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04/03/2010
Arriving in LA 8 hours before taking off was an odd feeling due to the international date line. The flight was comfortable and we managed to get a few hours sleep. We landed at LAX and were immediately met by soldiers with guns and I got told off for taking a photo of the Welcome to USA sign... brilliant.
Having collected our bags fine and fairly promptly we said our goodbyes to Matt as he had a connecting flight to Vancouver that same day and we went in search of some cheap car rentals. After a few hours checking prices and visiting a few branches we decided to leave the car rental until we left LA to save some money and jumped on the airport shuttle to our hotel in Downtown.
The shuttle pulled up outside a quite grand hotel and we had to double check with the driver that this was the right place. Thankfully it was and we got our bags and checked in. Stay Hotel, where we are staying, is the budget part of a much bigger, grander hotel - Cecil hotel so you get all the facilities of the good hotel just at a cheaper price.
We checked in and put our bags in our room which was really nice - flat screen TV, big
bed. Perfect. Changed and showered we headed out for a wander around town. We found a Macy's and a few Levi shops to see what the prices were like. Then we walked to the Staples centre to see what sport was on over the next few days - turns out there was ice hockey and basketball on. Walking back to the hotel we decided to pop into iHop for a bite to eat before getting some much needed sleep, thanks to a 50 hour day.
The next day, courtesy of Stig Monger (Soph) - who managed to get us FREE queue jump tickets - we spent the day at Universal Studios Hollywood. We were up early, had some breakfast then walked to the subway station 5 minutes from our hotel. A 20 minute ride on the red line and we arrived at Universal City. We picked up our tickets from the hospitality booth and walked in like royalty. It was great fun. Steph got to see the Desperate Housewives set and we went on all the classics like the Jurassic Park ride and Terminator show as well as the new Simpsons ride. It was really quiet, plus we had our queue jump passed so managed to see and do everything easily.
Not satisfied with a fun filled day at Universal we went home via the Staples Centre as the Clippers were playing and managed to pick up some good tickets for $50 so off we went. The Clippers didn't put on a very good show for us against Oaklahoma City Thunder and lost convincingly but the atmosphere was cool and it was good fun. Absolutely shattered we grabbed a subway on the way home and crashed out in bed.
The next morning we treated ourselves to a little lie in before heading back to the subway in the direction of Hollywood. It was mental, due to the Oscar's being held the following day everything was being prepared and cordened off. We caught a glimpse of the red carpet and the kodak theatre where the ceremony is due to take place. Then we made our way to the Chinese theatre and looked at the stars on the pavement and the hand/footprints in the floor outside. Having seen most of 'the good ones' we booked ourselves on a tour of hollywood and celebrity homes. Unfortunately as the weather was grey and looked like it may rain our tour was in a transit van and not the usual open top bus but it was still cool. We saw tons of houses owned by Elton John, the Beckhams, Nicole Richie, Brad and Jens old place, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steven Speilberg, amongst many others. We also took a trip down Sunset Blvd and Rodeo Drive which were both really interesting and we got a good glimpse of the Hollywood sign. Despite being on constant lookout, however, we didnt manage to see any celebrities the whole trip. With the sunsetting and the rain looming we made our way back to Hollywood Blvd and were given free tickets to the Madame Thussauds so when the tour finished we popped in there. On the way home we bought a few supplies from the seven eleven and went to bed.
The next morning, with it being the day of the Oscars we decided to get out of town and venture to the coast. We jumped on a bus to Venice Beach and made our way down Venice Blvd. It is so long. We must have been on the bus for an hour, just on that road before we finally arrived at the beach. The beach is really nice and ridiculously long (like the blvd). There is so much going on there, from muscle beach to all the strange and bizarre stalls selling everything from 'herbal drugs' to clothes and food. We had a look around a few stalls and shops before walking along the beach front to Santa Monica Pier. We had to dodge all the dog walkers, cyclists and roller bladers but it was a nice walk with the sun shining. Santa Monica Pier is, or was, the start of the infamous route 66 before it stretched across the country to Chicago - so it was interesting to see that, alongside all the rides and candy floss stalls :-)
Walking back to Venice Beach we grabbed a slice of pizza to curb our hunger and jumped on the bus back to downtown after watching some locals play a bit of basketball.
Back in downtown LA we had a walk around the shops in search of some warmer clothes having come from the blistering beaches of Fiji to the cool spring of LA. I picked up a couple pairs of Levis for a bargain price and Steph managed to find a cheap pair of trainers to substitute the flip flops she had been forced to wear everywhere. That evening was spent watching bits of the Oscars and a few films on our flatscreen TV.
The next morning we checked out and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car. It ended up being a bit of a mission as we decided to get public transport and had to get the subway, bus then free shuttle. Arriving eventually at the car rental place it all ended up much more expensive than we had expected. The price we were quoted online was without all the added compulsory extras so we were not happy but had no other choice and coughed up. With the boot, sorry - trunk, full we programmed the Sat Nav to our hotel in San Fran and set off.
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