Conferences is something the both of us look forward to. Rather than flying between where be both live, we are treated to an all-expenses paid trip (well, mainly just S.O. and most of it is paid for by work) to a new city. The best thing is that I get to tag along and we only need to book my flight out of pocket. It’s a great little vacation that we can take without breaking the bank.

However, on the days that S.O. needs to actually be at the conference I needed to figure out how I was going to spend my day; alone. Some people dread travelling alone and exploring by themselves but it was truly a lovely experience for me to get out of my comfort zone. Truthfully, i’m glad our first ACP conference was in San Diego this year, which made it easier to justify going on a short trip to LA prior to driving down together for the actual conference days. The conference centre was across the street from the main strip so if S.O. did not want to have lunch at the conference we would be able to have our lunches together which was quite nice.

Furthermore, this would be our first trip together as a couple and there were lots of learning experiences. Like for example, trying to find and explore new cafes and eateries in the city. We also learned that we both did not like DTLA and would rather be located in an area like Irvine (where we stayed with a friend) which was a bit more on the quiet side of the State. If we were to move back to the west coast someday, I would definitely place Irvine or Newport Beach on the top of our list.

Sadly, 15 days went by really quickly and I was back in beautiful British Columbia before I knew it. Living the reality of having a job as a real estate development accountant and having bills to pay. On a happier nope, we celebrated our one year anniversary early! So this trip was definitely a highlight!