Day 1 - Arrival and hotel 🌴

I was told quite last minute about an investigator meeting for one of our new clinical trials coming up in San Diego. I was given less than a 2 week notice to prepare and pack!
My flight was direct from Toronto to San Diego at 9am. It was just over a 5 hour flight, and it went quite smoothly. No delays or issues. However the customs line in Canada was terribly long. I travelled with one of our site’s doctors and he has a NEXUS card, so he flew right past all the line and got in within minutes. Meanwhile I had to wait nearly an hour 🥲
He got in early so he went up to his Air Canada lounge. He was super nice and gave me a guest pass to check it out, even though I only spent about 30 mins there 😭
On the flight, I watched One Battle After Another, which has many Oscar wins! It was really good but very heavy themes.
We landed at about noon and exited immediately. We found our driver and it was smooth after then! They drove us to the hotel and it was so beautiful! Turns out this hotel is a whole resort! They have 9 restaurants onsite and a water park/pool area. We checked in and got our rooms. I settled in mine, it was a big room with a beautiful washroom!
We decided to check out one of the restaurants to have lunch. We opted for one of the sports bars. I got a Philly cheesesteak with truffle fries. The doctor got an angus burger with fries. 🍟
After, he decided to rest a bit in his room before he leaves to meet with a friend. I decided to explore the resort. It was a beautiful day, but very hot and sunny. Apparently they are having an extremely hot spring this year. I was relaxing outside in the shade and chatting with my parents. It was so nice! ☀️
I went to my room to freshen myself up before the meeting dinner. I arrived at the dinner and we were eating outside. I met some study coordinators from Hawaii and Ohio. Most people here are Americans, I believe there is only one other Canadian site here from Montreal.
We all got a glass of champagne and had access to an open bar. 🥂 Our dinner was buffet style. There were 2 types of salads, Mexican rice, pinto beans, chicken, cod and roast beef. Everything was quite good but just a lil bit salty. Dessert there was a berry panne cotta, chocolate pecan tart and a fruit tart. I only had the first two and both were yum!
In the evening, when the sun goes down, it gets quite chilly. I definitely needed my cardigan.
After dinner, I went back to my room, took a nice long shower and headed straight to bed cuz I was so exhausted! I couldn’t stay up past 10:30pm PST since I hadn’t slept since 5am EST. 😴Read more