Sometimes when you’re traveling, you don’t immediately know where you are when you wake up. That’s not the case today. When I wake up around 7am, I look outside and know that I’m in San Diego. It’s already light outside and I see part of the skyline of the city. I’m feeling happy and excited: I’m in San Diego! I also immediately come to the confronting realisation that I haven’t felt like this in a while. Waking up completely happy. I’m a very positive guy, but usually it takes me a while to get going in the morning. Not today, I am awake and full of energy to make it a great day. I take a quick shower, get dressed and grab my laptop to do some writing in the living room. My friend Brittany is gone for an appointment, but will come back later. As I’m sitting at the couch to write, I’m looking over the ocean and the city that I know quite well now since my last visit here. It feels great to be back.
When Brittany is back, we go out for breakfast. I have a big plate of pancakes and some yoghurt with berries. I must have forgotten how big the portions are here in America, because I’m struggling to finish it. Also, I love how they keep refilling coffee in restaurants in America.
After breakfast Brittany asks me what I’d like to do and I don’t have to think long about that. I wanna go to Barnes and Noble, my favorite bookstore. I always love discovering new books. We browse books there for a while and I behave myself and only buy two books, haha! Then we drive to Old Town, a historic place in the city and I show Brittany a nice park which looks out over a big part of the city. She tells me she’s never been here and I like how I can show a local some new places in the city. It helps that I’ve lived in San Diego for two weeks during my last trip. I feel like I know the city quite well, because I walked here so much and traveled through various neighborhoods with public transport. It’s a warm day again, but the cool wind from the ocean makes it very comfortable. I enjoy the feeling of vacation and that I don’t have to do anything, but can just enjoy the day.
We have a relaxed afternoon and do some groceries at Walmart, also something I really like. I find it nice to have one big store where you can buy almost anything, very practical. When we’re back home I’m feeling very tired of the jet lag this afternoon, but cannot sleep. I read a few pages instead and unpack some of the camping gear I have bought. The plan is to start the roadtrip next week and go camping with another friend. I haven’t gone camping very often so far, so I bought a lot of new stuff for that. This afternoon feels a bit like Christmas, unpacking several boxes. In the evening we go out for dinner at a cozy restaurant which is called Queenstown and has a New Zealand vibe. It’s an old wooden house turned into a restaurant and in the yard are lights hanging and many tables to sit on. I think about how I’d love to travel to New Zealand again some day, but wish that traveling there would somehow get easier and faster. For now I’m thankful to be in America again.
