My USA travel diary, following my adventures in America. Here’s what we got up to when we visited San Diego & Tijuana!
And so the American adventure continues! We began our time in the US by partying hard in Vegas, followed by throwing ourselves at studio tours and various attractions in LA/Hollywood. It’s weird to think that I’m only just writing up the third part of our adventure. Despite the fact that I’ve been home for nearly two months now! Will I ever run out of content?
I found – as expected – San Diego to be much more chill and cooler than the previous two places we’d visited. We didn’t plan much ahead for what we’d get up to. I kind of liked this, as after doing so much, I was looking forward to taking it a little easier.
Day Nine: Arriving in San Diego
We arrived in San Diego and checked into our hostel, another US hostel. I really liked this one thanks to it’s bright and bold walls and chill atmosphere. The whole look of the place was super quirky and we were actually given a bit of an upgrade on arrival.
Once we checked in, we had a little mooch around and then headed downstairs for the ‘family night’ the hostel was hosting. This was a free dinner (delicious) followed by cheap $1 drinks in the bar across the road. Well, we couldn’t say no to that! That evening ended up turning into a complete write-off as we ended up drinking loads of course. I remember dancing a lot, before we came back to the hotel and I started to drunk dial pretty much everyone in my phonebook. To any friends reading who may have been on the receiving end of any of these drunken phone calls: I’m sorry.
Day Ten: Exploring Balboa Park
The following day, Briony headed off to meet a friend for breakfast and to visit the beach. I could not stomach it and made her promise to bring me back mozzarella sticks to help cure my hangover! Once I felt more alive, we found ourselves back on the scooters and zooming over to Balboa Park, somewhere I’d seen on a few blogs.
Upon arrival, we found a small garden and were quite disappointed at how small it was. But then we realised this was just a very small part of a much larger park! We walked around for a bit, enjoying the sunshine and the atmosphere. The area was filled with families playing and street buskers performing around a fountain. We had some lunch and then headed off to the ‘other side’ (?) of where we were, which is where we found the main part of Balboa Park. Such stunning architecture! I felt like we were in Spain or somewhere – it was ever so lovely.
We also discovered this cute hidden gem: The Spanish Village Art Centre. Unfortunately, most of the ‘shops’ had closed by the time we made it over. But we enjoyed strolling around anyway: it was definitely my kind of place. We then explored the rest of the beautiful urban park. That evening, we tried to have a hostel pub crawl but with little success. So it was an early night for me!
Day Eleven: One Day in Tijuana
I’ve combined our visits to San Diego and Tijuana in one blog post. This is because we spent the least time in both areas. On this day, we got up early and got the bus to the border before walking across – which was interesting! We’d been warned that Tijuana was a place filled with crime, but others who visited regularly insisted it was fine. Having been to Mexico before, I didn’t worry much at all. But I was just that bit more cautious and didn’t go anywhere alone. We checked into our hotel and headed out to explore the local area before grabbing some food in a friendly and authentic Mexican restaurant. Here, I finally got to have my favourite traditional Mexican dish again: Queso Fundido. This is melted cheese with chorizo sprinkled on top, and served with tortillas and fillings. It’s AMAZING!
We then spent an hour just exploring the busy streets of Tijuana. We enjoyed finding a colourful street market where we hunted for some pretty friendship bracelets.
Afterwards, we slowly walked back to the hotel, grabbing some drinks and snacks on the way. We spent an hour or so pre-drinking for our night out. We’d chosen to go to Tijuana specifically for the nightlife and so Briony could visit Mexico. We’d also made sure to pick a hotel within walking distance of two of the best and safest clubs. After a few drinks, we headed downstairs…and I twisted my ankle. I promptly (and typically) tripped down the last two steps (in my defence, the steps were very high)!
I hobbled over to the sofa, gasping as my ankle immediately swelled up. We hung about for about half an hour, but it was clear I wouldn’t make it out. So, unfortunately, despite travelling across the border specifically for a night out in Tijuana, we didn’t even make it out. I’m still sorry Briony!
Overall though, our short time in Tijuana and San Diego was enjoyable. They were both very different places with very different things to offer, but both were amazing.
Have you ever visited either of the above? What have you thought about the rest of my USA travel diary? Let me know!
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