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Published: January 24th 2007
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After the crazy traffic getting to the airport and eventually taking off after nearly 2 hours of security checks, got in the air and ended up in LA 10 1/2 hours later. Longest ever flight I have been on and did get pretty boring, but BA do give you a really cool mini toothbrush kit, socks and facemask. Mostly watched films tho.
After landing, then spent ages and ages getting into America, they fingerprint and photograph everybody, which takes forever. Our bags were thrown off the carousel it took that long. After all that it was nearly dark, so decided to get the airport shuttle to the hostel instead of the bus and subway as we originally planned. Our hostel, the Orbit in West Hollywood was pretty cool. Shared with 4 other people, but managed to never meet them as they were always in bed or out by the time I got in/up. Dumped stuff and went for a wander around. By this point it was really dark and a little wierd, as everyone is in a car and there are very few people walking around (mostly only homeless people). Managed to located a Subway for dinner (Ad, I know
you will be proud), then returned to the hostel and slept.
Next day was an early start, as went on the LA city tour organised by the hostel for a bargain 20 quid. Included the minibus and guide all day. Got shown the Hollywood walk of fame (see Michael Jackson), the Chinese theatre and the Kodak theatre (which will be closed soon to prepare for the Oscars). Then headed up to a cool vantage point for the Hollywood sign and the city and got some snaps. Then moved onto Venice Beach (que the Baywatch theme tune) and got to wander along the promanade full of tattoo and piercing parlours (didnt have time to get one sorry Rach). Next up was the mad dash around the Celebrity homes - saw so many, but they included, Plaboy Mansion, Britney Spears, Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Frank Sinatras old gaff, Nicholas Cage, the Osbournes, Kiefer Sutherland and even the house used for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They were all massive and all really close together, guess they like the company (Britney is next door to Playboy mansion - nuff said). Was a bit odd driving around all their homes though, not sure I
would like that to be my house being photographed by randoms... Anyway, then moved on to Rodeo Drive, apparently THE place celebs go shopping. And we even spotted one - followed a load of papparatzi, like 30+ of them, and asked who it was they were photographing in the store, and it was Jessica Simpson, buying a handbag. Wow. Then we all got dropped back at the hostel. Was a crazy day out, but worth getting to see everything you need to in one day. There was a Farmers Market just down the block too which we found, selling really cheap and massive portions of food - that became the place for evening meals. Jet lag was starting to wear off at this point too, which was nice.
Next day we went to Universal Studios. Got there using the really cheap one day use on everything card (only about one pound 50) for any bus and subway all day. Went on the tour of Universal, nearly got eaten by many things, such as Jaws and King Kong (which actually had banana smell pumped into the room) and also a 8.3 Ricter eathquake simulation. That made a mess. Saw the
Wisteria Lane set (for all those Desperate Housewives fans), the full size housing estate destroyed by the plane crashing in the recent film War of the Worlds and the New York street that is recreated in Hollywood. CSI Las Vagas and CSI New York are even filmed here. The site was massive and the rides were pretty cool too with loads of audience interation in the 4-D theatres.
Next day, got up really late for some reason and so decided to 'do a bit of culture'. Went to the Getty Center, a massive, free art exhibition site set overlooking LA - the city and the beach. On the way we passed some nicer looking areas to live, such as Westwood. LA is surprisingly full of loads of homeless people on the streets, especially at nighttime which doesnt make you feel too safe. Anyway, at the Getty Center saw some paintings, but the most interesting thing was the photograph exhibiton of American life. That evening, went to see Blood Diamond at a massive movie theatre, which was an awesome film.
On the last day in LA we decided to go shopping, got a cheap tshirt from a giant shopping
mall a few blocks away. We walked through lots of residential streets to get there, so was good to see the way more normal Americans lived, rather than the celebs. Returned to the hostel, grabbed bags and got the shuttle bus back to the airport. But we left way too early, thinking there would be traffic. Anyway, we got there 5 hours before our flight and LAX is not the most interesting airport - consists of a McDonalds and about 3 shops. So instead we sat with a guy we met on the bus from the hostel, chatted, ate McDonalds and people-watched. Time went really quick and learnt lots about where to go in Australia from the random dude we met.
After taking off dead on time and sleeping for a while, realised that the plane was leaking from the ceiling some interesting brown goo that ended up flowing from the ceiling getting loads of people wet. Apparently it was the air con, but it really didnt smell good. Anyway, I managed to get a seat further back in the plane away from it and got some more sleep. So after leaving on Sunday the 21st January 2007, we
landed in Fiji 10 hours later, on Tuesday 23rd January. This hurt my head quite a lot as we crossed the International Date Line, meaning we lost the whole of Monday. Good news though, it will be made up eventually while continuing travelling this way round the world.
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LittlePika
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Wow! sounds amazing and to think you only spent less than a week there and did so much!! Amazing the pics look great and glad that u're having a great time! *hugs* x