On Tuesday morning (now two days ago) I say goodbye to Matt and drive to Laguna Beach. When we were there the other day I spotted a cool looking coffee place called Bear Coast. I love bears and I love the coast, so that must be a winner. Indeed, it’s a great place to spend some time. It’s right by the beach and I make sure to also walk on the sand for a bit before I leave. I then slowly make my way south to San Diego, following the coastal highway through the beach towns. Of course I stop in Encinitas for a cup of coffee at Pannikin and then drive to the hotel I booked for the last nights. It’s nothing fancy, just a cheap place where I can pack my bags and sleep before flying. In the evening I get a pizza and a couple of beers, which makes it a good place.
On Wednesday morning I drive to Walmart to return more of my camping stuff, visit the next door Barnes & Noble and go back to Pannikin for the last time this trip for a cappuccino and cinnamon roll. I’m sure I’ll miss those when I’m back home. While relaxing at their deck, I see on the map that there is another Pannikin in Oceanside. That’s another beach town, about 20 minutes north. I still have my car til 5pm, so I decide to drive up there. Just like the coffee place in Encinitas, this is also a great one. I enjoy some more coffee (haha, I realize that I might sounds like a coffeeholic by now, but who cares, coffee is great). Oceanside has a long pier where you can walk on and it turns out that the house of the movie Top Gun is also here. I didn’t know that, but I take some pictures and will pay more attention to the movie next time I see it. Then it’s time to drive back to San Diego to return my car. When I’ve parked it at the Hertz location I calculate that I’ve been driving 7180 miles, which is 11.555 kilometers. I think that’s more than last year, quite a lot for sure. I’m thankful that everything on the roadtrip went so well. From California to Montana and back again. I feel like I’ve done the most driving in Oregon and I’m happy that I got to discover a lot more of that beautiful state on this trip.
I return my car to Melisa, the manager and thank her again for the excellent service. For many years I’ve rented a car from her location and always got a great one with friendly service. She always made sure that my roadtrips worked out fine. I tell her that I have a feeling I might not go on such a long road trip soon again though, but who knows that the future holds. Sometimes when I’m traveling in America I think that I should also start discovering Europe more at some point. And with things changing here so rapidly now, perhaps that time has finally come.
After I return the car, I travel with public transport back to the neighborhood of my hotel. I make a quick stop at a nearby Barnes & Noble, because we don’t have those bookstores at home, and then walk to an In-n-out restaurant. That seems like a proper last dinner here in California. I go to bed on time so I can wake up early, pack the last things and head to the airport. And that brings us to today.
This morning, after having my bags packed and eaten breakfast at the hotel, I take all my luggage and walk to the Oldtown station. It’s about 15 minutes walking and quite a challenge with a backpack, a suitcase and a carryon. Quite sweaty and out of breath I make it to the station where the free shuttle it just waiting to leave. Perfect timing. At the airport it also goes smooth. I’m a few hours early and it’s still quiet. A friendly steward takes my backpack and suitcase and I’m happy that they’re just the right weight, 50lbs and 47lbs. Security goes quickly as well and not much later I’m ready to fly. I enjoy some coffee from the Pannikin at the airport and sit down to organize my last vacation pictures. I also walk around, because I want to make sure I get my steps in even though I’m flying most of the day. Around 11 in the morning we fly to Seattle and it’s beautiful to look outside from time to time. I see mountains and know that just a few weeks ago I was right down there in Oregon and Washington. I’m lucky this morning, because the seat next to me is empty, so I have more space. After about two hours we land again in Seattle where I have a layover of 3.5 hours. That gives me enough time to get my steps in for today and I also have lunch at the airport before I get onto my final flight for today, back to Amsterdam. Taking off from Seattle is beautiful as we fly right by the mountains. I’m happy to have internet and use it to post the last few stories of this trip. The total flight is about 9 hours, and we have about 7 hours flying left at this point, so I might do some work and get some sleep. I find it pretty amazing that I can upload my stories and pictures from up in the sky. If you’ve been reading along this adventure I hope you’ve enjoyed it and wherever I’ll go from here, more stories will probably follow. Until next time!
