His View 

San Diego - Feliks' perspective

 

Our first adventure in the great city of San Diego was Tijuana. Let me tell you upfront - I know all of you think that it was a mistake, and that Tijuana is not a good place to cross into Mexico. You are 100% correct. Crossing into Mexico was fairly easy. They didn’t even check our Passports. Crossing back into the states required an hour and a half wait. When you first get in to Tijuana, you immediately notice trash on the streets, homeless people everywhere, and people yelling at you to come buy something from them. There were tons of food stops and nic-nac handmade clutter gifts: everything from well-established businesses to guys selling from the inside of their coats. Everyone had something to sell you. Our goal was to get a taco in Mexico and wash it down with a margarita. As we started walking towards the downtown we found a nice little taco cantina. The fish tacos were delicious and the food prices were very reasonable. The margaritas were significantly weaker than I expected. 

 

Our next thought was to make our way downtown. I highly advise against this. Take a taxi; do not walk. As we neared the bridge that goes over the water runoff canal, I was shocked to see people living in huts made out of trash right in the canal. There had to have been hundreds of people hanging out down there, and some of them just below the bridge were yelling at the passerby's for money. This is the only part of our trip so far where I felt that we might be walking into dangerous areas. We turned around and headed back to border patrol. Interestingly enough, we later learned that there was a safety advisory for those crossing into Tijuana. While realistically I don’t think anything would have happened to us, it was still a very sketchy situation. 

 

We did have lots of fun walking around the outlet mall right by the crossing. This was an actual outlet mall, where most things were at least 50% off. Be prepared for lots of shoppers because even though we were there on a Monday, it felt like a Saturday. The short drive to San Diego took me by surprise. I did not expect this part of California to be so hilly and green. Since it’s been a few days since our last shower, we decided to get a hotel. Caywood found a great deal on hotels.com and found a booking good deal. The Declan, located in downtown San Diego, was awesome. The room was like a one bedroom apartment minus the kitchen. After some quick showers we got ready for our first official date of the trip. Caywood found a nice Japanese restaurant offering hibachi and sushi that was specific to the San Diego area. Dinner was amazing and the company was even better. Needless to say, I was struck by food coma as we headed back to the hotel. The next morning we had planned to go see the USS Midway, and on our way there the Maritime Museum caught our attention. $16 per person included five ships and two submarines to explore, plus $5 for a 45-minute tour of the bay. This seemed like a better deal than $8 for one massive ship. I was pretty excited to check out the submarines because I’ve never been in one. They had two: an American submarine which had the deepest dive record, and a Russian submarine decommissioned after the Cold War. I can’t imagine ever being on one of these things hundreds of feet underwater; there were some tight quarters to be sharing with 20 or 30 sailors. 

 

Out of the other five boats, only two really stood out: the HMS Surprise which has been used in a couple movies, and the Star of India which has traveled around the world 121 times. Both of these boats amazed me in how many ropes it took to actually sail. I don’t even know how a person could keep track of what rope does what because there were so many.  The 45-minute tour around the bay was absolutely worth it. The guide was very knowledgable and entertaining, and the ride was a perfect break from the heat and walking. We got to see the latest aircraft carrier of the American Navy fleet. If you ever get a chance to go to this marina, you will hear a very loud engine noise coming from all around. The airport is so close to these ships that it actually feels like the engine is right behind you. It’s cool to see the planes land and take off because they’re so close. 

 

Our next stop took us across the Coronado Bridge to check out the famous Hotel Del Coronado. Our tour guide from the bay told us that many famous people and presidents have stayed at this hotel. It was over 10 years old and definitely had that appearance. I hope that the hotel experience is out of this world, because from the outside it wasn’t that impressive. The best part about the hotel was the beach in the backyard. Some of the softest, cleanest sand I have ever walked on. The hotel had elevated beds covered with shade for their guests, which looked like something you’d fantasize about. I hope I get a chance one day to say that I have stayed there. 

 

Overall, San Diego was really nice. You already know how I feel about Tijuana. The roads are very hilly downtown, but seemed flatter as you go West. Parking was medium difficulty.