san diego

When in San Diego, you go to the beach!

San Diego Beaches - Mission, Pacific, Coronado, La Jolla etc

Also, don't forget to vist the famous Black Beach!

Black Beach

I presume that money is something of an issue here, so I'm not going to tell you to rent a car and drive. But I'm also going to presume that you don't want to take a bus, which will be a lot less comfortable and probably not a lot cheaper anyway, although I might be wrong about that.

Take L.A.'s light rail ("the green line") to Union Station. From there, you can do one of the following:

1. Take Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner train to San Diego.

2. Take a Metrolink's Orange County line to Oceanside. At Oceanside, transfer to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's Coaster train.

I believe (but could be wrong) that option #2 will take longer but be cheaper. You'll have to look up the fares.

As far as places to live, I'd suggest making inquiries with your new employer. You can also check Craig's List. As for what to do in San Diego, that's too broad a question. You need to buy a guidebook. Also check local free newspapers, such as the San Diego Reader.

Correction: "What to do" is too broad a question for me to answer, but maybe others here will want to do it.

Yep, you can take the LAWA Flyaway Bus from LAX to Union Station downtown, where you can catch a train to San Diego.

From LA, you can take the train to SD cheaply. Goes from Union Station in LA to downtown SD in a bit over 2 hours. I'm not sure how much it is now, it used to be $20 one way. I'm sure it's gone up, but I can't imagine it's over $30.

While in SD, there are soooo many things to do. Hiking, swimming, biking, playing volleyball on the beach, going out in La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, the Gaslamp, Old Town, and Hillcrest. I think you may also be there when the race meeting is under way at Del Mar Racetrack, which is good for an afternoon. They also used to have free Friday afternoon concerts at the track. Opening Day is a huge event, if you can score a ticket, definitely go. The zoo is located within a huge park with many museums, and there is also a frisbee golf course that is loads of fun. Make sure to go to a baseball game at the Padres' new stadium.

If you like sushi, or if you develop a taste for it there, you are in luck. SD has some fantastic sushi, very fresh fish. One of my favorite sushi places is Sushi on the Rock on Girard Ave. in La Jolla. Innovative rolls, not cheap, but mighty tasty. Speaking of fresh fish, you really should take a half day or 3/4 day fishing trip - boats leave from Point Loma early early in the morning. Loads of fun, and you keep what you catch - they'll clean it and gut it for a small fee on the boat.

Take a day or a weekend and head down to Baja California. Skip Tijuana and head for Puerto Nuevo (the specialty here is rock lobster restaurants), Rosarito Beach, or further down to Ensenada. Tecate is also within 6 hours, or San Felipe is fun on the Sea of Cortez side.

Good lord, that almost sounds like I enjoyed my 5 years in SD.

The problem with Green Line is that it doesn't actually go to the airport. You have to take a Metro Bus to the "LAX Transit Station," which is a few miles away from the airport. That's what happens when you have the auto lobby designing your public transport system.

Turkish Airlines has agreements with American Airlines. You can fly THY to New York, then American, nonstop, to San Diego. If you fly THY to Los Angeles, the same thing will happen--you will fly to New York and then to LA. You can also fly THY to Chicago and then fly from Chicago to San Diego.

You might want to contact the Association of Turkish Americans of Southern California, San Diego for help in finding a cheap place to stay. They also have periodic get togethers if you feel homesicjk and just want to find someone who speaks Turkish. They are workign on a program for "establishing and maintaining a house in the International Cottage area in Balboa Park, San Diego. This house will be a location, where we, as the Turkish Community in San Diego, can display the diversity and richness of the Turkish culture, country, and its people." Balboa Park is where the Zoo is located, so you might be intersted in this.

I'm going to do a FAQ entry on this one. I already ran across my first error. You take the green line to the blue line, and the blue line to downtown L.A.

OP, if you can find a way to fly straight to San Diego that's the best way to do it. I was answering your question as if you were definitely flying into LAX.