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After a quick 3 hour flight from Boston, I arrived at Dallas airport to do my first ever transfer and I couldn't have picked a larger airport. Dallas airport is insane, it seemed to have about 50 terminals and there was a monorail that circled the whole thing and gave the place a very futuristic look. After a short delay due to a lost plane handle (!) we boarded just 40 minutes late and set off for San Diego. Once we arrived and made it to the hostel we were reunited with the ever omnipresent Ryan, he had just got back from Vegas with the boys so there was a lot of catching up to do. While all his friends from Uni were in town we arranged a night out in the local area. The area we were staying in was called the Gaslamp quarter, it was a really cool area full of bars and restaurants and we treated ourselves to $3 Tacos before our night out.
The next morning after a slightly later start Cait and I went out to explore Balboa Park while Ryan went to the beach to top up his tan. Balboa Park is one of the biggest parks in America and definitely one of the most confusing. We wandered around a little aimlessly past Spanish style buildings, fountains and museums. It's also home to San Diego zoo, which has a very high reputation but due to us being in the tight mindset that 'a zoo is a zoo' gave it a miss. After the park we took the slightly dodgy bus journey over to Coronado Island, just across the San Diego bay. Unfortunately though when we arrived the weather took a turn for the worst, so me and Cait were left sitting on a park bench eating Subways looking over a grey San Diego skyline. How pathetic.
The weather did perk up though and we became inspired by the chuckle brother's buggies that kept riding past. The man at the rental shop however convinced us the novelty wears off so we opted for the cutest bike each, blue with a wicker basket. We rode around the outside of the whole island and saw the incredible historic Hotel del Coronado next to a idyllic sandy beach and back along through streets of incredible huge houses. This I decided is where I could live.
San Diego has very quickly changed my view of America. My experience of the East coast made me think of America as very grey, rushed and with pretty rude people (in general), but the West coast is the polar opposite. I love California. Everyone here is soo laidback and friendly and the streets are all lined with palm trees. It may of course have a lot to do with the significantly better weather!
On the next day in San Diego I made a quick brave decision, today I was going to Skydive! I rang the company early on and they managed to squeeze us in in an hours time, leaving not a lot of time to think about what I was about to do! The tram we got to the site was the same one that goes directly into Tijuana in Mexico somewhere we had considered going but been warned off. Everyone at the skydiving place was really friendly and made me instantly more relaxed, this is despite the fact the instructors were constantly teasing us that our harness wasn't tight enough or they were only just trained. I went up with a friendly man named George, who talked me through all the procedures and was also in charge of my video camera. The video I got is hideously embarrassing with him asking me very awkward question while we waited to jump and me falling to Snoop Dogg's Drop it like its hot! I am unbelievably glad I had the courage to do the jump, it was one of the best experiences of the life. Cait went first out of the plane so I got to see her fall then we were immediately after. What actually happened in the 10 or so seconds before the parachute went up, I could not tell you, it was very much an overwhelming blur. It felt almost as if we were tumbling through the air. Then the parachute opened and I could look out at the view across Mexico, San Diego and the ocean. However I probably didn't pay as much attention as I should of as George let me drive my parachute steering it through the sky then he asked if 'I liked rollercoasters' and went on to spin me around really fast as we went down. It was literally so much fun! After a smooth landing and a cringey watch of my video I was already desperate to do it again.
After a re-cooperation burger that afternoon we headed over to La Jolla Cove, a well known posh beach area a little outside of San Diego. One of the main attractions here is a busy beach area absolutely covered in Sea lions. They were hilarious, just slobbing around, fighting each other and trying to manoeuvre themselves on land. We then treated ourselves to an ice cream after our walk and then headed back to the hostel to meet a very sleepy Stephanie Cann. Steph finished Uni later so was meeting us just before LA.
On our final day in San Diego we got up early for the much anticipated trip to Seaworld. I was so excited for this due to my love of anything underwater or whale-like and it didn't disappoint. Although it was slightly smaller than expected and we had a limited amount of time there we managed to fit in all the big shows. We saw the famous Shamu show, Dolphin show and the Sea lion show, which had a very amusing cameo in from a cute little sea otter. We ever managed to touch a dolphin and a sting ray. It was such a good day and I think San Diego may have been one of my favourite places we have visited so far. I will definitely be going back at some point in the future!
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