This year's Boxing Day Bargain is San Diego - Day 2

Another early start today and we were in the gym at about 0645, I did a core class and then used the peloton bike to do a 30 min class plus a stretch  Rob made use of all the weight machines that we don’t have at home.

Once we were done we got ready and had breakfast at Arlo again.

As it was a weekend day they were serving a brunch menu rather than breakfast so slightly different choices today.

I had the Croffle (Croissant Waffle) and Rob had 2 eggs again but with toast instead of the biscuit.

Rob and I headed over to Old Town on the trolley, we arrived quite early and it wasn’t very busy so we looked around inc the market which I think is only there on Saturday/Sunday.

We were in need of a snack (it must have been 2 whole hours by now since breakfast) so we stopped at Mama Antonia’s for churros and Mexican mocha, we were also given chips and salsa for no extra charge and they were quite tasty. We did briefly see the others at Mama Antonia’s as they arrived while we were there.

We wandered around for a bit more and Rob got himself a new belt in the leather shop.

We then took the trolley to Santa Fe and walked to ferry and got ourselves tickets to Coronado Island.

We had a short wait before the ferry arrived but we were soon on our way across.

We walked to the hotel Del Coronado which was around 1.5 miles each way so that we could see the hotel that inspired the Grand Floridian. It was unsurprisingly very busy and the hotel was being refurbished externally so it was hard to get good photos that didn’t include scaffolding.

We had a walk along the beach and wondered if a future stay would be in our budget – we did look when we got back and the room Rob wants starts at around $1500 per night 

After a little while we walked back and it was starting to get chilly (as it tended to in the evenings so we got coffee and then in an alteration to our intended plan we decided to get dinner at Rotten Nicky’s which we had seen earlier (should have done dinner then coffee).

Rob had a burger and I had the grown up grilled cheese (which included ham), the food was good but far too big and I barely ate half of mine – the total cost here was $65 inc tip.

We picked up a T-shirt for Tom on our way back as we had sent him a photo and he confirmed that he would very much like it 

After a short wait we took the ferry back to the Convention Centre then walked to trolley station, we could have gone back to the other stop but it was a longer wait and we were chilly!

We then grabbed a ride on the trolley back to Fashion valley, before walking back via stabby alley and then we watched some tv before bed.

This year's Boxing Day Bargain is San Diego! Day 1

After our relatively early night we woke briefly at some point in the early hours (maybe 5am) but managed to stay asleep until just before 7am.

We got ready and went to Arlo for breakfast (this was one of several dining options at the hotel), we both had the 2 eggs option with bacon and potatoes. I had coffee which was refilled regularly and Rob had tea, the total cost was about $60 inc tip.

The others joined us as we were finishing so we left them to eat while we went to get ready (we had a quick look around the resort on the way back to our room), we agreed to meet after they were done and all headed into the city via the trolley (we bought pronto cards, which are like oyster cards, and loaded them with credit).

We got off at County Center and walked towards the water where we discovered a parade which we weren’t expecting - The San Diego Holiday Bowl parade!

As you would expect I enjoyed this, it had balloons, marching bands even some Disney and Marvel characters!

We watched for about an hour then walked towards USS Midway which we considered visiting but obviously lots of people had the same idea.

We decided it was too busy to visit today so we went for a wander, ending up at Little Italy where we had a drink and snack.

I had a flat white and a peanut butter and chocolate cookie. Rob had a coke and a blueberry muffin.

We had earlier passed the San Diego Central Jail and a variety of bail bond locations…I was particularly interested in the Aladdin one!

We walked back to the waterfront and then took the trolley back to our stop (Fashion Valley) at about 1430.

We went to the Fashion Valley Mall where we looked around for a little while. We didn’t buy anything but planned to return to Bath and Bodyworks to get some foaming soaps amongst other things.

We needed a little rest so went back to our room and we watched some tv which ended up being one of the Hulk movies.

Then we walked back to the mall for dinner at Sbarro where we both had a slice of pepperoni and Rob had a Stromboli and I had a slice of mushroom pizza. The pepperoni was definitely the better choice than the mushroom for me.

We headed back to our room via what we decided to call ‘stabby alley’ and watched some of Thor before bed.

‘Stabby alley’ was the route from the mall to our hotel, it was a short walk across a road and under the overpass where the trolley ran and then a short footbridge to our hotel.

During the day this was perfectly fine but in the evening it appeared to be a popular spot for some of the local homeless community to set up camp for the night.

As we returned this evening they were setting up camp as we walked back, including lighting a camp fire. They didn’t bother us but I would definitely use caution walking back and forth at night.