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As a veteran's family, SeaWorld San Diego gives us free entrance to my husband, our veteran, and 3 guests tickets every year. We took advantage of this and went to Sea World yesterday. It was a Tuesday, weekday, so the lines were almost non-existent for kids' rides. There was only a line that we had to wait for and it was super short. For mid June, I was very happy about this as it was easier to navigate around the theme park.

We really had a wonderful time. The kids enjoyed the no height restriction rides at the Sesame Street Bay of Play area (not to be confused with an entirely different Sesame Place San Diego that is 20 minutes away) and I enjoyed those no height restrictions because I can ride with them too. 

My sons also loved the large playing structure, bounce house and splash pad!

Our two kids still aren't patient enough to enjoy sitting through a show because at their age, they just want to roam around so we walked through the different aquariums and took a couple of breaks for snacks and drinks.

The only complaint that I have is they don't have enough food places/stands open at SeaWorld but I really can't blame them as there seems to be a lack of labor for the food industry everywhere. I knew parking was going to cost us something so was prepared to shell out the money to park at SeaWorld San Diego.

What were my kids' most favorite things at SeaWorld San Diego:

• For my 8 year old, his favorite thing was putting his hands in the feeder fish pool at the Explorer's Reef Touch Pools! We went back to the front area for this 3 times!
• For my 6 year old, he really enjoyed the Splash Pad at Sesame Street Bay of Play area (in the center of SeaWorld San Diego)! He also enjoyed all the kids' rides.

My favorite things:

• I like that the Sesame Street Bay of Play area is close to the front entrance so if the kids are feeling antsy, they don't have to walk very far from the entrance to do some fun kids activities. The Sesame Street Bay of Play area is just past the front tide pools called Explorer's Reef Touch Pools. It made it convenient for me as a parent to get my kids there.
• Watching the Beluga whales! Oh, they are so amazingly beautiful!
• As always, I always love seeing the Orcas, Killer Whales. Although, I also still feel sad seeing them in captivity as well and wonder if they'd prefer to live free in the ocean.

Tips:

• The very last time we went to Sea World before this trip was during July 4th weekend a couple of years ago, the year before the pandemic. If you can help it, avoid going to SeaWorld around the weekends or July 4th weekend as just getting inside the parking lot could be excruciatingly long and painful! The lines inside for everything was also excruciatingly long too when we went during July 4th weekend. Come during the week on a weekday if you can plan for it! It'll be a much more pleasant and easier experience for the whole family, like this one was.
• You can't bring outside food or drinks and a cooler inside the park. Exceptions may be made for guests with special dietary needs, including food allergies and baby food/formula. You can bring bottled water so bring a few of those to avoid the long lines!
• Teachers and preschoolers get a free annual pass so go to their website to apply. Teachers link is: https://seaworld.com/san-diego/tickets/teacher-free-admission/ and Preschoolers link is: https://seaworld.com/san-diego/tickets/preschool-admission/
• Like I mentioned earlier in the post, our tickets were free because my husband is a veteran, so look out for this veterans deal. Their restrictions change year after year. Active Duty military also gets free admission once a year as well. See Seaworld San Diego Military free tickets details here: https://seaworld.com/san-diego/tickets/military-discount/

You can find very many gifts shops in Pacific Beach that sell t-shirts, city souvenirs and other gift items. But sometimes, trying to find the right shirt can take away from enjoying your trip or day. The great thing is, the internet has changed the way many people are shopping and online shopping allows more people to go exploring and less time shopping for knick knacks.

Here are some of my favorite Pacific Beach t-shirts that you can buy from the comfort of your couch and save that weekend to enjoy a nice lunch or paddle boarding!

Retro Pacific Beach T-Shirts

Retro Pacific Beach T-shirt Vintage California Beach Shirt

Pacific Beach Pier T-Shirt


You can also find T-Shirts online for neighboring popular beach Ocean Beach. However, the selection is much smaller and harder to find.

Ocean Beach T-Shirts

Ocean Beach CA Frog Pacific NW Native American Indian T-Shirt Pacific Beach Pier T-Shirt


So, how about Mission Beach you're probably thinking at this point? You know, I always find it interesting how Mission Beach is more popular to the tourists than Pacific Beach but the young locals really hang out at Pacific Beach much more! I think it has everything to do with Belmont Park, which is where you can hop on rides and and see the iconic roller coaster. (See attractions and theme parks near Pacific Beach and Mission Beach.) However, the pier is actually located in Pacific Beach.

Mission Beach T-Shirts

Mission Beach Shirt Retro San Diego California Beach Tee

Finding a new place to rent can feel like entering a race with unique obstacles. Many newcomers become residents of San Diego every year so the competition can be tough to live in your place of interest and that's no surprise. San Diego boasts the best sunny weather, has many well-known universities and colleges and is a famous military town. It is also no wonder, the rent in San Diego has continued to sky-rocket. With popularity, comes demand and a high demand can increase the cost of living for an area. According to Zumper, "the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in San Diego is $1,815" and most residents in San Diego rent their home.

There are many beneficial reasons why most San Diegans are renters. The primary benefits to renting in San Diego versus buying is it allows some flexibility and is less of a financial burden. It is very common for San Diego residents to shack up or live with roommates to cut their rent costs. In some states or cities, buying a house with a mortgage is more affordable than renting if you have a good credit score and enough money in the bank for the down payment. It is really not the case here for San Diego. You have to earn a really high salary to buy a home in San Diego and even so, the mortgage every month can still be really high; much higher than rent for the same home with the average down payment. Therefore, most San Diegans can only afford to rent. Recent data by Zumper shows 52% of housing units are renter-occupied in San Diego.

Another perk for renting versus buying a home in San Diego is there is less of a commitment if you're not sure how long you're staying in an area. If you hate your neighbors, you can move within the year (assuming a rental contract is typically one year long) and it gives you time to explore the city and neighborhoods in the area while you're hoping to save and planning to make your big decision to buy a home. If you need further convincing about the perks of renting, read about my terrible living situation when I rented a studio to find out how I was able to move out within months, worry-free.

When trying to find the right home to rent, you have to analyze many important factors before signing that rental agreement. This list includes: how big of a home you can afford, whether you need an office workspace if you're remotely working and if you'd be open to the option of having roommates to save costs. Typically, the more roommates you have, the less cost it would be every month per person. Furthermore, a home could be one of many types of dwelling. It could be a house, room, condo or apartment. What type of living situation are you looking for and can you afford it?

In my own experience, finding a new place for rent can be fun, exhilarating or stressful. Thankfully, with the available resources on the internet now, you can find pictures of potential homes for rent, use Google Maps to locate the distance between your home and workplace and contact the landlord or renting manager without leaving wherever you're sitting (or standing) at the moment. Finding a place for rent is easier than ever. Take advantage of all the available online resources to save you time and gas money, before taking that trip out there for a tour.

We're in our second year of Covid and also officially second lunar new year of Covid as well. Starting Feb 12, 2021, we're in the year of the Ox. All of the lunar new year festivals and fairs in San Diego went virtual to ensure we don't have another spread and you can still only dine outdoors in the patio; no indoor patrons. 

As always, it's mellow in San Diego. If you ever get a chance, drive down El Cajon Blvd or University Ave in the City Heights area, which is about 7 - 10 minutes from San Diego State University. It's an urban area with a lot of culture. They had a lion dance performance out there. It wasn't a fair or festival, just a performance that a restaurant called Nhu Y paid for to get the community to come out for a bit. That was a nice treat.

I hope everyone is staying safe. See new events in Pacific Beach on our Facebook page.

After living alone for a couple of years post-college, I've realized that it might be safer for me to live with roommates. The random knocks in the middle of the night were scaring me when I lived in my studio in Pacific Beach (read this post about this story when I lived alone).

The next place I lived at after my solo time in my studio was a 3 bedroom apartment on Pacific Beach Drive. The situation was a girl was looking for 2 new roommates to replace the roommates she was living with. She was a student at SDSU, also where I graduated from, and was working on her master's degree. The apartment was super cheap, even for 10 years ago. My share was only $600 a month and of course, we'd split the electricity and cable bills between the 3 of us. When she was interviewing me for a spot in the house, there was another person looking at it too. I told her my occupation and history and it didn't take long to realize that our personalities meshed. She ended up picking me and another friend of hers to move in with her. It worked out so well. In the time that I lived there, we had three house parties and went out for two special dinners. We were all in our twenties, working and generally just calm individuals. The other roommate/friend she picked was a nurse who worked night shifts. None of these ladies were crazy partiers. I was so impressed and happy with them until two things suddenly changed. 

My roommate, who was a nurse, had a serious boyfriend and he was moving to Syracuse, New York. She decided to follow him. They were madly in love. Not long after she told me and my other roommate that she was moving and that we'd need to find a new roommate, I discovered that my OG roommate, who had lived there the longest, had been having a drinking problem. Every week, there would be at least 5 - 8 bottles of wine in our recycling bin. I wasn't drinking any of it and neither was the sweet nurse. Her dad died not too long ago and she was basically drowning her sorrow with alcohol. I really felt bad for her. She became more distant to both of us. We both offered our listening ears but that was all we could do.

Immediately after my nurse roommate told us that she was going to leave San Diego, I offered my OG roommate the idea that maybe we should find a place for just the two of us because our misogynistic apartment manager was not the nicest person, even though we had always paid our rent on time. Our kitchen faucet would leak, the carpets were nasty and the place was just really run down. Every time we would mention something to get fixed, it was brutal and there would always be a blame on us, even though these things were already damaged when we had moved in. She agreed. However, I realized while I was searching for a new place for the both of us that she wasn't putting in any effort in helping me search. I think her drinking problem is affecting other aspects in her life. I was worried that if things got bad, she might have a hard time paying her share of the rent. So, a couple of weeks before our lease ended and after we've given our property manager our move out notice, I did a very selfish thing and said that I thought it would be best if we each find our own living arrangements. She was not assisting in the search and barely spoke to me and I was getting concerned. I know that I should've been a better roommate and maybe taken a bigger lead to figure it out for the both of us because she was going through a hard time. I asked my boyfriend at the time for some advice and he told me that if I went ahead and found an apartment for me and my OG roommate, things could go sour with her continuous drinking problem and that it wasn't my problem to fix. I took his advice and till this day, I've regretted not sticking it out for her sake. I ended up breaking up with that particular boyfriend after a year of being together. I realized I didn't see eye to eye in a lot of things with him.

I still think about my decision on not sticking it out with my OG roommate at the Pacific Beach Drive apartment. I've apologized to her when we split and went our own ways and I apologized a couple of years later when we exchanged an email. We lost contact after that but I still think about these two roommates when I think about the best roommates I've ever had. They indeed were. I still keep in touch with the sweet nurse on facebook and with my other roommate, I really didn't search. I just don't think it was fair of me to try to keep in touch with her because I was so ashamed of what I did. I think she ended up graduating with her master's degree and moved back to her hometown in Boston.

My next series of roommates were pretty nuts and a couple of them did not pay bills on time, which made my living situation even worse and so stressful! That story is for another blog entry in the next coming weeks. 

Stay safe during this coronavirus pandermic, everyone!