I may not have had any more time for sight seeing in San Diego but I did have a great room in the Sheraton Hotel Tower. I was on the 10th floor with a small balcony. I didn’t even take out the tripod for the sunrise and sunset pictures. I just balanced the camera on the railing.
I’m Back! I didn’t expect to be gone quite so long.
Last week was our annual company meeting. I was in San Diego at the company’s expense from Wednesday 1/14- Saturday 1/17. Actually Wednesday was a travel day. I deliberately took an early morning flight because I wanted a chance to see a little of San Diego.
Last year we had the meeting in San Diego too but a winter storm on the east coast delayed my flight so much that it was quite late when I got there. Once the meetings start there’s no time for sight seeing. You are busy from 9 am to midnight.
This year the weather was cold but clear and I had a 5 am flight. I was arriving in San Diego at 11:30 am and would have the afternoon to do some sight-seeing…or so I hoped.
The best laid plans of mice and men can go astray and seems like that applies to my plans too. I guess I should be glad I’m not an army general.
My flights were pleasant and uneventful. I was flying Southwest Airlines and I used their early bird check in so I didn’t have to worry about checking in to get the best seating. It’s $12.95 but it was money well spent. I got great seating. I was also wearing a warm sweater because it was very cold , about 9 degrees, when I left to go to the airport. Sometimes the cabins are a bit cold when you hit 30,000 ft.
We made good time and landed in Chicago ahead of schedule. I had time to grab some breakfast before the 2nd leg of my journey. Chicago to San Diego was smooth too and once again we landed early. Unfortunately we landed without my luggage. 🙁
San Diego was sunny and warm with a sea breeze. A sweater was definitely out of place and by the time I caught the shuttle to the hotel I was in full melt down mode. I checked into my room and settled down to wait for news of my wayward bags. Southwest assured me they weren’t lost just delayed. The best I could do was hang out around the hotel and wait. I needed a change of clothes before I could go exploring.
The call finally came at 4 pm. My bags had made it to the airport and would be delivered to me no later than 8 pm. So much for any sight-seeing. I guess San Diego will have to wait for another year.
I saved the best for last. If I were on vacation in San Diego the first thing I would do is locate the Old Town Trolley. This is not an advertisement or a “plug”. This has been my experience in my travels. Almost every place I’ve been from Key West to Sedona has had a trolley company offering tours. Some are hop on – hop off and others are just tours but they always help me get oriented.
San Diego has a branch of the Old Town Trolley company that I’m familiar with from Boston.
Everyone told me about “Old Town”, it is the oldest settled area in San Diego and is the site of the first European settlement in present-day California. It contains Old Town San Diego Historic Park and Presidio Park , both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Old Town Trolley has a tour there.
Ole Town Trolley also has the “Seal Tours” which are like Boston’s Duck Tours. You can make a real splash on these tours.
There’s tons of stuff to see a each stop. Too much for me to write here without having experienced it yet. Check out the link for all the details. http://www.trolleytours.com/san-diego/old-town.asp
So what do you think? Should a return to San Diego be my 2014 vacation?
The Votes and shares , comments and hits have been tallied. The “View’s Choice” for week 4 is Morning from the 9th Floor. Once again my favorite was overlooked and I had 2 favorites this week!
The photo for yesterday is still in camera. I should get it posted today.
Thanks for voting. 🙂 I look forward to “Tally Day” every week;
I have a few things to share but the photos are on my phone and they seem to be taking a long time to get sent to my computer. So I’m going to jump ahead and give you a brief description of San Diego.
That’s it. 🙂
I was quite excited to learn that the annual company meeting was going to be held in San Diego. There’s so much to see and do around there. I even had a VIP pass to ride the Olde Town Trolley Tour.
But, alas, it was not to be.
My first surprise was the cold. I was expecting 70’s..maybe mid 60’s but it was in the 40’s and 50’s.
I arrived late the first night just as dinner was finishing up so there wasn’t any time to explore then. I was in the Hyatt. The conference and most meals were at the Paradise Point Resort. To get between the 2 locations we had a shuttle. The problem was the shuttle only ran on a limited schedule and once the conference started or meals were over, it shut down again. For example, the morning schedule was every 20 minutes from 7 – 9am . Then nothing until it started again at 5pm to shuttle us back to the Hyatt and then back for dinner at Paradise Point.
That didn’t leave much time for exploring or getting around.
The other reason I never got to see anything in San Diego was that we had meetings all day and then scheduled events all evening so there was no real free time. Now don’t misunderstand. The program was really outstanding but it wasn’t an 8 hour day.
So it looks like I will have to make a return trip to San Diego to see the sights.