Five money tips for planning your San Diego weekend getaway
/Hey there babe!
I see you hustlin and making your 2018 business dreams happen like a BOSS. Today, I’m sharing a special post that I hope will inspire you to stay motivated to strive towards your money goals.
One of my biggest motivations is being able to travel on a whim with my beloved. Last year, I made it a goal to be able to take the month of December off so I could spend quality time with Nick. During December, I was able to spend the holidays with him in New York and do some fun date nights here California. This year, we have both decided that we want to do more traveling together. Anything from a week-long trip in the mountains to a quick weekend getaway.
If you’re looking to do more weekend getaways this year, be sure to read this post on how to build your savings account for fun experiences. Opening up a separate account that is dedicated to the good life, is the best way to make sure you have the cash to fund your lifestyle.
One of my favorite accounts is the Radius Bank’s hybrid account. It’s a free, high-interest checking account that combines high-interest earning savings with the flexibility of a checking account. In addition to having an amazing interest rate, it also comes with a debit card and unlimited ATM rebates. A super awesome perk when other banks usually hit you with a fee for using another bank’s ATM.
And just in case you have a little tooooo much fun one night, and lose your card, you can lock the card through the Radius Card app. Obviously, this would never happen to you, but you may want to let your girlfriend know about this feature.
Speaking of a good time, last week we took our first trip of 2018 and flew down to San Diego for a four-day weekend getaway. If you're visiting SD, here are some of the things we did while on our trip.
Day 1: Mimosas and Little Italy
We arrived around 11a on Friday and immediately grabbed brunch at Werewolf. They make fresh fruit puree mimosas. I had the blood-orange mimosa - so good! After brunch, we walked around downtown, eventually grabbing gelato in this cute little shop in Little Italy.
Blood orange mimosas at Werewolf.
Gelato in Pappalecco in Little Italy, San Diego.
For dinner, we headed to King & Queen Cantina which came highly recommended by my buddy and entrepreneurial inspiration, Charles Lew. If you visit, definitely get the agua vida mezcal cocktail and the chicken taquitos with 3 dipping sauces- yuummmm. We ended the night at this amazing rooftop bar called Kettner Exchange. I got the Stone Blossom cocktail, and switched out the whiskey for pisco. DELISH.
Agua vida mezcal at King & Queen Cantina.
Day 2: Biking and Comedy Show
We started the day by grabbing pressed juices at Cafe Gratitude. When you are in San Diego, you have to visit this spot. We visited it twice in four days, if that tells you anything.
Then we headed to Ocean Beach to grab the world-famous mahi mahi fish tacos at South Beach Bar & Grille. Then did some shopping and got a couple of beers at Pizza Port. If you're into beer, definitely check them out.
Yummy juice from Cafe Gratitude.
After beers, we rented bikes and biked around the area. If it had been a clear day, we would’ve gone surfing. But, since I’m not a strong swimmer, we decided to bike instead. Which was super fun! Before returning the bikes, we checked out this super nifty, space-inspired, kaleidescope bar called Kilowatt.
Delicious mimosas at South Beach Bar and Grille.
For dinner, we visited Cafe Istanbul. They have a Turkish and Meditteranean inspired cuisine- sooo good. We loved the Lamb Sis Kebab and the Lamb Doner Shawarma plate. After dinner, we checked out a comedy show at American Comedy Co. Drew Michael was the stand-up comedian and he was HILARIOUS!
We finished the night with a night cap at the Cloak & Petal bar. It’s a beautiful, upscale Japanese lounge that plays 90s hip-hop music. I got the Cloak Cup Julep because pisco and lavendar sounded divine. It was good, but had way too much ice. Nick’s drink, called Japanese to English with a sesame infused iwai Japanese whiskey, was a Japanese style Manhattan and it was A-mazing. This bar has two breathtaking orchid trees behind the bar and the interior design is stunning.
Day 3: Hiking and Live Jazz
We started the day at Lofty Coffee, a beautiful open-air coffee shop before heading to Torrey Pines for a hike. The hike was more crowded than we are used to, but definitely worth it. The views were incredible.
The views were incredible at Torrey Pines.
For lunch, we ate at the Shorehouse Kitchen. There’s a reason why this spot has almost five stars, and nearly 1,000 reviews on Yelp. The maple fried chicken sandwich was HEAVEN in my mouth and the buttery buscuit was such a naughty treat after reducing my gluten intake for the last eight weeks. The fresh-squeezed grapefruit mimosa was the perfect pairing.
Maple fried chicken at Shorehouse Kitchen.
Then we headed to Balboa Park for the evening. We stumbled upon a live jazz band playing in Panama 66, and feasted on a cheese platter with a couple of glasses of wine to enjoy the live entertainment. Before calling it a night, we grabbed a Lyft to the Blind Burro for a late-night Mexican food snack.
Delicious cheese platter at Panama 66.
Day 4: Museums and Ice-Cream
It was supposed to rain this day, so we went back to Balboa Park to check out the museums.We started the day at Cafe Gratitude with the chickpea quiche and the pulled mushroom salad.
Chickpea quiche from Cafe Gratitude.
Then we grabbed a Lyft to Balboa Park and purchased the museum ticket for the Museum of Man and the Cannibals museum. Wow! What an eye-opening experience. Definitely check it out to learn more about how racism came to be and misconceptions of other cultures. There was also an area devoted to the history of beer...which Nick loved. Of course.
Balboa Park is so beautiful!
When we got back to the hotel, we still had time to spare before heading to the airport. We had passed the Salt & Straw ice-cream shop a couple of nights beforehand, and it had a line wrapped around the street. So we decided to check it out. I got the vegan chocolate hazelnut fudge and Nick got the peanut butter stout. OMG. SOOOOO good.
Vegan chocolate hazelnut fudge gelato from Salt & Straw.
Money reflection from our weekend getaway in San Diego:
After each trip, Nick and I sit down and total how much we spend during our trips. And talk about ways we could have spent our money differently.
We ended up spending a total of $930 on this trip - that included the flight, hotel, food, drinks, Lyft rides, bike rental, museum tickets...everything. We definitely saved money on the flight and the hotel, spending $306. Personally, I would like to stay at a fancier hotel, but the hotel’s location in Little Italy was perfect. When you go, be sure to stay in Little Italy because you can walk to a ton of places and it’s a really cute area.
The bike rentals and museum tickets cost $80. And our Lyft rides were about $100. The comedy show ended up being free with a two drink order minimum. So, the majority of our money was spent on food and drinks.
Next time, we’ll probably spend less on food and drinks, and more on activities such as surf lessons and gear.
Money tips for your weekend getaway in San Diego:
Talk to each other how about you want to spend your money in San Diego-is it on food & drinks, activities or a combination of both? You can use the Travelator to help you budget your trip.
Do you want to stay in a lavish hotel? I highly recommend staying in Little Italy, which can accommodate almost any budget.
Calculate how much you spent on previous trips to determine your budget for San Diego. Maybe $1,000 for four days is realistic for you, or maybe it’s more or maybe it’s less. If you don’t know how much you’ve spent on previous trips, then use your San Diego getaway to determine what is realistic for you all. Remember, it’s not about how much you spend. It’s about being mindful of your purchasing and reflecting on it after the trip.
Get into the habit of saving up for your trip! For us, we know we’ll probably spend around $1,000 for a 4-day getaway or about $500 for a 2-day getaway. So, we’ve gotten in the habit of building our savings accounts in chunks of $500. I am really loving Radius Bank's hybrid checking account for building up your savings account balance. It has a .85% APY*, which is by far one of the highest interest rates for checking accounts within the United States.
After the trip, set aside thirty minutes to review all of your purchases and reflect on your choices. Do the purchases still feel good? In the future, what will you do differently? Talk these out with your beloved or write them down in your money journal.
Now, I’d love to hear from you! What travel plans do you have for this year?
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This post was in partnership with Radius Bank.
*Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is accurate as of 01/04/2018. Minimum amount to open account is $10.00. Rate tiers are as follows: 0.00% APY applies to balances of $0.01-$2,499.99, and 0.85% APY applies to the entire balance on balances of $2,500 or more. Rates may change after account is opened. Fees may reduce earnings
