, with a few unexpected ones! A very different feel to Los Angeles though still a very worthwhile stop. Also, a city that I didn’t make the most of at the time, though it taught me several lessons about travel, how I like to travel and what I can do to make the most of it in the future.