San Diego Redux

So glad I don’t live in California anymore. The drive down from LA to SD wasn’t fun, though it was successful. 

June, my cruise roommate, had already checked into our 2-star lodging. We chose a particular location because they had a free shuttle to the cruise port. Had as in once had but no longer. Oh well, it was sufficiently safe, not extortionate, and relatively close to both the air and cruise ports. 

We explored Point Loma not once but twice. The first time, Wednesday evening, the lighthouse was closed. The second time, Thursday afternoon, it was open, but pricey so we passed. We did, to no one’s surprise, find a few caches each time. We also drove around a bit within San Diego, did a quick drive-by to Old Town and noticed that there’s a Heritage House Adventure Lab nearby, with plenty of free parking. Interesting homes from the late 1800s, complete with gingerbread decorations. After completing the lab we calculated the final coordinates and realized it would be just where the parked police officer’s car was pointing. So we were proactive, let the officer know what we were up to, then gave him a thumbs up when we had it in hand and he was gracious enough to return the gesture. 

After considering our options we decided to keep the car until Friday morning as the rental car return was a bit to far from the hotel to make a nice walk. Generally I agree to return rental cars with a full tank of gas (or petrol), but this time I’d seen the local gas prices of nearly $6 and the rental car company was charging only $5.30 per gallon so I bought the tank with the plan to return it empty. While in LA I realized I’d need a bit more fuel so I bought about $20 worth. I’m happy to say I won the bet….by the time we returned the car the “buy fuel soon” light was on and the car suggested that the current fuel would last for 20 miles. 

Friday we finished (re)packing, returned the rental car, used Uber to get to the cruise port (passing a certain tall ship that a friend works on), where our boarding was relatively uneventful, with only the slight glitch that someone had a new passport since booking the cruise which was fixed within seconds. We were on the ship in time for lunch, and had all of our bags by the time the in-person muster drill was completed (apparently they have to be in person every 180 days and this was the day). 

Looking forward to the main reason for the trip!