Okay well it wasn't a completely car-free trip. More like car-lite. I did drive and park at the Amtrak station in Irvine, CA. In my previous post, I mentioned I was planning this trip, and currently there is soil erosion in Orange County, CA which would not make it possible for a one seat ride on Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Diego. If I left from Los Angeles, it would be train, bus, train. So instead, I opted for car, bus, train. The reality is in California, much like the rest of the US, having a car can really help me save some time and give me the flexibility to go elsewhere in OC once I return from my trip. But once I parked my car in Irvine, it was car-free from that point forward.
The trip consisted of a bus from Irvine, CA to Oceanside, CA. Once in Oceanside, I hopped aboard the Amtrak Surfliner to the Santa Fe Depot station in downtown San Diego.
The bus and train ride to San Diego was uneventful, which is what you want. When public transportation works the way it should, it is seemless and uneventful. The bus left the Irvine Transportation Center on-time. When we arrived at the Oceanside station, we waited maybe 5 min before the train arrived and then we arrived at the Santa Fe Depot Station in downtown San Diego also on-time. It was a pleasant experience. The hotel I booked was 6 blocks away. It was an easy walk since downtown blocks are small.
This was not my first time taking Amtrak to San Diego. However, what was my first time, was riding San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Service. I took the blue line from my hotel down to San Ysidro, which is the last stop right before the US-Mexico border. Unfortunately, I did not have my passport with me, so I was not able to cross over into Tiajuana (next time). I was surprised at how easy it was to take the trolley to the border and wondered why more people don't do it. Once you exit the San Ysidro stop, it was less than a 5 min walk to the border gate.
I turned around once I saw the MEXICO sign. But, as I walked closer to the gate, I felt like I was walking into a detention center. You can see the border wall, fences and barbed wires in these photos.
It was still an experience worth doing since this was my first time walking towards the US-Mexico border (I walked across the US-Canada border in 2018 at Niagara Falls). As I walked back to the San Ysidro station, there was already a blue line trolley waiting to take me back. The blue line headway was quite good. On the way back, I got off at Chula Vista for some fish and shrimp tacos. As for the blue line, I did not wait more than 10 min at any of the stops for the trolley to arrive. I was pleasantly surprised.
What San Diego calls the trolley, looks very much like Portland's MAX light rail. Even the ticketing machine looks just like Portland's. The one difference is San Diego's trolley does not have a place for bikes. You just have to hold it in front of where you are sitting.
Back in downtown, I walked over to the Gaslamp district. Another surprise, was they opened several blocks of Fifth St to pedestrians just like how Santa Barbara did with State St.
It was great to walk up and down Fifth St without the concern of inpatient drivers. On that note, it felt drivers in San Diego are more aggressive than drivers in Los Angeles. I'm not sure how that is possible, but the drivers in San Diego really pissed me off at times.
The next day, I took the ferry to Coronado. The weather was perfect and the sky was clear. It was a great ride to Coronado.
I should have rented a bike around Coronado, but ended up walking, which was fine. It was probably safer than riding since, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, drivers just cannot slow down or even stop on red when making a right turn if there are no pedestrians crossing. And even if there are pedestrians crossing, they won't stop unless they have to. As I walked across Coronado, the highlight of Coronado is the Hotel del Coronado.
Coronado was a nice day trip. As I was walking around, I wondered if Coronado would be a place (not that I could afford it) I would like to live in. It's got many things I like, quaint shops, restaurants and cafes. It also has a grocery store and charming homes. The weather is amazing and it's anchored by Hotel del Coronado which is a great place to take visitors. The few reasons I couldn't live there, is that Coronado feels very insular. Very affluent, probably mostly White families that have a world view I most likely disagree with. NIMBYism must be strong in Coronado. As an armchair urbanist, the streets are way too wide for such a small community. If they would restrict drivers more and encourage more people to walk and bike, or at least drive around in golf carts like on Catalina Island, it would feel more peaceful.
After returning from Coronado, I walked to Little Italy for dinner. As far as downtown goes, Little Italy was probably my favorite place. They still had outdoor dining which narrowed the streets and slowed down drivers. They had a pedestrian plaza in front of Little Italy Food Hall with live music on the pedestrian plaza. Little Italy felt more livable. No tall glass highrises with no amenities on the ground floor. Instead, I noticed shorter 3-6 story, sometimes mixed use buildings which gave it a livelier street life. I could probably live in Little Italy.
All in all, San Diego was a nice quick getaway. I probably wouldn't go back anytime soon, unless I brought my passport with me so I can cross the border. The other areas in San Diego like La Jolla, Del Mar, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma and anything inland require a car.
I've done so many short trips along the West Coast, my thoughts are I should figure out a way to plan an Amtrak trip from Vancouver, BC down to San Diego one day. I believe it's easily doable, too.
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