Day 5 – Part 2 – California Academy of Sciences

After Alcatraz, it was time for a visit to a place I was really excited to go to – California Academy of Sciences. This is a Contiki Optional, but surprisingly, not many people were interested in going. This was one of the optionals that I knew I wanted to do even before our trip started, and luckily Ash and Sam decided they were keen to visit too.

The Academy is located in Golden Gate Park – we had to take a taxi to get here because it seemed too complicated to get there with public transport. Be warned that getting a taxi out front of the Academy after you finish is near impossible!

Day 5 – Part 1 – Alcatraz

I’m gonna break this post into two parts, because I did a lot on this day!

The first part is going to be about Alcatraz. This is not something that Contiki offers, so we had to book this well in advance (you have to book for the specific day and the specific time and it usually books out weeks in advance). We booked our tickets through Alcatraz Cruises – it’s the only official website to book tickets through. We booked the Early Bird tour so that we would have time to do something else on the same day.

Day 2 – San Diego Zoo

For the second day in Los Angeles, I actually left the city and fulfilled one of my bucket list items by visiting San Diego Zoo. It was a free day for us on the Contiki, with no planned activities. This was the day where people who chose the Universal Studios optional went there. Some people also went to Warner Bros Studios for their studio tour. But for me, it had to be San Diego Zoo. Two of the other girls on Contiki (Courtney and Sam) and myself had pre-booked a tour which included transportation from our hotel to San Diego Zoo and back. It was about a 2 and a half hour trip down there but I had always wanted to visit San Diego Zoo. And it was well-worth it.