Our son is stationed in Hawaii (yes, tough duty) and just returned from the 'Stan. He planned his block leave with a trip to the West for snowboarding and then met us in Carlsbad for a mini-reunion afterward. We spent a week at this nice home near the coast. We love to travel, have visited SDO before, and we love it. We are middle aged and still working, and our son is 27 and single...
- Neighborhood/location - right off I-5 in beautiful subdivision... Within 5-10 mins of many shopping places/restaurants, including many grocery stores. Within 10-15 minutes of great local eating places. Home/kitchen was great, but we ate out 90% of time. Almost all of those meals were NOT chain restaurants...btw, no noise - area is very quiet
- Extended Area - loved SDO zoo, Stone Brewery/Restaurant in Escondido, The Del Coronado, Old Town, and a favorite, we walked the beach several times... The Batiguitas Lagoon trail is great for walking, and running (my son), and All of the little hole in the wall restaurants from Swami's, Los Olas, to Hodad's in Ocean Beach, and upscale Mexican like Casa de Bandini...
- landlords - Great - lots of help and interface on all issues before arrival, AND, now in closing all the details -
- The Home - lots of room and bathroom space - this is a home, well-decorated for a family, not a Hilton. Very clean, and extremely well equipped... And, This is a positive, they have rules to help manage the property and protect themselves - - I liked this !!! You know it will end up as a great experience with the owners. It was ready on time, with a fresh sprucing up of the yard.
- welcome unexpected pleasures - HD tv, with tons of channels to end the day - WIFI ! - automatic lighting in the driveway and by the front door - a check-in primer with everything from directions for trash day, washing machine instructions, to Wifi login. Even have beach towels stacked up in the garage - - also the hot tub looked great, but we aren't really hot tub types - we were briefed on how to use it, and it looked clean and neat.
YES, a homey environment, and, a 5-star experience !!