Solo in San Diego

I’ll be visiting my friend Janna for the next 5 days in San Diego. She got a job as a travel nurse but got stuck with the overnight shift on my first day visiting, which means my 1st day out west will be a solo day exploring. I don’t really see myself enjoying solo travel for a longer trip, but I am excited to experience it for the next 24 hours . Normally I plan a good amount of my trip out ahead of time but I decided to be mostly unplanned, channel some spontaneous energy, and see where the day takes me.

My alarm went off at 4am and I got up right away. Why is it that it’s so much easier to wake up at 4am for a flight than it is to wake up at 7:30/8am for work? I threw on my new comfy Calvin Klein sweats, matching zip up, and ASICS sneakers and hopped into my Lyft ride. The car was super comfy and the driver was bumping chill reggaeton on the way to the airport which was a vibe. I got to the airport at 5am, was through TSA in 10 min, and had 40 mins until boarding. Since I had a 6 hour flight ahead of me I grabbed a breakfast sandwich at Eggy Weggy which was pretty decent for airport food. Generally the Terminal C breakfast options at EWR are below average (I can’t wait until they redo it like how they did terminal A). The flight was 6 hours to San Diego and I slept most of the way and watched The Devil Wears Prada for the last hour and a half.

Upon landing in San Diego I could feel the sun shining through the airplane windows. I’ve been to SoCal more times than I can count but every single time that first breath of the salty palm tree air never disappoints. I proudly only packed a carry on and personal item so I went straight from the plane to the rental car shuttle and picked up a cute little grey Mazda 3 which would be my ride for the next 24 hours since Janna is working the overnight shift tonight.

I got to Janna’s around 11:30am PT – her house is in Clairemont & was a cozy 1 bedroom only 15 minutes from the airport. I dropped my stuff off and changed into workout clothes – my daytime plan consisted of going hiking at Torrey Pines State Park and then winging it from there. I knew I should eat something before the hike but I genuinely wasn’t super hungry so I grabbed a banana for the road and figured I would work up an appetite after the hike.

Upon arrival I had to pay a $20 fee to park (which I later realized could have been avoided if I parked down by the beach and then walked up the hill to the visitors center). Overall the park was pretty epic – it had a mix of steps, sandstone paths and canyon like formations with views of the Pacific Ocean. Any hike with an ocean view gets a 10/10 in my book. Instead of following the route I had previously downloaded on AllTrails I checked out the trail map and just follow different signs as I went since they all connected and it seemed easy enough where I wouldn’t get lost.

After hiking for about 2 hours I started to get hungry so I hopped in my car and drove to La Jolla Village. I got lucky and snagged a free parking spot just as someone was leaving. I was set on finding a casual lunch spot with an ocean view. I passed by a place called The Cove which was hopping, but all of the ocean view tables were full. A little further down the road I passed Duke’s which I’ve eaten at both in Oahu and Huntington Beach. The food and drinks are pretty great for a chain restaurant but I really wanted to try something new. I’m glad I didn’t settle for Dukes because the next spot I saw was an Olive Oil & Wine Bar – right up my alley.

While they didn’t have actual olive oil and wine flights like I had hoped, they did offer free samples for the olive oil & vinegar and had a full lunch menu. I asked to sit outside and grabbed a balcony seat facing the ocean. I ordered a glass of Chardonnay and the orchard salad with mission fig vinaigrette which was delicious. I told the waiter I was interested in buying a bottle or two as a gift and he graciously came over with essentially a flight of the olive oil and vinaigrettes for me to try (which is exactly what I wanted!) I left a nice tip and bought a bottle of the basil olive oil and fig vinaigrette for Janna.

Before I left, I struck up a conversation with a mom and 2 daughters who sat down next to me and they gave me some local restaurant recommendations which are always appreciated. Around 4pm it started to get chilly so I drove back to Janna’s and got a chance to see her for a bit before she went off to work the night shift.

After a nice hot shower I debated taking myself out to dinner but was honestly exhausted (remembering that I had been awake since 4am and basically running on 2 hours of sleep). I really wanted to be well rested and seize the day tomorrow so I stayed in and had a chill evening – ordered sushi to go, poured myself a glass of wine, and threw on some Netflix. I ended up going to bed at 9pm (which felt like midnight on east coast time). Overall a successful solo day in San Diego.