15/07/2013
I have finished my trip! I am on the plane
ready to come home! And I tell you what…. I AM READY! Too broke to think
otherwise.
By the way I did a San Fransisco post a week or two ago but got no comments or likes so I am guessing that facebook screwed it up and not that you are all boycotting my blog or something... Feel free to read it :)
Ok first off I have to warn you! DO NOT
catch red eye buses! FARRRRRRRRK that was horrible. I left at 11.30 and arrived
at 7am and felt like I slept on the underside of the bus not inside it. I
barely got any sleep but oh well.. From arriving in downtown LA, I caught
another 2hr ride on public transport down to santa monica. May have taken 3
times as long but $2 is an awfully cheap taxi. Unfortunately my couchsurfer
wouldn’t be off work until 7.30pm so I had to fill in time from 9.30am until
then with all my bags. Ohwell I guess shopping and the beach it is.
I treated
myself to a delicious breakfast, went for a peruse through the promenade and then
headed down to the beach with my sophisticated hobo setup (I mean how many
homeless people carry around a mimco tote?). Thankfully, with my head resting
on my backpack and my arms draped around the rest I got a good sleep on the
beach (sorry mum but I did get a little “sunkissed”, falling asleep does that
to you).
In my quest not to catch anymore
unnecessary buses (thanks to Kai and his obsession with them), I decided to
walk the 35 blocks from the pier back to Steven my couchsurfer’s house. Took me
a while but I had nothing better to do and felt guilty about eating the happy
hour buffalo wings at the British pub on the way. Steven was lovely! He was the
perfect host, offered me anything I liked from his overstocked vegan fridge
(very Californian) and left me alone when I told him I just wanted to shower
and head to bed for the night. The next morning he made me eggs and a kale
super juice before I headed out for the day. Again I just headed down to the
beach and the promenade for a shop.
I tried to do the whole run/walk 30km thing
again but nup didn’t happen.. haha Santa Monica doesn’t have the same bay
breeze that San Fransisco does so it was just toooo hot for me. Now this is
where I get in trouble and blow all my funds on shopping and have to starve myself
for the rest of the trip. Only kidding but not really…. But in my head it made
sense because I have a lot of birthdays, namely 21
st ‘s coming up
and well its cheaper to buy things over here and entertain myself.
Well I made my way back down the 35 blocks
with a new suitcase, 2 tops, a wallet, some jewelry and a couple of bra’s (only
the necessities of course). Again Steven just left me to my own devices and
gave me free run of his kitchen so I stayed at home, watched GOT and ate my
delish tuna concoction in bed.
Next day was 4th of July, so I
thought it would be better for me to book a hostel room for the night. I might
have a little more fun with people my own age. Sure enough as soon as I checked
in I met these two Aussie guys from Sydney se we headed to the beach with my
left over bottle of smuggled mystery rum from Brazil and a bottle of coke and
Gatorade for me. On the way down we met this ex-pat Aussie who invited us to a
pool party in Hollywood hills. Sadly we had no way to contact her so we went on
our way to the beach and then onwards to the Bungalow to continue on our
celebrations with some locals. The Bungalow is this pretty posh bar/ beachside
club where all the swishy gold diggers headed with their botox lips, boobs and
sugar daddies hanging from their arms.
It was fantastic though, for despite
being decked out in my thongs and zinc smothered face, I was invited to sit at
a table with Kely, Dimitrie (loaded wog) and Nick who were more than liberal
with their $300 bottle of vodka and champagne that I could not pronounce let
alone spell. All I know is that as a non-champagne drinker it tasted damn
good. The rest of the night was spent
learning from the best, meeting lots of gorgeous women teaching me how to spot
a richy-rich hahaha. Since being distracted by my gold D’s I lost the Aussie
boys so I decided to head back to the hostel. On the way I grabbed a soup and
started chatting to this lovely Texan couple and their 5 year old daughter. So
after exchanging numbers, emails and the promise to visit in the future, they
left to put the little bubba in bed and I made my way back so I could collapse
as well.
Now I was quite content in my comatose state after my massive day, but
my peaceful sleep was not to be. At 1.30am one of the hostel staff came into
the room and demanded Angela (the schizophrenic African woman) to leave the
room after several complaints from the other girls in the room. Now poor Angela
wasn’t hurting anyone with her muttering but no apparently she had to go. So
after refusing to leave (I mean where is
she going to go at 2am) the polpol came up and escorted her out.
All in all I
didn’t mind because the next morning when I demanded a discount for the
disturbances, the reception staff happily gave me a 50% refund. WOOHOO! One
more meal for dee! (I actually did spend it later that day at a really nice
health food restaurant that was recommended to me).
So another day of traveling and walking
around with my bags was ahead of me. I was now off to see Kami and Gamon (two
17yr old cuties I met at Coachella). It took me 3.5hrs, 3 buses and one train
to make it to Westminister to find Kami’s mother’s house. These people are
ridiculously nice and actually were accommodating me last minute after my
couchsurfer bailed on me the day before. They fed me dinner and we chatted for
hours before heading to bed.
So the next few days were all a little bit
of a blur, I went down to Huntington beach with Kami and had a waffle
sandwhich! WHAAAATTTT yeah that America for you..
Next afternoon after Kami’s
work, Gamon came home with us as we hit Newport beach for a few hours. Before
the beach though we headed to the “Childa’s” house. Now this is literally
dejavu for me. The Childa’s is like a California equivalent of the Molan’s and
Kami and Gamon are like little Alex and Emma minimee’s! I tell you it was a
weekend of reliving highschool. Except this time I didn’t have to say no to
everything! That night Gamon and Emily came over and we all just chilled in the
garage drinking beer while listening to music.
A few
times in the night the girls brought out the ukulele and had a little jam sesh.
Kami would play and Gamon and Emily would improve sing. It was really really
good, so nice and chill. Emily got really drunk and it was so funny to watch
how Cadbury they all were! But meh I guess a semester at college teaches you a
thing or two about hard liquor ;) (don’t worry girls, you will get there).
Next morning we all headed off to
Disneyland! Wooooo I had so much fun! And thanks to Emily, I got in for free
and we all got free fast passes to skip all the lines (fake anxiety on Emily’s
behalf… brilliant!). We stayed the whole night, and got to watch the fireworks over the castle.
That night
we all crashed at Gamon’s place before I had to pack up and leave. The gorgeous
girl had kept my 25kg of luggage in her garage for 2months while I travelled
around. Unfortunately I had to finda way
to pack it all into my suitcase… and yep I had to throw out a lot
L no more shopping for poor little dee. One thing I was NOT leaving
behind is Gamon’s present! Yes that’s right, she got me a vintage leather
jacket to take home to the blustery Brisbane winter! I am the luckiest person
ever! Free Disneyworld and free clothes!!! So much love for these girls.
Ok so from Huntington beach I caught 3
buses and a train back to west Hollywood, back to the hostel before my last
couchsurfing stint! I was meant to meet up with some brissy boys but the
slackers were homo and dogged it. That’s fine I was more than happy chilling in
the hostel with my new found BFF roommates. I know I sound sarcastic there but
im not, they were really really nice and we had a great chat while they packed
their bags for the morning!
So my first proper day in the LA/Hollywood
basin I went for a big walk to the walk of fame and then up to the Griffith
Observatory.
It was unfortunately a pretty grizzly day and it was sooo humid! I
was sweating like a mofo when I had finally reached the observatory! But it was
worth it
J On the way back down I decided that I deserved a cookie (after
walking about 20km) so I urbanespooned a bakery and found the most amazing
cookies ever! Literally. I have to give a shout out to De’Lushious (I think…
just google it) honestly, MELT. IN. YOUR. MOUTH.
From there my next lot of couchsurfers (Ben
and Justin) picked me up and took me to the sunset strip for a gig. We hit up
the Roxy bar and watched INC. They were pretty good but to be honest I loved
the supporting act! Sadly cant remember her name. But they were all really
chill and trancey type music. The night ended with a trip to a taco truck (the
amount of Mexican restaurant’s in California rivals the number of independent
coffee shops in Brisbane, seriously they are everywhere!) and then bedtime at
the house.
Day two in LA and I headed back down to
Santa Monica to chill on the beach (another shitty overcast day ruined that
idea), eat copious amounts of froyo (weather cant spoil that luxury) and have
lunch with the girls before hitting up the Twilight Concert Sreies.
The band
featuring was Surferblood which was pretty good but not as good (again) as the
supporting act Terraplanesun! And yes I am proud to say that the drummer from
Terraplane fully liked and commented on my instagram post! Booyeah! I’m in!
pity he was my third pick out of the 5… guess beggars cant be choosers :P But
all in all we sat on the pier ate kettle corn, drank and listened to fantastic
music.
Day three (I feel like im writing a science
report here: Day one…. Day two… Day three… lucky there is only 3.5days) in LA
and I started off in Silver Lake (where the couchsurfers live). From there I
walked down sunset boulevard past all the vintage shops (another fad in Cali),
onto Hollywood boulevard, past the walk of fame again, down to the sunset strip
and then back along Melrose (past more vintage propaganda) and along the
“little Mexico” part of Santa Monica Boulevard.
It felt like I was back in Argentina
or something! There was no English anywhere on the signs! Lucky I am a Spanish
whiz now :P At the end of the walk (another 20-25km) I treated myself to a 500g
pack of strawberries for 99c! Bit healthier than cookies but just as amazing!
Exactly what I needed to quench my dying throat.
On my last night in the USA, I headed over
to Hollywood hills area where one of my new “roommates” was holding a gathering
in a place he was housesitting for a few days. It was a good night, I got to
meet some more wonderful people, got to stay in an amazing house! The next day, my last day, I rest of the day I spent sleeping and eating the remanence of last night off with a remedy of fish
tacos, a hazelnut malt, a shady garden and a cold shower before it was time for
the airport which is where I am right now, sitting nice and snug in a perfectly
air-conditioned, leather clad admirals lounge J .
Spoilt I know.
Well, this is my last post L its going to be sad not having wondrous adventures to write about
every week or so but I suppose it is back to reality and back to being an
actual person… eek
Lots of Love,
Dee
