Aircraft carrier USS Midway is now a museum in San Diego. Photo / 123RF
Aircraft carrier USS Midway is now a museum in San Diego. Photo / 123RF
Top Gun suddenly feels real for Shandelle Battersby onboard an aircraft carrier in San Diego.
My Top Gun moment came halfway through a self-guided tour of aircraft carrier the USS Midway at San Diego's Navy Pier.
I'd made my way up to the flight deck to clamber into the cockpit aboard one of the now-museum's preserved fighter jets in situ. Perched up there in the surprisingly small plane, I eyed up that compact runway and felt a rush of nostalgia for Maverick, Goose and co, the main players in the iconic 80s film about a group of hotshot pilots at a naval training school for the elite.
That film was set in San Diego, a major centre for United States' military forces, which is the actual location of the real Top Gun school. Really big fans of the flick can head along to the nearby Kansas City Barbeque to see where the famous Great Balls of Fire scene was filmed.
My visit to the Midway was an optional excursion during The Californian, a coach tour with Trafalgar giving a taste of the best of the state from San Diego in the south to San Francisco in the north. We'd dropped some of our group off at the world-famous San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, and the rest of us headed for the Midway via an informative and funny harbour cruise of San Diego Bay with Flagship Cruises, narrated by a former Marine.
We got a good gawk at the Navy's fleet - from amphibious vessels to hospital ships - as we cruised southwards, passing where the Navy Seals train and sailing under the impressive boomerang-shaped Coronado Bay Bridge.
The Midway served for a record 47 years, including in the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War before moving to Navy Pier in 2004 for a second life as a permanent museum.
A visit to the ship is enlivened by personal snippets from past occupants which form part of the complimentary audio tour.
"The air was so thick with cigarette smoke you could barely see the screens in the movie room," says one.
"Next to the engineering department, one of the most thankless jobs on the ship is being a laundryman ... there is no one who is satisfied with the product they get from you," says another.
A mannequin aboard the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum. Photo / Shandelle Battersby
The ship was designed to carry 3600 sailors but up to 4500 were regularly crammed in. It really was a city at sea.
The ship's exhibits show it exactly as it was in its active years, so you can view areas such as the living quarters, medical areas, the unwelcoming brig and engine rooms. At the onboard shop, you could buy a bar of soap for 10c or a cigar for 50c; at the Chow Line you could order chipped beef followed by cherry cobbler. During wartime the canteen ran 24 hours a day, serving up to 13,000 meals.
The space the sailors occupied was very tight. At an average age of 19, the sailors had just a small space under their mattresses for personal effects.
Apart from the dated mannequins (there's even one in the shower - wearing a towel), the museum is well done and interesting, even for a military history newbie. It's worth noting there is a lot of clambering up and down steep stairways in the bowels of the ship, though there are a couple of elevators if you need them.
Our day in San Diego had kicked off with a city tour from our base in the historic Gaslamp Quarter on a rare rainy day - California's southernmost city and the state's birthplace, boasts more than 300 sunny days each year.
It's hard to imagine over 1.3 million people live here, mostly because the city feels compact, with the airport, port and CBD reasonably close together. Free bikes, city trolleys and buses make it simple and cheap to get around.
Settled by Spanish Franciscan friar Junipero Serra in 1769, San Diego is just half an hour from Tijuana, Mexico, which means you'll find Spanish and Mexican influences pervading everything, from the fantastic food to the melting pot population to the beautiful architecture.
The military tribute to Bob Hope on the Embarcadero. Photo / 123RF
Our tour began on the Embarcadero so we could take in the nearly 8m-tall full-colour statue version of Unconditional Surrender, the famous photo by Albert Eisenstaedt in New York's Times Square on VJ Day, 1945, and a moving interactive military tribute to Bob Hope. A bronze statue of the entertainer holding a microphone is surrounded by 15 figures representing servicemen from the different conflicts that occurred during Hope's career, as jokes burst forth from surrounding speakers.
An afternoon visit to San Diego's Old Town, site of the first of the state's 21 Spanish missions, was to prove an important starting point for our journey north along California's coast.
Now a state historic park, the Old Town has been well preserved and you can wander down its streets among "living history interpreters" dressed up in ye olde clothes, making horseshoes, spinning wool and writing with quills. There are several museums and many colourful shops selling handcrafted art and gifts and authentic food in its lovely grounds which are heaving with cacti and native plants.
As we rolled out of the Old Town on our way to our next stop, travel director Mary handed around some churros (Mexican-style doughnuts) so we could experience the local culture with our taste buds as well as our eyes. I planned to do a lot more of that as we made our way north.
CHECKLIST
Getting there: Hawaiian Airlines flies from Auckland to LA via Honolulu. From there, LuxBus can get you to San Diego in three hours for $90. Hawaiian Airlines also offers direct flights from Hawaii to San Diego.
Details: Entry to the USS Midway is about $30 for adults or about $27 if you book online.
Trafalgar's 11-day The Californian guided holiday takes in San Diego and Los Angeles plus San Francisco, Paso Robles, Monterey and Yosemite.
