San Diego…my first solo trip. To say it was incredible is an understatement. Let me tell you how it came to be. I had been working with a couple of other girls at the time who were very into solo travel, and they kept encouraging me to try it out. It was something that hadn’t even been on my radar before meeting these girls. I was not in the habit of doing ANYTHING by myself, much less travel. I was well into my 30s, and I was feeling a bit like I was missing out on something in my life. I have a work schedule that allows me to have multiple days off without taking any vacation, and randomly this January I was facing 6 days off of work with nothing to do. My husband was working all of them. I honestly don’t know why it suddenly popped into my head that it was the right time to travel somewhere, but I brought it up to my husband, and much to my surprise he encouraged it! I think I was actually looking to have him talk me out of it, but when he didn’t, I knew I had to try.
I chose San Diego simply because it was a place I had always wanted to visit and I knew there would be enough to do there to keep me busy. I did a lot of research and planned an entire itinerary. I felt like I had to plan out every minute of my trip because a woman traveling alone should really have a plan and research whether or not that plan is safe. Next thing I knew, my flight was booked!
I remember driving to the airport that morning with this great sense of pride and such an overwhelming feeling of excitement. Maybe a little nervousness? I must’ve been, because as I was sitting in the terminal waiting for my flight I found a greeting card that my husband had tucked into my bag. To this day (as I’m writing this almost 4 years after taking that trip) it is still the sweetest thing he ever gave me. He told me he missed me and was so proud of me, and I just started crying right there in the airport.
A short while later I boarded my plane and we taxied to the runway. Then we sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The pilot came on the intercom and said that something was wrong with the engine, that a crew was coming to investigate, and that we should sit tight. The plane was getting hotter and hotter as we sat there with no air pumping in. The pilot came on again and said that the crew couldn’t find the source of the problem, and that he was going to reboot the engine, and if the same warning light didn’t reappear we would take off shortly. I was terrified. I had very minimal experience with flying at that point, and all I could think was, “what if this warning light comes back on when we are in the air?!?”
Well, the warning light was still on and we were asked to exit the plane. As we made our way back to the airport, all the passengers around me were on their phones, talking to agents, and trying to reschedule flights. I didn’t have the first clue as to how to do any of that. I sat there thinking that my first solo trip was about to be canceled, and that I’d never get the courage to try again. I got off that plane feeling defeated and overwhelmed, and really wishing that I had someone with me to help me figure this out. Then I realized that I needed to learn and grow in this instance, so I decided to follow some other people and just watch what they did. They found an agent at a desk and started asking for help. I listened to the info she gave to those people, and when it was my turn to seek help I was actually very surprised at how easy it all was. I got booked on another flight for later that day.
I grabbed a seat in the terminal and prepared to wait a few hours. At this point, instead of arriving in San Diego around 3 pm, I was now looking at arriving at 10 pm. I needed to redo my itinerary. I was going to miss a dinner that I was looking forward to and wanted to fit that into my schedule at a later time. I was also worried about being out in a strange city after dark. Fortunately, I was able to find an Uber with relative ease, and I made it to my hotel right around midnight. I was disappointed that I had missed my whole first day, but so proud of myself for figuring out how to make it work.
The next day I woke up early with plans to walk to the Donut Bar. Following a donut and a coffee, I walked another mile just to find the “Smile, You’re in San Diego” mural. Snagged a couple of Instagram worthy photos, and then grabbed an Uber to check out the infamous San Diego Zoo.
The zoo was the perfect first day activity, because I figured that anybody could walk around a zoo alone and not feel too uncomfortable, and this proved to be correct. By the time I finished at the zoo, I had already killed half of a day, got plenty of exercise, and felt more confident in my aloneness. I grabbed a cafeteria style lunch at the zoo, so I wasn’t hungry, but I was definitely thirsty and this brought me to a couple of breweries. Again I was nervous. I’ve never sat down at a bar by myself and just enjoyed a drink. I started out at a brewery called Duck Foot. I didn’t really talk to anyone and mostly spent the time looking at my phone, but I did it, and visiting breweries has become something I am now quite comfortable doing by myself! From Duck Foot, I walked to another place called Melvin. Then I had dinner at a third brewery that was right across the street from my hotel called Half Door Brewing. I ordered some truffle fries as an appetizer, then a shepherds pie. I ate the pie and took the fries back to my hotel room and ate them there. It was my first time eating dinner in a restaurant by myself, and I was for some reason really nervous about people judging me for what I wanted to eat. Truffle fries are my favorite food of all time, so I wasn’t about to skip out on the appetizer!
For my 2nd full day I went to a nearby public market. Public markets are another great place to go when you are getting used to your own company. You can walk and browse, and once you choose what you want to eat, you can sit anywhere and eat it—avoiding that awkward “table for 1, please” like you need to get used to at a regular restaurant. At the Liberty Station Public Market, I stumbled upon another wall mural that really spoke to me, and this basically cemented my love for street murals that I continue to seek out in every city I visit. I mean seriously, look at these! First, “Smile, You’re in San Diego” and then “You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be!” How could that not speak to me on this monumental journey?
Following lunch, I found a cute little coffee shop called Moniker with an equally cute patio, and for the first time in my life I ordered a coffee with the intention of drinking it at the coffee shop. The benefit of staying to drink your coffee is that you get super cute latte art, and more super cute pictures. Another lasting effect of my trip—I now love sitting in coffee shops every chance I get. A second reason for going to the market was because I needed to check out Stone Brewing, a brewery that I had actually heard of before. The brewery was basically empty, so sitting alone was really no problem.
After the public market, I was heading back to my hotel for an afternoon break when I noticed a ferry that went to Coronado Island. I’m not sure what was on my itinerary for the rest of that day, but suddenly a boat ride was sounding like the perfect way to spend my afternoon. I bought a ticket, and jumped aboard a small watercraft that took me and maybe a dozen other people to Coronado. I didn’t know what I would do once I got there, but seeing the city skyline from the boat had already made it worth it in my book. I took a billion photos of the skyline, then walked around a bunch of shops. I had also heard of Coronado brewing before, so I decided to walk there and grab a beer and some spinach dip before heading back.
That evening I had a dinner reservation at The Fish Market in the marina. It was my first time having a fancy dinner alone, but a glass of wine and crab legs made it 100% worth it. Afterward, I walked around the marina for a bit before getting an Uber back to the hotel. This was my first time staying out past dark, which I tried to avoid as much as possible, and it didn’t help that my Uber driver was listening to a murder podcast. I took a screenshot of my Uber app and texted it to my husband, because the guy was giving me the willies. I was fine, obviously, but back then I was a little afraid of everything!
Not wanting to end the evening, I went and sat at the rooftop bar of my hotel. Skyline views, warm breezes, and several fire tables created a perfect ambiance to unwind before bed. All in all, a perfect second day.
Day 3, I ate breakfast at a restaurant called Breakfast Republic, and then took an Uber to La Jolla to go kayaking. I signed up for kayaking through a rental company who sends people out in groups, so this was really my first real opportunity to meet and talk with other people on my trip. OK, maybe not my first opportunity, but the first time I was really ready to do so. The intent was to kayak through some sea caves along the shore, but the wind was too strong and the waves were too high, so our leader decided it was unsafe. Instead he decided to take us “whale watching” and we paddled about a mile out into the ocean, saw nothing but seaweed, and kayaked back through some huge swells that left me utterly exhausted by the end of it. As much as I love kayaking on lakes and streams, I decided that I was not meant to be an ocean kayaker.
Fortunately, my outing turned around when I learned about a gift shop that had its own private access to a sea cave, The Cave Store. I bought a ticket to access the sea cave, and was able to walk through one safely. Following the sea cave, I walked along the actual shore and just took in the beautiful sights. I had intended to go to a brewery in this area as well, but it was closed for a private event, so I got some tacos for dinner at a restaurant and then went back to San Diego.
The next day I had an early flight out. I went home feeling like I had grown so much and became a completely different person—more confident, and more comfortable doing things on my own. This trip inspired me to get out into the world and explore more. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after this trip that Covid hit the U.S. and the world shut down. It was a year and a half before I took another solo trip, but that is a story for a different time.
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