After all the years I’ve worked for my company, I’ve been “treated” to quite a lot of travelling opportunities (I put it in quotation marks since a trip to dark and cold Oulu in November isn’t really what I would consider a pleasure). But one of the places I’ve never had the opportunity to go to is San Diego – so I was quite happy about the opportunity to spend 10 days there working (especially since the weather here on the Cote d’Azur is a bit chillier than normally).
The flight is quite a long haul, with changeovers in London and JFK. But, as long as I have a good book to read and some quality movies to watch, I don’t mind. So I didn’t find the travel all that annoying (apart from the last leg from JFK to San Diego – US internal flights are pretty crap, and distances are soooo long in that country). I arrived a bit late, with Alex waiting for me at the airport. Alex, whose place I was staying at for the next week and a bit, is an old mate of mine, who used to work with me in the UK, who since emigrated to sunny California. Great to see him after all these years! After some quick beer & grocery shopping, we headed back to his place in Poway, at the outskirts of San Diego.
My rather intensive tour of San Diego started on Wednesday night with my friend Stephane – a good drinking buddy from my days in the UK, who also drew the conclusion that perhaps the UK isn’t the best place to spend the rest of your days in, and decided to emigrate to South California. We started off by driving down to Del Mar by the Pacific Ocean, quite a posh part of San Diego, for dinner. Apparently a very nice spot, unfortunately it was too dark to fully appreciate the place. The restaurant was nice enough though, if a bit haut cuisine for my taste ;-). Our stomachs filled, we headed down to UTC (University Town Centre), where Stephane lives. Unsurprisingly enough, the nearest pub near his place is a place full of Frenchmen – naturally we headed there straight away. What ensured was plenty of beer drinking, catching up, and some pool. And a headache the next morning. So pretty much identical to a night out in Guildford with Stephane – just in a rather warmer climate!
The next day was hard – in addition to having to put up with my hangover and jet-lag, I was also assaulted by a rather painful toothache. Today was thanksgiving, which means everything is closed – including dentists and pharmacies. So I had to live with my pain unfortunately... Thanksgiving also meant some rather serious challenges in finding an open restaurant in the evening – we spent more than an hour driving around San Diego trying to find an open place – in vain. We ended up in Jack in the Box, which is kind of like McDonald’s – so no traditional thanksgiving dinner for us then! After we finally managed to fill our stomachs, Alex took us down to Coronado island to check out the rather impressive Hotel del Coronado. It is, apparently, one of the few remaining examples of the American “wooden Victorian beach resort” type architecture. Well, it certainly impressed us – certainly one of the most impressive hotels I’ve ever laid eyes on (quite a few films have featured this hotel – the most famous one being Some Like it Hot).
Alex then took us over to the other side of the Coronado island, to Coronado pier (where you can catch a ferry to the mainland) from where we were treated to some pretty amazing views over Downtown San Diego. Our trip back to the mainland was kind of adventurous, as we were stopped by an officer of the law for speeding. Thankfully the old sport let us off with a warning… Before heading back for some well-needed sleep, we had time for a quick walk around downtown San Diego. It's the only part of San Diego with sky scrapers, which gives it a more urban feel compared to the otherwise spread out San Diego. Normally it's a pretty busy part of town, but tonight there was hardly anybody around - everybody was eating thanksgiving turkey I suppose.
The next day at the office was a bit better for me, since I had now recovered from my hangover, and had managed to acquire some medication for my toothache. We started the weekend by heading downtown, into the Gaslamp district. The historic part of San Diego, dating back to 1867, used to be a pretty run-down part of town, apparently, until it was redeveloped during the 80’s and 90’s. Now it’s a pretty good area for going out, plenty of restaurants and bars about. We started off the evening by meeting up with Marko, a mate and ex-colleague of mine from my Southwood years. Like Alex, it seems that he’s settled in pretty well with life in South California (from what I’ve seen so far, can’t really blame the guys!).
After catching up with Marko, we headed over to Pacific Beach to an Italian party. The party demonstrated that San Diego is a pretty cosmopolitan place, I guess, the two Americans were outnumbered by 3 Italians, one Finn, a German, a Mexican, a Spaniard and a Dutchman. It’s kind of an interesting city in that it’s a real melting pot in terms of its ethnical mix (with a strong Mexican touch), but at the same time it’s quite a conservative city due to the strong Naval presence in the city, I suppose. Anyway, a good way to end the working week and start the weekend ;-).
The flight is quite a long haul, with changeovers in London and JFK. But, as long as I have a good book to read and some quality movies to watch, I don’t mind. So I didn’t find the travel all that annoying (apart from the last leg from JFK to San Diego – US internal flights are pretty crap, and distances are soooo long in that country). I arrived a bit late, with Alex waiting for me at the airport. Alex, whose place I was staying at for the next week and a bit, is an old mate of mine, who used to work with me in the UK, who since emigrated to sunny California. Great to see him after all these years! After some quick beer & grocery shopping, we headed back to his place in Poway, at the outskirts of San Diego.
My rather intensive tour of San Diego started on Wednesday night with my friend Stephane – a good drinking buddy from my days in the UK, who also drew the conclusion that perhaps the UK isn’t the best place to spend the rest of your days in, and decided to emigrate to South California. We started off by driving down to Del Mar by the Pacific Ocean, quite a posh part of San Diego, for dinner. Apparently a very nice spot, unfortunately it was too dark to fully appreciate the place. The restaurant was nice enough though, if a bit haut cuisine for my taste ;-). Our stomachs filled, we headed down to UTC (University Town Centre), where Stephane lives. Unsurprisingly enough, the nearest pub near his place is a place full of Frenchmen – naturally we headed there straight away. What ensured was plenty of beer drinking, catching up, and some pool. And a headache the next morning. So pretty much identical to a night out in Guildford with Stephane – just in a rather warmer climate!
The next day was hard – in addition to having to put up with my hangover and jet-lag, I was also assaulted by a rather painful toothache. Today was thanksgiving, which means everything is closed – including dentists and pharmacies. So I had to live with my pain unfortunately... Thanksgiving also meant some rather serious challenges in finding an open restaurant in the evening – we spent more than an hour driving around San Diego trying to find an open place – in vain. We ended up in Jack in the Box, which is kind of like McDonald’s – so no traditional thanksgiving dinner for us then! After we finally managed to fill our stomachs, Alex took us down to Coronado island to check out the rather impressive Hotel del Coronado. It is, apparently, one of the few remaining examples of the American “wooden Victorian beach resort” type architecture. Well, it certainly impressed us – certainly one of the most impressive hotels I’ve ever laid eyes on (quite a few films have featured this hotel – the most famous one being Some Like it Hot). 
Alex then took us over to the other side of the Coronado island, to Coronado pier (where you can catch a ferry to the mainland) from where we were treated to some pretty amazing views over Downtown San Diego. Our trip back to the mainland was kind of adventurous, as we were stopped by an officer of the law for speeding. Thankfully the old sport let us off with a warning… Before heading back for some well-needed sleep, we had time for a quick walk around downtown San Diego. It's the only part of San Diego with sky scrapers, which gives it a more urban feel compared to the otherwise spread out San Diego. Normally it's a pretty busy part of town, but tonight there was hardly anybody around - everybody was eating thanksgiving turkey I suppose.
The next day at the office was a bit better for me, since I had now recovered from my hangover, and had managed to acquire some medication for my toothache. We started the weekend by heading downtown, into the Gaslamp district. The historic part of San Diego, dating back to 1867, used to be a pretty run-down part of town, apparently, until it was redeveloped during the 80’s and 90’s. Now it’s a pretty good area for going out, plenty of restaurants and bars about. We started off the evening by meeting up with Marko, a mate and ex-colleague of mine from my Southwood years. Like Alex, it seems that he’s settled in pretty well with life in South California (from what I’ve seen so far, can’t really blame the guys!). 
After catching up with Marko, we headed over to Pacific Beach to an Italian party. The party demonstrated that San Diego is a pretty cosmopolitan place, I guess, the two Americans were outnumbered by 3 Italians, one Finn, a German, a Mexican, a Spaniard and a Dutchman. It’s kind of an interesting city in that it’s a real melting pot in terms of its ethnical mix (with a strong Mexican touch), but at the same time it’s quite a conservative city due to the strong Naval presence in the city, I suppose. Anyway, a good way to end the working week and start the weekend ;-).
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