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Published: February 16th 2010
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San Diego - "breathe it in, it always goes down smooth!" I'll say now, I have been quoting from the film Anchor Man (filmed in San Diego) non stop since I got here but with good reason because as Ron Burgandy himself said, "it is the greatest city on earth". I have had a good couple of days here. We hopped onto the greyhound bus out of LA on Friday at 5pm and after a long check in process (one which we hopefully won't have to repeat on each journey) we took the 3 hour ride south. I can't actually remember leaving city lights ever so I'm pretty sure it is quite developed all the way down the southern part of the coast. We stopped to drop people at Long Beach. We passes through Orange County, would have been good to see it for a few days but time is precious so we need to stick to the plan. As with everywhere, if we had more time and more money...we would get off at every stop! On Friday night we checked in at Lucky D's hostel in downtown. On the walk there from the bus station 3 people welcomed us to the city - confirming again that people (most of the time) are quite friendly here. We grabbed a room, went for some good Mexican food and caught an early night. I also managed to catch a bit of the opening ceremony to the winter Olympics on TV which I was pleased about (not long until I go skiing now). On Saturday we embarked on a bit of shopping. A word we have not been too familiar at all with since Thailand but it was defiantly time we got some more clothes. Luckily...good quality stuff is pretty cheap out here so it didn't cost too much at all. We took a walk round the city in the afternoon and headed down to San Diego bay. It was a beautiful day and a lot warmer than up in LA. I saw the Star of India (old wooden ship) in the harbour and the Midway (big American Navy aircraft carrier). We met quite a few American Marines here including a few guys on leave before they head out to Afghanistan next month. Saturday night was good too - a few drinks in the hostel and then we went out to a sports bar and met some people form all over the state who basically warned us not to go down to Tijuana in Mexico. It is only about a half an hour bus ride away so it is easy to get to but these guys, and everyone else we have met in America has suggested we don't go there. Apparently it is just a perfect opportunity for locals to take advantage of tourists. Having tackled some pretty tough areas of the world so far I was up for it but the sensible part of my brain took over and we gave it a miss. Instead, we took a walk up to Balboa Park and played some frisbee (gift from Emma and the gang in Wanaka) and got to look out all over the city skyline. We then caught the no.30 bus through the old town and out over the highway to Pacific Beach. It was quite windy and a bit cold but, not being able to resist at all, I jumped in the ocean. It was...freezing. I mean, England levels of cold water! Refreshing though! The waves out the back were huge and if it was warmer (and I had my body boarding stuff on me), I would have been right in it. We grabbed a drink (Bud Lite) at the Pacific Beach Ale House and watched the Daytona 500 on the big screen TV (in which there were a lot of crashes). Luckily our hostel was putting on free hot dogs and ice cream in the evening so Dan and I took it on as challenge to see how much free food we could get in. I felt pretty ill last night as a result. I woke up early this morning and went out for a run up to the park and it was a beautiful, fresh and crisp morning and the sun was out and all seemed right with the world! Packing up my things now (after free breakfast of course) then we are back off to the Greyhound station to catch the bus to Las Vegas. 8 and a half hours on a Greyhound bus...should be interesting! Having said that, i'm pretty sure I have some 24 hours trips coming up so today's ride will be nothing compared! In short, San Diego is a great place, very chilled out and easier to navigate than LA which was a lot more spread out. I would recommend coming down here, even if it is to escape the crazy lifestyle up in LA. Just be careful if you visit Mexico. That's all for now. "You stay classy San Diego".
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Krista
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I love SD too!
After returning from my year abroad in June, I realized how lucky am I to live in San Diego. I love traveling and it's great to see the traveler's perspective of San Diego. Glad you had a good time and people treated you so well. I like it here too! :)