Beach, Baby!

The first day of what has turned out to be a brilliant vacation- the post-holiday blues have set in!

I arrived last night at 5pm San Diego time, which was 1am UK time. The flight was the longest I'd done, at 11 hours and 15 minutes. It was pretty good. I was right in the middle of the plane, so no views out of the windows but I'm ok with that. I read my book, tried to doze etc, and for the first five hours I was good. But after that, I was really done. Uncomfortable and bored, and the next six hours stretched out ahead in a nightmarish long road. The good thing about BA long haul is that they feed you, so if nothing else, it's a welcome distraction from the boredom ;-) I focused on the ending, and that was what kept me going, knowing that the end would hopefully justify the means. 

It was also my birthday (23/12) so being someone that hates their birthday, I can tell you a long haul flight is a good way for it to pass largely unnoticed! 

It was late afternoon as we finally saw the skyline of San Diego, and as we came into land, I felt excited. It was quickly replaced by fear as we had a nice smooth landing- the back wheels went down, then the front, and we raced forward and felt the rush of air from the flaps designed to buffer the speed. It was at that moment that I silently congratulated myself that I'd made it- alive and in one piece to the furthest place I'd ever been on my own, when all of a sudden, we suddenly went back up, to the horror and gasps of quite a few passengers around me! I've flown a lot and never known that to happen when you're already on the ground, but apparently it's quite normal.... Also, I discovered that San Diego airport is quite small, and has only one runway, so timing is everything. 

I figured passport control would be horrible like when I went to New York, but it took all of five minutes, and the guard was very friendly, wishing me a great vacation.

A friend of mine from work, a native of the Bronx, organised for her brother-in-law who lives in San Diego to pick me up at the airport and deposit me at my hotel. It was good to not have to worry about that, and although he was a bit aloof, he and his wife were very pleasant and drove me in the dark up the highway to my hotel in Pacific Beach. 

Months ago I deliberated between staying in the main city, but then decided I wanted to stay at the beach. It's always hard to judge something in the dark, but when I got to the hotel, I wondered if I'd made the wrong choice. The check in person wasn't very friendly, or helpful, and after explaining which part of the hotel my room was in, waved me in the vague direction which meant walking across the car park... I asked him to show me which he reluctantly did. 

At first I wondered if I'd been in a coma when I booked my hotel, but although the bathroom didn't have a tub and was a bit dated, the room itself was really nice and spacious. 

I couldn't make any calls as it would be too expensive, so after a couple of texts to let the nearest and dearest know I'd arrived, I took a shower and went to bed at about 8pm- super early but it was 4am our time and I'd been up almost 24 hours! 

I slept really well in the comfy bed, until I awoke naturally- at 3:30am......
And I was awake from then on, reading and fiddling about on social media until I figured 5am was an acceptable time to make a cup of tea and put the news on! And it was like this for most of the week, but I didn't mind! I had a little routine going, and didn't mind that jet-lag made me early to bed and even earlier to rise! 

I got up the next morning, well rested but a little hungry. I got ready and dressed to go out at around 9am. The second I opened the door and felt the fresh air I knew I'd made the right choice.

The way down to go out took me via the pool and patio, and I was blown away by the view. In fact every morning I had to stop to take multiple pictures of the view! I was actually excited, and I realised it's been such a long time since I felt excited about anything! I wore my Nikes (most comfortable shoes ever!) and off I went, backpack on my back, in search of food. 

It was super busy, filled with people walking, jogging, on bikes, on the beach. It was just perfect! 

People are so friendly, I walked past and somebody said "Merry Christmas!" and I was rather stunned! A, because I forgot it was nearly Christmas, and B, because people are not so friendly back home ;-) 

And I knew there and then that I'd made the right decision to go away for Christmas :-)