Los Angeles - 23rd October to 27th October, 2016

After a short but slow drive from San Diego, we had finally made it to La La Land, otherwise known as Los Angeles. For Adrian it was his first visit to the city of glitz and glamour, however, it was my second visit and I was hopeful that I would like it a lot more the second time round. Last time I was here was in 2002 and overall, I felt LA was just a busy, sprawling and dirty city. This time I hoped that  maybe it might be different.

Instead of staying right in the centre of things, we chose to stay in Venice Beach. Friends had stayed here before and said how fun and cool it was. Our accommodation was nice and we were greeted with free beer. We then went for a walk to get some food and the general area seemed pretty trendy and the restaurants looked nice. So far, LA was off to a good start.

The following day, we picked up our hire car and made our way to a Westfield Shopping Centre so I could spend a little of the birthday money my parents had given me. As much as I would have liked to have shopped on Rodeo Drive, I’m a realist and designer stuff just wouldn’t mesh well with backpacking. So, while Adrian patiently waited in a coffee shop, I went on  a little spree. It was fun, for me at least. Once the shopping spree was done, we made our way back to Venice, had a quiet afternoon and some nice Mexican food by the beach, for dinner.

The next day, Monday, would turn out to be a busy and topsy-turvy kind of day. Our first thing we had to do, was to find the Australian Consulate so Adrian could apply for a new passport. His old one received some water damage and we thought it best to get a new one. We hopped up, bright and early so it would leave us with plenty of time to get the application in and get out to Studio City and CBS studios for the taping of The Late Late Show with James Cordon. So off we went, then crash. We hit the back of a bus.

Long story short, it was a very minor bingle, caused by not being used to crazy LA traffic. No damage was done to the bus, but our hire car wasn’t in the greatest shape. After some arduous time spent with LA bus services, sorting out insurance details and waiting for someone from the bus company to take pictures of non existent damage to the bus, with three different cameras, we made our way back to the hire car company.

Luckily for us, the hire car company was only about 100m down the road. They really did not care about the car. They made sure we were both okay, which other than being frustrated with the situation, we were. Then gave us a newer and better car and we were once again back on the road.

Eventually we made it to the consulate. As suspected, Adrian needed a new passport. However, he also needed a new picture for the passport. This meant we had to find our way from Century City to a whole other part of LA just to get a passport size photo, then make our way back to the consulate once more. Anyway, we managed to get around LA, in crazy traffic, get the passport application in and still have enough time to get to Studio City for the taping of The Late, Late Show. We just didn’t have time to eat!

Unlike the tapings we had previously been to in NYC, it was a relatively short wait before we were ushered in side and placed in our seats, ready for the taping of the show. Adrian and I were lucky and got placed in the middle, second row back from the stage. The celebrity guests for the night included, Ron Howard (if you don’t know who that is, then you should look him up), Nick Offerman, a very funny man who was in Parks and Recreation and who is the husband of Megan Mulally (Karen, from Will and Grace) and Aldus Hodge, who was promoting his role in the latest Tom Cruise film, Jack Reacher. Norah Jones was the musical guest.

James Cordon was very good. His rapport with the guests was fantastic and the whole taping was great. I especially loved Ron Howard. He really seems as lovely as his character from Happy Days, Ritchie Cunningham. The other guests were also highly entertaining and Norah Jones was very good. The only thing was, James Cordon, when compared with other hosts we had seen (Trevor Noah and Steven Colbert) had no real rapport with the audience. In between takes, he didn’t joke around with the crowd, or do a Q&A. He was the most serious of all three hosts and nothing like I had imagined. Anyway, the taping was fun and we had a great time.

Needless to say, when the show was over, we were ravenous. So we made our way over to the famous Grove shopping district and found a Cheesecake Factory to eat at. It was delicious and naturally we had some cheesecake for desert. Finally our Monday was over, it was a loooong day.

Tuesday was also set to be a big day. Upon recommendations from friends, we decided to spend the day at Universal Studios, Hollywood and from the moment we entered the car park, we knew Universal was going to be a huge place! And we were not wrong.

Once we had finally made it through the labyrinth of shops, closed nightclubs, bars and restaurants, we arrived at the ticket booths. Thankfully, I had put aside some birthday money from Adrian’s and my parents, because when we saw the entry fee, we almost choked. It was $105 US each. Then on top of that, the friendly ticket booth operator tried to get us to buy the fast pass, for ‘only’ an additional $65 US each. We politely declined and made our way in. We figured if it was busy we’d just have to wait.

When we got in, we studied the map for a bit and decided to walk down to the bottom level of the park. We figured it would be less busy and also, it had Adrian’s favourite ride, the Jurassic Park ride. As we walked into where the lines were, it had a sign stating there would be a 7 minute wait, which we thought was pretty good. Turns out, there was absolutely no wait and we immediately hopped on the ride. It was amazing. It really felt like you were in the land of the dinosaurs.

There were all different displays, which spat water at you etc, then you ascended up a ramp where a velociraptor dropped from the grates in the ceiling, giving ride goers a minor scare. Then all of a sudden a giant T-Rex lunged at us from the ceiling. Then, just when you thought it was over, you started hurtling down a ramp with another big T-Rex coming for you. It was great, like Movieworld’s Wild West ride meets Jurassic Park.

After another round on the Jurassic Park ride, we then went on the Mummy ride and the Transformers ride. Both were rollercoaster type rides, inside and set to virtual reality type 3D screens. Didn’t go much on the Mummy ride, but the Transformers ride was incredible. Along with the amazing 3D screens and the gyrating car, there was heat and fire and water, making the whole thing seem totally real.

Eventually we made it back to the top of the park and into the land of the Simpsons. It had everything, Moe’s Tavern, The Kwik -E-Mart, The Power Plant, Krusty World, the big guy holding the donut, and much more. For anyone who grew up watching the Simpsons, it was kind of surreal and pretty cool. We of course went on the ride in Krusty World. Another virtual reality, rollercoaster kind of ride. It was pretty fun and probably the longest wait we had for a ride all day. Fifteen minutes and by this stage, we were sure glad we didn’t buy the fast pass.

After we finished the ride, we made our way over to Moe’s Tavern for lunch. Not the healthiest, it was Cletus’ Fried Chicken. We also, of course, had a Duff Beer. Turns out, Duff beer is just crappy Budweiser with a 10 dollar price tag! The whole thing was pretty cool, nonetheless.

Once lunch was finished, we had another turn on the Simpsons ride and then made our way over to the Universal Lot tour ‘ride’. It was three trolley carts which took you on a back lot tour of Universal Studios. On this tour we saw fake NYC, where Jaws was filmed, how they can flood a set without actually flooding a set (which was super impressive), where Stephen Spielberg’s most expensive film War of the World’s was shot, and much more. However, the most impressive set was the interactive one where it feels like the NYC subway is caving in on you. It floods, the ceiling collapses and fire emerges from the wall. Then you continue through the subway to a 3D room. Here they shake and move the trolleybus while king Kong and giant dinosaurs fight around you. It’s so lifelike and fun. Lastly, while still in the tunnel, we got taken to another 3D room where you’re transported into the world of Fast and Furious. Basically you are one of the gang and involved in trying to take down the bad guy. It was pretty cool. Then, the tour is over.

Once we got back from the backlots, we visited my favourite part of Universal, Harry Potter World. It truly was like you imagine Hogwarts and Diagon Alley and all the rest of Harry Potter to be. I loved it. We did forgo the butter beer. It was a butterscotch milky looking drink and just looked gross. But I did get a photo with the conductor and the Hogwarts Express train.

We also had a look through Honeydukes Candy shop where they had Berty Bots Every Flavour Beans, the chocolate frogs and so on. Had the prices been more to our budget, I may have went a little nuts in there. Anyway, there were Harry Potter themed rides to visit.

The first one we went on was my absolute, all time favourite ride. You had to walk through a Hogwarts castle and then sit on a seat and put 3D goggles on. Next thing you were launched into the world of Harry Potter. The seats flew through the air on a rollercoaster and all around you there were dementors, goblins and all creatures and characters from Harry Potter. It was AMAZING. We went on it three times!

I then went on another outdoor rollercoaster. We actually got to go around twice as there were very little lines. It was cool, but more of a littler kids ride.
With some remaining time, we made our way back down to Jurassic Park and Transformers. Here we road the rides a couple more times, before we got notification that the park was closing. So we took a pic in front of the Universal Globe, had a coffee and made our way back, in the crazy LA gridlock, to Venice Beach. It was a fun day and a place we’d highly recommend.

For our last day in LA, we decided to stroll along Venice Beach boardwalk, to Santa Monica Pier. Venice Beach itself was nice enough, with palm trees and piers and restaurants. We stopped in one café for brunch and boy oh boy, it is a great place to people watch. Many magnificent and strange looking people inhabit the boardwalk!
As we continued to move along we saw muscle beach, buskers and then, signs saying Workaholics was filming. Adrian and I are both fans of the show and hoped we would see it’s stars, Adam Devine  (Rebel Wilson’s love interest in Pitch Perfect), Anders Holm and Blake Anderson. We kept our eyes peeled for a while, but we didn’t see them.

   

Eventually we made it to Santa Monica Pier. There were rides, a little like Coney Island yet more modern, restaurants with highly inflated prices, tourists (us included) everywhere, and a crazy man covered in and feeding pigeons. It was quite a sight! There were also great views back towards Venice beach. It was very pretty.
Eventually it was time to make our way back to Venice Beach. Once again we passed where Workaholics was filming. This time, however,  we were lucky enough to see the stars of the show filming a scene. It was pretty cool and a great way to cap off our time in LA.

While we only saw the Hollywood sign from a distance and didn’t visit the usual Hollywood sights like Grauman’s Chinese theatre and the Hollywood walk of fame (I saw them last time and Adrian wasn’t overly interested), we still enjoyed our time in LA. Second time round it had definitely impressed me more, even though our parting gift was a US$75 taxi fee to get us to the Greyhound station on time, albeit with a highly entertaining taxi driver, opinionated on all things LA and Donald Trump.

Holly.