Where do I even begin? If you're travelling to San Diego, stay in Ocean Beach.

Emily's beach cottage is lovely. When I booked there weren't as many pictures up of the place online but I liked the conversations Emily and I had about her place and I took a chance and booked it.

Mine and my SO's requirements for rental were:
- beach
- parking
- laundry
- internet
- cable tv
- space (space for the two of us to exist doing separate things)

We arrived late and there was a little confusion with the lock box and the keys. Luckily one of our phones worked and Emily had texted us the updated code. Once we were in it was EXACTLY like the pictures.

The kitchen is beautiful. The flow and layout of the home is very comfortable. I hadn't seen the bedrooms or the full second bathroom in the pictures so I was really happy/relieved they were good sizes with nice floor to ceiling closet mirrors.

Both bathrooms are really nice too. The main bathroom has a big tub and spacious feel (..then again I'm 5'1, but my SO is 6'1 and he says it was good too) and everything is new and updated. It shares a door into the second smaller bedroom.

The backyard has thick luscious grass... something I didn't see much of anywhere else.

Parking was a huge back lot.

Her neighbours were polite and quiet.

Emily was super helpful and informative. A superb host. I had many questions and she had many answers re: food shopping, restaurants (vegetarian), local events, and even came by to personally fix the insinkerator when I accidentally jammed it.

Emily left condiments (and wine! so good after entire day of travel!!) in the fridge for us which was so helpful because who wants to buy ketchup mustard and the whole shabang when they're on vacation for only 2 weeks, and are eating out almost every night.

Also, the fridge makes ice, pre-crushes ice for you, and distributes filtered water. All very pleasing luxuries.

There was a dishwasher with dishwashing detergent which was also really great.

The organic garden was yummy. We roasted an eggplant from the garden. I loved the fig shrub in the backyard.

The only thing that caught me off guard were the planes which, as stated, start between 6-8am and fly over 'til 9-11pm, some are very loud. After the first week we didn't really notice them as much. Even though they do start so early, the Ocean Beach community has adapted and Newport Ave (the main drag) is awake and happening at at 8am (questionably earlier?) with variety of breakfast places and shopping.

Ok I'll stop now and let you go experience it for yourself because I could go on and on about how wonderful my experience was in Ocean Beach and I believe having wonderful accommodations and a wonderful hospitable host helped make it that way.