Day 6: LOS ANGELES

Last day in LA...Unfortunately :(

We didn't have time to do much on the last day in LA (wow that still sounds so sad), so my little brother and sister spent some time in the pool messing around and being... children.

...we were the only ones by the pool since it was only 9am!

After we had got our luggage completely ready at the hotel's lobby, we went out to a near by shopping mall to kill some time. That's when the most amazing thing happened:

We had Chinese for lunch, where they gave us a fortune cookie which read something on the lines of ' You will receive a pleasant surprise'.

Once we had finished shopping, we headed back down to the car park where we had arranged to meet the driver from the hotel. We waited for half an hour, but he didn't come. My dad started to worry since we had a plane to catch back to London (which I rather had missed!)

Soon enough, after we had waited and worried a little longer, a black limo pulled out in front of us and said that the driver from the hotel had sent him to pick us up...in a limo!

It was a perfect experience and it did simply feel 'so LA'. I could just feel those many heads turning wondering who was in the limo!

Us getting out of the limo!

Unfortunately all good things come to an end.

If there's anything to learn from my beautiful trip to LA it is that you have to spend more than a week there! Seriously, if your going to travel so far and spend so much money you have to make up for it. There are so many things in Los Angeles to see and do, even spending a day or two on the at beach or traveling to other places in California is time well spent.

For those who have already been in Los Angeles, you know what I'm talking about!

When I was there it really felt like I was living the Californian Dream, well maybe thats just me.

Priyanka xx

Day 5: LOS ANGELES

Right in the morning we took a 2 hour drive down to San Diego to visit Legoland. Whilst we were driving we could tell that we were really close to the Mexican border because there were Military beaches and bases that we could clearly see (err scary!?)

As you can see I was really excited to go on the children's driving test! I also figured out that I can't drive to save my life.

We didn't spend a very long time in Legoland since it was pretty much the same as the one in England, but it was lovely to travel down to San Diego and simply watch the roads and beaches we passed.

 
    California has the most beautiful sunsets ever...

It also seems to have the most beautiful traffic as well!

Has anyone else been to California? What did you enjoy doing there?

Priyanka xx

Day 4: LOS ANGELES

View from Venice Fishing Pier

The first thing in the morning, after breakfast, we went to a few of LA's most popular beaches, though we didn't swim or have day at the beach because we were so short of time. First we visited Venice beach, which is well known for its youthful Boardwalk and Muscle Beach (where there is bodybuilding machinery provided by the city and a load of muscular men!)

Whilst we were on Venice Fishing Pier, my Dad proudly caught a whole load of Californian fish.

 

Okay, okay he just wanted to hold the fishing rod because at the time it was heavily exciting to all of us!

Santa Monica Pier

Next up we visited Santa Monica Pier, where even at 10 in the morning there were tons of tourists, which makes me wonder how many people there would have been in the afternoon when the heat was at its optimum.

It was really facinating to watch people surf, its always been something that I have wanted to do but haven't got the opportunity to do- yet. If only we had spent some more time in LA...

Back in Hollywood Boulevard

After we had spent some time shopping for clothes and souvenirs we rushed off to our tour of the Dolby Theatre.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures inside but it is the venue of the the Oscars. On the chairs there were still the names of actors and singers that had attended that year, including my one of my favorite actresses Jenifer Lawrence (since I am overly obsessed with The Hunger Games and is now becoming a little worrying). There was also beautiful Oscar dressing rooms backstage that we got a peak at.

After a lot of running, fierce navigation skills and unhelpful communicating we arrived at the Warner Brothers Studios for our VIP Tour.

For anyone who doesn't know, Warner Brothers is a American film, television and music entertainment producer.

Some Harry Potter Costumes

Yes, I was also really amazed! In the tour they showed us the Friends set which they filmed in! It was surprisingly really small (3 steps from the door to the sofa), but one of the workers explained to us that the camera is angled so the room looks much larger.

We saw numerous other fascinating studio sets, props and costumes from famous films that they store at the studio as well as the stages for TV shows like 'The Big Bang Theory', 'Two and a Half Men'. They usually allow people to watch when they are filming so they can also record the 'real' sound of laughter for television.

In the evening my dad and I went shopping crazy in Macy's, having the only reasons to buy the best part of the shop was beacause we dont have Macy's in London and things are generally cheaper in America. Well, you won't find me complaining!

Priyanka xx

Day 3: LOS ANGLES

So maybe, possibly I got kind of, sort of really excited when I caught a glimpse of the Hollywood sign...

 

   ... I mean who wouldn't? Its the most famous landmark in the whole of California!

It was really strange how Los Angeles is very similar to the movies; the roads are MASSIVE compared to the tiny two lane roads in London, the houses are so large and 'posh' (the ones I went in anyway), which had a swimming pool and tennis court in the garden (i know right- what?!) and the huge green palm trees and the invariably clear blue sky that finished the perfect picture of paradise. 

 

We were lucky enough to get so close to the sign because my dad's friend who lives in LA drove us up there because tour buses usually don't. The weather was fantastic and so hot so we had to spend our time outside wisely. 

After the sight-seeing, we did some more sight-seeing but from a tour bus. It took us around some of LA' s richest neighbourhoods such as Beverly Hills, Bel Air and a hilly area ( which name I annoyingly cannot remember) where we drove past houses, no not houses, mansions owned famously by Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Julia Roberts, Jenifer Lopez, Bruno Mars... and countless other wealthy individuals.

Beverly Hills, 90210, Rodeo Drive

Since I do watch the TV series 90210 it was really exciting to actually in person be there! We didn't shop there because as you can tell, the shops were very expensive.
 
After pacing up and down Hollywood Boulevard, Walk of Fame to find somewhere to eat, in which no creative manner we ended up eating in McDonald's, we entered Madame Tussauds. 

Hollywood Walk of Fame

I strongly enjoy snapping away in the middle of the road, everywhere seemed so beautiful!

As you can tell after a long day of walking in the heat we were exhausted. Unfortunately we didn't eat at any 'true American' restaurants or diners, would any one recommend any for next time?

Priyanka xx

Day 1: LOS ANGELES

For me summer has always been a time that I look forward too, even in the great depths of winter and from the miserable London weather, so I was ecstatic when the holidays had finally begun.

 My family and I had spent roughly 2 weeks in Calgary, Canada and were heading to spend a few nights in LA (which we realized later on was not the best plan since it take much longer than a few days to see the whole of LA- but we tried our very best to!)

The City of Stars

I could see the lights of LA shining bright just before we landed which was most truly beautiful. I knew then I wanted to discover the city as much as I could and make the most of my time since I had been counting down to that very moment for months. 

Priyanka xx