About
JUNVI OLA, Founder and writing maven
VeitPhotography.com
Tell us about yourself:
I recently grabbed the bull by its horns and quit my full-time job to start my own copywriting business catering to hotels, restaurants and all other businesses that play in the tourism market. I’m a theatre-lover, wanna-be camper and an unabashed fan of coffeeshops, Thai and Lebanese food, and all things shabby chic.
Pedal Pushing on San Diego Bay
You’ll find me teetering around on my bike, sampling fresh fruit at farmers markets, browsing book stores, lingering over a glass of moscato, and scouring thrift shops for cool finds for my place. Above all, I perk up when I come across something you can do for free and I race (pedal quickly) home to tell y’all about it.
Why did you start Diego on a Dime?
Lost in Spoleto, I love our goofy faces in this photo.
A little while back, my friend and I quit our jobs to travel. Without income and living off just our savings (not to mention the painful exchange rate), we had to be savvy with every cent. We rented apartments, rather than pricey cramped hotel rooms. We shopped at the neighborhood markets to buy food and local wine and cooked meals at ‘home’.
And most importantly, we read up on free or almost free things to do in each city, like a waterfall hike that led into grassy fields and a forest in Ebenau, Austria or a free olive oil tasting and food pairing dinner in Spoleto, Italy. With all the authentic local experiences I racked up, I never felt richer. Because of our fiscal creativity, I was able to splurge on other things – a daily crepe and croissant obsession in France, my favorite red coat from Treviso, fancy dinners in Porto, Graz, and Avignon; and impulse buys at every H&M I ran into.
Upon returning home with a nearly empty wallet, I asked “Why can’t I do that in San Diego?” I was born to bustle and depleted funds weren’t going to anchor me indoors. I knew I could put to practice back home what I did abroad and enjoy big experiences on a small budget.
Now during these recession-crazy months, I’ve become adept at knowing where to spend smarter – or not at all – in San Diego so I can point my friends in the right direction. Knowledge is power and with the info from this site you can still live a full life without the empty wallet.
Show us that you practice what you preach. What are your Top 10 favorite FREE or ALMOST FREE things to do in San Diego?
Shoot, now you have me cornered. It’s like asking who my favorite sibling is (Well, I only have one sister. But that’s neither here, nor there, because it’s still a difficult question to answer!) Just know that my favorite free activities change with every season, every week, and honestly, whenever I feel like it.
1. Working out every Sunday morning with Charity Workouts, San Diego’s only donation-only bootcamp benefiting a local charity.
At the La Jolla Tidepools with Bella, my four-legged niece
2. Slowly savoring my favorite cheap eat – a colorful Mexican fruit salad topped with cottage cheese, honey and granola (Sold for $5 at frutterias, such as North Park’s Senor Mangos. You’ll find me there at least once a week).
3. Peering down into La Jolla from atop Mount Soledad.
4. Eyeing the art and eating the appetizers at the evening artwalks throughout the county.
5. Driving into Cuyamaca, camping at Paso Picacho and climbing up Stonewall Peak.
Resting after a 2-mile climb up Stonewall Peak
6. Volunteering for the abandoned pups with the Pit Bull Rescue San Diego.
7. Buying half-off rush tickets to see a play, or even better, taking advantage of any theater-sponsored ‘pay what you can’ nights! (Does that count as one or two favorites?)
8. Summer movies in the park (movies are just so much better outdoors, don’t you think?)
9. Poking around the tide pools in La Jolla.
Pre-film picnic at Screen on the Green
10. Decompressing at Encinita’s cliffside mediation gardens at the Self-Realization Fellowship Center.
Any last words before we go off to enjoy all these FREE or ALMOST FREE things to do in San Diego?
Yes, TIP WELL. If you get something for free, especially at a restaurant or bar, then you can definitely afford not to be greedy. We’re going through a recession folks, we’ve got to help each other out.
