Vickie and Bernie Travel: Monday November 10, 2014

Monday, November 10, 2014

Monday November 10, 2014 – Day in San Diego

We wake early and we wait for our room service breakfast to arrive. We enjoy it on our balcony as we come into the port of San Diego. It is overcast but I know it will burn off quickly (and it did).

We meet up with our friends Yvonne and Paul for our short walk to pick up our Go Car.

Last month when we were here I saw one of these cars go by and I had heard about the Go Car from past visits in San Francisco and I really want to try it. It seemed like a good option to do for a good overview of the city as well as to learn about some other areas that we had not seen before.

The Go Car office is not too far from the pier (maybe a ten minute walk) or you could easily take a taxi or pedicab there if you have mobility issues.

We had reserved and paid for two cars prior via their website www.gocartours.com We reserved a three hour tour. Note the website we found confusing. Each car can hold two people so you have to pay per person but each car holds two. So double the cost. I think an easier way to organize it on line would be each car cost this much and can hold two people. Instead of cost is per person.

We met with Roger who was very helpful going over the details of the tour, the cars, and the waiver. We did opt to get the extra insurance that was $12 per car.

We had to watch a short video on how to operate the vehicle and safety procedures.

I was driving one vehicle with Paul as my passenger, and Bernie drove the other with Yvonne as the passenger. Paul would of driven but he forgot his license and plus I think he feels safe with a professional driver at the reigns, also he is a much better photographer than I so he took pics and I drove.

Each car is equipped with a GPS preloaded and as you drive it tells you where to go and information about what you are seeing.

I had no problem driving the vehicle and most of the time the navigation was easy to follow but having the map to follow along too helped cause a few times we were not prompted where to turn but we could hear the car behind us with directions. Also a few times we would pull up to an intersection and then hear we had to turn right/left.

Like I mentioned we did the three hour tour and we traveled along the harbour, thru the Midway parking lot, to Seaport, thru the Gaslamp, downtown, Little Italy, Old Town, Balboa Park, The Mission and Hillcrest and probably I am forgetting a few places. But check out their website for more information. If you book make sure you tell them that you heard about them thru my blog.

But overall it was fun and easy, but trust me after three hours on this tour my back was ready to get out of the car. You are low to the ground and the roads here are not smooth and we felt every bump.

Note that the three hour tour is really how long it takes. We stopped for a quick washroom break and we stopped in Balboa Park for maybe a half hour and it took the entire time, including the extra half hour George gave us as a courtesy (thanks George it came in handy). So plan accordingly.

What we thought was fun was how many people stared and even took pictures. We didn’t hesitate to beep the horn and wave to people who were looking. Lots of kids really loved it too.