San Diego and California
By Murray Smith from Edinburgh On a trip which included destinations like New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, the Big Sur and Los Angeles, it was surprising that our party of 4 were able to agree on the same location as the overall highlight of our holiday.  The bigger surprise, however, was that the highlight was the city of San Diego. San Diego had been chosen as a place to start the “road trip” section of our holiday as it was conveniently located at the opposite end of California from our departure point and was only a short flight from Las Vegas. After a considerable amount of pre-holiday research, we decided to stay in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.  This is an area of the city, close to the Downtown business district, that has undergone some considerable investment and renovation in recent years.  The level of this investment is clearly visible from the wonderful condition of the beautiful buildings in the area as well as the delightful gas lamps which give the area its name.  This recent investment also explains the huge number of trendy bars, clubs and restaurants in the area as well as the fashionable shops, which have all the top designer names that keep teenagers happy, as well as a number of smaller independent retailers with more exclusive designs (and a VAST range of footwear!) which will keep a smile on every wife’s face. Our accommodation was also the best we had stayed in during our break - again surprising, not only because we had previously stayed in The Venetian in Las Vegas and would go on to stay at the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco, but because it was also the cheapest nightly accommodation of our entire 3 week break. We stayed in a two bedroom apartment which I had stumbled across through an internet company.  This was located on a corner site with floor to ceiling windows and views over the hustle and bustle of the Gaslamp District to the impressive office blocks of Downtown San Diego and, out the other side, to the San Diego Padres baseball ground which was literally within (a Major League pitcher’s) throwing distance of our apartment. After picking up our hire car and the all important sat-nav, we were met at the apartment by our accommodation representative who could not have been more helpful in guiding us to our underground parking space (essential in this busy neck of the woods!) and showing us around the apartment. After settling into our new pad, catching up on emails on the apartment’s PC, catching up with our washing and having a quick dip in the pool, we set about exploring this wonderful city. There are a huge number of tourist attractions and things to see in San Diego - certainly a lot more than we could have fitted into the short time we had there.  As such, we were forced to trim our list and so missed out on the short trip across the border to Tijuana, San Diego’s incredible Zoo and Wild Animal Park, as well as the museums of Balboa Park. Thankfully, we found the time to visit Sea World, where much relief from the baking sun (we are all from Scotland!) was found by sitting squarely in the middle of the “Splash Zone” at every event possible.  The highlight of the day was the very emotional Shamu Experience, but do not be fooled - there is a huge amount of things to see and do in Sea World besides this.  I would personally recommend the Pets Corner show, which seemed popular with younger members of the audience and highlights the amazing skills of Sea World’s animal trainers. Another highlight of our visit to San Diego was the afternoon we spent in a small boat exploring San Diego Bay.  From there you can truly get a scale of the city, the incredible swoop of the bay bridge and the other worldly beauty of Coronado Bay which lies at the other side of it.  It was also a good way of keeping cool while topping up the all important suntan! For some excellent live music and delicious food, visit the Gaslamp Quarter’s House of Blues, which carries a much wider variety of music and food than the name suggests and gave my travelling companions the opportunity to indulge themselves in “mashed potatoes” which were every bit as good as their mothers had ever made.  Unfortunately we were too early to see Lee “Scratch” Perry and were too late to see Femi Kuti or the Bangles, but the band we did manage to see provided excellent entertainment, despite the fact that we had never heard of them at that point and, sadly, cannot recall their name now. While the attractions of San Diego and the beautiful La Jolla Beach in themselves were as good as anywhere we had visited in the US (or anywhere else) it was the genuine warmth of the locals and the excellent, friendly service provided in every retail outlet, attraction, bar and restaurant that we visited that made San Diego stand out as our favourite holiday location. We certainly did not expect this to be the place that we fell in love with but I suppose love is like that.  One thing is for certain - the next time we venture as far as the USA, San Diego will be where we spend most, if not all, of our time.

	Car hire in the USA
Carhire3000 hire cars at many locations across the United State with several pick up points in California including car hire in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  “Premium Packages” are also available which include a guaranteed GPS to help you find your way around. To read more about where to visit in California, please follow this link To read more about driving in California, please follow this link To get a quote for hiring a car in California, please follow this link Not going to California? you might be more interested in Car hire in Miami and car hire in Orlando

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