San Diego

Sorry this update took so long. The great thing about a vacation is that you can get away from it all. The bad thing about a vacation is that everything you got away from is still there when you get back. And it’s brought some friends.

So I’ve spent most of the last two weeks pecking away at this post in and among working, playing catch-up on chores/errands, and getting to trivia events or social events.

But I’ve finally been able to finish this post and can take you on a detailed tour of the trip!

I should say…

Pirate Party Guy (PPG) and I didn’t have a specific itinerary other than meeting my friend for brunch Saturday and meeting his friends for lunch Sunday, before we left town.

We’d agreed that we wouldn’t mind a quick trip to the beach. And we’d been intrigued by a cultural anthropology museum called Museum of Us. I was especially intrigued because the special exhibit was called “Cannibals” and promised a gore-free look into what those societies really looked like — and how some were purposefully mislabeled by European explorers.

But we decided it was too chilly for us Phoenix wimps to enjoy the beach, even without going into the water.

And since we were resting in between activities, the museum ultimately didn’t have a spot in our schedule.

That said, a weekend of eating, resting and cool bars is a pretty great vacation.

Here’s the breakdown:

Friday

• Arrived in San Diego around 5 and checked in

• Dropped our bags and then immediately go across the street to Meze, a Greek fusion place. The hotel had given us a card for 10% off, but we chose it more for sounding intriguing and being very close. Here’s a link to the menu if anyone’s interested. The garlic mashed potatoes were a-mazing. My entrée was a tasty but basic choice: Greek salad with chicken.

• Came back to the room and rested for about an hour.

• Went to a cool-looking bar my San Diego friend Jen had found for us from Instagram reels. (More on the bars further down.)

• Wandered the Gaslamp Quarter. There were many, many bars, and most skewed pretty young. For example, one place was playing the “Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!” music and a gaggle of women (probably a bachelorette party or something) were dancing to it, “Whoooo!”-ing and/or singing along. And it all seemed to be genuinely unironic.

• Found the Ghiradelli shop — which I’d warned PPG ahead of time was non-negotiable — and had a salted caramel brownie with caramel and chocolate sauce over ice cream. Between that, the drinks and dinner I had a very small headache at the end of the night but… Worth it!

Saturday

• Got up and took advantage of the free breakfast.

• Rested for a bit.

• Ubered to/from Jen’s favorite brunch spot: Great Maple, where I was introduced to the churro donut.

• Went back to the room to rest/digest for a bit. I took a short nap.

• Went to try a Persian place Jen had raved about. Then balked at the $28 to $32 prices, then found another place a few blocks over with $15ish entrees. And delicious!

• Ubered to a different area of town for the second bar Jen had found. Which was even cooler than the first place, but again, I’ll get into that further down.

• Ubered back and chilled out, but not falling asleep until about 1 a.m.

Sunday

• Woke up and got the free breakfast.

• Got a text from PPG’s friends that they weren’t feeling well and had to cancel the planned lunch.

• Sighed that the weekend was over and headed home.

So it was pretty much the perfect vacation for de-stressing.

The bars

Okay, now we have to talk about the bars. If you’re going to San Diego, I highly recommend checking them out.

(Please be patient with the videos. I had to tap them a few times to get them to run and do so fluidly. But it’s worth it.)

Vin de Syrah

Vin de Syrah is an eclectic little spot with great drinks and, as we discovered, on Fridays there’s a short revue.

I didn’t think to start taking video until the end of their first number (a mash-up of Diamonds Are Forever, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, All the Single Ladies and Material Girl). But this will give you an idea of the outfits and fun.

Mothership

This bar is worth visiting for the look alone. (And it’s worth noting that there are non-alcoholic drinks on the menu.)

Picture a cross between a spaceship in a ’80s sci-fi movie and the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars.

Even the bathroom area was cool.

As for the inside…

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My only (slight) gripe about Mothership is that all but one of the specialty cocktails have a rum base. I have nothing against rum, and these were quite tasty. But more alcohol choices would’ve been nice.

We found out too late (already into our second drinks) that there’s a secret drink called the Short Circuit. No idea what it’s made of, but when the server enters the order, you suddenly hear sounds like a machine failing/malfunctioning and then…

If you’re visiting San Diego and want to go, I can’t stress enough that you should make reservations.

The hotel

I, of course, made sure to choose a place with free breakfast. I knew the Gaslamp Quarter is fun, so I chose that and ended up with a suite at the Residence Inn Gaslamp Quarter.

And the room was huge! Specifically, it was 450 square feet, with a kitchenette, cookware, dishware, utensils and even a small dishwasher.

Here’s a (very short) visual tour:

Of course, what made it extra awesome was that it was very cheap.

I have the Bonvoy Boundless card, which gave me 150,000 points to sign up. And starting on your first anniversary of having the card, you get a “free” night certificate good for one year.

(I used quotation marks there because the card’s annual fee is $95. Still, $95 for a room is pretty dang good!)

I actually had two free certificates because the rewards center was kind enough to extend the 2022 certificate when the San Diego initial trip fell through last year. So essentially the room cost me $190 for two nights.

I also had to supplement the two nights’ “cost” with 7,000 points because the certificates are only good for up to a 35,000 point room.

To be clear, 35,000 points covers a large number of hotel rooms pretty much anywhere. Many rooms are significantly less than 35,000.

But I’d chosen a popular part of a very popular city, so the rates were 38,000 and 39,000 for the nights we stayed.

Even so, the room apparently has the “special discount price” of $300 to $830, depending on the time of year. And of course, since I paid with certificates/points, there were no taxes on the room.

So I’m pretty happy with my card. Speaking of which, my shameless plug:

If any of you are interested in the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, please consider using my referral link.

The details for the Bonvoy Boundless card are:

• Sign-up bonus: Spend $3,000 in the first three months and receive three free-night certificates (good for up to 50,000 points each)
• Free night certificate on your card anniversary each year
• Free silver elite status — An extra 10% in points for Marriott stays, and travel protection, plus late checkout
• 17 points per dollar for charges at Marriott hotels
• 3 points per dollar for grocery stores, gas stations and dining (up to $6,000 of charges)
• 2 points per dollar on all other eligible purchases

Anyway, that’s what my life was like two weeks ago. Which is… still very far behind, but I’ll get there.

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend!