Los Angeles... the City of Angels??

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So I had finally made it. Los Angeles, the City of Angels, was to be the last stop of my North American tour. And it was a brief stop. I flew in on Saturday night and would be leaving on Monday morning.

Once again I flew with Virgin America, and once again I was on the Dark Horse. Unfortunately, or maybe that should be fortunately, there was no entertainment from the cabin crew. I was left in peace to write my journal. It was a relatively short flight from San Francisco - less than an hour. And it was just as quick to get through the airport. In the arrivals area there was a freefone on which I could ring my hostel to get picked up. That was the main reason I had chosen this hostel, as it offered free airport pickups and dropoffs 24/7.
I had about a 30min wait, and as soon as the bus arrived I began to have my doubts about the place. It was decorated with pictures of dancing women and advertised constant partying and alcohol. My fears deepened when the bus stopped at it's second stop and 3 apparently drunk girls fell into the bus and started singing, badly, in a welsh accent. If I could have stopped the bus, I probably would have... but I just kept telling myself that this place was cheap.
Once I had checked in, I made my way to what was supposed to be a 4 bed dorm, which turned out to be a 16 bed dorm, split into 3 rooms, with one tiny bathroom. I chucked my stuff on my bed and went to find the computers. As I had missed the complimentary champagne buffet, and had no intention of going to it the next day, I gave my tickets to the welsh girls (who turned out to be under-age, not that it mattered here). I put $5 dollars into the computer, expecting to get 50mins worth of time, but ended up getting 1 hour 20mins, so I wasn't complaining. However, when I tried to put more money in it, the machine ate $2 of my money. When I went to complain, the manager ended giving me 30 mins time on the net as opposed to 20. So I guess I shouldn't have felt too pissed off! At the same time I booked a bus tour for the next day. Given that I only had 1 day in LA, I figured the best way to see everything was on a tour. The one I selected included all the main sights, plus some of the stars homes.
Whilst I had hoped to get an early night, it was around midnight when I got back to the room. I had barely closed my eyes when I was woken by the strangest sound. My first though was that Snoring Beauty had followed me from Vegas, but once my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I saw that it was the creature in the bed opposite making the noise. It looked like a man to me, but as I was in a female dorm, I knew it couldn't be. Not convinced tho, I turned over and did my best to get to sleep.

The next morning my alarm woke me early to be ready for the tour. Luckily the bathroom was empty. On leaving the bathroom I came face to face with the creature from the night before. It wasn't a man, but even in daylight it took me a while to figure that out. Whatever it was, it stank. It's not often that I'm physically repulsed by something, but I was by her. Even now, writing this a week later it's turning my stomach. I got dressed as quickly as possible and went to inspect the free breakfast. It turned out to be a free muffin... but at least it was something. It turned out that the creature worked at the hostel, which would explain why her bed was covered in junk - apparently when people left she took whatever they left behind, and sometimes when there were still there too.
Luckily for me, the bus came to collect me and a few others before I could regurgitate my muffin. Once we got to the terminal it took 2 mins to register and by shown to our buses. Not before I got to take a bag of complimentary popcorn... popcorn for breakfast? Why not?!
Our bus driver/tourguide was a guy called Jim, who in his spare time recorded voice-overs. Yes it's true, everyone you meet in LA is aspiring to get into the entertainment business. The only thing was, Jim had been doing it so long he had forgotten how to talk normally. He made everything sound like an advert for something...
Our first stop was Venice Beach. After driving past Marina del Rey, we had a chance to explore all Venice Beach had to offer, including the famous Muscle Beach. Back on the bus we drove through part of Santa Monica before taking the freeway across to Bel Air. Here we went on a mini tour of some stars houses and previous homes. Some, like Mohammed Ali you could see clearly through the gate. Others, like Nancy Reagan you couldn't see at all behind walls and trees and anything else to obstruct your view.
Upon leaving there we went down Sunset Blvd on our way to Hollywood. We saw the Viper Rooms, part owned by Johnny Depp, where River Phoenix died, as well as the Sky Box, owned by Cindy Crawford. Once we got to Hollywood, the bus decanted us to have a wander. I got to see the Chinese Theatre, the Disney Theatre and the Kodak theatre (home to the Oscars) as well as the Walk of Fame and the famous Hollywood sign. There was also a singing troupe going up and down the street singing Abba songs to advertise Mamma Mia. Whilst outside the Chinese theatre I was taking pictures of all the stars hands. At the Harry Potter one, there was this Chinese lady having her foto taken with her hand inside the hand of Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), so not only was she obstructing everyone else from taking a foto, but everytime her poor, suffering husband took a picture she had to inspect it, by standing RIGHT on the stone. Obviously she coudn't move out of the way. By this time there were a group of us ready to pysically move her out of the way... her husband, seeing that carnage was about to take place took the camera and walked away, and luckily she followed...
Once back on the bus, and armed with a ton of free chewing gum samples that a guy was handing out, we made our way to the farmers market. This was to be our lunch stop, and an opportunity to do some shopping. I bought a couple of stickers to add to my collection from my trip.
After lunch we made our way to Beverly Hills. We saw the High School made famous in BH 90210 and a few sites of interest before going down Rodeo Drive. From there we had a mini tour of the LA fashion district before the bus started dropping people off at their hotels. Before he did this tho, Jim made sure to point out the sign about tipping, and even went as far as to tell people who much they should tip. Somehow tho, I'm pretty sure he didn't get the $10 per person he was expecting.
Back at the hostel I discovered that both the laundry and the internet were not working, due to a powercut that was affecting the area. Which also meant that lots of shops in the area were closed to. So
I was stuck in the hostel with not a lot to do. After making sure my bag was all packed ready for leaving the next day I started to do a crossword in my magazine. Which apparently was an invitation for the creature to talk to me. She showed me an advert in a magazine, where you could buy 32 crossword books for $20. Given that her english was pretty bad, I'm not sure if was trying to sell me a crossword book, or saying that I should take up the offer....
The hostel did offer a free buffet in the evening, of nachos, chips, potato croquettes and cake. Not the most healthy of meals, nor the most carniverous, but at least it was free!!

And that was pretty much how I spent my 1 day in LA. As the hostel was in a pretty rough area, it wasn't really suitable for going wandering around. So I did have to spend most of my time there. The next morning, after eating my muffin I took the free bus to the airport and so said goodbye to the States.
LAX tho, despite being the 5th busiest airport in the world, failed to impress me, especially the international terminal. There was nothing there. After checking in, I decided to grab a quick lunch before going through security. And it was a good thing I did. Once I went through security there was nothing!! There was a newsagent where I was able to get a bottle of water, but when I asked if they sold postcards (to add to my collection) I was told that they didn't have that kind of stuff on this side of security...
Needless to say I was happy to board my plane. It was a case of Goodbye America.... Hola America del Sur...

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