So San Diego and I got of to a pretty good start, even if it did turn sour. Luckily, I decided to do the San Diego Zoo on my  first full day in the city. To put it bluntly, this was the best zoo I have ever been to. It was HUGE. It took me a good 6 hours to explore the whole thing! With the day pass, you get access to the Skyfari aerial tram. This takes you over the whole zoo and you also gets great views of the city! I felt like a big kid strolling around the zoo. The animals were also in top form, all out and ready to say hello. Getting there later in the day was a definite bonus, as all the animals are actually getting up and moving around, as opposed to sleeping or out of view completely! So day one = Success!

Day two= Not so much…Unfortunately, the thing that you always hope won’t happen to you when travelling, happened to me, HARDCORE. I got sick. Eww. So turns out, being sick, at christmas time, away from home is pretty sucky. Plus, you feel guilty for missing out on the city that your in for only a few days! So in conclusion, it’s horrible. So that was day two of only three days in the city that was eaten up! So I guess I’ll have to see you again San Diego, so that we can try again and do it properly.

Luckily I had one last day, before heading to Austin Texas,  and I did what I could. So my last day was spent in Balboa Park, where I went to the San Diego History Centre, which has an awesome Dr Seuss exhibition on. I then walked around the the park, explored the free museum and checked out the botanical house. Even though it was pissing down rain all day, it still turned out to be an okay day.

The next day, it was time to finally leave the sunny state of California after 6 amazing months and head to Texas! Thank goodness I was feeling better.  My first night in Austin, Texas, after settling into the hostel, I headed out for a few evening drinks on the infamous 6th Street with some fellow christmas time travellers. After bar hopping for quite a while, we headed back to the hostel to get some z’s for the next day. My first full day in Austin consisted of walking around the city of Austin and visiting some of its most popular destinations…at least at every other time of the year. Apparently everyone leaves Austin, or stays in doors for 48 hours as the city was a ghost town. This was a bit of a downer for the city atmosphere, but it was still a good day. On the list was the capitol building, walking over the Colorado River, strolling around the popular area of So Co (or South Congress) as well as checking out the famous street graffiti of Austin.

Christmas eve night, I spoiled myself immensely and booked a hotel room and spent the afternoon in the pool and spa and whole night in a HUGE king size bed, ordered room service and just generally relaxed in my own space. This is something I haven’t really been able to do for 7 MONTHS! Merry Christmas to me! The evening was topped off with calls from family which was great! I truly recommend this as a treat, if your feeling the need for some me time.Which I was definitely in need of!

Christmas day in Austin was a pretty good day, very low key, as the whole city was shut down. I decided to do something active and walk to the top of Mount Bonnell, which offers great views of the river as well as the city skyline. The weather wasn’t exactly in the best shape, but you take what you can get! After a christmas lunch of cheese, biccies, grapes and veggie sticks, I headed back to the hostel for an early Christmas dinner, Hostel edition. It was fun to spend christmas afternoon and evening with other people on their own for christmas and to get a good feed.

The day after christmas was also unfortunately very quiet and most things were closed. But after some suggestions from another hostel traveller I headed to a smoked bbq place to try their signature dishes. Funnily enough I met this other hostel traveller there as he was finishing his mixed plate of slow cooked ribs, brisket and pork! So we ate together, and then decided to go in search of Austin’s best gelato, which we definitely found at Dolce Neve. DELICIOUS! It was also nice to have an eating buddy so we could try multiple flavours. It was definitely a great last day in Austin.

In conclusion, for anyone planning on travelling at this time of year, I would avoid Austin at Christmas, if you actually want to experience the real vibe of the city, as everyone leaves to see their families and such. But all things considered, I don’t regret going there and it was still pretty damned enjoyable!