San Diego Day 1
Yep... I Still Hate Flying
Monday, April 11, 2022
From Baseball to Baseball
The weekend prior to our trip was packed full of baseball. We were tired teachers (and kiddos too) who had just made it to a break, but we kept pushing on. Luke's baseball team was in a BIG tournament that was located all over Houston so we were shipped out to west Houston to play near Katy for an 8AM Saturday morning game. His team went 1-1 on the day and we returned home to pack for the trip.
On Sunday we were headed to Baseball USA for the 1st game of the single elimination tournament. His team got the W and we were headed to the next game... Which happened to be over 7 hours LATER! We came home and packed as best we could before heading back to Baseball USA in Katy (over an hour away). His team ended up getting knocked out of the tournament in the semi-finals but Luke did an AMAZING job supporting his team and ALWAYS giving his 110% on the field and in the batter's box. I am SO PROUD OF YOU LUKE!
Luke hit some bombs this weekend... several right to the opponent!
His catching skills were on fire this weekend as well.
Monday Afternoon
When we booked this trip, we originally booked a Monday flight mid-day. We wanted to ensure Luke could play baseball with his team over the weekend but didn't want a late flight out on Sunday. Originally the nonstop flight from HOU to SAN was 2:30PM on Monday. But in late February, Southwest changed the flight to depart at 7PM.
With it being a non-holiday Monday, we planned accordingly and gave ourselves plenty of time in case of traffic. We stopped at Dutch Bros in Spring and then made our way to Houston Hobby Airport.
We decided to eat at Whataburger just outside the airport to avoid paying an arm and a leg for food inside the airport. This was also part of our side-by-side taste comparison of Whataburger (a TEXAS tradition) and In-n-Out Burger (A California tradition).
After dinner we parked our car and we were headed into the airport. We got inside the airport at 4:30PM, which left us PLENTY of time before our 7pm flight.
Luke was such a great helper with all of our luggage!
They found our flight and were SO EXCITED!
Originally, the Southwest agent told us there were about 7 seats available on this flight to San Diego but by boarding time, the flight was not just full but "overbooked". I will never understand how they oversell an airplane when the seat counts don't change from day to day.
The week before I had decided to pay the $25/ per person charge to get "Early Bird" check in. Since Southwest Airlines does ALL open seating, this was just to ensure we could board earlier and get seats together. Let me go ahead and say that I will NEVER pay $100 to do that again. For that $100 we got boarding group A56-59. Insiders Info- Southwest has 3 boarding groups with 60 seats each. So A56-59 was not that good of a draw for $100. We WERE able to sit together but this was not worth the extra $100 when on our return flight, when I checked in exactly 24 hours prior to departure, we got boarding group B2-5. Maybe if I had paid for the "Early Bird" check in earlier than just 1 week prior to the trip we would have been in a better position. Oh well... This is why I have this blog. To help others learn from our mistakes, and then us to re-read this before our next trip to not make the same mistake again!
We are waiting to board the plane... We are getting antsy!
Our plane had arrived!
We've got tickets in hand and ready to board!
California... HERE WE COME!
Once on the plane we decided to do the girls on one row and the boys across the aisle so both kids could have the window seat. Chris did the "man spread" where he tried to have his body overlap into the middle seat but as I mentioned above, the flight was sold out. Chris and I ended up sitting in the middle and here is my thoughts on that... Is it too much to ask for people to bathe? Both Chris and I were sitting by adults who had some terrible body odor. I truly believe the guy next to me had onions in his hoodie. It was absolutely terrible. Meanwhile, a few rows in front of Natalie and I, was a screaming baby. She was not happy with the flight either and she told us all about it... THE ENTIRE FLIGHT! Nope, wait... She stopped crying as we began our decent into San Diego.
This was not a great flight... Screaming baby and body odor made for a fairly unpleasant commute to CA.
This whole flight just reminded Chris and I why we LOVE CRUISING! I am really glad this was a non-stop flight because if it was not... I would have just stayed in the layover location. It was not a flight I want to remember.
Monday Night
Once we touched down into San Diego and got off the plane, we went to the restroom and then baggage claim. We timed it perfectly and our luggage was waiting for us when we arrive. We grabbed all our bags and made our way to the Rental Car terminal. It was 10:30PM and the Budget line was not very long. Once we got to the counter we were told that the Chrysler Van we paid for was not available since our flight had changed. I guess our travel agent within Southwest Vacations did not let Budget know. Chris was upset because he secretly LOVES mini-vans. I just wanted what I paid for or better, and we got just that. They gave us a brand new, wait for it... Buick Enclave. (This is what I currently drive). It was gorgeous and we loved it! I might need to make a trip to the Conroe Buick dealership. They have made a LOT of upgrades since mine!
Hello California and Pacific Highway!
Once out of the airport we made the 3 mile drive over to our hotel area. Before going to the hotel we stopped at Von's grocery (Albertsons of the west) to get food and snacks for the week. Tip- They are not kidding when they say EVERYTHING is higher priced in California. Pringles chips were $3.99. Double the price from Texas. I was flabbergasted.
After our grocery run we began our 1 mile trip to Homewood Suites by Hilton (Hotel Circle), with a quick stop at Arby's for late night dinner. Luke was getting "hangry" so we grabbed it to go so we could get to the hotel.
It was 11:30PM local time and 1:30AM on Texas time... We were tired!
Tip- We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton near Hotel Circle. My overall review of this hotel would be a 3.5 or 4 star review. The location was AMAZING. We were literally only 10 minutes away from ANYTHING. Rather it be downtown, the zoo, north to Pacific Beach or Mission Bay. It was all RIGHT THERE and the I-8 traffic was minimal each day! However, this was lacking in several departments to me. The service was not what I would label "Hilton" quality and the hotel linens and etc. were about the same. This was near SeaWorld (And labeled as so) and it was WAY TOO "people-y" or family oriented for me. By the end of our trip, the amount of kids to adults ratio was 3:1 or higher. Kids were EVERYWHERE. I think next time we will go back to the Embassy Suites, which is geared more towards higher class businessmen and travelers. Or stay a little further out. I will elaborate on specifics of the hotel later in the blog. Overall, you get what you pay for. BUT the location is SUPERB!
We paid about $400 extra for a "Corner Suite". This would allow us extra room for the pull-out couch for the kiddos and just ample space in general. I would probably not pay the additional money next time, and just stay with the normal suite. The layout was still rather crowded for us.
We ate our late-night dinner and all took showers before climbing into bed for the night. The next day we had planned the San Diego Zoo for ALL day so we needed as much sleep as possible.
This day was a great day but it really did remind us that we HATE flying (At least Chris and I do... the kids still LOVE it). But we were in Southern California and ecstatic about our trip!
UP NEXT... DAY 2 at the world famous SAN DIEGO ZOO!
Thanks for following along! We appreciate your support!
God is good... ALL THE TIME!
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