After all the excitement at LAX it was time for a bit of R&R. A good rest and now we were up and ready to explore San Diego, now i’ve done a bit of travelling, but you know what? I’ve never before set foot in the USA, yeah i’ve been in transit, sitting in the transit lounge was as close as I got.
A cab was hailed and downtown San Diego was just 10 minutes away, the first thing I saw was the museum ship USS Midway. Built during WWII she was commissioned two weeks after the end of WWII but later served in Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf war. For a full history follow this link.
On de-commissioning she was donated to the city of San Diego. she is in a great condition, a credit to all who sailed on her and those who look after her now. I didn’t get to tour her as Sean had done so the day before and didn’t fancy it again, you can find his post on her here.
What did impress me was these guys.
Just past the USS Midway is this statue, a representation of the famous photograph taken on VJ day. The Kiss was a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that portrays a U.S. Navy sailor grabbing and kissing a stranger—a woman in a white dress—on Victory over Japan Day (“V-J Day”) in New York City’s Times Square on August 14, 1945.
A short walk from the waterfront in the Gaslamp Quarter, This is the old part of San Diego dating from the 1880s.
Some of the old building were fantastic, as were the old pubs.
I don’t think this sign is old but it looked pretty cool.
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Yes I am still alive, I know it’s been awhile, but life gets in the way occasionally, after my epic Atlantic crossing in February 2016 I thought I would never be able to top a trip like that, I was wrong.
It all started again on the 28th August 2016, nearly didn’t make the flight to L.A. as I only had a one way ticket and my visa didn’t cover that, after some negotiation pleading and then bribery grovelling I made it, I then had the same on arrival in L.A.
Anyway, now in L.A. I made my way to the domestic terminal to get a flight to San Diego, ticket in hand, bag checked in, I joined the queue to be body scanned, now as I took my belt and shoes off all the TSA (Transport Security Administration) staff suddenly ran off, now I know it had been a long day……… Oh wait it wasn’t my feet after all, there was a suspected shooter.
Now most people were pretty cool but a lot were running, screaming and crying, bags had been dropped, pushchairs had kids grabbed out of them and both parent and child were long gone leaving the pushchair behind, me being daft walked with my shoes still in the tray to the balcony to see if I could see the shooter, my thought was rather than just run, at least see the shooter first and run in the opposite direction, I decided to put my shoes on now and did so keeping one eye on the floor below. The airport was now going into lockdown, everyone was directed to one location while heavily armed police checked everywhere.
After about two hours of nervous chit chat with fellow travellers we all seem to receive a text message, now I never have my phone on vibrate, data roaming was off, wifi was off but my phone still vibrated and the tone was something that isn’t even built into my phone, very spooky, this was the message.
I love it when technology like this works.
Finally boarded a flight to San Diego, short taxi ride and I was met at the marine gate by my brother Sean for the short walk to Kapowai, bags dumped, quick chat and bed, it’s been a long day. At this point I didn’t know Kapowai would be my home for the next 90+ days.
The voyage.
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