Travel: Santa Barbara!

After leaving Monterey, the next stop on our California road trip was Santa Barbara. This was literally a brief overnight visit to break up the car journey on the way to Hollywood. I wish that we had more time in Santa Barbara as the whole place was totally up my street. As a gorgeous little costal town, I loved finally being able to visit a beach and although I didn't get to swim in the sea the whole place was stunning. 

Hotel

Lets just say, the hotel that we stayed in was unlike anything I have ever stepped foot in before. I kind of thought I knew what to expect but I was way wrong. Booking through a travel agency meant that we didn't have much choice in the hotels, which came in favour here as I know for a fact we would never have booked into it. The Fess Parker Doubletree Hilton was a stones throw from the beach front. Infact if we were lucky enough to have a room in the front of the hotel we would have been able to see the beach from the balcony. The moment we arrived was the moment we realised how out of place we were in the hotel. (When arriving we walked in at the same time as a glamorous lady tip to toe in Chanel walking a poodle in a tutu. Yeah, it happened!) After checking in we were handed three cookies before being shown to our suite which was huge. Such a shame we were only here for one day! The room itself was pretty basic apart from the size. We were only paying for the room so I can't comment on food, but the onsite Starbucks had everything you needed from snacks to hot drinks! The freebies from the hotel were pretty amazing though! 

What to do?

Unfortunately seeing as we were only in Santa Barbara as a stop off on the way to Hollywood, how glam does that sound!, we didn't actually do much. On the day we arrived we took a slow wander down the pier to look off the side for Dolphins as apparently we were in a hot spot for them. After whale and dolphin watching the previous day in Monterey I didn't get my hopes up for seeing them as we had to sail to the middle of nowhere to find them. Ironically we saw 3 chasing the boats into the dock! Wish we had realised this as I wouldn't have gone out on the rocky rocky sea the day before. After a very sugary ice cream and a little look in the souvenir shop we headed straight back to the hotel for a hot drink and chill. The next day we decided to see what the local town had to offer in the form of shops. I basically got all of my shopping done for the trip in this little afternoon. We visited Sephora, Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works amongst others. We also had lunch in the California Pizza Kitchen, a must go place if your ever visiting California! 

Tips & Tricks!

I really wish that we could have stayed longer in Santa Barbara. I would have loved to have sat on the pier and watched the Dolphins again. I was so surprised at how empty it was during the sunset hour! So make sure you bring a coat as it does get chilly! 

I hope you enjoyed this instalment of my California road trip travel diary. I would love to go back to Santa Barbara, although to be honest I wish I could do the whole holiday again! 

Thanks for reading! 

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