We (gf and I) made it to The California Surfer (henceforth known as "The Van") in San Diego on Friday, July 16th 2021.
I wanted to wait til I slept in it to give a thorough review. And so at 7am Saturday, I wrote my thoughts and published them to Facebook. Today is Monday, July 19th 2021 and my thoughts have been updated for accuracy.
It's a vintage high-top van, not much to look at from the outside, so relatively unassuming when you see it. But inside, it is everything pictured and a complete mind-blower!
Super clean inside, smells like a log cabin (obviously, you're surrounded by a ton of wood used to renovate the inside), and it was literally parked in a cozy neighborhood as close to the beach as possible. Literally beach is across the street. it's like... 40 feet.
Meng, the AirBnB host, has DEFINITELY earned his "super host" status. I messaged him with my ETA when I left Phoenix. He dropped a Google map pin at the location of The Van and we found it with relative ease. I was actually fortunate and able to snag the street spot parking right behind it.
I messaged him to verify it was The Van and he verified it was. Gf and I opened the van and immediately started grinning ear-to-ear. The pictures do not do justice to just how deceptively awesome The Van is.
We walked back to my car and messaged Meng and said "The van is f***ing AWESOME 😍😍😍😍". He then called me and asked if there was anything I needed, told me if I'd like it moved he's happy to do so, sent me a metric ton of highly rated places at which to eat nearby and let me know if we needed anything to let him know.
We proceeded to spend time at the beach, got tipsy, walked around and got pizza from a nearby place, drank more, came back to The Van (by way of Uber), and fell asleep.
I'm 5'8, she's 5'4, and we were able to lay stretched out from head to feet pretty comfortably with room to spare, and the bed is ridiculously comfortable considering it's in a van. Like, don't let that last part fool you, even if the bed was in a hotel room, it would be RIDICULOUSLY COMFORTABLE.
We passed out to the sound of rolling, gently crashing waves at around 2AM with very little non-ambient noise so it was like the whole world had a white noise wave sound generator going.
I woke up at 6AM with no alarm to the sound of a seagull, but felt surprisingly rested and again grinning ear-to-ear because I woke up in The Van to the smell of wood cabin and ocean air, stood up and looked outside the windows on the side of the hightop (which are like 7.5 feet in the air) and I saw beach and waves crashing and surfers. I seriously think that was the best sleep I've had in years.
"What about bathrooms? showers? A/C? Privacy? SAFETY?" Well, if you approach it like an experienced camper, and you set your expectations to "camping trip", you won't be disappointed.
There are public restrooms nearby, and public showers as well. If you want to "unload" and shower in a hotel-style bathroom, get a hotel. A/C wasn't an issue. It was 74°F all day in San Diego all weekend and like 68°F at night. I slept on top of the surprisingly luxurious covers and sheets and was generating enough body heat, with the window vents in the high-top portion open, to feel perfectly balanced both nights. She slept under the covers both nights. We both felt we weren't too hot, weren't too cold, didn't wake up sweating or shivering, didn't wake up with the sniffles... We slept phenomenally and woke up feeling great! For reference, I sleep hot (like a furnace if it's above 74°F,) and she sleeps cold (but likes it between 72°F and 74°F).
As for Privacy, paper shades on all the ground-level windows, sun shades on the front, open view at the high-top windows (7 feet above ground). Nobody can see in.
For Safety, a key was provided (it was on the table when I first entered the van). We can lock The Van from the inside and outside, so all of our stuff was secure. Again, the van is VERY unassuming from the outside. I didn't have any issues with people even suspecting to look inside while it was relatively populated outside around sunset. It is very interesting to be relaxing in the van and hear people walking by and chattering about, much like camping in a tent, but with solid walls.
So, was The Van a good idea? HELL YES IT WAS! This is probably the most fun experience I've had in an AirBnB... no, this is the most fun experience I've had staying ANYWHERE.
We left after 3 days and 2 nights in The Van with nothing but extremely high praise. It was definitely my most memorable vacation to date, and not because of the city, food, or beach. It's all thanks to Meng and his California Surfer ("The Van").