My Solo Trip to San Diego

For those of you who do not know, I recently took a trip to San Diego! It was a trip that I took alone, but with very intentional reason. In my next blog post “Essential Tips for Travel Planning” I will talk about how each trip you take has a vibe, whether you know it or not. The vibe for my solo mission was to “re-center, re-focus, re-align, and re-gravitate” towards my 2019 goals. The intention of this trip was to give me an opportunity to refocus my mind, re-center my body, and re-align my goals with who I am, who I want to be, where I am, and where I want to be. All of that to be done in conjunction with exploring things that make me happy at a minimal level.

The end of March marks the end of the first quarter of 2019 and while I am proud of what I’ve accomplished in just three short months, I want to accomplish so much more in the second quarter of 2019. This is why this trip was so important to me. It allowed me to connect to new energy while sparking a fire under the energy that is already within me. During this trip, I focused heavily on the goals that I created for myself in January of 2019. I call them goals, some of you may have called them resolutions, some of you may have just stated that you were making changes. Regardless of how it was worded, the end of each quarter is the perfect time to revisit the plan that you have set for yourself. This helps you ensure that you are continuously working towards becoming the better version of you.

Let’s get into the details of the trip!

Thursday, Day 1:

After arriving in SD early Thursday morning I took a Lyft to my hotel (The Sofia Hotel), checked in, and spent the morning and afternoon lounging around. Most of my time was spent relaxing, working on my laptop, having wine at the bar downstairs, SLEEPING, and watching TV. I rarely get to do this at home so it was downtime that I greatly appreciated and fully embraced.

[The Sofia Hotel was centrally located to key areas in Downtown SD: Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, Marina, Seaport Village, and East Village. I doubt that I would stay there again because it was a bit too outdated for my taste. It was a nice hotel, especially since it was a historic hotel, but I expected much more than what was offered. I also didn’t like the fact that it felt borderline creepy walking down the hallways. The lights were too dim and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was known to be one of those haunted historic buildings.]

Towards the evening I spent my time re-familiarizing myself with the SD Downtown area. Like many cities with high volume tourist areas, SD has a wide selection of electric scooters and bikes located throughout the city. I used the Lyft scooter and walking as my primary transportation methods of choice and because I was centrally located it didn’t take me long (by foot or scooter) to get from one side of downtown to the other. The remainder of my day was spent doing small things to help me settle into my trip; getting a mini bottle of prosecco, grabbing something to eat, laughing uncontrollably loud at Martin episodes that I’ve seen 1000 times, and more sleeping.

Friday, Day 2:

Friday morning consisted of an early morning run. I jogged from my hotel to Harbor Drive and took on the deadly stairs at the convention center. Afterwards I walked to the infamous Richard Walker’s Pancake House, where I had the best turkey sausage patties I had ever eaten (my meal also included eggs, 2 banana pancakes, water, and endless cups of coffee).

After journaling, dancing around the room, and getting “beautified,” I headed to Balboa Park where I would spend the rest of my day. Surrounded by 16 museums, a botanical garden, a Japanese garden, trails, and the zoo, I immediately fell in love with Balboa. I had no intentions of spending my entire day at this park, but as soon as I arrived I knew that it would be hard for me to leave.

You’d think that someone who loves museums would actually take the time to visit one, but I didn’t. There was so much happening in the park that the last thing on my mind was walking into a museum. When I first arrived I ran into a Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival, but I wouldn’t go into the festival until much later in the day. I was fascinated by the park so I didn’t want to get trapped in the festival too soon. Instead, I explored the park and all of its beauty. Along my journey I ran into street performers, humane society activists, artists, and many other things that kept me well entertained throughout the day.

I also found myself in the Botanical Garden and Rose Garden for a very long time. After walking the entire park, I took a Lyft scooter across the street to see the view of Balboa from the other side (it was so beautiful that I forgot to take a picture). I ran into a park that had unique tree structures and decided that it would be the perfect time to post up and write down the goals that I want to meet in April.

Once that was complete, I finally went to the Japanese Cherry Blossom festival. Here, I not only saw beautiful flowers and plants but, I also met kind and beautiful people. I met a family (grandparents and their granddaughter who attends Washington State University) from Pioneer Ocean View United Church of Christ who fed me kettle corn, mochi, and wontons; met very handsome Japanese men who gave me a piece of their fried squid leg to try; and had a very interesting conversation with Sarah who was also alone and in need of someone to take her pictures.

After such a busy day at the park I was extremely exhausted. By the time I got back to my hotel, showered, and watched Shrek I didn’t want to leave the room to go out to the bars/clubs. So I ordered some grub through Postmates and called it a day. I figured I’d just go out Saturday night since I was being lazy Friday night.

Saturday, Day 3:

Saturday morning I woke up well rested and did a 20 minute guided meditation exercise before heading out for my day. I spent my day in Old Town, which turned out to be yet another day full of random activities and, my favorite, day drinking! Side note- I love day drinking, but it makes me extremely tired. Spoiler alert: I didn’t go out tonight either.

Old Town was interesting, but fun. It’s actually exactly what it sounds like: an old town. When I first arrived I came across a small cemetery. I thought to myself, “Does this get better or worse?” Fortunately for me, it got better, much better.

Old Town is a street comprised of small shops, mexican restaurants, a catholic church, saloons, and bars. Along this journey I ran into a western saloon that I just had to go in and see for myself. I walked through the “batwing” doors and immediately felt like I was supposed to have on a pair of boots with spurs, a Texas ten gallon hat, and a toothpick hanging out of my mouth. I stayed, I drank, and I was merry. At some point I found myself talking like a cowboy asking for a “wild wild west whiskey shot and make sure it’s the best you’ve got.” I met fun people who also engaged in wild west imitations with me and eventually headed out to continue with my Old Town exploring. I ran into a Saturday market filled with jewelry vendors, clothing vendors, and other vendors who wanted my money. Towards the end of the street, Old Town has a park area that includes a garden, a hotel, more shops, museums, and historic sites. I explored the garden, ran into Fiesta de Reyes, and took a wine flight at Rose’s Tasting Room.

The rest of my day in Old Town was spent with two married couples in their 40’s and 60’s. I met them at a bar while having mimosas and they were super friendly and inviting. They insisted that I go to the next bar with them, so, I did. After drinking A LOT and spending my day at Old Town I made the decision to go back to my room, shower, and rest before waking up to go out to the bars/club. FAIL. I woke up super late and didn’t want to leave the room, yet again. I figured since I go out in Houston, I’d be okay to miss out on the night life in SD. So I spent the rest of the night boo’d up…with myself.

Sunday, Day 4:

Sunday was super chill and I am so glad because at this point I was exhausted. I switched hotels Sunday morning and then used the rest of my day to just go with the flow.

[I switched hotels to use my free night stay, courtesy of Hilton, due to a prior incident from a previous stay at Embassy Suites (they really value their Hilton Honors members). Of course I stayed at Embassy Suites, my favorite Hilton hotel. The Embassy was conveniently located along the Marina near Seaport Village and not too far from Gaslamp Quarter. Perfect location for my last full day of activities.]

I made plans to meet up with my cousin, JaMichael, who serves in the Navy and is stationed in SD. Prior to meeting up with him I did random things around Seaport Village and Embarcadero Marina Park where I met an amazing group of ladies (and one gentleman). We spent the late afternoon around the park watching people fly kites, entertaining a professional bubble blower, and riding electric scooters like maniacs! (Seriously, a woman wouldn’t take our group photo because “y’all almost ran me over.”)

After hanging with them I met up with my cousin and his Navy buddy, Winston. We were all starving so we grabbed a late lunch before cruising through the streets of Gaslamp Quarter on our electric scooters. After hitting the Sugar Factory in Gaslamp Quarter (which was a fail because Winston forgot his ID in his car) we went to my hotel to indulge in complimentary happy hour libations. Following three to four (maybe five) rounds of drinks, we went up to the room to take shots of Tito’s before I parted ways with cuzzo.

I spent the rest of the night working on homework and later in the night went to have wine and dinner at the bar at The Cheesecake Factory (conveniently located across the street from my hotel). If you follow me on Instagram and watch my Instagram stories, this is also where I was located when my statistics midterm grade dropped. Yes, this is the location I cried tears of joy. After dropping a few tears, I had to convince the bartender that I could consume more wine and wasn’t crying because I was overly emotional from drinking. Me: “No! Seriously, I’m fine. I’m a student and I just got my midterm grades back. It’s not the wine, I promise.” Him: “I remember those days. I was used to failing though so I never cried. I would just feel like sh*t” Me: “…I passed. Sorry.” We laughed together and everything was all good afterwards. I consumed more wine because I felt like I deserved it.

Monday, Day 5:

Finally! The last day! I won’t say I was ready to come home, but I definitely missed my extremely comfortable bed. Monday morning was spent at the stairs followed by a really amazing lunch at Seasons 52. I spent approximately two hours there working on a writing assignment for school. I was also granted a late checkout so I spent the rest of my afternoon in my hotel room working on homework, blog stuff, and preparing for the following work day.

After checking out, I was picked up by my cousin and taken to the airport. I arrived in Houston at approximately 10:15pm and was immediately greeted by pollen and humidity, which sent me into an immediate allergy attack. The sweet embrace of my bed was everything I thought it would be; I slept so good this night. I woke up on Tuesday morning with a winning mindset. Win the day, the week, the month, and the year. The trip did for me exactly what it was supposed to do. I came back feeling a new energy that would hopefully guide me through a winning season of 2019.

This trip was perfect! I tried to be as detailed as possible, but I can’t always cover everything. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments that you may have about the trip! I’m always happy to hear from my readers and I love receiving both good and bad feedback. In the words of Mo’Nique, “I love us, forreal.”