glyndav
How did I get here? Joined: September 4th 2008
Logged in: March 28th 2010
Logged in: March 28th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
(...whoever you are) So is my New Year Resolution to write more travel blog entries? Errm... ... read more
Feliz Navidad
Yes, Merry Christmas from Mexico! After some persuading, I agreed to K's suggestion that we travel to Baja California for the Christmas holiday. We went to Los Cabos, which comprises two towns 30km apart at the southern tip of the peninsula, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. It's almost 1,000 miles by road from San Diego so we didn't drive! Quiet We stayed in the old town of San Jose del Cabo, which is much quieter than Cabo San Lucas and mercifully free of timeshare touts. (Well, except for two Londoners we overheard at a restaurant on our last morning). It also doesn't have bars called Squid Roe and The Giggling Marlin. 'Nuff said. Los Cabos is south of the Tropic of Cancer, so the December temperatures were in the 80s, a welcome relief ... read more
The Preacher
We're living a few miles north of downtown San Diego, so I occasionally use the local bus service to get around. You always find some, errm, unusual characters on buses but Southern California has to outdo most. Here are a couple of the more notable ones I managed to capture using my phone camera... The Preacher You can't see his face, but he caught my attention at the bus stop with his full beard, wraparound sunglasses and overflowing shopping trolley. To give an idea of where I am coming from, the shopping trolley is to the American homeless person what a small dog is to the average Big Issue seller. But no, this guy fishes around in his bag and pulls out a bible. Nothing wrong with that, until he starts preaching! I couldn't hear most ... read more
Bugatti Veyron
It could only happen in La Jolla... I'm not saying it's an expensive place to live, but how many towns or cities do you know with a used Bugatti showroom? For those of you not in the know, the Bugatti Veyron is probably the fastest, most expensive commercially produced car ever made. I haven't checked out the exact price but we're talking around 2 MILLION dollars for a new one! No, I didn't ask for a test drive. Budget If you can't afford the Bugatti, the dealer does have some budget cars in stock. The silver car below, next to the Veyron - sorry the photos are through windows, but I'm not stupid enough to walk in and ask to take photos of the cars - is a $1 million Spyker from Holland. Then in the ... read more
That's how my pocket feels after a trip to the drug store. It was only a cold sore. And my old tube of Zovirax was empty, so off I went to get a new one. Except you can't over here, because it is prescription only. For those of you that don't know how getting a prescription written in the USA works, here's what happens: You book an appointment with your physician - minimum 2 weeks notice for non-urgent appointments When you get there, you hand over $25 for just walking through the door You then find out that the cream you want isn't on the health provider's list, so you have to pay full price So, I bought some Abreva off-prescription, for $24. Like I said, ouch. Anyone want to put a tube ... read more
Bird
Did I say on Saturday that it would be mid-70s this week? Sun Well it isn't. Yesterday saw the highest temperatures for October, ever. It was 94F in downtown San Diego and 110F inland. I stayed at home. Wind The weather forecasters are now predicting Santa Ana winds at weekend. These are often associated with Wildfires. These caused serious damage in 2007, so the authorities are right to be concerned. It's gone very cloudy now. Dark at 6.30pm. Anyone would think it was autumn. Or is it Fall? ... read more
Cinema Under The Stars
Ok, so I'm still actually in SoCal (see, learning the language). I was getting fed up of choosing the same location each time so thought I would have a change. My heart was in Blackburn this morning though. Or at least my football team. (That's football as in socccrrrr, as some would say over here). The game was live on Fox Sports Soccer at 9.30am, an almost sensible time compared to the UK lunchtime kick-offs. Oddly, for the second weekend running the 'football alarm' in my head woke me up at 7.02am, just in time to tune in for the live 3pm UK game. Sadly, this week's match was West Brom v Fulham. Sigh. Watching the rain pour down made me think not to complain too much about it being cloudy in San Diego. Though they ... read more
Most of you won't have heard of HIPAA. It stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, passed by the US Congress in 1996 to protect workers when they lose healthcare benefits on changing jobs. What's that got to do with us I hear you ask? (No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway.) Concerned One of our main concerns in being in the US for so long is the availability of proper health care. It's ok having travel insurance - which we do, with AIG (oops) - but what happens if you need a flu jab or get a sore arm or just become ill without it being an emergency? I spent far too long before leaving researching all the possibilities and came to the conclusion that K may be able to get coverage, ... read more
Point of no return?
I didn't actually want to go to Mexico you understand. It's just that there is a large outlet shopping mall right next to the border in San Ysidro and K & me thought we should look for some cheap clothes. Tijuana Trolley So we paid our $5 each for a day transit pass and got on the 'Tijuana Trolley', or Blue Line as the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Authority now call it. From the trolley stop it's a 2 minute walk to the Mexico border. The outlet mall is across the road - except there are no signs telling you how to cross it! So we had an added bonus walking tour of San Ysidro. Great if you want to buy Mexican car insurance, jewellery or underwear (socks appear to be a popular Mexican export in ... read more
