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Published: March 13th 2009
By 2am on the 13th March I arrived in LAX airport. The woman at immigration scared the hell out me. She was just so condescending and kept calling me 'Young lady'! She couldn't have been more than 2 years older than me! I was already feeling down about being away from New Zealand, but that woman really put a sour taste in my mouth. After that everything went from bad to WORSE! I waited at baggage claim for over a hour until the conveyor belt was empty; and yes, you guessed it, no backpack. I had to fill in some forms with Air New Zealand and spent the rest of the afternoon worrying what I was going to do about clothes and everything else I needed in my backpack. There was no way I could afford to buy new stuff and any action by the insurance company would take too long to take effect to be of any immediate help. It's a good thing I always keep one change of clothes in my hand luggage, so at least I didn't have to worry too much for the next day. I did my best to chill out and made my way to the HI on 2nd Street in Santa Monica. Upon arrival the front of the HI was blocked off by police, because there was a taking place just outside between two groups of young men. I had to mill around away from the hostel for a couple of hours until everything had died down. I just chose a near by coffee shop and held up there.
Once I checked into the hostel I walked down to Santa Monica beach just in time to catch the sunset. It was beautiful and peaceful. It was the first time since I left NZ that I really felt at ease. Later in the evening I walked around main street and chatted with the locals. It came across as a very friendly place. The next morning I went to Hollywood with some people I'd met from the hostel (Oscar from Stockholm, Elsa from Paris and Haruka from Kyoto). We spent the first part of the day on Hollywood Boulevard visiting the Chinese Theatre and the Stars. I was excited for about the first 2 minutes before boredom set in. It just felt like a massive tourist trap to me. Next stop was the Hollywood sign. We had already agreed earlier in the day that we would try and get as close to the sign as possible without trespassing, so over the next 4 hours, after walking up several very steep streets, we achieved our goal! We even scaled the side of a small hill to get to our destination, but it was well worth it. Not only did we manage to get within 50 metres of the sign, we were also treated to an amazing view over Hollywood and Downtown LA. We stayed put for about an hour not talking at all; just taking in the sights and then when it started to rain we finally made our way back towards Santa Monica. The four of us went out for dinner at a cheap Thai place and then it was an early night for everyone. I was feeling totally shattered!
The next morning I got up around 8am and went out with Elsa and our new room mate, Mika to walk along the Santa Monica pier. It reminded me too much of a small Blackpool Pleasure Beach for me to be excited about it. By 12pm we had hired pushbikes and cycled over to Venice Beach and the Promenade. I'm not quite sure what I expected from Venice Beach, but I basically hated it. In the space of 20 minutes I saw at least 2 fights about to kick off and about 10 people smoking their crack pipes in broad daylight. I just didn't feel safe there. I was quite happy to be cycling back to Santa Monica pier with all that behind me. I spent the rest of the night chilling out in the hostel with my room mates.
Early the next morning I checked out of the HI and caught a flight to Vegas. LA had been such a big disappointment that I half expected Vegas to be a seedy dump, but thankfully I was happily surprised that I loved it. Everyone I met was incredibly friendly and helpful, I'm guessing because they want something from you, but nevertheless I was happy to be around polite people. I stayed at the Planet Hollywood on the 37th floor across from The Bellagio. The view from my room was just perfect. I could see the fountains outside The Bellagio and I was right next to the Paris tower. I honestly couldn't have been luckier. The whole of my first day I don't think I stopped smiling. I laughed at anything and everything cheesy I saw, including the decor in my room which was unbelievably gaudy! I had lots of memorabilia from 'Last of the Mohicans' plastered all over my room, including the axe which Daniel Day Lewis uses in the film. I went exploring soon after checking into my room. First destination - The Venetian. It was absolutely stunning, but I found it very strange seeing Gondolas outside. It hilarious what people will pay money for. I had a little flutter at the casino, lost, but I didn't put much down at all. It was just so I could say 'I gambled in Vegas'. In the evening I had dinner at the Spice Buffet in Planet Hollywood, which was apparently voted the #1 buffet on the Vegas strip. All the food looked amazing, but I focused on the seafood section and managed to plough my way through a whole load or Atlantic King Crab legs and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Yummy!!! After all that food I was about ready to pass out, but managed a walk along the strip to the MGM Grand before turning back and getting a relatively early nights sleep. It was great having a room to myself and a TV to myself, and a bathroom to myself...you get the picture. I felt like I was being spoiled and loved it!
The next morning I was up at 4:30am since the tour bus to The Grand Canyon was picking me up at 5:30am outside the hotel. Ordinarily I would grumble about having to get up that early, but the excitment I felt knowing I was going to The Grand Canyon had me in a good mood from the second I opened my eyes. It was a relatively long journey to the Canyon, making only one very quick photo stop at The Hoover Dam. I reckon it took about 4 hours in total. When we arrived I was ushered straight through to the flight terminal since I had booked a helicopter ride to take me down into the Canyon. I was like a giddy school girl and couldn't keep still I was so happy waiting in the Terminal. I met a Filipino guy called Alan, who is a nurse in Canada. He was pretty cool; could hardly speak a word on English, but my minimal Tagalog skills meant we could have a decent enough conversation. We ended up being in the same helicopter and we soon up in the air. Flying over the Canyon was awesome! I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. The ride was short, but I was happy to be on the ground inside the Canyon looking up and the amazing scenery. I felt lucky to be seeing it from a different perspective. The group went on a small walk to the jetty on the lake, which is where we met our guide, KC. He was very cool! He was once an architect, but he gave it up 3 yrs ago to be a boatman on the river and hasn't regretted it once! I love that.
It was all over too quickly after that moment. We were ushered back into the helicopter and taken back to the terminal. I was hungry at this point to went with Alan to the food stop by bus and took advantage of the all you can eat lunch. As soon as I was suitably full I climbed some rocks to get atop one of the highest points in the canyon for a stunning 360 degree view and yes it really was beautiful. I basically spent the whole day in awe!
6pm that evening I was back at Planet Hollywood and eating my dinner. I decided to be boring for the rest of the evening; so after a quick walk up and done the strip for the last time I got an early night to catch my flight to San Franciso the following morning.
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Eddie
non-member comment
Hello
Loved your travel blogs, especially your trip back to see the family.. I'm envious that you could spare the time and money to do all these travelling. Is this your career?.. Now that you have stopped bloggin, you must be on vacation.eddie