Advertisement
Published: January 24th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Having collapsed at the ‘Hacienda Hotel’ at 8:00pm on the 19
th of Jan (first day in L.A), it seems I’m due for an update to the blog to try bring anyone reading this up to speed with this crazy adventure. Waking up on the 2
nd leg of the 13 hour flight to L.A, my neck was at right angles to my body, my feet freezing, and my ability to concentrate lost in translation, I rolled up the blind on the window to expose a wonderfully bright day waiting outside. Breakfast eventually rolled around, and was again okay for maintaining some kind of bodily function. A slow 4 hours rolled by, and on the crack of 9:00am, was the first sight of land from the plane. However, this wasn’t actually LA, but a costal island just off it that I’m yet to find out the name of. I was taking heaps of photos as we were flying over, as endless blueness got quite boring after a few hours. Baseball fields, running tracks, and incredibly neat rectangular set out neighbourhoods were packed into this land mass, and the thought that I was in AMERICA was crazy. “Land of the free, home of the
brave”, “Only in America”, and “living the American dream” were among the many phrases and thoughts I had upon our descent. Walking into LAX was staggering. The Homeland Security had obviously stepped things up a fair bit when 911 happened, And The first line of security took our thumb and finger prints of BOTH our hands, as we were foreigners. They checked our passport details rigorously, and allowed us to collect our luggage. Finding both my bags with ease was a bonus, and allowed me the mental stamina to press on. The second wave was a baggage check, in which they made sure we weren’t holding any food, agricultural items or illegal stuff. This was quite easy however, and they didn’t even open my guitar case ? I could’ve had that filled to the brim with coke, because yes there were also no drug dogs ?? The last was a police woman that should’ve had a more physical occupation that just stared you down, and made sure you didn’t come out of customs throwing parties because you got the Drugs in. Quite Ineffective actually. So from there we took a cab to the hotel, which by then was about 12.
We were then allowed to go out for lunch to be back by 1:30pm. On our return, we met our chaperones that would end up driving up upon 12 lane highways toward the beautiful city of Santa Monica. The American accent is such a novelty…. We were then dropped on 3
rdstreet, and were given around 2 and a half hours at do what we wanted. We saw an awesome water statue of a triceratops, and I donated 2 American dollars to a man who was incredibly good at making you feel bad for not donating to charity, and wanted $20 to feed ten kids. That wasn’t happening. So I met him halfway at 2, and left it at that. We couldn’t resist the pull of the beach, and it was about a 3 block walk to the gorgeous Santa Monica beach and Pier. I found a very stereotypical touristy t-shirt that I couldn’t resist, and had a ‘Churrio’, which was a deep fried stick of dough covered in sugar and cinnamon. Totally American. But ‘Empty calories’ as our chaperone Ted said. We saw a mickey and Minnie mouse dress up pair that would literally turn away and hide from the
camera if we didn’t give a (in an Asian tone) “Donation, Donation, Donation !”. carious wheel, a ‘Bubba Gump’ Shrimp restaurant, countless tourist shops and buskers of all types were basically what made up Santa Monica Pier.
We then got picked up and taken by Ted to Venice Beach, which was STUNNING, and very picturesque thanks to dad’s choice to include the ‘sweep panoramic’ setting in the camera choice. It’s quite similar to Santa Monica, but with more homeless people. There were all sorts of arts and crafts of the first line of shops that even if you took a mild picture of them, the owner would then demand money for having taken the picture which got a little while to get used to. We then got a little lost, but found our way to a Mexican restaurant to grab dinner, in which a conveniently timed Johnny Cash tribute band was playing during. This was where we all met and then from there we went back to Halecinda. Then we were roused up for a quick Haka practice before tomorrow when we perform our haka. This wrapped up, and we retreated back to our rooms, where I’m on the
fold out bed, because 3 guys were assigned to two beds. Fantastic organisation. This brings me to the current point in time, Tomorrow we go to HOLLYWOOD !!!! and Disneyland :D it will be INCREDIBLE. So till tomorrow, salut, et je t’aime Los Angeles !
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.055s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Litecia
non-member comment
HUSKY!
You hung out with a husky? Did it have purple eyes?