321GO - The Alternative West Coast TR - Day 14

[Chilly80]

Wednesday 30th May

Today's TR is brought to you by Mike!

Checked out of the hotel and headed to University Street startion via Starbucks for a snack to take on the train. The station was in a tunnel and trains and buses could both use the same track. Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. As we would be on the plane when we'd want lunch but had no food included we decided to get a really early lunch of pizza. There was a big queue so it took awhile but the pizza was pretty large and nice. Claire only ate half so I got seconds. After we'd finished it was getting pretty near to take off time but the screen didn't say go to gate or boarding. Claire had to go pee pee which delayed us further and when she came back the screen hadn't changed and there had been no annoucnements but we wandered over to the gate anyway to find everyone else was already onboard and they had been about to close the gate! So that's twice we've nearly missed things this holiday! We are not normally the late to arrive people! As it happened it didn't matter as we got to the take off spot but then taxied off the runway instead and they announced there was a warning light on so they needed to get it checked out. We sat on the plane for a little while but they decided they couldn't fix it and they would get us a new plane so we got back off the plane. When we finally left the flight was uneventful but we landed in San Diego over 2 hours late. We hopped on the shuttle to the Dollar car rental shop where we picked up our SUV. The shuttle driver was really chatty and had given us directions plus I had directions but we still ended up going the wrong way at first. Once we'd got onto the correct road we got to our hotel with no problems even though it was now rush hour. The bridge over to Coronado was not the best to drive over as it was very thin, i'm not sure whether they were in the middle of resurfacing but there wasn't any road markings so I had to judge where I was by the cats eyes. The hotel was fine but when compared to our Seattle & Vancouver hotels it was not in the top two, the main reception area was lovely and we found out later that this was orginally built for the man who designed the Del Coronado. We weren't in the main building however but a block out back.











After we'd dropped our suitcases in the room we headed over the road to the Del Coronado hotel which you'll recognise as the hotel the Grand Flordian is based on.







It looked just as expensive as the GF and Claire is happy I did the smart thing and saved the money by not staying here, she is also secretly pleased about not booking another cruise or getting a D&B bag. We walked around the outside of the hotel and then had a peek in the hotel lobby which was nothing like the GF. We then had a wander along the beach a little bit before heading onto the main street to get some dinner.





We picked a restaurant at random, Costa Azul, and I had fish & shrimp while Claire had a 1/2 rack of ribs, both were simple and nice, the restaurant seemed to specialise in mexican food and were serving massive enchiladas! Claire of course got a cocktail called a Coronado Sunset although it didn't seem to have any cranberry in it which it was supposed to.







We headed back to the hotel for an early night.

[becky2203]

Ahh, I was in San Diego earlier this year and this day brings back some good memories. I stayed in downtown SD but spent an afternoon on Coronado just wandering along the beach you've pictured. Fab place!

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by becky2203

Ahh, I was in San Diego earlier this year and this day brings back some good memories. I stayed in downtown SD but spent an afternoon on Coronado just wandering along the beach you've pictured. Fab place!

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We loved Coronado we'd love to go again.

[Guest]

Love Coronado! Great report!

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by Manta

Love Coronado! Great report!

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Thanks

[Glee Fan]

"It looked just as expensive as the GF and Claire is happy I did the smart thing and saved the money by not staying here, she is also secretly pleased about not booking another cruise or getting a D&B bag."

Sorry, this bit did make me chuckle, lol!

San Diego is on my list of places to visit - looks lovely.

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

"It looked just as expensive as the GF and Claire is happy I did the smart thing and saved the money by not staying here, she is also secretly pleased about not booking another cruise or getting a D&B bag."

Sorry, this bit did make me chuckle, lol!

San Diego is on my list of places to visit - looks lovely.

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He's not off the hook D&B are coming to the UK!

[Jools]

Ah my DH and I just loved San Diego, and had a good look at the hotel Del. I'd love to go again some day

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by Jools

Ah my DH and I just loved San Diego, and had a good look at the hotel Del. I'd love to go again some day

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I would def go back as well.

[hross42877]

Great read!