I always have the travel bug, but honestly it’s been worse than usual lately. This is unfortunate because I’ve been busier than usual, but that just means I have to be a little more creative about when and where I travel.
My most recent success story was a day trip in San Diego in March. I was in town for a conference and had all day Saturday as a free day before my flight back to Boston that afternoon. I thought I might just hang out around town, maybe eat some good food, relax, but then I picked up a few brochures at the conference hotel and they got me thinking… I was saving money for my upcoming Barcelona trip, but that didn’t mean I needed to waste a day in Southern California. I needed to make the most of it.
So, after some late night Googling, my itinerary was as follows:
- Wake up early, go for a run along the Embarcadero
- Buy a latte and breakfast (at Copa Vida, a coffee shop I fell in love with during my trip)
- Return to hotel, shower, pack bags and head to the airport rental car center
- Rent a Zipcar
- Drive up to Callaway Vineyards and Winery in Temecula
- Take a tour and taste wine
- Eat dinner
- Drive back to airport, drop off car
- Fly home!
And somehow, as amazing as that itinerary was on paper, it was a thousand times better in person. I’m a meticulous planner and I like things to go according to plan, though they often don’t. But some of the best things that happened were not on my itinerary at all.
For one, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. Just cool enough in the morning for running and warm enough that in the afternoon I could sit outside and listen to the live music at the winery. Pictures of both amazing views are below.
That was enough to classify this as a great day in my book, but then I went into Temecula’s Old Town for dinner and found Espadin, where I had some of the best enchiladas of my life.
And then (I know, there’s still more!) I had plenty of time before I needed to be at the airport, so I figured it would be nice to go somewhere to watch the sunset. A quick Google search told me 
that I needed to go to the aptly named Sunset Cliffs, so I put the address into my phone and set off. The drive was quick until I got close to the cliffs – then it was packed with people who, just like me, were trying to find a place to watching the sunset. To the left, see me, slightly exhausted, but SO happy, hanging out on the cliffs and watching the sunset (after I fought traffic and pedestrians and maybe some other cars for a very tiny parallel parking space).
It was a long day, but it was so worth it. I returned the car at the airport and made it through security and eventually on to the plane, where I promptly clocked out and didn’t wake up until we landed in Boston. It’s days like these that just want to make me travel more (and make more itineraries, of course). But the other good thing about these days is that they make me remember that the itinerary is not carved in stone – it can be changed, and often it should.