Day 4 - Hollywood to Anaheim

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Hollywood, Los Angeles, 37°c (102°f)

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, but today the mercury reached triple figures for the first time on my trip! Just after 12pm we reached 102°f! As I got up this morning it felt as though it was going to be hotter than any of the other days so far. A little unexpected for it to happen so soon into the trip, especially here in LA. Whilst LA isn’t immune from these kinds of “Vegas” temperatures, apparently according to locals, it’s not a regular thing for LA to get quite this hot. - Upon hearing such a fact, I couldn’t work out if that made us lucky or not?!

After getting up early again and having another night of 5 hours sleep (every night without fail, 5 hours! - It’s kind of weird, but kind of cool! Although I’m beginning to wonder when the adrenalin will fade and I’m going to burn out and need to catch up on all of the missing hours I’m used to!), I put my last few things in my case and tried desperately to get the zip done up. Somehow, just 4 days in my case is already beyond what is comfortably full! With Michelle, Karen, Marnee and Joey each being here for varying lengths of time so far, I think my ‘4 days until full’ is the record! Thankfully I had one of my more brilliant brainwaves last night. I got in touch with my friend Aaron over in Delaware who’s coming up to New York post-Contiki to meet me for a few days, and managed to concoct a plan that since I’m only allowed to have one suitcase on the bus for the next 4 weeks, (but two cases on the flight home), I’m going to the UPS store they have around the corner from the hotel in Anaheim and ship to him a very large box of things I’m not going to need for the next four weeks. He’ll be able to bring it with him in the car up to New York when we meet up, where I’ll be able to buy another suitcase for my return flight! Hurrah!! - Instant case space!

Once checked out of my hotel, my case and I walked down Hollywood Boulevard towards the girls’ hostel opposite Hollywoood/Highland subway stop which we worked out we’d need later on in the day for our journey out to Union Station for our continuing journey out to Anaheim. I left my suitcase with theirs ready for later, and Michelle, Karen, Marnee and I headed out to pick up our “Grand Tour of LA and Movie Star homes” tour, which left the Chinese Theatre at 9:30am.

Although the first half of the tour was good, there were a few elements to it that were slightly disappointing. We seemed as though we spend a lot of time at places that anybody could have walked to, like leaving the Chinese Theatre, going to the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre, only to then return back to the Chinese Theatre where we had 30 minutes to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the handprints. Very unnecessary since the tour began and ended there anyway! To counterbalance, once we got out to Beverly Hills, we only got 10 minutes at Rodeo Drive! I think everyone was disappointed with that since it was such a beautiful, opulent place featured in so many movies and TV shows. It truly was fairly breathtaking there, with everything so grand, immaculate, exclusive and larger than life, and exclusive. Thankfully in just those 10 minutes I managed to get some great shots, and even spotted the fountain used towards the end of ‘Clueless’ which was so cool!! Amongst the other stops was downtown LA, Sunset Boulevard and the Farmers Market and Grove shopping center.

Five and half hours later as we meandered through Hollywood, West Hollywood, Downtown and Beverly Hills, we got dropped off back at the Chinese Theatre, where we picked up the second part of the tour for the “Movie Star homes”. This tour was absolutely fantastic! It lasted another 2 hours and thankfully like the first part, was inside an air-conditioned coach. We were driven up into the Hollywood Hills where we had incredible views across LA from an elevated perspective, through Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and around Holmby Hills, otherwise collectively known as the “golden triangle” I believe. We saw some incredible homes that sprawled across such massive areas, and worth millions of dollars. Even some of the smaller homes we saw were apparently still well in excess of $2 million! One of the ‘highlights’ of the tour, was seeing the home Michael Jackson was renting when he died. Although it was obviously very poignant and sad, it was quite surreal too, seeing the gates where the ambulance had pulled out of a matter of weeks ago.

We got dropped off back to the Chinese Theatre around 6pm, and met up with Joey for some dinner in McDonalds, before we picked up our suitcases from the hostel, said our goodbyes to Hollywood, and began our journey across to Anaheim.
Aside from the task of getting the cases down onto platforms and loaded onto the trains, it was actually a very easy task. Picking up the red subway line from Hollywood/Highland, we went around about 7 stops to Union Station, where we then boarded an above-ground train, (a double-decker train no less!!) to take us to Anaheim. That part of the journey took 45 minutes, and as luck would have it as we were leaving the station, a taxi/mini-van literally pulled up within 30 seconds to take us and our 12 or so cases and bags (!!!) to our Anaheim hotel.

It was so exciting as we were driving to the hotel, because we had fireworks going off at one of the Disney parks in the background as our welcome which everybody thought was so cool! For me, I can’t help but get a really massive indescribable buzz whenever I’m around Disney parks. It’s like the air contains pixie dust or something that starts my pulse racing and the excited butterflies in my stomach buzzing around uncontrollably!

We quickly got freshened up and changed, before we walked just over the road to Downtown Disney for some celebratory cocktails. It was so fantastic to see everyone just as excited as me about being at Disney! Although I’ve never been to the California Disney parks, my knowledge after 5 vacations to the Florida ones seem to have already made me the tour guide for the next few days!

After two gorgeous cocktails, plus an extra one since Michelle didn’t like hers, I was actually quite drunk! Walking back to the hotel in the fresh air only seemed to make things even worse, and by the time we got back to the hotel, I was well past tipsy and full out smashed! Whether my cocktails were stronger than everybody else’s or I just reacted differently, but I was definitely acting the clown last night! Joey and I left our room and went over to the other girls’ room where we were all giggling crazily until 2am! It was just SO much fun and we were all crying with laughter at many points!

Eventually we said our goodnights and headed back for at least a few hours sleep before we start our attack on Disney tomorrow. Massive Disney fan that I am, I’m just so, so, SO excited!! And looking into the windows of the closed shops last night, filled me with real anticipation and impatience of wanting to experience it all there an then!

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Comments

[Annette Kostecki]

I wanna see Mickey'n'Minnie!
I'm just sooooo jealous! Wish I was there with you guys! I may be old but in my head I'm still 21 and I want to be there! I'm so pleased to know you're having the time of your life. Don't forget us at home in the rain! Luv u lots, Mum xxxx

[Sarah Morley]

Hi Carl, wow what an action packed adventure you've had already, didn't think it was possible in such a short time!! I'm so jealous, I would do anything to swap sitting at a desk from 9-5pm staring at the rain outside the window. It sounds like your having a fantastic time and I'm glad you've clicked so well with the others. I'm so very proud of you, you're so brave doing this and it's so lovely to read how happy you are feeling. I don't think we'll recognise you when you come back, as you'll be looking all healthy and tanned and full of confidence. Oh well, sorry to say I better get on with some work before the boss catches me reading your blog ;o) Sending you loads of love and hugs, Sarah x x x x