Travel Log: San Diego - Outlet Malls

Bobbi's big day of commerce utopia in an outdoor outlet mall has come and gone, and the whole experience has been very educational for me. I must say this vacation has broken down a number of misconceptions for me, and today I've made a few observations.

1) People round here sure love their bluetooth cell headsets. They are everywhere. I'm expecting kids will have them soon. They still look silly to me.

2) In the environment of an outdoor mall off the highway, it is EASY for a consumer to lose track of their spending and get out of control.

I'd watch these shows where these unfortunate souls are near bankruptcy because of their wild and carefree spending and figure they were just idiots who deserved to be heavily in debt, but I'm beginning to understand how this commonly happens. You head out to an outlet mall, the focus is generally on what you're saving by getting stuff FACTORY DIRECT (ha!) and if you're like me, you make a few trips back to the car to drop off the stuff you've been lugging about: a reset button for your shopping capacity. It's efficient, but easy to get out of hand. I found myself adding up receipts to make sure a whopper of a shock wasn't going to be waiting for me at the end of the day, and it kept my spending under control... but I sympathize a bit better for those who aren't as disciplined. (They still have to face the music, and they only have themselves to blame... but I understand it now.)

3) A full day on your feet of shopping can actually make your mind soft: Bobbi considers herself VERY lucky because when we were finally leaving the mall, it got dark and a jet black 4x4 pulled up behind us (rather stealthily I'll admit) and then the driver cut the engine and hopped out of the truck. We backed up real slow and gave it a bump. There was no damage, not even a scrape and the driver of the truck was super-cool about it, but the idea of the paperwork on a rental car was a fairly unsavoury notion.

4) Outlet mall fast food doesn't have to be garbage... and sometimes it isn't. We actually can't believe how good the meals were that we had for a modest fee. Sushi for lunch, Burritos for dinner... and really, surprisingly good. Why wouldn't you shop this way if you could do so anytime you wanted? (Well, ask our feet why not, and you'll get a different answer.)

Anyway, thanks again to those checking in with us... and those checking in on our cat... you know who you are... it's appreciated.

Adios!

P.S. As per usual, I wound up making more purchases than Bobbi... but then I'm not as choosy and let price guide me most of the time.

P.P.S. Despite her best efforts, Bobbi's sunglasses remain in her possession. She's left them in a shop no less than three times this week, it'll be a miracle if they make it to Toronto soil.