USA - Los Angeles

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David here...

We arrived at LAX at around 1700 and were walking out of the airport by 1800. We managed to be the first ones off the buses into immigration and with our ESTA visa waivers in place we breezed through. The first stage was the electronic passport, customs and finger print/photo taking which was different from the last time as it was fully automated. The next step was a full immigration check, where Suzanne went first and had fingerprints and photos again. I went to another desk and the guard asked me about our travels and why I was in LA. I explained, quite enthusiastically that we love LA and were here for sightseeing and a gig. He then asked about the gig and I explained about seeing Lordi at the Whisky in 2 days time. When he asked what sort of music it was and I replied 'Heavy Metal', he looked at me, nodded and let me in, without even taking fingerprints or a photo. This took about a minute in total. Suzanne believes it was because I was wearing a Battlestar Galactica top. It really highlighted how lucky we are to have UK passports that allow us to move freely pretty much around the world. If only everyone was so lucky.

We had a 20 minute wait for a Super Shuttle to pick us up and drop us at our first stop in Downtown LA ($37 for both of us) which was a Super 8 Motel. It had decent reviews, not excellent, but decent and at £55 a night was actually good value for LA. Our room was spacious, clean and had a fridge and microwave. I do not know what some people expect from hotel rooms but this hotel was so much better than it's review scores. We settled right in. Maybe it was because Downtown LA has a rough reputation, and some parts are run down, but we didn't feel unsafe in the slightest. In fact, we felt happy to be back in LA.

It was already 20:00 when we left the hotel for food. Our mission; to find local Tacos. We ended up 3 minutes down the road at Guisados, which fulfilled the criteria beautifully. We both had a 6 Taco taster plate, frijoles y queso and a shared quesadilla with chorizo. Very, very tasty and well worth the $24 we paid. We then looked for a bar in the area but failed. The one possible was an English pub called the Last Knight which was shut on Mondays. We ended up back at the hotel with a coffee and an early night.

Despite trying to sleep and being really tired after over 15 hours of travelling and over 24 hours without sleep, we were wide awake at 06:30 so decided to go for a very early breakfast of cereal, toast and jam, waffles with syrup, yogurt, juice and coffee, all included in the motel price. As I said, a bargain and highly recommended. We're already looking at booking the Super 8 in Brooklyn in September before we fly home. We did some research on the days activities before showering and heading out at 10:30. It was drizzly but we decided to walk the 30 minutes to Downtown proper to get some exercise. Our first stop was a subway station to buy a T-card, the easiest way to get around LA on buses and subway. We then checked out a US Post Office to see what they offer in terms of boxes to send stuff home (expect a box of stuff soon Ma and Pa).

We then wandered to Grand Central Market, an indoor (it was still raining) food market. We walked around and ended up buying 2 burittos, which were delicious, cheap and very filling. The market was wonderful, with lots of different food stuffs to try. It is no wonder Americans are so big with the variety of choice there is every single day. We have found ourselves having to stop trying to fit another meal in just to try something new. Anyway, we still had an hour before our allotted time at The Broad gallery so had a cheeky beer at one of the local brewers bars in the market before setting off. We had booked tickets in Asia after reading it was a privately owned gallery with some of the worlds most renowned modern artists. Tickets are free and you can just turn up but it is better to book, which is what we did.

We had our online tickets ready, or so we thought as when we tried to access them, they would not display. Anyway, the door staff checked our names and we were quickly let in, skipping the massive queue. Book in advance, highly recommended. Anyway, the gallery had loads of good stuff; Warhol, Litchenstein, Koons plus many others. If you like modern art, you would love this place. We loved the art! We hated the smug attitude some of the LA crowd had. Pictures taken with knowing looks over the shoulder, 'oh, it's influenced by Marn-ga you know' (you mean Manga? The picture was also Chinese not Japanese idiot), 'oh look, this is a Jeffery Koons piece' (you mean Jeff). Yep, we are officially old and grumpy...doesn't make us any less right. We loved the place and spent a good 90 minutes in the gallery before heading back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the coin-op laundry across the road, doing laundry. Less than $4 to do a full load of washing, excellent. After packing away the washing, relaxing and walking back to Downtown we had food at Redwood, a suken pirate ship themed bar and grill. Suzanne had fish and chips (with malt vinegar!) and I had a burger. The food and drink was very nice, expensive but nice. While we were in, the music was a real mix, going from hip-hop to rock and back again. Before we left, a live band came on who were trying to be a bit prog and experimental, the only problem was that no one in the band could actually sing. We laughed ourselves silly, left the bar and got a bus back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Again, another sleepless night for us except we did fall asleep around 07:00 and woke up with 10 minutes left for breakfast. Suzanne ran down and picked up coffee, cereal, yogurt and a cinnamon roll, which was pretty much perfect for breakfast. We relaxed in the room until checking out time at 12:00 and then jumped on a bus from outside our hotel right into West Hollywood, a few minutes from our Airbnb stay. It was still too early to turn up so we had a coffee and bagel at a Coffee Bean and took our time.

We arrived at 14:00 and met HD and Master Bruce, who we would be staying with. HD is the building manager...and (of course) an actor and Bruce is his dog. I say dog. Bruce is more like the biggest tank you've ever seen. He is a huge, rescue pitbull and is such a softie. We bonded straight away. The room was comfortable, with ensuite and little thoughtful touches like recharge cables for devices and as many towels as you could shake a dog at. We spent a few minutes chatting to HD who informed us he loved Benny Hill. I reciprocated with Battlestar Galactica. We talked about Richard Hatch who had just died, very upsetting. Richard Hatch played Captain Apollo in the original Galactica and Tom Zarek in the reimagining. He made the remake a reality with his tireless work to bring Galactica back. He will be sorely missed. HD told us he knows Dirk Benedicks (Starbuck in the original BSG) son, George, who organised his Father to talk to his acting class 2 years ago. We felt lucky to have HD and Master Bruce as our hosts, very friendly and open to our late night LA lifestyle.

Our first task was to organise a prescription for anti-malarials. I'd already contacted Eddies Pharmacy on Beverley Boulevard who said they could help and we walked in at 15:30 as organised. It took about an hour to fill out the form, then to clarify where we would be going and for how long. I eventually got the chance to explain that we had already worked out how many tablets I required and how much I could get them for at Rite-Aid. They ended up giving me the Malarone at cost price and the consultation and prescription cost was $30, just over $300 for 78 tablets, slightly cheaper than the UK I think.

With that done we bought a box of 12 Mikes Hard Lemonade and got back to the room to pre-load before Lordi. We ate at Mel's Diner and had burgers before getting into the Whisky just as the first band were finishing. On the way in we were told that we were not allowed to use my camera during the last band at all, which seemed a little odd as I'd never come across this sort of rule before. Professional cameras, yes, but not a bog standard camera. I doubled checked with security inside the venue who confirmed only camera phones were allowed and that this was directly from the band themselves.

We still had 3 support bands to get through so we sat upstairs and slowly made our way through 3 beers each and then a Bourbon and Coke, once we spotted how much actual liquor was going into each glass. None of the support bands moved us at all and the LA crowd really was doing our heads in with their fake attempts at headbanging and throwing of the horns. If you don't mean it, don't do it. Seriously, it felt like everyone else in the venue had just turned up to be seen and not for the band. Anyway, God of Thunder started playing over the sound system so we rushed downstairs and found a spot where we had room to dance and jump around.

We were singing along to KISS but no one else was. The song finished and the intro started as Lordi negotiated the stairs to the stage in their platform shoes and then launched into He-man, followed by Icon of Dominance, The Riff, Hug you Hardcore plus a couple of others. We were loving it, dancing away, jumping around, it was amazing. Everyone else in there just seemed to be standing still with their phones out taking pictures or recording video. Throughout the first 30 minutes I thought what the hell and took a couple of sneaky pictures, everyone else was, what harm could I do.

Well, I got blase about it and security spotted me and asked to see my camera. They then took me to the foyer and asked if I wanted to see the manager to pay the $25 a picture cost. With hindsight I wished I questioned why the manager of the venue cared about pictures when it was the band who apparantly said no, anyway I just tried to explain that we had travelled from the UK for the gig and just wanted some photos to remember the gig by. Security weren't that impressed but did let me back in.

By now though, I was pretty peeved and as my favourite Lordi song was played (Blood Red Sandman) I got more and more angry. I have never had an issue with my camera in all my years of going to gigs, so why now. I double checked with 2 security guards about the photo policy and it's origin and both said it had come from the band. I was not a happy bunny and watched the rest of the gig feeling resentment towards the band, which was a shame as up to that point, it was brilliant.

I have to point out however that since the gig, I have asked the band through the Lordi forum about it and they have confirmed that they had nothing to do with the policy on cameras and welcome pictures at their gigs. My already low opinion of American gigs, promoters, venues and crowds has sunk even lower than it was before. Once the gig was over, we headed back to the apartment and went to bed.

The next day we met up with Becky, Suzanne's friend who now lives in LA. We had some brunch and chatted for about 2 hours which was very nice. We then jumped onto a bus and visited the Hollywood Forever Cemetery which has many famous people burried there; Fay Wray, Mel Blanc and Johnny Ramone for example. We spent about 2 hours there, wandering round the beautiful gardens and enjoying the sun. We walked back to the apartment, stopping off to pick up some beers to drink before heading out for the evening again.

We spent all night in the Rainbow Bar and Grill from 1945 until gone 0100 the next morning. We had a beer outside as a private party was wrapping up when we arrived. Once inside we had chicken wings and a pepperoni pizza that Marie, George, James and Jim had given us the money to cover the meal (cheers guys). We then moved to the inside bar area and had a few beers before moving to Bourbon and Vodka for the rest of the evening before leaving a lot later than we had anticipated. The Rainbow was actually really good and this visit was one of our best. The music was good, it was busy but not full of idiots.

The next day we got up late and headed to the post office to send some stuff home. Once we'd negotiated the customs forms and payment (a lot of places in America no longer have facilities to enter a pin number which means the card is often declined) we got a bus down to the Farmers Market on Fairfax and had a cheesesteak sub and fries for lunch. We made the mistake of getting 2 meals when 1 would've been enough, but we didn't leave hungry. Our next stop was the LA County Museum of Art where we spent the rest of the afternoon. We'd been twice before and it is a great gallery to stroll around.

We were planning on going shopping after the gallery but it was nearly 16:30 when we left and it was raining so we jumped on the nearest bus to Santa Monica Blvd, topped up our T-cards at the Vons Supermarket before relaxing in the apartment with a bottle of wine. We then headed to Hollywood by bus and looked into the Frolic Room for drinks (not for us) before settling in at the Burgandy Room. Quite a dark bar with punk playing, though I'm finding that almost every place we go into seems to be playing Def bloody Leppard. We then walked the short distance to Urban Masala, an Indian cantine, for a Thali, which was very good. The place was empty though, Americans just don't seem to get Indian food at all.

We finished the night at Loaded Rock bar where we heard some good music and enjoyed our drinks, though the DJ really needs to get some Iron Maiden. The bar shut at 0200 and it was chucking it down. We walked down to Santa Monica Blvd and had a 20 minute wait for a bus. We were soaked when we got back, but enjoyed the evening.

Our last full day in LA started as lazily as the others and it was nearly 1130 when we walked into Franks Restaurant on Fairfax for breakfast burritos, very tasty. We then walked up to the Grove shopping area to try and get some new clothes and essentials. The Grove area is lovely to walk around, fountains, music and old style trams but lacking in actual shops, other than some very pricey ones. We did get a few things from Ross and K-Mart around the corner but nothing like we had hoped for. We walked back to our apartment, enjoying the sun and relaxed before heading out earlier than previous evenings in the hope we would get an earlier night.

We walked the 30 minutes to the Snakepit Alehouse on Melrose and settled in at the bar. As we were earlier, we were in happy hour so we enjoyed $5 beers and Bourbon and Cokes. Highly recommended bar actually, we could've stayed much longer. We then walked back up to Santa Monica Blvd and ate at Baby Blues BBQ, again lovely and recommended. We then walked the 30 minutes to Saddle Ranch, which we have enjoyed before but was awful, so left straight away and had a drink at Rock and Reillys before the music went all hip-hoppy and we walked to the Rainbow for a final Bourbon. We decided that as we were moving on and flying the day after lets get back earlier and settle down...and ended up buying a bottle of wine. Another great, tipsy evening in LA for us.

Our flight to Colombia was not scheduled until 23:23 in the evening so we had pretty much a full day to fill. We left our Airbnb apartment at 11:30 and walked the 30 minutes to a coin laundry and got a wash done, enjoying Heuvos Rancheros at the little Mexican next door while we waited, a very good use of our time. We then got 2 buses out to The Getty museum high in the LA hills. We checked our bags in at the Tram stop and spent a good 2.5 hours wandering round the museum, galleries and gardens. It was a gorgeous sunny day and a really good gallery with lovely grounds and stunning views out over LA.

We then got a bus back to Westwood and had dinner at Roccos Tavern. Excellent chicken wings, mac and cheese and garlic bread. Best of all, they were doing big beers for $7.50, and they were big. We had time for 2 each before we had to move on to get the no. 6 bus down to LAX. Not before we witnessed Metallica playing at The Grammys with Lady Gaga...we remember when they used to be good. ;-)

We arrived in LA thinking that a week would be too much and left still with things that we want to do. LA was so easy and we found some lovely little places to eat and drink. Our room in West Hollywood was very comfortable and a perfect location for us. One thing that has definitely changed since the last time we were in LA; the legalisation of cannabis. You wouldn't think that would make much difference however you could smell it everywhere where smoking was allowed.

We got to LAX and checked in with no issues. We had our onward travel details all ready so we breezed through. We only had a 50 minute turnaround at Fort Lauderdale for our connecting flight to Bogota, so when the plane was late in and then had to reboot the engines due to a computer fault, we were a little worried we would miss our 2nd flight.

Sure enough, we arrived at Fort Lauderdale and our gate to watch our plane being pushed away without us. We eventually were transferred to another airline to fly to Orlando and then onto Bogota. It is the first time we've missed a connection however we are pretty impressed with the efforts of JetBlue to move us along. We got checked in with Silver Airlines and was shocked to discover we had to pay $50 for our bags. We weren't happy as luggage was included with JetBlue but had no choice but to pay it. We will be attempting to get a refund for that. We got to Orlando in a small propeller plane that seated around 38 people only and found our gate to Bogota, to discover it was already delayed by 30 minutes. We would be arriving late at night in Colombia, with no clue where we are or where our hotel is and will have to trust we get an honest taxi driver. It's already been a long, long travelling period and we're looking forward to getting some sleep.

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