My last four day work week ended with a weekend in San Diego! Let’s talk about us finally seeing the All Blacks live in San Diego!
FRIDAY – 19 JULY
We headed out to OAK on Friday morning, parking in the daily lot, far from the Southwest terminal. It had been awhile for me flying out of Oakland on Southwest. The security line was super easy since we have TSA pre-check. We were in group C and ended up in the last row of the plane. I sat in the middle. We only had carry-ons, which made the whole thing rather smooth.
We were VERY LUCKY that the software outage that affected many things on Friday didn’t affect Southwest. Our only slight delay was at take off because San Diego wanted us to arrive a bit late because of the influx of flights finally coming in and taking off. Our flight was about an hour and a half, which wasn’t long at all (compare to our flights to and from Ireland).
We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriot. It was a nice room with great a/c. The a/c was much appreciated because San Diego was nice but rather humid. Still, better than home and the triple digits. The cool breezes in San Diego were so very lovely.
After eating lunch and having a bit of rest, we ordered an Uber to Snapdragon Stadium. There were plenty of people already there and the line to the merch trailer was long. When we go into the stadium, the merch booth line was also long. I was wearing my All Blacks jersey and cap, so I didn’t really need any new merchandise. By the end of the match, there was very little to be bought.
We had great seats! Club level is the way to go. The seats were comfortable and roomy. We had a great view of the pitch. It was so cool being around fellow rugby fans. The All Blacks were playing against Fiji and each team was well represented. I think I saw more All Blacks fans but the Fijian fans were super enthusiastic. It was a great atmosphere, lively and respectful, even though when some Springboks fans were shown, they were roundly booed good-naturedly. They took the booing in stride, which elicited some laughter. (They won the last Rugby World Cup, so there you go.)
I don’t think I really worried too much about which team would win the match. It was just fantastic watching the All Blacks in person. Fiji did not give way at all, putting in some great hits. The All Blacks were quick and took the hits well. They were probably very bruised by the end of it.
It was great seeing some players I know from watching Super Rugby in the past, as well as several players making their debut on the national team. The Barrett brothers, Damien McKenzie, Ardie Savea– names I actually know! It was so amazing to be able to see them on the pitch live! I loved being there so much, amongst fellow rugby fans, cheering for the tries and gasping at the hits.
We stayed after the game to watch the presentation of the cup and then the team group photo. Some of the players walked the pitch to acknowledge the crowd. There were 33,217 in attendance, which was cool! Even though we had stayed after, there was still a mess getting out of the stadium. We were lucky enough to get an Uber and got back to the hotel in decent time. After such a full day, it was lovely to step into our well a/c’d room.
SATURDAY – 20 JULY
Saturday morning, we headed to the Gaslamp Quarter for breakfast at Gaslamp Lumpia Factory. I actually had Filipino breakfast for breakfast! And of course, had some lumpia too. Too bad I saw the sign for shanghai lumpia after we ordered the regular lumpia. I enjoyed my food very much.
After breakfast, we walked around and found the Irish bar, The Field Authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant, which was wonderfully cool. I had a Guinness and realized that this was the first Guinness I had since our trip to Ireland. Awwww! I was trying to figure out if it tasted different but it was poured correctly so at least there was that. It was nice being in there and remembering Dublin and the pubs we visited out there. It made me miss Ireland!
We walked down the street afterwards to check out the different booths. I stopped at a couple of places but managed to NOT buy anything. Miracles! I could have bought a ring or a pendant but I resisted. Good for me? Our last stop was Ghiradelli, where we both had a shake. I think we just wanted somewhere to sit and cool off for a bit.
We caught an Uber back to the Liberty Station area, stopping in at Stone Brewing. We had drinks and then I bought a t-shirt at the shop. I couldn’t resist a keepsake from the brewery. 😉 We walked back to the hotel from Stone, enjoying the walk along the water and seeing some squirrels along the way. When we got back to the hotel, we stopped in at the bar for another drink and some happy hour food.
SUNDAY – 21 JULY
Our flight back to Oakland left at 7:10 AM, which meant leaving the hotel at 5 AM. So early! But we weren’t the only ones with the same idea. Our flight was FULL. We were in the A group this time, so we were about to pick our row and thankfully our seat mate was little and went to sleep right after take off. When we landed in Oakland, it was cloudy and cool. But by the time we got home, it was already warm. Ahhh, back home.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend! What a way to spend my last three day weekend until Labor Day. Seeing the All Blacks in person was worth flying out for sure. And San Diego in general was a lot of fun. I wish I had been better prepared for the humidity though. 😀