Hi Reader!

Happy New Year!

It’s been a little while since I last wrote, so I wanted to say hello and check in. How were your holidays?

Ours were busy in the best possible way. My siblings and their families visited and were all together for the holidays.

Our group of 14 drove down to Southern California and visited San Diego, Los Angeles, and Universal Studios. We picked the one week when it decided to rain, of course, but we still had a lot of family fun, along with a fair amount of chaos, which is expected with a big group.

Here’s one from our Universal day, when we were hit by the worst weather, rain and all.

I was excited to try the new Mario Kart ride, but it was just ok for me, not as good as some of the other rides at Universal. A new Fast and Furious roller coaster ride is expected to launch in 2026, which has my teens all excited to go back.

And this was the view from our vacation rental in La Jolla, San Diego.

We saw beautiful Pacific coast sunsets right from the deck, and La Jolla Cove and the village area were really nice. It’s a great spot for a weekend getaway.

If either of these places is on your travel list, I have a couple of posts that might help:

➡️20 Tips to Maximize Your Time at Universal Studios Hollywood​

➡️ Top 19 Things to do in San Diego​

I’ll be back next month with more travel stories and inspiration. Just wanted to say hello and wish you a great start to the new year.

PS: Destination Checkoff home page got a little refresh over the holidays. If you have not stopped by in a while, take a peek and let me know what you think!

Affiliate Disclosure: If you book through the links below, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, for which I am very grateful!

Are you planning a trip soon?

• Hotels - I recommend Expedia / Booking.com​
• Vacation Rentals - I recommend VRBO​
• Tours/Experiences - I recommend Viator​

Until next time,

Anu Agarwal (she/her)

Travel Blogger and a Nine-to-Fiver

​DestinationCheckoff.com, MyCaliforniaTravels.com​

PS: ​You received this email because you signed up on our website :)