Southern California

Last fall I spent a week visiting friends in Southern California. I enjoyed mild weather and good times while there.

During my downtime I lounged in the beautiful backyard at my friend’s house.

In the morning I take the short walk down to the beach. I watch surfers catch the waves early in the day. I love all the trails along the beach.

We take a drive out to Coronado Island. We walk along the beach, visit the historical Hotel del Coronado and walk the town a bit.

We later stop at La Jolla Cove and watch the sea lions and birds. If you can stand the smell you could have hours of fun just observing wildlife. Unfortunately some get way too close to the animals which is not cool. We also notice a group of swimmers that swim through the cove as a hobby; I guess dodging the sea lions in the process.

We watch a beautiful sunset and then catch dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the way home.

In the morning we have booked a taping of the Price is Right in Los Angelos. We make the drive from San Diego to try our luck on the show. It is my first time but my accompanying friends have been on two times before. It is a long day but a fun experience. One of my friends may have been picked to be on the show that aired March 17th, 2026 – St Patrick’s Day.

The next day two of us need to connect with nature and walk a trail in town. We end up at a nature center where we do some bird watching. Following the trail takes us to a sidewalk path towards the beach. Our path has taken us a bit out of the way so we call our other friend to come pick us up. While we wait for him we watch surfers in action. Our friend arrives and tells us about some of the local surfers. This is a small town surf community where most people know who everyone is.

On our way back to the house we make a stop at the Golden Lotus Temple to admire the tropical gardens there.

The next day I take a visit to Disneyland but more on that in another post.

Our last day we have delicious breakfast burritos and donuts from VG donuts.

It is a great end to a great trip. My flights home are not so great. I end up flying home during a government shutdown. I get about ten minutes in fancy lounge access before I have to run through the airport to catch an earlier flight because my itinerary keeps getting wrecked in real time. The rush to my flight doesn’t even matter because my connection gets cancelled anyway with no chance of getting home that evening. The one fortunate thing with moderate technology is that I see my flight being cancelled while in flight and I proactively book a hotel in Atlanta for the night since I am not getting home. I am glad I do because people are scrambling to find hotels that are not sold out since numerous other flights are cancelled as well. But at least I am on the east coast, closer to my home.

As a frequent traveler you have to expect a bout of travel drama from time to time.

One bright spot about the terrible travel time is the impressive Atlanta airport art. I chose to walk instead of the shuttle and enjoyed all the art on the way to take the bus to the hotel I booked.

Another highlight to my horrible travel days is the flight I am scheduled on the next morning happens to be the last flight for the captain who is retiring. He has an entourage on the flight celebrating, including his family. Thank goodness this fun flight wasn’t canceled and he was able to take this last flight in a joyful way.

Day 2 Surf Retreat

Today’s surf lesson went much better. I had almost the whole beach to myself. It probably isn’t a great beach for experienced surfers but the waves were just the right size and the ocean bottom is sand so I am not worried about slicing my foot as all the others have done. Where the waves break is shallow so I do land on my knee and twist my ankle but nothing major to report, but ask me tomorrow.

This beach is also cleaner, missing all the trash that existed on the beach yesterday. I am not worried about stepping on a syringe; yes I saw a syringe on the beach yesterday.

I got enough rest and also proactively took pain medicine so I am not uncomfortably sore. I also feel stronger so I have more confidence. Dadi, my instructor, is very patient with me. He found me all the easy waves. I surfed but only for seconds. I did many tries of trying to get up and then falling. I don’t have the balance yet. I am happier more than ever that I scheduled a full week here, even happier that I have a weekend in between my session. After our lesson he showed me some sea turtles that were being protected nearby.

Some retreat signs that tell us the plan each day

When I arrived back at the retreat they were cleaning my room so I took the first dip in the pool. It is nice. I really want a shower but it will do as a temporary substitute. I shower and return to the common area for a very nice lunch. The satay and sauce is amazing, I am happy to have some veggies too. I haven’t been eating too many of those lately.

After lunch I take a siesta of sorts. Web surfing is ok but streaming isn’t good so I give up trying to sneak in a tv show. Soon enough it is time for Yin Yoga, the one I’ve been waiting for. It’s different from the yin yoga Ive done in the past but the concept is the same. Hold deep poses/stretches for 3-5 minutes. At kitten comes up to me at some point to head butt me into the correct form. I notice a finger is strained. I don’t remember injuring it so it must be from overuse holding onto the board today. I am hoping it will be better by tomorrow.

After yoga a group of us rush out for dinner reservations in Canggu. We run a couple errands first but realize the restaurant is further than we thought. The roads are congested with bikes and cars and there are almost zero sidewalks. It is a very scary walk to the restaurant. We are all sweating and relieved when we finally arrive at the place. Grab on the way back is definitely in order. No way we are chilling in town tonight.

I order a nice bowl of hand made noodles with chicken. It’s good and the first dinner I’ve had in two days. There are no restaurants in close walking distance to our place and I’ve been too lazy to take a car or order in so I’ve been sort of fasting in the evening. I like having dinner tonight though.

Tomorrow I head out early for a snorkeling adventure. Wish me luck that the weather is good. It really is the luck of the draw lately.

Back to Bali

I am heading to Bali. My arrival is uneventful and I have a car coming to pick me up. No one asks me for proof of vaccination. The world is healed I guess.

My plans for Lombok and the Gillis didn’t work out as planned so I at the last minute I joined a surf and yoga retreat for 8 days in Canggu (pronounced Chawn-gu not can-ju like I keep erroneously saying). I had tried surfing once before in Bali but the way things worked out I only had one real day of surfing and that was not enough. This time I am staying longer where I get 5 days of surfing lessons. Hopefully by the end I’ll be an official surfer right?

The retreat I am at was on my radar years ago when I came to Bali. I didn’t choose it because the fine print of the retreat has some wording about warning if you can’t keep up with the group or something about holding back others from their lessons. I felt like I wasn’t strong enough and I didn’t want to be a burden so I picked another retreat. This time around I am older, in worse shape, and the wording is still there. The difference is I don’t care anymore. I am going to pay my money and try anyway. I still sort of care what people think about me but maybe not as much as I did before.

This trip is for multiple reasons: to work on bucket list travel, get travel out of my system before returning to work, get out of my comfort zone, and heal. Today I had the feeling of being trapped. That is a scary sensation for me. Most of my life I have felt trapped in one way or another: rocky childhood, trapped by my emotions, trapped by family, trapped by marriage, and trapped by work. For probably the first time in my entire life I don’t feel trapped the majority of the time. In the past it may have been valid but now when it comes it is an irrational fear. Today I arrive at my retreat that I hastily booked and I feel trapped. I am far from town and I feel a little trapped at my location, not unlike my experience at my Silent Retreat a couple years ago (Note: I signed up for the Silent retreat again so there will be an update on how that goes).

Anyway it is just anxiety and the fear of the unknown. I am starting surf lessons again tomorrow. I tried once before and I could have done better. Now I am three years older and less in shape so there is a ton of anxiety around the activity. No sense in worrying about it before there is anything to worry about.

Tomorrow I wake up for breakfast at 6:30 for surf lesson at 7. I have a massage booked at 10:45 (part of my package), lunch at 12 and yoga at 4 (also part of my package). I may head into town for dinner. They run one nightly shuttle at 5:45 on weekdays. Unfortunately it is too far to walk to town otherwise I would use that option instead.

Surf lesson 1

5 of us head out to the beach for our surf lessons varying by skill level. Jack Johnson plays while the windows are down. Jack Johnson must be universal surfer music . I am nervous since this is only my second time trying (first time). I have no idea why I never tried surfing when I was younger. Today wasn’t much better than my first attempt. I bail out of the lesson a little early. I didn’t want to kill my shoulders on the first day when I have 4 more days to try. I am pretty good at riding a wave on my knees though. Just need to learn to stand and balance. Today’s lesson started late due to high tide. Luckily I still get back in time for my massage. I think I am going to need it. At this rate I am not going into town tonight. I think snack and early bed time is in order.

They were filming the group today since they’ve had a few days of practice. My footage is some knee surfing and falling off my board.

Today I am reminded about what I miss now that I no longer stay in hostels. Just to catch you up I am old as can be now, I need good sleep on a regular basis so sharing a room is no longer an option. I need my downtime, I need my alone time. I typically stay in boutique hotels, budget hotels, or any other unique lodging. On a rare occasion I can find a hostel with private rooms I will book it but they tend to be moldy and my sinuses can only handle so much of that. Here at the retreat where I am staying there are good number of women; I guess all lacking the social anxiety that I have so I am meeting lots of nice people. Everyone seems much younger than I but very nice. I’m going to hold off for now telling everyone how old I actually am because at some point do I become the weird old woman? I can’t help that I tend to get involved in activities that young people like to do like this surf retreat. Anyway I’ve already been invited for some weekend snorkeling since we have the weekend off of planned activities. I am hesitant to go but I have to remember there are so many things I don’t do because I’m solo. I should take every opportunity I can to do things with others.

Yoga went better than anticipated. Yes there is lots of sweating and moves I flat out can’t do but that’s normal for me. A good portion of it I could do good enough. I guess I have some muscle memory with yoga. Today is supposed to be the “hard” yoga day. I am glad I got that out of the way.

Tomorrow it looks like I get a solo surf lesson. They are taking me to an easier place. The current and waves are strong where we are today so it takes a good amount of power just to stay out on the water. I am happy that they are chill about my skill level. At the end of all this I may find that surfing is not my thing but I have to give it a try.

Bali Surf Retreat

My bratty moment

After 3 nights sweating it out at the yoga retreat all I want is A/C and coffee.

My car arrives to pick me up from my three night silent retreat and we stop for coffee (canned coffee from convenience store but good enough). I arrive at The Pineapple House in Bali after about an hour’s drive and I am happily greeted by the staff. I am shown to my room and given my schedule: surf lessons at 6:30 am tomorrow and massage at 10 am. I settle into my room to do some travel planning because I am way behind on my bookings (I still have Australia and New Zealand to fully book).

I come out of my room to do laundry since I failed to get any done the past couple days. I also decide on a dip in the pool. Somewhere during my pool time the A/C unit in my room stops working. I play with all the options and it will not come on. The internet also keeps going down so it presents a challenge for using WhatsApp to communicate with the resort staff. I finally get a hold of the staff and they will come fix the A/C. Due to skipping lunch I am very hungry so I head out to walk to get dinner believing the A/C will be fixed while I am out. ~ As a side note I am unable to get money out of the ATM once again~. I need to find a restaurant that accepts credit cards. Indonesia is the only country that has given me ATM problems so far (besides one rogue Cairo atm).

Warning: First world whining alert!!!!

I come back to a hot room again. I am dripping sweat and miserable. I want to cry. I just spent three days sweating at the silent retreat I absolutely cannot do this one more night. I try to contact the staff again but it is late and thus no response. I am so determined to have A/C that I check my Marriott and Hilton apps for nearby hotels because I know that they will have A/C. I find a Sheraton Four Points in the next town over. It is a little more than I want to pay but I don’t care. So I pack it all up, wet laundry and all. I try to call a taxi but they require an Indonesian phone number to order a taxi. I ask how do I get a taxi if I don’t have a local phone and they hang up on me. So I gather all my things and walk out to the street to flag down a taxi. It is 110k Indonesia cab ride. Let’s do this!

I am so wound up so takes me a while to get to sleep but I eventually do and I don’t know what my plans are for the next few days but I’ll figure it out later…..

The next morning I get a message from the retreat owner. They are very sorry for the miscommunication and are asking to remedy the issue. They even offer to refund for the night. It is a beautiful place to stay, besides the A/C mishap the night before, and they do a great job trying to make sure I am happy. I pack up and return.

I am given a new room on the bottom floor. I don’t have the same view as the other one but my room is bigger, as is the bathroom. Plus the AC works in the new room !!! (I feel like such a prima donna as I write this now but at the time it seemed really important to have that A/C. I believe that if I didn’t just come from a silent retreat I probably would have just dealt with the heat as a normal travel inconvenience for the night).

I missed my surf lesson for the day but I am back in time for my massage. The retreat includes a yoga class but I choose to hang out at the pool instead and later walk to dinner.

What is a sidewalk? Dodging traffic while walking to restaurant.

The next morning I get up early for my surf lesson. I grew up in central Florida and spent a good amount of childhood at the beach. For some reason I never thought I had the skills to be a surfer and thus never tried (have boogie boarded though and tried wind surfing a time or two). In Canggu Bali I am going to learn to surf. My instructor picks me up on his motorbike to drive me to the beach. Side note: This is the first time I rode a motorbike during my travels. I have been avoiding it due to fear. Rides on motorbikes are so much cheaper than in taxis. I figure today is good as any other time so I hopped on back. It is scary at first but I didn’t die so I guess everything is fine.

I am given a wetsuit shirt to wear and a board. My instructor give me a beach lesson first. He is great and very patient with me. I can tell surfing will be a challenge for me due to being 1. out of shape and 2. my shoulders are torn up for incorrectly carrying my backpack around for months. Eventually he gets me out on the water. The waves seem to be perfect for learning but I am a mess. I catch a couple waves but lose my confidence and lose the wave or I just flat out wipe out. My shoulders are exhausted for the effort. By the time my lesson is over I caught about two to three waves about at a standing position (the first time super shaky, second time basically surfing on my knees, and third time I purposely wipe out because I believe I am going to take out another surfer). I am worn out. I could come back tomorrow and probably actually surf but I know my body will reject it due to fatigue. I wish I would have booked more days so I could have a recovery day. I vow I am going to pick up my lessons again when I return home (Note: It is 9 months out from that trip and I still haven’t.)

I return to my retreat where an amazing smoothie bowl is awaiting me, plus coffee. Oh how I love coffee!

My arms are beat from my morning surf lesson so I skip yoga again. Oh how I wish I was in better shape in preparation for my retreats! I spend the rest of the day hanging by the pool and catching up with travel bookings.

I go out and get another great meal at the highly rated Ulekan.

GADO GADO – STEAMED VEGETABLES, ORGANIC EGG, TEMPEH, PEANUT SAUCE, PRAWN CRACKER

AYAM LALAPAN – FRIED CHICKEN MARINATED IN LEMONGRASS & GARLIC WITH TRIO OF SAMBAL

I sleep well that night and wake up for one more delicious breakfast.

I am heading to Ubud today to really work on relaxing!