AVOID These 20 Common Mistakes in San Diego

20 common mistakes for you to avoid when you come to San Diego I'm Chris this is yellow Productions and today I'm joined by a very special guest Jeff Graham welcome to the show today thanks for having me it's great to be here in San Diego Jeff has a channel called photo walks TV where he takes you on all the best spots to take photos in cities around the world and tells you how to take them the first mistake that you should avoid when you come to San Diego is booking a hotel and trusting the description too much about what it's near a lot of hotels will say they're near the San Diego Zoo or they're near Sea World and you know what there's actually no hotels near the zoo or near Sea World like everything is like a couple miles away so make sure you actually Google Map it see where that is if you want the ocean view hotel make sure it's one that has an ocean view and isn't like on the other side of a highway from the ocean and we see a lot of that where I live in LA where it says the Hollywood Hotel and it's actually in another city and or or it's by the beach it's just five miles from the beach all right Jeff what do you think is the second mistake that people should avoid when they come to San Diego thinking that when you come to the California second largest city that you could see it in a deck or even two there is a lot here and you can't possibly you know you might be able to do two or three things in a day I would look at at least four maybe five and you'd have a really nice little time the third mistake you should avoid when you come to San Diego is thinking the best Mexican food is in Old Town San Diego there's a lot of Mexican food there but it's some of the most touristy really now there's some spots that I like I like the old town Mexican Cafe but you know what for a lot of places when you see the mariachi bands they have them there because well the food's just not that good let's remind people how close are we to Mexico or 15 miles yeah we're we're very close to Mexico on a clear day you could almost see it down that way actually so you don't have to go to Old Town furniture no but you go anywhere there's fantastic Mexican food everywhere in particular taco shops on you know almost every uh street corner and one of the like how you know Taco Shop Mexican food if it's got Birdos at the end there's the whole Roberto's Empire Roberto's Albertos Filibertos adalbertos like it's become such a synonymous name with San Diego Taco Shop Scott burdos it's probably pretty good food okay don't fall number four yeah for the red and white tablecloths in Little Italy because it may look authentic but it's not going to taste as great as you would hope there are a lot of great Italian restaurants in Little Italy sadly I didn't go to one of them last night which one did you go to last night Felipe's yeah yeah you'll see a long line of Felipe's and it's one that that line will fail you because that line is just I think it was the Little Italy version of Old Town Mexico oh yeah right right that's what it was yeah it just wasn't great but it was comfy yeah my favorite in Little Italy is Mona Lisa it's got an Italian Market it kind of looks a little bit like Felipe's except it's the it's the good version of it the fifth mistake is coming to San Diego and not renting a car San Diego is such a huge place that if you really want to see the really nice beaches that are up in North County you want to go to Sea World you want to go to Legoland the public transportation really doesn't go to those places yes San Diego does have a trolley the trolley goes downtown and it goes to the Mexican border and it just doesn't doesn't really go that many places that tourists want to go so I recommend getting a car yeah two highlights from this trip Sunset Cliffs yeah which no public transportation was going to take you to maybe you could take an Uber there and then the lighthouse the historic Lighthouse up the hill that's gonna it's you're just not going to get there without a car yeah yeah and for some reason you don't have a car then do plan to spend a lot of your time on Uber and Lyft to get you places the bus just isn't going to cut it yeah and let's talk about traffic yeah what about traffic you guys have some nice traffic yeah we do so I think the worst traffic there's certainly morning traffic for the morning Rush the worst traffic is definitely the afternoon Rush 4 to 6 p.m worst worst traffic Fridays starts probably at 1 pm goes to 6 p.m if you're coming to San Diego from LA you want to avoid Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon and then if you're going back to LA you want to avoid Sunday night because everybody from La came in on Friday and Saturday and then they go back on Sunday night yeah I came here at 7 A.M on uh on the Sunday morning I got here at 8 30. nice yeah nice and if if Jeff would have come on Friday at 3 P.M he would have never done it but it would have taken him like six hours instead of the you know little less than two yeah mistake number seven is trying to park downtown on a baseball game night if the Padres are playing at Petco Park there's gonna be like no parking downtown there's just not enough for cars and they expect people to take the trolley and so if you're there for the ball game take an Uber take a lift that's when you don't want to bring your rental car even if you have one and if you are trying to park there you need to reserve parking spots like ahead of time what's another mistake you think people make when they come to San Diego sleeping too late yeah you know sleep at home you know there's too much to see here too much to do and uh you're gonna get your best best parking spots you'll actually get one in the morning you're not going to get it later in the day uh you'll get into a restaurant you'll get into the theme park I mean so many things that you could do you're going to go to Sea World don't go there at three in the afternoon right yeah right get there early too thoroughly and then go take a nap later great and also photography wise since I do have the photography Channel you get your best photos in the morning get out really early and then take a nap yeah lease crowds too if you want to get that photo with nobody behind you yeah morning's the time when nobody else is there right exactly yeah all right the next mistake is drinking alcohol on the beach it used to be legal in San Diego like a decade ago but it is no longer Mission Beach Ocean Beach Pacific Beach you can drink alcohol in a bar overlooking the sand but not on the sand itself ditto for L.A county and Orange County yeah yeah it was a thing that people used to love about coming to San Diego but there was one year that things just got way too out of hand and so no more alcohol on the beach so visit the bars the cool thing is you got the beach here you got the bars right over there not hard it for sure yeah if you want a drink it's not hard to do uh Jeff what about people taking photos with the sunset behind them taking pictures of themselves with the sun yeah on them yeah with the sunset yes can't be done right it's impossible unless they have lighting yeah so um one tip is that if you have a bunch of friends there who have smartphones turn on the flashlight app and illuminate them that way and you'll be able to see their faces because otherwise they're going to be a silhouette yeah yeah it's good I as someone who grew up in San Diego costly when I'm at the beach at this hour and right now there's a cloud Bank behind us which makes it so we can do this video but people hand me their phone and say can you take a picture of us like this probably like if you want a shadow you know yeah silhouette right which is pretty bad it's pretty bad but you know people my experience is people love being at the beach and they don't care yeah they're just happy that they're there so they're not that disappointed right yeah that's true but you hire a professional photographer he or she will bring some lighting with them all right that's your second Pro tip if you want that photo get a photographer with some lighting yeah mistake number 11 is getting too close to the seals in La Jolla they're these seals and they're natural they live there they mate there and if you get too close to them they really don't like it and they there was actually this viral video of people like getting chased around by these seals because they wanted to take a selfie and they got too close so give them their space and and don't do it and what will happen to our backdrop I think they drove away they drove away that's another mistake is don't do a mistake don't give your background in front of a lifeguard truck because they actually move well sometimes actually go go to work but they do have to go to work thank you lifeguards for keeping us safe uh was there was there another mistake in La Jolla that you wanted to share with us Jeff oh yes all right don't go to the La Jolla up here thinking you're going to stand on it and walk across it like most other Piers you've ever been to in your life because there's a big gate with a padlock on it you ain't going on it you can go under the pier you cannot go on the pier yeah the pier in La Jolla is owned by a Scripps Research Institute it's a research Pier for the University not a public pier fishing pier like the rest of the piers here yeah but you can get great pictures under the pier it was really cool and it's different I like my peer in Manhattan Beach is wood yeah this pier is concrete yeah it's interesting and a lot a lot shorter I think it was pretty short yeah since we're talking peers I think the the one in Pacific Beach was the most interesting year because it has a hotel on it with multiple units yeah and that's a long walk as well it's really nice I like the picture from Crystal Pier back onto the beach with the kind of like Cottages uh in the foreground in the beach in the background yeah it's cool mistake number 13 is getting a tattoo after a long night of hitting the bars the tattoo parlors in San Diego they are strategically placed next to all of San Diego's most popular drinking spots right and and this is said by somebody who is a veteran of having tattoos let's see yeah not me but I've heard from a number of people that have come to San Diego and gotten their tattoos after a long night of the bars and it's kind of like yeah yeah it is yeah it takes takes more work the next one is don't get fooled when you're driving in East County that the weather that you're seeing over there will be the same at the beach it's foggy at the beach it gets cooler at the beach that's why people come here generally in the summertime because it is cooler but Inland is way hot number 15 is driving to the beach on a summer afternoon it is really busy at the beach in the summer and the parking lots because the parking's free all fill up by about 10 a.m so if you're coming in the afternoon the parking's full people are trying to get into the parking lots you're going to be backed up miles out on the freeway just trying to get to the beach don't even bother if that's pointed out I just need to back up for a second did you say the parking is free at all the San Diego beaches yeah wow yeah okay kind of unusual where I live it does it doesn't act that way no yeah it's all free at the beach when there is a sign that says the beach is closed the sign is up there for a reason the waves are deadly the waves can really hurt and they could kill you and there's a reason that the Lifeguard who is paid to save people's lives that they put up those signs yeah I often there's another one has a like regular Beach car in San Diego I'll see the people who aren't from here going like that's okay they just run out into the water and then I I look three minutes later the lifeguards have to go get them so they are definitely there for a reason yeah mistake number 17 is trying to find good food near the beach I I know Mission Beach here is my favorite Beach I generally don't eat here um the food is really kind of touristy garbage in the beach cities at least every once in a while you can find a Hidden Gem but some of the best places to eat Little Italy really great spot to eat um not at Felipe's also some really good food spots uh Hillcrest North Park and if you're looking for Asian food Convoy streets basically like San Diego's Asia town but if you like cheap tacos anywhere you get cheap Tacos yeah even here actually you'll get good cheap tacos next tip don't forget to put your sunscreen on in the summertime on a hot day or you'll get sunburned it's kind of about this that's what happens at a beach City isn't it yeah yeah but it's it's one where there's so many people that aren't prepared for a the bright Sun and B the Sun that reflects off the water and reflects off the sand that they're like on the second day of their San Diego vacation they're now a lobster because they're all sunburned and everything hurts and so don't let that be you mistake number 19 is thinking that the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Safari Park are the same place or even near each other and they are two different parks with animals in them and they're quite far from each other the San Diego zoo is in Balboa Park World Famous San Diego Zoo and I think the better of the two actually and then the safari park is 20 miles north in Escondido um it used to be called The Wild Animal Park I guess both have wild animals but safari park because it's got much more big open enclosures so the animals um you know aren't in kind of small pens they're in big open areas you really need two separate days to see those two things and a rental car and a rental car yeah there's no public transportation Sea World yeah yeah that's three big drives it sure is yeah and you'll pay for parking in all of them too right uh you'll pay for parking at Sea World but you won't pay for parking at the San Diego Zoo yeah Balboa Park free parking so I get the last one so the last one is the big mistake would be leaving your passport at home you're 15 miles from another country uh it's not the safest country but you were still 15 miles from another country and here in San Diego you have two options you could drive across the border sit at the gate for hours and hours and hours and hope to get in or you could actually park at the border and walk over the bridge if you have your passport because the passport will get you back in the United States yeah and definitely so those are those are those actually two mistakes as the bonus for number 20 which is uh for getting your passport and driving across the board of Mexico don't drive walk so much better so much faster and you know what sometimes if you're coming from Latin America you might even consider flying into Tijuana airport instead of flying into San Diego airport and then there's a bridge that you can cross from Tijuana airport into San Diego so you can avoid the crazy border crossing if you're driving rental facility across the border that the people from Latin America who had just flown in with their luggage could go rent a car I don't think so right there you know I think they got to take a taxi in Uber or something like that yeah all right all right well fellow explorers thank you for tuning in today Jeff thank you for being on the show uh happy to be here a lot of fun and fellow explorers you should definitely check out more of Jeff's videos you'll find the link here on the screen to the video that we shot together here for Jeff's San Diego guide and you'll also find the link to his fabulous photo watch TV youtube.com photowalks TV and if you watch that video you'll see us ride the giant Dipper roller coaster that we're going over right now yeah it's a little crazy but it was worth it

Channel: Yellow Productions

Views: 10,551

Keywords: Yellow Productions, san diego ca, san diego travel guide, san diego, san diego california, san diego travel

Id: o88CrH2OYog

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 03 2023