Two weeks ago we headed wheels up to SoCal to visit some great friends who now call The OC their home. Aside from being so excited to see our friends who we’ve been missing, we immediately fell in love with adorable beachy towns of Orange County! You may be thinking, jeez Orange County, that must’ve been boujee and expensive, but in true style, the trip was, of course Bouj-E on a Budget! To start off, we payed for our flights completely on points (I’ll be doing a whole blog post on travel trips, specifically points coming up!) We flew into Long Beach, opposed to LAX, which I HIGHLY recommend! I thought it would be more expensive, however JFK direct to LAX was the same price as JFK direct to Long Beach and it was much closer! Plus, it is an extremely small airport, which made the travel process super easy and stress free! We were now onto our Vaca in no time after meeting up with our other friends who were flying in from San Fran and with points to spare for the next trip!
Next up, was onto our rental car. Also a very easy process right across the parking lot from baggage claim (again, this airport was so easy and amazing!) For those wondering about the accessibility of the rental car, we opted for a relatively large sedan that we transferred Stath in and out of and fit the wheelchair in the back. We are super grateful for all our friends who assist on our trips all the time with any transfers, stairs or obstacles. All you guys help make our trips possible! Also, if you’re traveling to the southern California area, a rental car is a must. The towns are spread out and there’s a TON of traffic, ubers/lyfts would be a lot of money. Our simple Kia was perfect and affordable and met all of our needs!
Where we stayed!? We chose air B and B for this trip! Because there were 6 of us, it was a great option. I love Air B and B because its very affordable and it lets you access the world in a cheap and safe way! You can filter the price, and from an accessibility point of view, you can also filter to make sure you have a bedroom on the first floor, no stairs, wide enough doorways etc. We use Air B and B a lot, and haven’t had a bad experience! Our Air B and B was centrally located (close to other towns such as Huntington and Laguna), walking distance to the beach in Newport and perfect for our group. The neighborhood was adorable and one of my fav things to do on the trip was to look at all the awesome houses (and wonder what people must do for a living to live in them...seriously what is their secret?!)
What we did!? Since this isn’t a super, super touristy destination, where you’re running around to monuments, museums and my personal fav, walking tours, the majority of our trip was eating and hanging with friends, which anyone who knows me, knows I am not opposed to. Girlfriend likes to eat! Lemme break down some of my favs for you:
Huntington
Our first night there we hit The Bungalow for drinks. An amazing rooftop bar! It was a great spot to catch the sunset over the beach and right across the street from first come, first serve fire pits on the beach! Also accessible with the wheelchair!
We then hit Bahah Sharkees for a casual dinner on the main Huntington Beach strip. This place had really cool surfer dude vibes, delicious Mexican and fishbowls! What’s not to love!? And it was super affordable to boot! I pretty much ate my weight in their amazing chips and salsa #chipsandsalsadiet
Laguna
The second day, we explored Laguna Beach and you know I was lookin' out for LC! ("Alexa Play 'Come Clean' By Hillary Duff")
We started with brunch at the amazingggg Harvest Restaurant at the Ranch in Laguna Beach. The Ranch is a golf resort and spa with accommodations and the brunch and ambiance were to dieeeee. Totally different from the beachy destinations we had been frequenting, The Ranch (which happened to be voted one of National Geographic’s Unique Lodges of The World), is nestled among the mountains and has a total lodge vibe. I loved it! Super cozy and mountainy
We then embarked on a rooftop bar crawl, totes my jam! Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for rooftops and rosè and forget about it if it’s a rooftop with an ocean View (praise hands emoji!!!). My Favs were The Cliff, The Deck and The Rooftop (that’s the name) The views at all of them were amazing and drinks and snacks were reasonably priced! Also they were all handicap accessible!
We then had dinner at what would be my FAVORITE place of the whole trip and one of the most amazing restaurants I’ve ever been! Splashes at Surf and Sand Resort. Located right over the ocean, we watched dolphins swim by as we ate amazingggg food! This was a bit of a splurge, but you could go just for drinks and the amazing view!
Newport
The next day, we started with Lunch at Fig and Olive, another place that was straight out of my dreams! This place was soooo gorge and cozy as we sat by the fire! The food was great and the lunch was relatively priced for the vibes of the place! We then strolled along the beachside cliffs, stopping to gawk at all the gorgeous mansions and scenery, taking pictures at the many look out points along the way. I love these views and you will too!
Later that day, we did my favorite thing of the trip! Rented an electric boat!! This was soooo fun and I can’t say enough great things about this! I booked it thru a company called Newport Fun Tours. You can book small boats up to 12 people, for up to 2 hours and it was SUPER affordable! On weekdays, only 90 bucks total (less than 12 bucks per person with our group of 8 people!) You can not beat this! You can bring whatever food or drink you want on the boat and you can cruise around in the Newport Harbor for a lovely afternoon. They give you a blue tooth speaker and a map and you're off! You actually drive the boat yourself, but the boat only goes 10 mph and you don’t need a boating license! It was such a great experience!
After that we strolled the Newport Harbor area. It is so CUTE! With many restaurants and harborside bars. We got dinner at Zinque right on the harbor!
Our last day of the the trip, we headed to the opposite side of the Harbor and hit up Cannery for lunch. An old school seafood restaurant and it was a perfect way to toast the end of our trip! The Shrimp Pasta was bomb!
Obviously, a HUGE shout-out to our friends who live in California who planned this amazing itinerary! And a huge shout-out to our friends who we visited with who helped with the countless transfers etc! YOU DA REAL MVPS!
Well, now that you’re in the know, go plan your trip!!
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