Weekend in San Diego Part 1

Now I know that title sounds a little crazy...but you have to know me to know that I do crazy trips like this all time!  My husband does a whole lot of business travel and when he gets to go somewhere I would like to go, I tag along even if it's only for a couple of days!  This particular trip we took at the beginning of December.  We left on a Friday afternoon and returned on the following Tuesday afternoon.  It was a little more than a weekend but with travel time....really only 3 days to see and do things in the San Diego area.

I live in Ohio so trips to the west coast in December are especially appealing but do involve some challenges.  United Airlines (then Continental) does offer some direct flights to various cities in California.  Direct flights are always so much better when you can find them.  It's a 5 hour direct flight to most cities in California and add to that if you have stops with layovers.  It can be very tiring just making the trip!  When I am traveling to the west coast I will sometimes even pay slightly more for a ticket on direct flight just because you get there so much quicker and more well rested especially if it's a quick weekend trip.  You only have a few days so you want to be sure you are rested and ready to go when you arrive!

Unfortunately this particular trip didn't allow for direct flights at the times that we needed.  So we flew to Denver and transferred to our flight to San Diego.  Now my husband got bumped to first class and I was stuck in economy but he spoke with the check-in desk attendant upon our arrival to Denver and was able to get me moved to economy plus which was better than being in the rear of the plane and the leg room was so much better.  First thing I did was make friends with the passengers next to me who both happened to be from the San Diego area.  By the time we landed in San Diego I had a whole list of fun things to do in San Diego for a weekend.  It doesn't always work and sometimes you find passengers who just want to be left alone, but I've found that people are usually very helpful when you want to know more about where they live and things to do there.


Tip Alert:  Use all your resources to find out more about the place you are visiting.  Reading and researching are great ways to start but it doesn't replace first hand information from natives of the area!


This particular flight landed late in the evening so other than collecting our baggage and heading to our hotel which was in La Jolla just north of San Diego.

Accommodations:

Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines:

My husband had stayed at this hotel several times while on business trips.  We had even visited it one day when we were staying in Huntington Beach on another trip. This, however, was my first stay at this particular hotel.  The hotel is amazing.  It is not high but sits raised up a bit from the Torrey Pines Golf Course.  We were lucky enough to book the hotel at a special rate of $99.00/night.  However a few days before we arrived the hotel bumped the price up to $119.00/night.  It was still a good deal but a bit disconcerting that they would just change the price that we booked.  My husband (a hilton HHonors Diamond member) called the hotel and while they wouldn't adjust the rate, they did guarantee us a room on the VIP level. I mention my husband's status because it goes back to my point in previous posts about joining a loyalty program with a hotel chain.  Doesn't matter which one you choose, just do it because as you book more and more stays, you can sometimes resolve things or get perks that you just wouldn't if you didn't belong to their loyalty program.

Once we arrived and woke up and saw the view from our 4th floor window it made the extra $20.00/night charge well worth it!  As I said the hotel is right on the Torrey Pines golf course and you can see the ocean just beyond the golf course.  It's green and lush and absolutely wonderful!

The hotel offers both valet and self parking at an additional cost.  This is not unusual for California hotels in my experience.  We chose the valet option which was a bit higher but the service was terrific.  We never had to wait longer than 2-3 minutes for our vehicle to be brought to us.  The room was clean and comfortable.  There was a full balcony with chairs which was a wonderful place to sit and watch the sunset in the evening or start your day in the morning.

Pool area

The pool area was beautiful with a terrific view of the golf course.  A couple of nice sized fire pits were around the pool area also which was nice in the evening.  What a terrific place to watch a sunset!

Sunset over the Pool

Housekeeping was a bit slow to come around the first day of our stay but the rest of the days our room was made up in a very timely manner.  The hotel restaurant was very good.  We ate there twice during our stay.  The atmosphere was fantastic and the servers were friendly and knowledgable. There is a nice gift shop at this hotel and a small Starbucks which is open in the mornings for pastries and drinks.  

If you do stay at this hotel.  I would suggest that you request a higher floor.  The higher floors have wonderful views whereas the lower floors are hidden behind landscaping and planters and the sort.  

The golf course is just a few steps away from the property and the clubhouse is a short walk or drive.  We are not golfers so we didn't try out the course but it looked amazing and I'm sure golfers would be in heaven here.

Torrey Pines Golf Course

Inn at Torrey Pines

This was really a beautiful place to stay.  It was a bit of a drive into San Diego but very doable.  

After a good night's sleep upon arrival we were ready to start our adventure by checking our La Jolla Cove, some of the restaurants and shops in the La Jolla area as well as a trip to the La Jolla Torrey Pines Gliderport (one of the locations the locals had told me about!)  

Coming up next:  Weekend in San Diego Part 2:  La Jolla