http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , California , Los Angeles , Hollywood en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:48:00 BST Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:48:00 BST 3.10.You look like a professor sagt eine Chinesin heute zu mir. Liegt wohl daran das ich in den letzten Tagen dauernd mit meinem Mexico Reisefuehrer unterm Arm unterwegs bin. Denn nach Mexico geht es morgen Ich fliege direkt nach La Paz . Der flug ist nur unwesentlich teuerer als der Bus und dauert keine 24 Stunden. Dort habe ich eine Unterkunft bei einem Amerikaner der dort studiert. Das ganz http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-330524.html 29.9.Der FlugKomischerweise hatte ich in dem Airbus von Berlin nach Frankfurt mehr Beinfreiheit als in den 11 Stunden von Frankfurt nach LA. Naja da ich einen Platz am Gang hatte war zumindest die Moeglichkeit ich hab noch nicht raus wie ich auf amerikanischen Tastaturen die Umlaute schreibe gegeben ab und zu aufzustehen und mich zu bewegen.Von meinen beiden Sitznachbarn wurde ich mit den Worte http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-329488.html Stop number one LA.Spent a few days in Hollywood doing the tourist thing. Most of the days were pretty quiet because I was still recovering from my going away party with jetlag on top of that Did the basic tourist things walk of fame Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive Universal Studios etc.There were two movie premiers while I was there. The first one was the day I arrived so I was to tired too http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-326453.html Well back by popular request Charlie and Owen world tour is back up and running only problem is Owen is still at home so its lsquoCharlie and Owens world tourrsquo without the OwenSo to all of you that know I flew out to the USA 2 weeks ago and its taken me this long to finally update this blog I apologize it's just that the internet here has been so dammed expensive and in my hostel at http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-325826.html Hey everyoneWOW FINALLLLY U SAY Ya i know sorry folks...the first couple of weeks of moving to another country and all can be quite demanding and time consuming. But yes thats right its been 2 WEEKS...which almost feels like 2 years...almost lol So in saying that i have ALOT to fill ya'll in on o But I will do an edition every 2 weeks or so and I also figured the whole blog thang would be http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-325755.html We left Encinitas and hit the pacific highway 1 again heading for Hollywood. The drive took a few hours and we arrived late morning. We had to drive through the main highway in LA and the lanes were unbelivable at one point there were 8 lanes and traffic was weaving in and out of them . It took a while for me to stop jumping in fear as yet another car whizzed by. We almost came off the highway http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-325440.html Said goodbye to Tobyrsquos family and flew to Los Angeles via Auckland NZ. Explored Hollywood and then rode around LA in a stretch limo that our hostel organized drinking beer and champagne. http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-322136.html And here we are safe and soundAfter so much planning dreaming farewells tears smiles exchanges of emails presents cars planes etc. we have finally arrived to our first destination The City of Angels where everything is made of plastic and filled with silicone from food and drinks to boobs and bums everything looks as it has been taken out of a Barbie world... America the Americ http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-321491.html CITY OF ANGLES Los Angeles CA 4th September 2008ldquoLA is a great big freewayrdquo as the song goes. Indeed it is however it is surprisingly easy to get around. We stayed in a motel at Carpenteria near Santa Barbara last night. Santa Barbara was a bit pricey so we went further along the beach to its lessglitzy neighbour. The motel was a bit down at heel but it was clean and very cheap s http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-320286.html Thursday 14th AugWe thought we had better brave downtown LA today so I drove through the hairiest traffic ever and was glad to get out the car in Chinatown which had the cheapest parking lots We walked thought Chinatown and into the city stopping in Perishing Square to listen to a throw back hippy band. After wandering around for a bit a nice LA women helped us find our way to a bus service th http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-319472.html Wednesday 13th AugHaving spotted a great looking gym the night before called Bally's I was keen to try out my first LA gym. It was great and we spent 2 hours being entertained by machines with individual TV screens and the latest in gym technology. All of this fun was followed by power juice at the juice bar afterward yet again I was in gym heaven We headed to Hollywood first and walked down t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-319463.html So after our Mexican party we headed to Lake Lurleen where we booked cabins again due to 80 chance of heavy thunderstorms. We got 4 cabins of 6 between the two groups and I shared a room with Silvia and the others were Nic Susan Jinny and Kay. After dinner we had a pub quiz in our group and split into teams of 4 making up 15 question rounds each. After such questions as what two names were on http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-316865.html Vi hoppede paa en 8 timers bustur fra SF til Los Angeles hvor vi saa hoppede af i Hollywood inden bussen koerte til downtown LA som skulle vaere det vaerste sted i hele USA pga kriminalitet og hjemloese. Busturen gik nu meget hurtigt...Lone sov samtlige 8 timer paa naer ved stoppet ved Burger KingVi havde kun 1 doegn i hollywood inden vi skulle rejse hjem. Saa den foerste aften gik med at http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-316526.html So the morning after we took a helicopter flight around the Grand Canyon. It was 50 minutes long and explored the North and South rim seriously one of the best experiences of my life was SO good. We then had a drive ahead of us to Monument Valley where we were trying the traditional Navajo experience and sleeping in one of their houses eating with them and seeing dance and song. We put our stuf http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-315122.html Turen fra Las Vegas til Los Angeles gikk fint selv om vi ikke kom oss avgrde fr sent Vi hadde ikke bestilt rom p forhnd men peilet oss inn p et motel i Santa Monica og planla og finne et Motel6 i nrheten. Da det kun var 10 min igjen kjre fant vi et Motel6 og var fornyd med vre p plass i LA. Dagen etterp stod vi opp sjekket ut av motellet for finne noe annet. Vi var innnom hos http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-313576.html As our flight wasnrsquot until late we decided to book out our room for an extra night with the intention of getting some sleep in the afternoon. It didnrsquot quite work out that way though. We did a walk around all of the main Boulevard sights so that we could take photographs in the morning and then in the early afternoon we went to see the new X Files movie at the Chinese Theatre. Irs http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-309940.html We actually managed to sleep in later that 6.30am today til 8am. We had nothing planned for today so decided to hang out locally along the Boulevard and check out some of the things wersquod walked past but not explored yet.We browsed around the Hollywood Highland Centre which surrounds the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars take place. This is an outdoor shopping and eating complex a bit li http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-309938.html Anyways Irsquom finally back home. Any last comments you ask First off I just want to thank all of you. Maybe being away for a whole summer from you has made me sappy but I can live with that. You have no idea how much being with a group you don't know that wellmay never know that well makes you appreciate your solid friendships back home. I hope to never take any of you for granted Tay http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-309282.html HelloWe had an uneventful flight into Los Angeles although I was kept amused by a woman in front of us who was travelling alone with 3 small kids including twin girls of about 2. One didn't stop crying and wouldn't let her mum put her down and the other realised she knew how to undo her seatbelt so kept undoing it and wandering off and the mum couldn't reach her so the flight crew and other rand http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307997.html Wersquod booked the Universal Studios today with a free shuttle bus from the Chinese Theatre. We got on with a small group and then it headed around the corner to another stop. A lady from our group asked when wersquod get our entry tickets and the driver said hersquod sort it so got off and let another massive group of people on. We drove there crammed in and when we got off our group wen http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307944.html Today we were due to go on a lsquobeaches and shoppingrsquo tour so had to get up at the crack of dawn. It didnrsquot matter as wersquove been waking up at 5am since arriving in LA and today was no different. We grabbed a McDonalds breakfast as there wasn't time for anything else which was horrible and then headed back to the hostel to wait for the coach. When one arrived we went to see http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307695.html Today was another fairly chilled out day. We still had our hop on hop off bus pass so we used it to go to the Universal Studios Citywalk complex which was a range of shops and eateries with an imax at the centre. As wersquod skipped breakfast we had a leisurely massive lunch at the Hard Rock Caf that filled us up for the entire day. Then as it was unbelievably hot we quickly decided to head http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307687.html We decided to start the trip as we meant to go on with a long leisurely lunch at TGI Fridays at Heathrow. Wersquod made it through the rigorous airport security where poor Matt kept getting picked to take his shoes off as he obviously looked a bit like a shifty shoe bomber type must be the shaved head and wersquod even made it around the shops without hitting the credit cards which was in http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307534.html Los Angeles The City of Angels We arrived by bus to a very hot and smoggy downtown LA now I've been to some dodgy places like Tallaght sorry Linda AnnMarie couldn't resist But Downtown LA is a totally different kettle of fish We got out of there pretty quick and headed to the hostel Sorry again Linda. We walked in and met an English couple who we met in San Diego a couple of days ea http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-307337.html This photo is taken at Grauman's Chinese Theatre Hollywood CaliforniaThe final part of our tour we'd originally added LA to our itinerary as we couldn't stand a diret flight to London from Hawaii with only a brief stop over at LAX so we added a few extra days in Hollywood.My views on LA possibly for this reason are a little bias in that we only really had time to do the touristy things rather t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-306475.html A slower day in HollywoodWell the Best Western Hollywood Plaza may be a noisy place to sleep but it has the great advantage of being 5 minutes walk from Hollywood Boulevard. So after a slightly interrupted nights sleep due to noisy peoplecarsdoors etc. we eventually headed out to find the Hollywood and Highland Mall which is situated on the intersection off Highland Avenue where our hotel is http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-304579.html Hollywood and Universal StudiosProbably the quickest checkout so far today we were packed and ready to roll before the kids had much of a chance to wake up the best way as it turns out. We all piled into Igor The Boat and set Twiki to direct us to Universal Studios. By more coincidence than harmony between man and machine we arrived at Universal Studios around midday without any incident ba http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-304461.html Touring the landmarks of LAHollywood involved hopping on Johnny's bus. Johnny a New Yorker living in L.A gave us the rundown on the places people want to see from what they've seen on TV.It takes about 40 minutes from Anaheim to get to Hollywood on a Sunday the i5 was behaving. Touring during the week would be nightmarish. We started off the tour by driving past the Chateau Marmont John Belus http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-301237.html