After checking out of the hotel, we decided to pay another visit to see the sea lions once more, before driving through Mission Beach. We had initially intended to stop and explore here, but it didn’t have the appeal of some of the other areas we’d visited, so we continued on towards San Diego city centre.
We drove towards Balboa Park, then through East Side, the Gas Lamp Quarter and on towards the sea front where we stumbled across Sea Port Village - a fabulous mixture of shops, cafes and restaurants in a lovely setting, with the waterfront on one side and a maze of picturesque walkways and even a carousel on the other.
The USS Midway Museum was a short stroll along the seafront. If time had been on our side we would have visited as it looked great. However, we had less than 2 hours to spare and felt the $65 admission fee was a bit steep for a short visit. So instead, we had a very pleasurable lunch, wandered around some of the shops and enjoyed a Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream.
Once back in the car, we drove the short distance to the Car Rental Center at San Diego airport. Drop off was easy, but you do then have to board a bus to take you to the airport terminal - so this needs to be factored in to your timing.
Check in and security at the airport were quick and easy. The airport is smaller than we expected, so there are less shops and restaurants than anticipated, but we managed to find ourselves a spot to watch some planes, before boarding the plane for our journey home.
Luckily, apart from a missing bag when we arrived back in Manchester, which was delivered the next day, the journey home was much less stressful than the journey out.
Thank you California, it’s been amazing. We’ll definitely be returning again one day!
