You lucky people. This week, due to the multiple time zones we’ve experienced, you guys get an extra day in this blog! That’s 8 days worth of activities and thoughts in just one week!!
We left New Zealand’s capital Wellington on Sunday morning at 7:30am. We were prepared for our 13hour bus journey all the way back to Auckland via the Naked Bus company. Now the name of this bus service was an appealing one and when we trekked from our hostel to the station half an hour away, we were greeted by a friendly chap who ushered us onto the bus and told us we’d be stopping an hour and a half away to change buses. This is where it started to go sour. We moved our bags onto the next bus, got a seat each at the back and waited to set off north for 9hours until our next bus change. Then the bus driver spoke. He told us the basics (wear your seatbelt, no consumption of hot food and drink etc etc) but also told us that if we feel sick and throw up, we’d have to pay $250 for the cleaning. Our main gripe with him was how he conveyed this information; in a rude, patronising and unprofessional manner. He treated the coach full of adults like a classroom of five-year olds.
The highlight of the first part of the journey was driving through Bulls town again. ‘A town like no udder’ greeted us as we entered and many more puns were spotted on toilets (‘reliev-a-bull’), bins (‘response-a-bull’), a bakery (‘delect-a-bull’) and a school (‘knowledge-a-bull’). Bulls town certainly didn’t disappoint and we were all fairly content… until the bus driver told us to remove our headphones ‘coz we can’t hear him’ (we heard every single word you were saying in that condescending tone) and informed us to get off and change bus. But we didn’t need to and he couldn’t understand this (even after showing him our itinerary) and made us get off the bus to then decide that we were actually on the correct bus and to get back on. Make up your mind!! I wish we did change bus because we wouldn’t have had to endure this rude man for the next 8 hours. He was also incredibly unhelpful when the bus had a flat battery half way through the journey. After an hour delay, we continued onward to Auckland and finally arrived at our hostel for the night, The Fat Camel (where we got a free upgrade to a room with a window! Didn’t even realise we’d initially booked a room without a window).
The next day we checked out, grabbed some bacon baps at an indie café in the city centre and waited for our taxi to the airport. When checking in, we were informed that our flight to Fiji was as planned but our connecting flight to Los Angeles had been delayed by 9hours. Luckily for us though Fiji Airways had sorted out accommodation for the night and a free dinner! We arrived in Fiji at 7:30pm and were welcomed with a Fijian band complete with ukuleles and tropical notes to see us through customs. The Fijians are incredibly friendly; all of the flight attendants were accommodating (and would even offer to replace your beer once you’d finished) and those working on the baggage checkers would lift up our backpacks and help us put them on our backs! We got our free accommodation for the night sorted out (an on-site airport hotel) and managed to bag a room each (first time in 7months that I’ve had my own room!). It was like living a life of luxury compared to the cramped dorm rooms of hostels and we even had a concierge who carried our bags to the rooms! We then headed upstairs for the all-you-can-eat Asian buffet and demolished it. We were eating as if we hadn’t seen food before but hey, you’ve got to make the most of free dinner!
The next morning saw us finally boarding our plane set for Los Angeles. Now, our original time traveling plan (leaving New Zealand on 7th April at 16:30 and arriving in LA on 7th April at 13:30) was ruined due to the delays, but we did still manage to do some time traveling. Due to this stopover in Fiji, we managed to land in LA the previous calendar day to what we’d left and impressively visited three countries on the 7th April. What’s weird is that we’re now 8 hours behind the UK and this is the first time in 7months that we’ve been behind you guys. After three movies, three episodes of Modern Family, two episodes of Big Bang Theory, music and plenty of food, we arrived suitably jet-lagged in a dark Los Angeles. Flying over the city was an amazing sight, seeing the strips of lit up blocks and downtown LA and wondering where the hell we’d be staying for the next few days. It was now midnight and we were meant to have checked-in 7 hours earlier at 5pm. But it was all going to be fine because I had sent them an email before we left NZ to tell them we’d arrive around 1am and whether it was possible to do a late check-in. All would be fine, right?
We jumped in the first taxi we could find and headed for Boyle Avenue, a half hour drive away from the airport. On arrival we were greeted by four guys sat out the front in seated hammocks and surrounded by tables made out of old doors. This matched the description of the hostel online, “MoonPad hostel: a place for artists and budding astronauts” (neither of which apply to us). One guy, Nick, asked if we were checking in and whether we had a reservation (he needn’t have bothered asking that last question because when we did state our reservation, he had no record of it). After a few minutes of trying to find our booking and not succeeding, he informed us that because we weren’t here by 10pm, our room (well, beds) had been given to people who had walked-in with no reservation. That email I told you I’d sent? They didn’t see it. This was not the start to our LA adventure we wanted. After a frantic half hour of Nick looking for spare beds (he only found one), he offered us ‘The Morroccan room’. Now, this room may sound exotic and was sold to us as ‘a large open space where we can put four mattresses for you to sleep on’ but in reality it was just a large landing at the top of the stairs, outside of everyone’s dorm rooms and next to the communal bathroom (so in a way we got an en suite…). We had no other choice but to accept this space and call it ‘our room’, after all it was now 1:30am and we were exhausted and hungry. We told him we’d stay there for this one night and sort out this mess in the morning. Before bed we had no success searching the surrounding area for places to eat and so decided to meet our new hostelmates (is that a term?!) sitting out the front. Nick, the maintenance guy from New York, Alex, a Frenchman travelling with his girlfriend and Daniel, an ex-marines guy from Indiana, were all suitably drunk and welcoming us to this crazy establishment. Another guy then joined us outside. He was originally from Georgia and moved to LA 13 days ago to live the American dream. In his own words ‘Acting. That’s what’s gonna get me there if my singing and comedy stand-up don’t work out’. Yep, he was a classic American guy moving to the sunshine state to pursue a better career and become famous. He even sang us two songs (yes, two!) and not only did he sing us an R&B number, he also treated us to some country ‘to show us his range by singing two completely different genres’. He was definitely one of the most confident guys I’ve met and didn’t know when to stop talking which did provide much amusement for the night. We hit the hay after that and slept pretty much on the floor (the ‘mattresses’ were made of foam and couldn’t have been more than 3inches thick).
After a long lie-in to rid some of the jet lag, we attempted to sort out our room but were told that the manager was only in from 5-10pm (what kind of manager only visits his hostel for 5hours a day?!). We weren’t gonna let that ruin our first full day in LA and decided to catch the metro into town. What’s brilliant about this metro is that you can buy a $5 all day pass which lets you ride anywhere on any train or bus for the whole day! After a few train changes, we arrived in Hollywood. The land of the rich and famous and home to its world reknowned sign and walk of fame. We were immediately greeted by Adam Sandler’s star and a tour guide trying to sell us a Hollywood tour around the celebrity houses and up to the sign. We were hesistant up until he told us the price, he’d give us the $25 child price instead of the $40 adult price… tempting. But we decided to have a wander round for a bit seeing as we’d only just arrived there. It was interesting. The area we found ourselves in seemed a bit run down and not how I imagined Hollywood to look like. After being hassled by a few more tour guides (the prices started going as low as $20), we went back to the first man and bartered with him to get his tour for $20. Bargain!
But first we needed food. Good ol’ American food. A greasy burger, greasy fries and a gre..fizzy drink. We found Juicy burger; a fast food joint where you create your own burger and can have unlimited refills on your drink. And you definitely need unlimited refills because the choice is unbelievable. Over 100 options adorned the hi-tech drinks dispenser; Coca Cola with raspberry or orange or cherry or Dr Pepper with vanilla or Sprite with strawberry or grape or Powerade or Sunkist or any other combination you could think of. It was awesome and Josie for one made the most out of this crazy selection, trying every possible drink she could and getting high on E numbers and sugars. So excitable she seemed drunk. Oh yeah and the burger was delicious. Complete with food babies and a cup full of Coca Cola with lime, we boarded our tour bus, well, a converted 8-seater pick-up truck, and met Kenny our friendly guide. He immediately took us to the hotel used in Pretty Woman (I’ve not seen it) and then onwards to the Hollywood sign up in the hills. After some questionable driving, we arrived at the closest point you could get to the sign without trespassing and acquiring a hefty fine. This is where Kenny excelled in his duties and became a professional photographer for ten minutes, ushering us onto a rock in front of the sign and doing several angles (and sound effects, “BAM”) to capture the perfect shot.
Our tour continued down Hollywood Boulevard passing by a Disney-only movie theatre, the Hard Rock Café and the Dolby Digital theatre where the Oscars are held. Kenny drove us down to Sunset Boulevard and en route we passed The Hills’ reality tv show house, the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ house and the house from ‘Halloween’. We then approached Beverly Hills so cue famous Wheatus song ‘Beverly Hills’ and we were ready to explore the area of the rich and famous. We passed by Ellen Degeneres’ house, Ringo Starr’s, Jennifer Aniston’s, Gene Simmons’, Michael Jackson’s, Christina Aguilera’s, Tony Stark’s and even Hugh Heffner’s Playboy mansion.
We begrudgingly headed back to our hostel to see the manager. He apologised when he realised we were the ones who had slept on the floor the previous night and we told him how we weren’t paying for last night, explained how it shouldn’t have happened due to us having emailed and said how we wanted a room with four beds like we had booked. He still didn’t have four beds free and so came up with an alternative. Somewhere he thought we would really like. Somewhere which isn’t even located in the hostel but instead, is in the garden. An RV. Yep, he was putting us up in his motor home and we had no other option but to choose it. We paid our reduced rate and got comfortable in our cozy, cramped new living space. Thank goodness it was only for two nights.
The following morning we were up bright and early for our free breakfast and to visit Auntie Mary, Nathan’s mum’s friend who has lived in LA for the past 30 years. After an hour and a half on metro trains, we were greeted by Mary at Redondo Beach train station. She was immediately welcoming and took us to a New York pizza restaurant where we got the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. A medium was the size of an extra large in England. We napped off the doughy deliciousness on Hamosa beach; a beautiful stretch of golden sand adorned with rude, chavvy 14-year old kids on their Spring Break. All of that aside though, Hamosa beach and the surrounding area was how I pictured LA. Mary then took us to our first American supermarket (where we spent ages drooling over all of the amazing food) and then to her beautiful home where she cooked us good old English bangers and mash. It was a pleasure to spend the day with Mary and her friend Terry, they were some of the friendliest and most accommodating people I’ve met and it was really nice knowing that not only did we appreciate spending time with her, she was blessed to be meeting us as well. After receiving bags full of free shampoos, socks, hair gels and beauty products (the airplane sized ones because Mary used to be an air hostess), we decided to unwillingly head back to our campervan before it got too dark. We had three different trains to catch and one change was at a dodgy area of the city. We were pretty much travelling through the ghetto and had to get off and change lines. This would have been fine if a cleaner at the station didn’t sign off his interaction with us with “keep safe and be careful guys”. Err.. well now we’re worried. Four British adults wandering around the platforms with all of our prized possessions amongst the potential gang members of this district of LA. Heidi later said that if they were clever enough, they would’ve mugged us. All was fine though and we managed to get back to our hos..RV in time to book some new accommodation by the beach and get drunk to forget that we’re sleeping in a second-hand motor home.
We left the MoonPad before you could say ‘check-out’ and headed on our long journey to Venice beach (still in LA but the transport in this city takes ages due to size of the place). We arrived in a much nicer area than our last hostel and found our motel (classic America). Well, this felt like luxury. We had a bed!! And a TV and an ensuite and a maid and a fridge and a microwave. Okay, it wasn’t the most extravagant place but compared to the hell hole we’d just come from, this was on par with a Hilton! After a much needed lie down on the bed, we ventured to Venice beach. Building walls used as canvasses for street art greeted us as we approached the boardwalk. It was a lot colder today than the previous couple of days which made us question why we decided to head to the beach but this place seems to be vibrant any time of the week. The boardwalk was lined with the odd (voodoo dolls and 3D portraits of aliens), the tacky (generic holiday t shirt stalls and henna tattoo carts) and the wacky (a ‘green doctor’ of whom you could pay to give you a medical marijuana card to enable you to get weed from the pharmacy). There was also a street performance by a talented bunch of breakdancers. Not only did they each perform indiviually, they used members of the public for humorous acts and then scoured the audience for money. They were really good at what they did and if I wasn’t a budget backpacker, I probably would have given them some money. Maybe. A stop for some dinner and then we continued down the strip towards Santa Monica pier. Along the way we played on swings, climbing frames and hanging ropes with the sun setting in the distance. The pier resembled one used in Grand Theft Auto 5 (which btw is very accurate here in terms of the people you meet whilst walking around, a lot of them either talk to themselves or take the opportunity to introduce themselves to you) complete with Ferris wheel and rollercoaster, takeaways and a terrible busker. We headed back to grab a beer and noticed a sign showing that the pier marks the official end of Route 66!
Before returning to our motel room, we visited Vons the supermarket and spent a ridiculous amount of time (and money) in there on classic American snacks like Jolly Ranchers, Reese’s puffs peanut butter cereal, a Joey Tribianni massive sub sandwich and white chocolate covered pretzels. We were definitely prepared for any eating situation and with that we returned to our motel room to binge whilst watching some US TV.
The next day saw us waking up later than planned (“ooh we can get free coffee until 11am” … “yeah I think it’s only 9am, oh wait.. it’s 11:05”) and head to the Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood hills area. This journey took longer than expected, not only because the buses are very unreliable here but also because you have to change train lines every ten stops! We finally arrived at the closest stop to the observatory and noticed that you could catch a bus up there.. but no, you could only do that on weekends. When a bus did pull up, she said the closest she goes to the observatory is Los Feliz and from there we’d have a 1mile walk.. uphill (“have you all got water?!”). After our long, long walk up to the top of the hill, we were treated to beautiful skyline views of Los Angeles. Seeing it from this high really shows how big and flat the city is. Griffith Observatory is a popular tourist attraction full of science and space displays including telescopes, a Tesla Coil and and a planetarium. We also caught a lecture called “Let’s make a Comet” and even though we were surrounded by a class of 5 year olds on a field trip, the comet they made from water, sand, charcoal and dry ice was pretty impressive. See, travelling is also educational!
Our final night in LA was spent in bed watching The Hangover and eating. We had to be up at 6:30am to catch our Greyhound bus to San Diego. But before we could do that, I had to scour the entire internet (very slight exaggeration) to find out where we had to get this bus from because handily our tickets nor the website didn’t state the address. We left in the morning with a lot of time to spare in case the public transport was even more unreliable than usual. But we made our bus which came complete with wifi and even a plug (in your face NakedBus) and arrived into a sunny San Diego almost three hours later. One final bus journey and we were at our hostel and this one’s a keeper. They actually had our reservation, were friendly and helpful and we even get free breakfast, the kitchen’s clean and we each have a bed. And what’s crazier is that this one is only $2 more than our first one in LA and is in an even better location in the middle of San Diego. Today has been spent exploring the area, visiting the marina and shopping at a ridiculously cheap grocery store two blocks away from our hostel (yeah, I just said blocks). They have Ben&Jerry’s tubs for $1.99 and Pop Tarts for $1.49. I think I’m going to get very fat in America.
OneAmazingAdventure 