San Diego
Although I set 2 alarm clocks last night for an early 6am
wake up, neither of them went off. The travel clock because I think
the battery died and the hotel clock because I'd set it for pm, duh. Luckily
I still woke at 6.30 so had enough time to get ready for a 7.30 pick up
for my bus tour to San Diego. There were only 2 of us on the bus, myself
and an elderly lady heading to the San Diego airport. Don't know why
she didn't go to LAX, I didn't like to ask.
I would have liked to have taken some photo's of the scenery on the way through but the ride was too bumpy. I don't know if it's the way the roads are built or if it's just wear and tear but it felt like the bus was driving on the white line with a constant bump over cat's eyes. I did try a couple of photo's but they just turned out too blurry to be of any value. As we passed through Anaheim I could see the towers and the rides of Disney Land but still had no desire to go there. At least not without little kids.
As we got closer to San Diego, we could see the ocean and for a few miles Camp Pendleton, a marine camp. We had trouble finding the freeway off ramp to get us to my hotel, the driver knew where he needed to be, just couldn't figure out how to get there. It's only about 9.15 so I wasn't too worried, hotel check in isn't till 12 noon, and the lady was concerned that she would be stuck towing 2 bags around as her ticket said the airport won't be open till 11.
9.30 and I'm checking into the hotel, well, sort of. I am told that my room wasn't ready yet, there were still people in it and once they finally check out it will need to be cleaned, so come back about 2pm. No problem, as long as I can check in Mack and MM I'm happy, I can go for a walk, and what a walk it was. I started off just wandering around the hotel grounds to familiarize myself with the layout, which didn't really take that long, so I went for a walk along the marina, which was really enjoyable. At 10.00 I wandered back to the lobby, picked up some brochures and figured I'd find out how far it was to walk to Sea World. Not far at all if you know where you're going and the traffic lights are doing what they should be doing. I'm at a crossroad, 3 lanes of traffic on each side and all lights are flashing red, constantly, there was no sign of a green light anywhere and as for a walk light.....no hope there either. I stopped a passing jogger and asked how do I know when to cross and her reply was "I'm sorry, I don't know". Great. Maybe someone else will come along, so I'll just hang around here and see. There is a family on bikes on the other side of the road and I'm hoping that they decide to cross then I'll be right, but they are just sitting there chatting, probably wondering what I'm trying to do. Eventually a pick up truck with 2 young guys in it drives past and the passenger shouts out to me "you'll never get across that way, just start walking." Who am I to argue with a local. I take 1 step down onto the road and the 3 lanes on this side of me stop. I get half way across no problem at all, then I take another tentative step and the traffic heading towards me from the right comes to a stop. I am learning which way to look now at least.
10.30 and I'm in Sea World. Armed with the main necessities, a map and water, I set off on my trek around this huge park. There are so many things to see and do, although a couple of areas are closed there is enough here to keep me occupied until 2pm. I won't bore you with a blow by blow commentary on where I went and what I did, but I will tell you what I didn't do. I didn't go on the rides because they both went through water and I didn't have a rain coat. I couldn't go up the tower as it's closed till February - hm, I thought it was February. I didn't buy a lot of souvenirs.
The photo's will show you the things I did see. There was one place that photography wasn't allowed, another 4D movie about a haunted lighthouse. It was pretty good until the rats appeared. I covered my eyes and the old guy sitting next to me told me, and his wife who was also hiding, when they had gone.
I have to tell you about the Whale show and the Dolphin show too. The first 16 rows of the whale show and the first 12 rows of the dolphin show are known as the soak zone. You would only sit there if you were wearing a full waterproof suit, and forget taking photo's unless you have an underwater casing on your camera. You will see why in the movies I took, once I put them up here. I have to sort them out first.
I finally wandered back to the hotel at 5.30 after a really enjoyable, impromptu tour. I put my cases in my room and head off back to the lobby to see about booking the rest of my tours. There were a couple of changes made though. Instead of Tijuana tomorrow (Sunday) I'm doing Legoland and Tijuana on Wednesday, as they won't be doing a Legoland tour on Wednesday. All 3 tours are early pick ups - 7.50 - and I've set the room alarm clock for the right time this time. The travel clock isn't even ticking so I reckon the battery is definitely dead or just not connecting right.
Guess you realize that this means this story ends here, especially as it's 11.45 and time for me to get some shut eye. See you on the next tour.
I would have liked to have taken some photo's of the scenery on the way through but the ride was too bumpy. I don't know if it's the way the roads are built or if it's just wear and tear but it felt like the bus was driving on the white line with a constant bump over cat's eyes. I did try a couple of photo's but they just turned out too blurry to be of any value. As we passed through Anaheim I could see the towers and the rides of Disney Land but still had no desire to go there. At least not without little kids.
As we got closer to San Diego, we could see the ocean and for a few miles Camp Pendleton, a marine camp. We had trouble finding the freeway off ramp to get us to my hotel, the driver knew where he needed to be, just couldn't figure out how to get there. It's only about 9.15 so I wasn't too worried, hotel check in isn't till 12 noon, and the lady was concerned that she would be stuck towing 2 bags around as her ticket said the airport won't be open till 11.
9.30 and I'm checking into the hotel, well, sort of. I am told that my room wasn't ready yet, there were still people in it and once they finally check out it will need to be cleaned, so come back about 2pm. No problem, as long as I can check in Mack and MM I'm happy, I can go for a walk, and what a walk it was. I started off just wandering around the hotel grounds to familiarize myself with the layout, which didn't really take that long, so I went for a walk along the marina, which was really enjoyable. At 10.00 I wandered back to the lobby, picked up some brochures and figured I'd find out how far it was to walk to Sea World. Not far at all if you know where you're going and the traffic lights are doing what they should be doing. I'm at a crossroad, 3 lanes of traffic on each side and all lights are flashing red, constantly, there was no sign of a green light anywhere and as for a walk light.....no hope there either. I stopped a passing jogger and asked how do I know when to cross and her reply was "I'm sorry, I don't know". Great. Maybe someone else will come along, so I'll just hang around here and see. There is a family on bikes on the other side of the road and I'm hoping that they decide to cross then I'll be right, but they are just sitting there chatting, probably wondering what I'm trying to do. Eventually a pick up truck with 2 young guys in it drives past and the passenger shouts out to me "you'll never get across that way, just start walking." Who am I to argue with a local. I take 1 step down onto the road and the 3 lanes on this side of me stop. I get half way across no problem at all, then I take another tentative step and the traffic heading towards me from the right comes to a stop. I am learning which way to look now at least.
10.30 and I'm in Sea World. Armed with the main necessities, a map and water, I set off on my trek around this huge park. There are so many things to see and do, although a couple of areas are closed there is enough here to keep me occupied until 2pm. I won't bore you with a blow by blow commentary on where I went and what I did, but I will tell you what I didn't do. I didn't go on the rides because they both went through water and I didn't have a rain coat. I couldn't go up the tower as it's closed till February - hm, I thought it was February. I didn't buy a lot of souvenirs.
The photo's will show you the things I did see. There was one place that photography wasn't allowed, another 4D movie about a haunted lighthouse. It was pretty good until the rats appeared. I covered my eyes and the old guy sitting next to me told me, and his wife who was also hiding, when they had gone.
I have to tell you about the Whale show and the Dolphin show too. The first 16 rows of the whale show and the first 12 rows of the dolphin show are known as the soak zone. You would only sit there if you were wearing a full waterproof suit, and forget taking photo's unless you have an underwater casing on your camera. You will see why in the movies I took, once I put them up here. I have to sort them out first.
I finally wandered back to the hotel at 5.30 after a really enjoyable, impromptu tour. I put my cases in my room and head off back to the lobby to see about booking the rest of my tours. There were a couple of changes made though. Instead of Tijuana tomorrow (Sunday) I'm doing Legoland and Tijuana on Wednesday, as they won't be doing a Legoland tour on Wednesday. All 3 tours are early pick ups - 7.50 - and I've set the room alarm clock for the right time this time. The travel clock isn't even ticking so I reckon the battery is definitely dead or just not connecting right.
Guess you realize that this means this story ends here, especially as it's 11.45 and time for me to get some shut eye. See you on the next tour.