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Published: September 5th 2009
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San Diego Skyline
The view of downtown San Diego from Coronado Island We left San Francisco on Saturday 15 August and travelled to San Diego via the Greyhound bus. The journey took 11 hours in total and it was an overnight ride so we slept for most of it and arrived in San Diego at 10.00am the following day.
We had booked into a hostel called Lucky D's Hostel which was only a short walk from the Greyhound station and we chose it as it was cheaper than USA Hostels (a well known chain of hostels and where we stayed in San Francisco). It also had free waffles and cereal for breakfast every morning, free dinners 3 times a week and a nice kitchen so you could make yourself anything any time of the day.
As soon as we arrived at the hostel we knew we had made the right choice. The location was superb - just one block from Petco Baseball Park, the Gaslamp Quarter and the harbour - the dorm room was clean and the beds were comfy.
We spent the first night in the hostel relaxing after the long journey and we were lucky as it was a 'free dinner' night - all you can eat hot
The Gaslamp Quarter
San Diego's dining, entertainment and urban shopping district dogs and ice cream! I think Matt ate about 7 hot dogs in total plus a big bowl of chocolate ice cream!
One block from the hostel is Petco Baseball Park, home of the San Diego Padres. We didn't go and see a match while we were in San Diego but whenever the San Diego Padres played at home they had a firework display which we could see from our room and whenever the Padres played away, they showed the game on a big screen in the park for free. We spent a few afternoons down at the park watching the games and chilling out.
The Gaslamp Quarter is San Diego's dining, entertainment and urban shopping district and our hostel was located literally seconds from there. We spent many an afternoon wandering round perusing the shops.
I'm not sure how many people are aware but the one thing that Matt has really missed about home is baked beans and has been craving them ever since we left the UK. Wandering around the Gaslamp Quarter one afternoon we stumbled across a 'World Market' which stocks a selection of worldwide imported products and low and behold they had Heinz
Petco Baseball Park
Home of the San Diego Padres Baked Beans!! Suffice to say, we had beans (with mash potato and sausages) for dinner and Matt was sooo happy!
We spent a few afternoons down by the harbour - a really nice place to chill out and watch the world go by and it was only a short walk from our hostel. You could hire fishing rods from a small cafe by the harbour so we tried our hand at a spot of fishing a couple of times during our stay. We didn't catch anything but we did get a few bites and one guy beside us caught a huge stingray which was quite cool.
Further along the harbour is the Maritime Museum of San Diego which serves as the community memory of San Diego's seafaring experience by collecting, preserving and presenting the cities rich maritime heritage and historic connections with the Pacific World. We spent an afternoon here and saw the the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum which is the largest of five aircraft carrier museums in the USA.
Another day we jumped on a bus and headed to La Joya beach and coves for the day. The weather was great and we had a
Petco Park
This is where you could sit and watch the away baseball games on the big screen for free great time chilling out on the beach and paddling in the sea. The water was absolutely freezing and the waves were really high (great for surfers) but Matt persevered and went for a swim anyway. Dianna stayed on dry land that day and only dipped her toes in the sea!
On the way home we stopped off at Old Town for a look around. Old Town is considered the birthplace of California and consists of original and reconstructed buildings and furnishings that illustrate the ambiance of 1800's San Diego.
We also took a trip to Balboa Park which is the nation's largest urban cultural park. It is home to 15 major museums, renowned performing arts venues, beautiful gardens and the San Diego Zoo. We had a great day walking around the beautiful gardens and visiting the museums.
We also spent a day on Coronado Island which is a short bus ride over the Coronado Bay Bridge. It is a world away from downtown San Diego and has one of the finest beaches in the world. It is also home to Hotel del Coronado where Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon filmed "Some Like it Hot,". While we were
there we picked up a couple of snorkels and masks ready for when we get to Fiji and we tested them out at Coronado beach. Matt also got bitten by something while swimming in the sea - not sure what it was but it gave him quite a nip!
We stayed at Lucky D's for our entire stay in San Diego which was 14 nights in total and had 'free dinners' 6 times while we were there so we saved quite a lot of money! The free dinners consisted of: hot dogs and ice cream, jacket potato, chilli and salad, chicken and mushroom pie, mash potato and salad, zuccini pasta and garlic bread and roast chicken, mash potato, peas, carrots and onions - yummy! Plus as they had a well equip kitchen so we could also buy food at the local supermarket and cook for ourselves rather than eat fast food all the time which was good.
San Diego was a really nice place to stay and we had a great time there - it was very relaxing although it got hotter and hotter every day! With no air conditioning in the dorm room, we spent a lot
of time laying in the park under the shade of a tree watching baseball! Not bad really eh!?! We lived in our flip flops and did not wear our trainers the whole time we were there!
Next stop Los Angeles (again!) for our last week and a half in the USA.
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