We flew into LAX on an Air Canada Jazz flight. For two people flying into LAX and out of Seattle we paid about $1200. This included extra roomy bulkhead seats which were glorious on the way there, but non-existent on the way home (smaller older plane maybe?).
The roomy seats started the trip off right, and helped us to forget about the ridiculous customs hustle we had to endure to fly into the U.S.
We packed two suitcases and an over-sized golf bag, along with our carry-ons. Not the easiest luggage to move around an airport in, but mostly necessary. Packing was difficult, as we planned to camp most of the way, and therefore required a tent, pot, sleeping bags, cutlery etc. If you plan to shop go easy on packing clothes. We had to purchase an extra suitcase to bring everything home (including the camping chairs we purchased at Walmart and couldn't just throw away).
Finding the Hertz bus at the airport was easy. It is big and yellow. You can't miss it. It, and our exuberant driver Cheri, brought us to the rent-a-car center where we were given our pre-paid red Nissan Sentra. I recommend the pre-pay. They told us there would be a return fee added, there wasn't, and they said taxes would be added, and they weren't. We couldn't check into our hotel as we had our car before noon, so we headed straight to Venice Beach.
The water was amazing. Great waves for surfing and there was also a long pier. We ate at this little burger joint that we thought would be a dive but it turned out to be delicious. I think it was called Thomas' Burgers. Souvenirs are cheap here and parking was $9.00 for the lot, and there was metered street parking.
The bathrooms are gross. We had to change there on the way in, and settled on changing in the car on the way to our hotel.
Our hotel was located in Culver City. Very close to Venice beach and Santa Monica. I would highly recommend this location.
We stayed at the Culver City Super 8, for about $100. We had a king suite. Very nice,
large room, with fridge and microwave.
After checking in, it was mandatory by the better half that we check out the pool. It was outdoors, and very clean. Parking here is also free. Wifi is included, but was kind of slow.
http://www.super8.com/Super8/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=14189
It was time to explore Hollywood at this point. We hopped in the Sentra and headed towards Santa Monica Blvd and the Sunset Strip. This was around 5pm and traffic wasn't too bad yet. It worsened on Sunset but gave us an excuse to drive slowly.
We didn't make it to Rodeo Dr., but we drove through Beverly Hills, and found our way around Warner Bros. Studios, and Universal. Sony Pictures was closer to our hotel. Streets lined with palm trees...very cool. After some wide-eyed driving we found our way up to Mullholland drive. Very windy, but the amazing views of the entire city are well worth it. The Griffiths Observatory is also out this way. We didn't make it, as we were too tired, but heard good things.
Once on the hill, a bunch of people were stopping at the top. We thought it was for something important so we stopped too being the lemmings that we are, and followed people into this parking lot. It turned out to be a park called Runyon Canyon Park. It has winding trails that go up and down the hills. Lots and lots of runners here. We got some great pics of the Hollywood sign, and the sun setting. We also didn't experience the haze of Los Angeles that we were promised. Clear skies and fresh air each day we were there.
We drove back down and headed back into Hollywood to look for food. We found a place to park, and walked around the strip reading all the stars on the sidewalk as we searched for a restaurant. We settled on Te'kila, a Mexican restaurant with a large patio. It was alright. Nothing to write home about. Service was slow, and food was mediocre. We were starving by that point, so we didn't put as much effort into finding anything better. Our restaurant choices improved as the weeks went on, and we relied heavily on yelp.com. I highly recommend Yelp to find good eats in the neighbourhoods you stumble through. It didn't fail us. We poked around some of the shops, all very touristy here, but we were exhausted. We got back to the hotel around 11:45pm (2:45 am our time) and called it a night!
The roomy seats started the trip off right, and helped us to forget about the ridiculous customs hustle we had to endure to fly into the U.S.
We packed two suitcases and an over-sized golf bag, along with our carry-ons. Not the easiest luggage to move around an airport in, but mostly necessary. Packing was difficult, as we planned to camp most of the way, and therefore required a tent, pot, sleeping bags, cutlery etc. If you plan to shop go easy on packing clothes. We had to purchase an extra suitcase to bring everything home (including the camping chairs we purchased at Walmart and couldn't just throw away).
Finding the Hertz bus at the airport was easy. It is big and yellow. You can't miss it. It, and our exuberant driver Cheri, brought us to the rent-a-car center where we were given our pre-paid red Nissan Sentra. I recommend the pre-pay. They told us there would be a return fee added, there wasn't, and they said taxes would be added, and they weren't. We couldn't check into our hotel as we had our car before noon, so we headed straight to Venice Beach.
The water was amazing. Great waves for surfing and there was also a long pier. We ate at this little burger joint that we thought would be a dive but it turned out to be delicious. I think it was called Thomas' Burgers. Souvenirs are cheap here and parking was $9.00 for the lot, and there was metered street parking.
 |
| A local surfer at Venice Beach |
The bathrooms are gross. We had to change there on the way in, and settled on changing in the car on the way to our hotel.
Our hotel was located in Culver City. Very close to Venice beach and Santa Monica. I would highly recommend this location.
We stayed at the Culver City Super 8, for about $100. We had a king suite. Very nice,
large room, with fridge and microwave.
After checking in, it was mandatory by the better half that we check out the pool. It was outdoors, and very clean. Parking here is also free. Wifi is included, but was kind of slow.
http://www.super8.com/Super8/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=14189
It was time to explore Hollywood at this point. We hopped in the Sentra and headed towards Santa Monica Blvd and the Sunset Strip. This was around 5pm and traffic wasn't too bad yet. It worsened on Sunset but gave us an excuse to drive slowly.
We drove back down and headed back into Hollywood to look for food. We found a place to park, and walked around the strip reading all the stars on the sidewalk as we searched for a restaurant. We settled on Te'kila, a Mexican restaurant with a large patio. It was alright. Nothing to write home about. Service was slow, and food was mediocre. We were starving by that point, so we didn't put as much effort into finding anything better. Our restaurant choices improved as the weeks went on, and we relied heavily on yelp.com. I highly recommend Yelp to find good eats in the neighbourhoods you stumble through. It didn't fail us. We poked around some of the shops, all very touristy here, but we were exhausted. We got back to the hotel around 11:45pm (2:45 am our time) and called it a night!
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