Bakersfield, CA to Pacific Beach, CA

I got driving again at 9am and took about 4 hours to get to Laguna Niguel. I was going to go and look at Los Angeles, but driving past on the freeway put me off – tons of smog and traffic. The directions I got in Seattle were perfect to the letter. I dropped the car off at the owners after doing 1 mile over the 1300 mile limit I was given. This didn’t seem to be a problem.

From Laguna Niguel the car’s owner, Vincent, gave me a lift to San Juan Capistrano train station – which was a good 20 minutes away. I waited half an hour to catch the next train to San Diego. This 90 minute trip ran along the coast virtually the whole way, which made for great sight seeing.

From the train station I caught a trolley to Old Town and then a bus out to Ocean Beach, where I booked into the hostel for the night. I checked my emails – a couple from Amy (7 sleeps), Kel, and Dave and Melissa. They’re coming to Pacific Beach (2 beaches north) tonight and left a number for me to call them at their friends – Jodie, Mark and Emma. I did so to find that they were planning a BBQ tonight, and that they would come and get me at 7pm. This gave me time to clean up and have a wander around the hostel area.

Melissa and Jodie picked me up and we went to Pacific Beach – about 20 minutes away. There, I met Mark and Emma, and Jodie’s boyfriend, Josh. They cooked up an awesome barbie and we ate and drank until the early hours of the morning. It’s always great to catch up with Dave and Melissa, and you know that friends of theirs are going to be great people as well. As proven in the coming week.