The Single Girl Travel Guide: How a Travel Mishap Turned Into A Beautiful Solo Day Trip in San Diego

I had the honor of organizing a friend’s annual MLK weekend event in Rancho Santa Fe and had a blast watching everyone step into their inner child-like selves for the themed events. I had never been to Rancho before and was in awe at the lush greenery, slow paced lifestyle, and grandiose homes. I was even fortunate enough to stay at the local Inn at Rancho for my weekend stay and logged in some serious self-care hours after some of the weekend’s festivities.

When it was time for me to go home, I made my way over to the train station to catch my train and said goodbye to San Diego… or at least I thought. Not even 30 minutes into my train ride—as I was admiring the beautiful coast scenery—the train came to a complete stop at a nearby station. We were told that a pedestrian was struck and killed by the train that was scheduled ahead of us in Carlsbad. An intense, deep sense of sorrow washed over me as I thought about the life that had just ended. Meanwhile, passengers in my car exhibited frustration about the delay and the inconvenience it caused in their travel plans. I was truly astonished to see how little empathy humanity had in that moment and entirely grateful for the air that filled my lungs and the life I still had.

As time passed, Amtrak gave us an update on the situation and provided us with 2 options on how we could proceed. We were instructed to either wait on the train and return back to the Santa Fe depot in San Diego or get off at our current stop and take the trolly to a nearby location where we would then be loaded onto a bus to the Oceanside station for the next northbound train. That seemed like a lot of traveling and transferring, so I thought it would just be easier to return back to San Diego and catch the next train in the morning.

This meant I needed to find a place to lay my head for the evening, so I did a quick search for hotels in the area and found the cute and quaint Pali Hotel.

I was immediately drawn to the historic architecture and antique decor, plus the price wasn’t bad either! Once I arrived at the hotel, I was greeted with such warm and welcoming energy from the Valet to the Front desk Receptionist. I checked into my room, unwinded after my arrival, and reflected on what had happened. I couldn’t be more grateful for the life I still have a chance to live. As time passed, I got hungry, so I looked on Yelp for some good nearby restaurants. Since I was so close to Little Italy, I found a nice restaurant called Osteria Cotto e Mangiato and walked on over. I had to climb up this pretty intense hill on Ash St, but I figured it would do my body some good to burn off a couple of calories before I indulged in homemade pasta and tiramisu.

I was the first person to arrive for dinner service, and I even got a chance to taste their specials for the evening, which were a delicious Sea Bass and potato dish, vegan lentil soup, and penne pasta with Italian sausage in an amazing tomato cream sauce. I opted for the penne pasta dish but swapped the Italian sausage for some shrimp since I am trying to cut back on pork. I briefly socialized with my waiter until my food arrived. Dining solo is such a beautiful and liberating feeling. I love taking time to enjoy my own company and savor every bite and sip of wine.

After my meal, I decided to take dessert home, so I asked my waiter to pack up some tiramisu. I walked back to my hotel and took the longest hot shower to wash my hair to prepare for my extensive haircare routine. An hour later, I finally deep conditioned, detangled, and twisted my hair to ensure that my coils would be beautifully bouncy and hydrated the next morning and went to bed.

Early the next morning, I took myself on a nice little walk around Balboa Park and stopped by the Japanese Garden. I was sad to find out that the Botanical Garden was closed for construction, but seeing that I only live about 2 hours away, I could always plan to come back and see it once it reopened. Later, that morning I met up with an old friend for coffee at Spill the Beans at Seaport. We caught up and talked about our travel adventures and future travel plans. It was like no time had passed until she reminded me how old her son was, which made me feel old because I remembered when she was pregnant with him. She then dropped me off at the train station, and I said goodbye to San Diego for the second time.

Japanese Garden in Balboa Park

Sometimes, life throws a wrench in our travel plans, and we end up in places we never thought we planned to be, or we end up staying longer than expected. What I’ve learned is that when those moments happen, it’s best to go with the flow of things instead of trying to fight the current.

Let’s Chat in the Comments

Have you had any unexpected travel delays recently? How did you pivot, and did you end up doing anything fun to pass the time?

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