Californication

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Well folks the great adventure is over and we are finally home! We have actually been home for a couple of days now but I have been so jet-lagged I didn't have the energy to write the blog so here it is....

Day 107

We flew to LA on American Airlines which turned out to be a fairly poor experience. They did not deem it necessary to feed us on a six hour flight and if you wished to purchase anything at all then you needed to pay with a credit card making a £1 bottle of water cost about £5 when you took into account the cost of the foreign exchange transaction for us. Not really my idea of good service?

Anyway we arrived in LA and the fun and games began. We found a shuttle bus and jumped on board as although it was not particularly cheap, it was when compared to a taxi. However the cost saving came at a price (pardon the pun) as we were forced to do several loops of the LAX arrivals area which is almost as busy as spaghetti junction and comparable in size. This meant we drove around the LAX road network for over an hour before even setting off! What fun! Throughout our trip I had been paranoid that our luggage was going to fall out of one of these shuttle busses (a bit strange I know but I bet some of you have thought it too!) but tonight my fears were almost confirmed as we were racing along the freeway in the death wagon and the interior lights came on signalling the fact that one of the doors was not closed properly. You can guess that it was the back door which was holding all the luggage in. How it didn't all go cascading down the freeway I will never know!

Day 108

We slept in today as it had been another long journey meaning we basically wasted a day. We spoke to the concierge about or travel plans and this is when we realised quite how difficult it was going to be to get around. LA has the worst public transport I have ever experienced! That's right America if you are reading this! It is appalling! It is little or no wonder that the automobile industry basically keeled over during the economic downturn when you see how many cars there are in this place! It may also go some way to explaining some of the 'health issues' prevalent there. Nobody walks, everyone drives! We figured out we could just about get around to the places we wanted to although it wasn't going to be easy.

We made our way to union train station to purchase our train tickets to get to Anaheim which is where Disneyland is. On the way back I had another one of my medical mishaps as we were walking up a hill and I suddenly put my back out! I've never done anything like it before and I could barely walk! One shoulder was about six inches higher than the other and I could not stand up straight at all! Brilliant! I hobbled back to the hotel and we ended up ordering room service.

Day 109

We woke up at about 7 am as we were due to go to Disneyland but my back was still pretty bad so it ended up being another wasted day. I was really disappointed as I felt I'd had my share of injuries for this trip (not that I wanted it to be Marta as we wouldn't have been able to go anyway would we!?). There was not much we could do except sit around and hope I felt better the next day.

Day 110

I didn't want to take any chances on not feeling better and so took plenty of painkillers for breakfast! We were going to Disney regardless! We walked to the Metro station which was about five to ten minutes away and caught that to the train station before spending fortyfive minutes on the train to Anaheim. When we got to Anaheim it was another twenty minutes on the shuttle bus to Disney. As you can see, not a straightforward journey! The Metro is also a bit of a joke as there are no ticket barriers and I didn't see a single ticket inspector! So basically it is free and yet they still don't use it! Crazy people!

We had a great day at Disney going on loads of rides and basically acting like a pair of big kids. Marta had never been to Disney before so it was great to see how much she enjoyed it. It might not be quite as cultural as the Great Wall of China but there is a certain magic to the place as it is the original Disney park. We then had the pleasure of doing our commute in reverse which made it a rather long day!

Day 111

Today was our 'sightseeing day' and we got to experience the full force of LA's useless public transport system. We started off getting the Metro to the infamous Hollywood Boulevard. We walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and stopped to take a look at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I'm glad we went as we wanted to see it but to be honest, its a bit of a dump! You can barely move for tour groups and there are large numbers of people attempting to sell you everything under the sun. Anyway, after that we caught two buses to get to Rodeo Drive which was a difficult task in itself. I think we were probably the only people who arrived by bus there that day! Once we had walked up and down we caught another bus all the way to Santa Monica Beach which took about an hour and was full of really crazy people! Drunks, druggies, homeless people, you name it! I had visions of Santa Monica being this wonderful, chilled out place but the pier had slightly less class than Blackpool and was generally quite a rough place. We decided we had better keep going and after about an hour of searching managed to find a bus to Venice beach. All jokes aside I can honestly say we didn't feel that safe here. There were a lot of drunk, homeless people and to be honest we didn't want to hang around. After asking about ten people we eventually found a bus stop that took us back to downtown where we were staying. It took about an hour and a half and we were both pretty glad to be back in the hotel. Like I said, I'm glad we saw the sights but I would be in no rush to go back.

Day 112

This was another Disney day so I won't bore you with the details. It was another good if long day spent at Disney's other park, Californian Adventure which we both enjoyed.

Day 113

This was arguably our best day as we went to Universal Studios and it involved the least arduous journey! We caught the Metro basically straight there and spent the entire day there. We went on loads of rides including Shrek 4D, The Simpsons and Jurassic Park to name but a few. We finished off the evening by doing some shopping and having dinner at Universal City Walk before catching the Metro back to downtown.

Day 114

This was our last day so we got up at a decent time to go and see the Walt Disney Concert Hall which was literally five minutes from our hotel. It was designed by Frank Gehry who also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. We took the one hour self guided audio tour which we both enjoyed. It is a striking building which arguably is more impressive than the Sydney Opera House (just thought I would throw that out there to be controversial!). Another bonus was that it was free which is most unlike LA! When we had finished we went and packed for one last time (thank god!) and then had to kill a few hours waiting around before it was time to go to the airport. We left LA at 9.15 pm local time and ten bumpy hours later we were home!

So that's it, our great adventure has finally come to an end! We have both felt pretty tired the last few weeks and were sick of eating out and wearing almost clean clothes. It is really nice to be back with the family and to be able to eat what we want when we want. To be honest I'm starting to feel a little bit claustrophobic already and don't know how long it will take me to come to terms with the reality of not doing something new and exciting every day. I never thought I would be travelling type and I know I surprised quite a few people by going but to be honest, if we could afford to go again we probably would!

I'm not really sure what the future holds for me but I have no regrets what-so-ever about the decisions I made and would make them again in an instant. The only thing I can't believe is that it took me so long to make them! So if you are reading this looking for a little inspiration then I can tell you that there is a big wide world out there waiting for you! Go and enjoy it! One last thing is for me to thank Marta publicly as without her I would not have had the courage to go.

See you all soon,

Nick & Marta

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Comments

[Jocelyn]

Hello!
Wow - can't believe you've actually come to the end of these travels. I have really enjoyed reading your blogs and been very envious of all you've seen and done!! (bad backs and operations excluded!!) I hope you manage to go off again - as you say there is a big beautiful wide world out there! You can join the rat race any time. Or, maybe you could work you passage?!?!?!?! Any way glad you're both safe and sound. Keep in touch!:)