I see a text from my friends Nancy and Matt from Orange County that they’d like to drive down to San Diego to meet with me today. I’m excited to see them again after about 2.5 years. We had a lot of fun last time with some of the highlights being that they took to me to Disneyland and also to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. They’re some of the friendliest people I know.
Tag: San Diego
Getting around in San Diego
I really like to be in this early day rhythm. Waking up between 3am and 4am allows me to take it easy and have a bigger window of shared time with people back home. I take a shower and make myself breakfast. Another guest of the house is awake to get to work, but he’s not very talkative. I look on the map and see that there is a Starbucks about a mile away that opens at 5AM. I love that about America too, that there are coffee places open early in the day. In The Netherlands most coffee places don’t open before 8AM.
Searching for an apartment
First thing on my todo list for today is to book an apartment. I’ve been looking at Airbnb and Booking the past few days, but still find it a bit challenging to make a final choice. San Diego is not super cheap, so it’s a matter of finding a right balance between comfort and affordability.
Relaxed vacation day
On my second day here in San Diego I wake up around 3am. That’s already half an hour later than yesterday, so I think I’ll slowly get adjusted here. I don’t mind waking up that early actually, because it allows me to finish quite some work before the sun gets up. I help some clients, answer e-mails and call with one of my designer friends about a work project. I am really thankful to have a profession that I like and can do everywhere in the world where there is internet.
First day in San Diego
One of the things I like about domestic flights in America is how fast it usually goes to land and get your luggage. No waiting for security or anything, just walking to the luggage belt, picking up your checked bags and you’re good to go. It’s even better when one of your friends is there to pick you up.
Highway 101
When you’re on a road trip there are two kinds of driving. Functional driving and recreational driving. Functional driving is to get from one place to another and recreational driving is just because of the beauty of the ride. Last days was quite a bit of functional driving to get to the west coast as soon as possible, but today is totally recreational.
Around sunrise I wake up. I walk to the beach, brush my teeth and start driving again. After about fifteen minutes I see a Starbucks and stop there to update the blog and to do some work.
Joshua Tree National Park
The sun is already high in the sky and it’s getting warm outside when I wake up around seven o’clock. It’s clear that I’m in a different area now. I freshen myself up, get a coffee and also fuel up the car. In the desert you don’t want to be without gas, so I make sure my tank is completely full before I hit the road. It’s about one and half hours from here to Joshua Tree National Park and then a few more hours to San Diego. It’s already very warm early in the morning, so today I can wear my shorts again. I like it that I’ve crossed so many different landscapes and weather types in just over a week. Snow and rain yesterday, a dry hot dessert today.
It’s nice and warm in Joshua Tree National Park, but no extremely hot fortunately. It’s mainly a road through a big dessert. At the first stop there is a garden and cactuses.