Friday, April 19, 2013

April Updates

Hello Everyone!

I am a little over a month away from my May trip to Peru.  I am getting very excited and trying to plan what to pack and what I will need to wear in each location.  I have completed my rounds of the pre-exposure rabies vaccine and have all of my meds ready to fight a range of possible problems from altitude sickness to malaria.  Hopefully I won't need them, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Last week, I made a last minute decision to fly back to PA and visit with some family.  I thought April was going to be a  travel free month, but as it turns out, I end up flying even when I don't plan to!

I still don't have any concrete plans for the remainder of the year.  I am in the process of planning a trip to Nashville (and possibly other parts of TN) later this fall and looking into options for a big trip during the second half of the year.  I am also still considering a cruise out of Boston among other weekend trips.  Stay tuned for what I decide!

I will also continue to post recap articles from trips I have taken prior to starting up this blog.

Stay safe and happy travels!
Tina

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

2011 Recap: San Diego Zoo and Safari Park


Koalas love Eucalyptus leaves :)
Since I have no travel plans for this April, I have decided to resurrect some of my old journal entries from trips I took in 2011.  Though these are a few years old, they are still pretty accurate as far as resources/tours/etc. and I hope they prove useful to anyone planning a trip to these destinations.  My first flash back entry is from Columbus Day weekend (Oct 7-9) in 2011 when I visited San Diego for the first time.

In case you haven't picked this up from my previous posts, there are two main ways to describe my travel style.  The first is that it is carefully planned, even moments of spontaneity are planned into my itineraries.  The second is that I am a bit of a nerd; I make sure to make the most out of every trip including many learning moments.  So how nerdy can a trip to San Diego be?  I started planning for this October trip in July and let me start off by saying that I was highly disappointed to find out that a girl scout troop had completely booked the Roar and Snore Safari at Safari Park, so I would not be sleeping in the zoo itself. 

Since I was flying in on the 7th, I had two full days in San Diego to explore.  Looking back, this was not nearly enough time to become aquainted with the city, but it was enough time to know that I would definitely go back.  I have to be honest as to why I wanted to go to San Diego... I really wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.  I always heard so much about it and needed to see it for myself.  Many hours of research led me to the decision to visit both places, but enhance my experience at the Safari Park with a Deluxe Photo Caravan Safari.  I took a chance and purchased two guest passes to the zoo and 2 passes to safari park on Ebay for $35 each pair, or $70 for two people to attend both parks.  Regular adult admission is $44 pp to each park and would have cost $176 for the weekend in admission alone.  The Deluxe Photo Caravan Safari was $150 pp with a prepaid admission ticket (eBay pass), but it was a 3.5 hour tour with both giraffe and rhino feeding opportunities!

Me and a Panda
My traveling companion and I decided to take advantage of our SPG points and stay at the nearby Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina.  We also rented a car for the weekend because both the zoo and animal park are far away from downtown San Diego and would be very expensive in a taxi.  Because of certain Yelp reviews I was scared out of my mind to stay at the hotel, though they have increased considerably since I went.  If your plans keep you within the city, don't bother renting a car. There is a very good shuttle service from the airport, and you are a short cab ride away from most attractions. If you decide you want to drive, be prepared to pay for parking. I used the valet service @ $28/day and was very happy with it.

Check-in was smooth and there is a genuine Starbucks in the lobby (not a fake we brew Starbucks coffee thing). I stayed in the Marina tower on the 9th floor SPG level. My room was really nice and very nautical. I have no complaints at all. If you decide you can go without new sheets every day, they actually give you back $5 to spend at Starbucks (hooray!). I was overlooking the marina and a bit of the bay and had a lovely balcony to sit out on. I could hear a bit of noise from the pool, even though it wasn't in sight, but it was not bad. With the doors shut, I couldn't hear anything! I tried the breakfast buffet one morning and was satisfied with the selection.
Seals in La Jolla
My first full day was dedicated to the zoo.  My first thought when entering was that there was no way one person could see everything there in one day.  Not only is it huge, but walking all day in the sun is exhausting.  I didn't have any behind the scenes events planned for that day, but I did make sure to walk around a lot and see as much as I could.  Two of my favorite exhibits were the koalas and the pandas.  I especially love red pandas, they are so cute! Every exhibit is well thought out and has lots of good look out points.  Unfortunately, the only downside to the day was the awful food!  Not only was it overpriced (as expected), it was really bad.  Overall, this is an incredible zoo and much larger than I could have ever expected.  I think it would be best to visit on a cool day as you will be doing a lot of walking.
Gorilla mom and baby

We left the park late in the afternoon and got ready for dinner. After walking around a bit downtown, we arrived at University Club Atop Symphony Towers.  (My old Yelp review is helping me here...) I checked in to the University Club for dinner as a visitor from out of town and a member of a club corps affiliate. I had a reservation for 2 people at 8 PM and actually called earlier that day to see if the reservation could be moved to 7. I was told there was no availability, but decided to come in a little early anyways and grab a drink before dinner. When we arrived, we were told they actually had a table available and we were seated in the dining room. Sadly, we were not seated near a window and sulked in silence for about 10 minutes before deciding to say something to the incredibly nice Maitre'D, Darwin. Considering we were from out of town and only in San Diego for the weekend, we really wanted an opportunity to view the skyline from a window seat. He quickly arranged for us to move to a better seat.

The service was impeccable. Our server was always around when we needed him and all of our delicious food came out quickly. I especially enjoyed listening to the very talented pianist during my meal. I'm not sure what the ideal crowd is for this place, but it seems that the lounge and bar are suited for young professionals where as the formal dining room might attract a more "sophisticated" crowd. Either way, I absolutely love being treated to an excellent meal every now and again and don't mind dining with an older crowd if it means delicious food.


Giraffe Feeding
The next morning, prior to going to Safari Park, I took a drive to La Jolla to see the seals in the water.  I also did a quick walk around a nearby park to take in the views.  I arrived at the Safari Park about a half and hour before my scheduled 1pm safari tour.  Since the tour lasted for 3.5 hours, that did not leave me a lot of time to explore the park on my own.  Fortunately, I saw a lot on the safari and didn't feel like I missed out on much.  I did make it a point to visit the gorilla exhibit because they had a new baby on display!  In fact, this entire park was full of baby animals and they were sooo cute!  Safari Park is actually a breeding facility for many animals that get shipped off to other zoos all over the world. Breeding animals in captivity may not be your cup of tea, but in comparison to stealing them from the wild, this seems much more humane to me.

So to skip to the real reason why I came to Safari Park... The Deluxe Photo Caravan Safari.  We were given a rendez-vous point to meet the rest of our party and get ready for our tour.  After a moment of "Omg, I'm lost", I found it okay.  Our guide gave us some background information and warnings.  From there, we were corralled into an open air safari truck and taken into 3 out of the 5 exhibits. 2 were African exhibits, and the last one was Asian plains. Our guide, Shani, was so knowledgeable and very entertaining! She gave us lots of interesting tid bits of information and answered all of our questions. 

After only 10 minutes into my 3.5 hour tour, I immediately knew it was worth the price.  We actually got to feed two different types of giraffes and a rhino! Every single person had at least 1 turn to feed, and then we went back for group photos/feedings and just kept taking turns until all the food was gone. I'm pretty sure I fed at least 5 different giraffes, since some of the members in our party were afraid.  The experience was so memorable and I have some great pictures ! I absolutely recommend this experience to anyone who loves animals!  It's not quite roar and snore, but it was awesome!
Feeding a Rhino an Apple
That night was pretty low key as I prepared for my night flight back to Boston.  These quick weekend trips are so much fun and I can't wait to go back!

*Quick Note - Stay tuned for more recap posts from 2011 including an extensive review from my 10 days in Egypt!

Happy Travels!