San Diego, California is my spirit animal. I simply fell in love with this city and I wasn't even there long enough to really experience the test of time to back my indulgence. It is stylish, bohemian, yet city-slicker ritzy all in one big beautiful mess of cement, palm trees and beaches. Coming from the high n' dry desert, I basked in SoCal's humid air like it was giving me life! I couldn't get enough of it.
Upfront AirbnbWe stayed in the comfortable , a four-story victorian with wonderful gardens. You couldn't miss the place on its street because it stuck out like an oasis does in the middle of the Mohave. Not to mention, it's also situated smack-dab between the international airport and Little Italy; a beautiful example of the compromise one meets in America's Finest City. Although folks mentioned about it in their reviews, we weren't entirely bothered by the perpetual round of flights coming in because, well, we spent half of our night running about and by the time we got back to our little and heavenly bungalow, we hit the sack and slept harder than rocks. The Upfront cost us about $80 bucks for the one night we stayed, which is absurdly cheap for the location and the type of room; we had our own little cottage with an outdoor shower with walls made of massive bamboo shoots - paradise!!
We finally got to catch up with an old friend from our life-never-forgotten back in Ukraine - Mar'yan. The place he took us was here - Sunset Cliffs. If you've never been, you know it for this very shot; the cliffs, the sunset, the water, all embossed on a stark white tourist t-shirt. We arrived just in time to catch the sunset, the Golden Hour, and the flocks of people who, too, came out to enjoy the beauty. I received such therapy from this moment. The colors! They just move me! I mean, look at that!
Then we cruised the port, people watched in the university district, grabbed a BBQ burrito at BBQ House, and made our way back to our little humble-abode. But, here are some things I learned from a 4-year local: cost-of-living in this city is spendy; about 1K for a small studio apartment located in the city outskirts. You also may want a car - although city transportation is pretty extensive, San Diego is made up of long distances and prime locations in different quadrants of the city, not to mention, catching the sunset when basing your time off of the local transport isn't so convenient - but that's my American speaking, here. It's all doable with or without a car, of course; that's the beauty of San Diego's infrastructure. I can imagine myself living in San Diego for some time, too. It smells of new adventure and challenge, but it also looks like an incredible place to meet people and local creatives, who like me, are all figuring it out as we go.
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