Californication

Trip Start Nov 01, 2008
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Trip End Nov 27, 2009


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Flag of United States  , California,
Sunday, October 25, 2009

After a long night flight we passed relatively quickly through customs and caught up with a Scottish couple we met at our hostel in Rarotonga, gathered our things and worked out how to find our way to our hostel.  We walked outside to an unexpected but welcomed heat in LA and a bustling city, we took the bus from the airport to Union station where we took the subway and then another bus to the hostel.  The hostel was in a good location close to Hollywood and full of travelers although the dorm room we had was really cramped, but we didn't mind too much as it was only for a couple of nights and far cheaper than anything else in town. Our last night included a free comedy night with four live stand up comedians who were actually quite good, we also had the added bonus of a free dinner - hot dogs!

We dropped off our bags and left to explore the city on foot, we ate some really good burgers for lunch at a burger bar called 8oz Hollywood Palms
Hollywood Palms
.  We took a long walk to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Walk of Fame to see all the celebrity hand prints in the pavement which was cool although the area is pretty grimy full of tramps and weirdos randomly shouting at you, not all that different from London.  We spent the evening back at 8oz enjoying a few beers, after a quiet week in Rarotonga we needed to retox!

The following day we spent ages trying to research the cheapest way to travel around the US and it seems there aren't many backpacker friendly options, unless you want to take the Greyhound everywhere.  We ended up hiring an economy sized car from Alamo for three weeks which we would drop off in Seattle.  Our Scottish friends told us about all the good hotel deals going on in Vegas midweek which made it sound even more appealing, so we decided to plan a visit. 

We spent the afternoon walking around downtown LA which is about a half an hour bus ride from Hollywood and is a very different setting, tall skyscraper buildings making up the finanacial and art district.  We ended up in one of the city's oldest bars called Coles, where we had French dips, fries, baguette and beef broth which comes with the obligatory pickle that I so despise - yuck!  Back near the hostel we took a walk around the high end shopping district of Robertson Boulevard which seemed worlds apart from likes of skanky Hollywood Boulevard, lots of boutique shops, cafes and restaurants including The Ivy.  I really wanted to check out Kitson but it was closed and so we thought we would try again the following morning, but apparently no one shops before 12pm in LA; can you believe no one is open for shopping until 12pm?  We had no time to lose as we set off to pick up our car bound for more exciting adventures, the dessert was calling!
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