Tequila: 'it makes you happy'!

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We set off around 10am for our road trip to San Diego and arrived at our first stop, Huntingon Beach, soon after. We took the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to Newport Beach, home of the OC, where we strolled along the beach and pier with coffee and doughnuts checking out the beachfront houses.

Our next stop was Laguna Beach, which everyone agreed was our favorite place so far. The town has a really arty feel to it and is full of art galleries and cute little shops and restaurants. Caroline had recommended a Mexican restaurant, Las Brisas, to us which we stumbled on almost by accident. It was quite posh inside and we sat in the conservatory and watched the dolphins whilst we ate these amazing Taco salads.

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On arrival in San Diego we soaked up the lush greenery of Balboa Park stretching out alongside the freeway, which was a welcome alternative to the dusty appearance of LA. However we were somewhat dismayed when we arrived at our hostel. Though it had excellent reviews online the hostel itself looked little more than a garage so Cheryl and Lynsey sent me in to investigate before committing to stay there. The receptionist seemed friendly enough and gave me a little guided tour of the hostel, including the 'party room' which actually was a huge garage with a random collection of old sofas and rugs and the 'bar' which was an ikea work bench. I'd been travelling before so wasn't too fazed by it but we did have to try hard not to laugh as we were checking in. Equally strange was this crazy girl in our dorm who kept doing sit ups and lunges in the middle of the carpet despite us trying to reach for things around her. When we asked where we could go out that night she looked at us blankly saying "weeelll....you're in dooowwn toooowwwn...." as if that was going to make sense to three new arrivals!

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Well we did find where to go in the end and the Gaslamp district in Downtown was the place to be for a night out. The plan was a couple of quiet drinks whilst we decided what to do the next day (as we didn't fancy hanging around in the hostel all night like the other people there seemed to suggest). The friendly homeless man wished us a good night (all the homeless people in San Diego seem strangely happy) and we headed to a casual looking bar....

Several tequilas later we got back to the hostel and continued the night in the 'party room'. It was a brilliant night but we didn't feel quite so great in the morning!

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Despite everything we managed to visit the Horton Plaza mall for fruit juices and take a leisurely stroll up to Balboa Park. The park was gorgeous and there was so much to do. We visited one of the small art galleries and the Botanical gardens which were free to enter but the other museums weren't too expensive either if we'd have had more time. Even so we managed to see a lot of San Diego and plenty to tempt me to return at some point too.

The drive back was uneventful apart from the fact that we nearly ran out of petrol and pulled off the freeway at an army base to ask for directions to the petrol station. Now we're just chilling out until part two of our grand tour...Fiji.