1.  Traffic wasn’t awful, but the street names are horribly similar. If you’re going to be driving, make sure you know the exact street names.  In particular, La Jolla loves to use street names like “La Jolla Rd.” and “La Jolla Drive” and “La Jolla Colony.” My brother would like to add that “traffic in the areas around the convention will be nightmarish.”

2.  Pretty much every hotel room in town is already booked up for the convention. (According to the concierge at my hotel, they’ve been booked for about 6 weeks now).  At this point, your best option is to look at rooms outside of SD proper.

3.  California’s restaurant chains are beyond bad. I’d recommend hitting independent restaurants sooner rather than later.  In particular, I’d recommend staying away from Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr., In-and-Out Burger and California Pizza Kitchen.   Rubio’s was okay, I suppose.

4.  Best cheap non-convention attractions: I really enjoyed the Maritime Museum and the beaches.  Also, a boating trip through the bay was unexpectedly the highlight of my trip because we saw a ton of fireworks and the USS Nimitz in port.  (Did you know San Diego has bridges big enough for an aircraft carrier to fit under?  Yeah…)

5.  I was underwhelmed by the San Diego Zoo. Parking was nuts,  admission was $35 and the only attraction I would recommend is the sea-lion show.
TRAINER:  Do you think this sea-lion knows what a shark looks like?  He’s never seen one before.

KID ON-STAGE:  No way!

*The loud-speakers suddenly start playing the Jaws theme*.  The sea-lion hit the deck and put one of his fins up, making him look just like a shark.  Haha!

If you have that much money to spend, I’d recommend something like Sea World instead.

6.  San Diego’s drivers are fairly dangerous. On the plus side, it was more like “I’m kind of blind” than “I’m trying out for NASCAR!”

7.  Wash your hands, especially if you go to the beach. Three members of our wedding party got swine flu.

Okay, that’s enough travel advice for one lifetime. I’m excited to get back to superhero writing advice.