Tourist Buses

MP3 Track of the day: When you were young - Killers

Weather: cold and cloudy

Tuesday 7th September

Well after I blogged I got a text from Chuck to say that he couldn't make meeting up tonight due to work, I therefore went and got myself tea (pizza) and had an early night as I was still tired from the jet lag.

Wednesday 8th September

Getting up a decent time I had breakfast and then headed to the nearest 'hop-on. hop-off' tourist bus stop. Due to LA having no real centre, LA's attractions are located over a massive wide area with slightly run down areas in between. Having only today left to sight see I decided to pay $35.00 for a 24hr, all routes, pass on the Star-line tourist bus.

This allowed me to travel on three buses; the Hollywood (Red route), Downtown (Purple route) and the Santa Monica bus (Yellow route). Each route took two hours so this was basically an all day event. I started with the downtown bus and I saw how many different diverse areas of LA there are (this included, Korea town, China Town and Little Tokyo). After this I took the red route which showed me Beverly Hills, the building that was used in Die Hard and the most expensive shopping area probably in the world (one shop sells suits for $15,000 ... if anyone is planning to go there you can get two suites from Burton's in Derby for around £300.00). Finally I took the bus to Santa Monica which took me to the beach where Baywatch was filmed and the sign that Tom Hanks ran through in Forest Gump.

Unfortunately, due to the weather, there were no chicks on Baywatch beach ... the whole day was freezing and I was in an open top bus. At one point we were travelling on a local motorway and I reckon I almost got frostbite.

Anyway the tour took me until around 7pm. I have to say I'm not massively impressed with LA; it's okay but it's too big and there is no theme in the design or layout of the city. It feels like there are loads of separate communities that just so happen to have buildings connecting each other ... it's all abit weird.

After this I met up with Chuck and we went out to see if we could see the Hollywood sign (which used to say 'Hollywoodland', until the last four letters were destroyed in an earthquake) but, for some reason, it isn't lit up at night (the Brasov sign in Romania, same design as the Hollywood sign, is lit up at night ... go figure). We then travelled down sunset boulevard and we went for something to eat at the 'sunset ranch' which had a bucking bronco (I didn't have a go). Again Chuck wouldn't let me pay for my meal and I felt quite bad when we got back to his car and he had a parking ticket (we didn't see the meter). He was okay with it though and so he dropped me back at my hostel; I said goodbye and thank you for showing me around. It was nice to meet up with Chuck but tomorrow I was off to Fiji.

Thursday 9th September

Happy Birthday Sister!

Waking up early today I got ready and checked out of my dorm. It's a shame I had to get up early as my flight isn't until 11:30pm tonight, but I had to check my bag, re-pack it, and check out of my dorm by 11am.

I'm now in the lounge watching the US open tennis and just checking info for the next part of my trip. Don't know if I'm going to do any sightseeing today as everything that I haven't seen in great detail is so far away. I think I'm just going to have a lazy day and casually get to the airport (thinking about it I haven't had any info sent to me about my next flight so I might turn up early to make sure all is okay).

So my next post will be from Fiji. In north America the internet has been everywhere and free, I don't know if this will be the case in Fiji and so don't expect an update everyday.

Toodle Pip!

Hollywood Walk of Fame

MP3 Track of the day - Beverly Hills - Weezer

Weather: Hot, humid and cloudy with a gentle breeze

Now before I talk about what I've been doing today, last night I actually didn't go to sleep after I blogged, and instead I met Chuck, a friend of mine I met on the Alaska Trip last June. Chuck and I were suppose to meet up earlier in the day however I arrived to my hostel late and Chuck got caught up at work. Therefore, at 8:30pm, he said he's coming to pick me up and we were going out.

When Chuck arrived he was with his girlfriend (who is studying over here and is originally from Kazakhstan ... don't hear that everyday) and I jumped into the back of the car and as we drove off we chatted about the good old times in Alaska. I then asked where we were going...

... an America comedy night ... oh good. Chuck's girlfriend had won two VIP tickets to a comedy night and I was going to tag along. Now I'm sure you remember my previous American comedy experience in Seattle earlier this year, but I wasn't massively looking forward to this but it didn't matter really as I was meeting my old mate, that was the important thing. Anyway Chuck was a great host, he didn't allow me to buy anything (drinks or my ticket) all night. The venue was quite small and there weren't that many people there (due to having VIP tickets, we were on the second row ... brilliant) I have to be honest, the comedy was terrible, it went as well as a Stuka on a bombing run, but yet again the Americans loved and, if I'm honest, there were two or three funny bits in the hour long procession where sticking pins in your eyes would be less painful. Anyway I adopted my previous tactics learnt at the Seattle 'comedy night' of smiling all the way through and every five minutes pretending to laugh.

It almost worked until the final act talked about chowners (or something like that) ... I must off, by mistake, had a acquisitive look on my face because the comedian (comedian in the loosest possible sense) asked me if I knew what one was ...

... silence; what do I do? 27 people looking directly at me to see what my answer was. I decided that honesty was the best policy and I went for no; he asked why and I said I was from the UK and I've never herd that word before. He began to explain what one was in (apparently) a funny way. To be fair the comedian did move on very quickly and did not bother me again ... which I was very thankful for.

As I was leaving the comedian club after the longest hour of my life I did a quick check to see if I had anything ... MY WALLET WAS GONE. Had someone pick-pocketed me? I went back into the club to see my wallet on the floor, under my chair (when I offered to pay for some of the drinks I got my wallet out and it must have fallen out when I put it back). Luckily nothing was missing and then Chuck gave me a lift back to my hostel and we arranged to meet up the following day, after he had finished work.

I then went to sleep and had a good long sleep until 8:30am this morning. After getting ready I decided to head to the only thing I wanted to see in LA; the area with all the stars on the pavement (called the walk of fame). When asking for info about it at my hostel, the guy said it wasn't really walkable as it was about 40 minutes away and that I should take the bus. Well obviously the guy doesn't really know me and after a whole day on a plane, I decided that a long walk would do me good.

Before departing I checked my guidebook ... which I then found out was rubbish. So now I've decided just to use the map in the back of the guidebook and use 'Bean: Ultimate disaster move' for my attractions ... first stop Sunset Boulevard (as it was on the way to the walk of fame).

Well I have to say that Sunset Boulevard isn't really that good at all ... its got some small nice bits but most looks abit dodgy, and the same can be said for the walk of fame. Apart from a small part of the walk of fame most of it (all located on Hollywood boulevard) looks like it's in a dodgy bit of the city; the buildings aren't that nice and if I had worked in film all my life, I would be a little peeved to find that my 'star' was located outside 'popcorn ch, ch. chickenado!'. I walked the whole of the boulevard and, just like the comedy night, for 90% of the walk, I didn't recognise the names that were being presented to me. I did see a star for Micheal Jackson, Elvis, Nicholas Cage and if Lassy can get a star, theres hope for me yet.

After the walk I went to McDonald's for a little lunch before heading back to the hostel. It's about 4pm now and I'm back at my hostel; I hope to be meeting up with Chuck again sometime soon so I better go. I think tomorrow I'm going to do what Chuck advised and go on a bus tour; $35.00 is a little steep, but as I only have one day left (and the city is so spread out) it seems the only way to see most of the attractions.

Toodle Pip!

Day One

MP3 track of the day - Oasis - Whatever

Weather: Hot

Waking up at 5:45am from another bad nights sleep I got ready for the 7am shuttle bus to Heathrow. All went well and I boarded my flight to Los Angeles. On the plane I watched two films including the new Robin Hood (a good film when you realise that the film is set before Robin becomes the Robin Hood each five year old boy in the UK knows). During the flight I had two meals at funny times of the day; by midday USA time I had eaten my breakfast, lunch and tea ... everything felt a little weird and I was a little time disoriented.

Once at LA airport I left the plane to be greeted by a sea of people trying to filter themselves through US Immigration. An hour of queuing later I had made it through part one of immigration; I then went to pick up my baggage and after another 30 minutes made it through part two of US immigration. I had arrived at the airport at 12:55pm and left almost three hours later due to the stupid immigration system the US has (and all this for three days!).

At least I wouldn't have to worry about getting to my hostel as I had pre-paid for a 'Super Shuttle' ride to my hostel through STA (my travel agent said it would be a good idea). I got on a shuttle and off we went...

... I knew it couldn't last, I knew soon enough I would have to pay for something I either didn't want or had already paid for and this was it. The driver (who was miserable) asked me for a voucher which the STA hadn't given me ... all I had was my itinerary. I was sat next to a lovely woman who tried to help me out by trying to call 'Super Shuttle' HQ to see if they had any reference number for my booking. When that didn't work she also tried to ring the local STA travel agent here in LA, but as today is a holiday there was no joy there. So with no option I had to pay the $16.00 for the trip that I had already paid (I'm going to get my money back ... after this blog I'll be emailing STA and letting them know exactly what I think of there 'good idea').

Anyway I'm at my hostel (which also needed a voucher but I managed to sort it without the voucher) and my room is nice ... I'm on the ground floor and a sliding door outside is open in my dorm due to the heat, luckily I have my 'packsafe' as all is well.

I don't think I'm going to get anything else to eat today as I've already had three meals today, think I'm just going to go to sleep ... tomorrow, Beverly Hills!

Toodle Pip