Day 4 - Travel from Long Beach toPalm Springs Via San Diego

We had been instructed by Geoff that the cases had to been packed and ready inside the room for collection by the Porters from 7.00am. The porter arrived at our room before 7.00am and we were not finished packing, he therefore came back later. The bus left at 8.00am and we went to Old Town, San Diego. This was a lovely little village two markets selling hand made items. As we had had no breakfast we went to a Mexican restaurant. The food was lovely although the service was a little slow. As we only had one hour at Old Town, we didn’t get to see as much as we would have liked. Everyone seemed to enjoy this place. From there we went to Coronado near San Diego and met a local Tour Guide who showed us around the famous Hotel Del Coronado, we had 20 minutes free time before heading back to the bus to get to San Diego. The bus dropped us off at the Shoreside Village in San Diego and we had one hour before we had to be back on the bus. This gave enough time to have something to eat and a quick look around. There would not have been enough time to visit a different part of San Diego.We stopped for lunch in an open air food court and in the centre of the court there were children singing karaoke style. LINK TO SHORESIDE. Having travelled to America twice a year for many years I thought I had seen most cultures there although this is the first place I was approached by a beggar asking for money. The bus drove through San Diego en route to Balboa Park. This was a beautiful park and 40 minutes here did not do it justice. A full day would be needed to see everything. It took just over 2 hours to get from here to Palm Springs. We arrived around 5.00pm and drove through the village to see the area. The place was quiet for this time on a Saturday and we discovered why when exiting the bus. This place is HOT!!! Again the same scenario when arriving at a new hotel. Geoff would get off the bus and check everyone in, then hand out the keys on the bus. We had heard about a good restaurant in Palm Springs called Blue Coyote and wanted to go for dinner. We asked Geoff for directions and learned that Geoff did not travel far from the hotels in order to be available to the group. In future it was wiser to speak to local staff for recommendations and directions. A nice porter helping with the cases was able to give directions and confirmed that the restaurant was good. Once the cases arrived in the room we got ready and went to the Blue Coyote for dinner. This was the best meal we have ever had, we requested an outdoor table and were seated in an outdoor courtyard with a man playing the guitar. The food and margaritas were excellent and very reasonably priced in comparison to restaurants of the same calibre. From there we went to a few bars on the main street. The outdoor bar and restaurant at the Hyatt hotel was very good and had a lady singing. We just sat at the bar and relaxed. The temperature was still very high and all outdoor areas had water mist sprays to keep you cool. There were some English pubs on the main street in Palm Springs, they definitely had an American feel and had American sports on the TV. We went back to the hotel and sat by he pool with some members of the group with a drink before bed.