After I stayed with my brother in Austin I decided to continue my travels and head to San Diego for a few days for a bit of chill out time on the beach. I decided to book a hostel in Ocean beach , just outside downtown San Diego but right on the beach. I wanted a some days of lying on the beach and relaxing. I stayed in the USA Hostel Ocean Beach which was great, the rooms were nice as were the staff and they did lots of tours and activities that are perfect for solo travellers. I had a little trouble at the beginning of my holiday as Hurricane Harvey decided to arrive and so put a little bit of a dampener on my plans when my first flight was cancelled, luckily I was able to book onto another flight which left on time meaning I was on my way to discover a new part of America.

As I said the hostel provided many activities, some for free and some for very cheap for the guests which was great. The first nice we all went down to the beach for a fire. It was so cool all sitting around the fire pits on the beach just chilling out, meeting new people and eating some smores of course. The night was so clear that you could see so many stars. Also the airport was not too far so you could see the plans all lit up taking off and coming in to land. The next night we went on a walk up to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset but the sky had other ideas covering the sunset with a wall of clouds, it was very pretty but not exactly what we were hoping to see. I did head back to the cliffs the next night for sunset which was much clearer and amazing. Possibly one of the things that I will remember the most from my trip is the beach bike ride we did. A group of us of rented bikes from the hostel and head to cycle to Mission beach and Pacific beach. It was so nice cycling along the beach front with the sun beating down, it was like something from a movie. We got ice-cream and then spent time on the beach swimming and playing volleyball. We also saw some dolphins swimming with all the surfers which was amazing.

Whenever I go anywhere I always get excited about the food and San Diego didn’t disappoint. From amazing pulled pork sandwiches , burgers, pizza and pancakes there were so many great places to eat.  It was so nice to go out and have a nice meal and just relax. I also spent most of my days just chilling on the beach sunbathing which was great. After spending the summer at summer camp going non stop it was amazing to have absolutely nothing to do. I went to the beach, read my book  and went for a hike having all the time in the world which was bliss.

The trip came to an end all too soon and I was back on the plane to head back to Canada to work for September and October. Spending 3 hours in the airport when I arrived was not really what I wanted but other than that it is going great here. I am working at a fall leadership programme at Camp Robin Hood and I am really enjoying my time. For the moment that is all for my travels in San Diego and I’ll let you know about my experience at this camp soon.

Emma

xx