Taking more than a month to write a recap is CRAZY.
It’s me, I am crazy.
But here is my recap of the cool trip I had to Los Angeles back in October.
Usually I would have a budget breakdown as well, but I did not pay for the flight or the stay for this trip. My lovely boyfriend did because I went on this trip with his daughter for her birthday. It was just me and her against the world. Okay, bit dramatic. Me and her against Los Angeles traffic and prices.
Thursday, October 26th
We took off from Toronto to Calgary to Los Angeles. Yes, this was some bullshit.
When we initially booked this trip it was a direct flight, but WestJet stopped flying direct to LA? I don’t know. They changed the flight. So Calgary was the unnecessary layover.
Only thing to note with Calgary is that they had snow on the ground, no thanks…..moving on to LA. I don’t need this negativity.
Eventually we landed in LAX and there was NO snow there.
For those of you who use ridesharing apps like Lyft or Uber, pay attention closely to this portion of the blog. You can’t catch that as soon as you exit the terminal. Oh no. You have to take a 10-15 min shuttle called the ‘LAXit‘ and it will take you to the area where the app drivers can actually pick you up. I wish I had known this before because, I just kept trying to order a damn car and it kept telling me I was in the wrong place, I was very confused. So yes, go take that damn shuttle and THEN order your Uber.
Now, let us talk about the actual Uber trip. WHY IS EVERYTHING IN LOS ANGELES SO DAMN FAR?
It was like 1hr and 6 minutes from LAX to get to our hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. Long. I will say, the cost of $53USD ($75.00CAD) seemed very fair for how long we were in the drivers car. I hate the damn exchange rate, because our dollar sucks, but for how long this guy was driving us? Seemed like a very fair price.
We eventually arrived at The Dixie Hollywood Hotel.
Pretty simple place. I loved the location, felt close to any shenanigans by Hollywood Boulevard and it was clean. They also had a pool, we didn’t use it while we were there. The room itself was pretty spacious and there was a functioning TV. However, bring your own toiletries and also maybe even your own towels. The toiletries were very, very basic and we ended up buying our own shower gel. The towels though? Imagine rubbing yourself with sandpaper after bathing. Hell no. I usually travel with my own beach towel, but this time I didn’t and I definitely regretted it.
Sharp ass towels. Smh.
It was about 730-8pm when we were finally settled into our space and we decided it was time to walk and get some food.
I never ever want to hear people badmouth living on Queen St. West in Toronto ever again when it comes to weirdos. The characters we saw on Hollywood Boulevard would make Queen St. look like a family picnic. Madness, but, very entertaining.
Got some Shake Shack, walked back to hotel and went to sleep.
Friday, October 27th
We had a great sleep and woke up to a tour we were both very much looking forward to.
Early in the morning we made our way over to the Hollywood meeting point to begin our ‘Full-Day Iconic Sights of LA‘ tour. The cost of this was $152.73 CAD per person, if you’re interested in taking it after reading my recap, click here.
The bus departed at 8am and the drive to get to our first stop took 90 minutes. Long. This city is massive.
First stop? Santa Monica Pier.
This was my #1 place I wanted to see if I ever went to LA, so I was really happy our day began with this iconic place. It was beautiful, sunny and just everything I wanted it to be. I wish it wasn’t so damn far from Hollywood or we would have returned here on another day during our trip.
After Santa Monica, we made our way over to Venice Beach.
If you’re into fitness and being a hippie, this is the place for you. Also, if you enjoy partaking in the cannabis activities. You will be heaven.
I am a chubby, non-hippie who has never taken anything cannabis related. Out of my zone.
But, THERE ARE CHURROS. MMMMM CHURROS. We had some crazy footlong churro. You should get that too, outstanding.
Then we began driving over to Beverly Hills.
I grew up watching Beverly Hills 90210. So excited for this.
Rodeo Drive was pretty neat to see in person, made me feel very broke. We walked around for a bit and took in all the pricey items. I especially loved this cute fountain with the stairs?? Great picture opportunity.
Aside from Santa Monica Pier, the highlight of the tour was visiting the Farmers Market. I didn’t even realize this was going to be the lunch stop for this tour, but I am so so so happy it was.
I think if me and my teenage companion could have, we would have eaten one of everything in here. There was so much variety and everything looked delicious. This is a total MUST VISIT if you come to LA.
We ended up deciding on empanadas and crepes for dessert. Solid choices.
After having our bellies full, we drove all the way up to the Griffith Observatory.
This would be a cool place to come at sunset, I think. The view from there is incredible. Inside the Observatory there is also a lot to do, but since we were on a tour, we just tried to see as much as we could and get photos of the Hollywood sign outside.
The tour ended back in Hollywood by the Roosevelt Hotel and the Walk of Fame.
This area of Hollywood Boulevard I think is the busiest, there was a lot going on. Great place to buy souvenirs, or in my case, more travel magnets for my collection.
If you like sweets, like I do, also step into the Ghirardelli store and get a yummy treat. We went for the sundae and it was very good, thick.
This gave us a good amount of sugar for our walk back to the hotel.
It was a pretty legit walk all the way back to the hotel, must say.
We ordered some Wingstop and watched the Raptors lose from the comfort of our hotel room. Peaceful finish to a busy day.
Saturday, October 28th
Another glorious morning in Los Angeles.
Nice warm weather means you go outside and find some yummy breakfast. We went to iHop. There was this cinnamon bun crepe thing? Oh yes. Make sure you get that next time you go. It was perfect.
We went walking after the heavy breakfast and eventually made it to Vivenne Westwood. My co-traveler wanted to pick up a ring from there that she received as a birthday gift. She lives a way more lavish life than I do, clearly.
From there, we walked to The Grove. I heard so much about this place!
Of course, it was right next to the Farmers Market we had visited during our tour the day before. We walked around and went to this huge Branes and Noble, saw the pretty fountains and just window shopped. This wasn’t exactly in my tax bracket. As soon as I saw that Brandy Melville nonsense, I knew I was out of my size bracket too. Damn tween clothing places.
We eventually made our way back to the hotel for a nap. We had another fun event this evening.
Tonight we were heading to a soccer match.
LAFC vs the Vancouver Whitecaps.
One of my good friends works for LAFC and was able to hook us up with tickets. This was soooooo much fun. There is this one crazy section at the LAFC games and they were singing and dancing the whole time. If I came back to LA, I would try to go sit in that section. It was such a vibe and we had a blast.
LAFC won, sorry Canadian team.
I wanted to note here something I was also beginning to notice in LA. In comparison to Toronto, especially? These were the nicest and cleanest Ubers I had ever been. Every single Uber we took while on this trip to LA had someone very very nice driving it and their cars are SPOTLESS. The person driving doesn’t smell bad, the car doesn’t smell bad, there is no garbage in the cars etc. I have to give big kudos to Los Angeles Uber drivers for how they are and how clean they keep their cars. 10/10
After the game we drove over to a taco spot another friend had suggested, named Tacos El Comelon. This was one of the most delicious food trucks I had ever visited. We got two orders of tacos, and they were so good – we bought another two orders. Very simple, not expensive, but delicious. Make time to visit this food truck.
Sunday, October 29th
Woke up on this Sunday and ordered some Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles for breakfast.
Chilled for a while and I was able to catch the Dallas Cowboys game. We destroyed the Rams, 43-20. I wish I had my Cowboys jersey with me to wear around LA today. Fail.
Eventually we got up and took ANOTHER long Uber ride to Inglewood. Why were we going to Inglewood? Food, of course.
I saw this place named Little Belize on Instagram and knew I had to try the food while we were in LA.
If you get nothing else on this menu, make sure you get the oxtail mac and cheese and the milk cake. Wow. So worth the trip just for those two items. The oxtail was literally falling off the bone and the portion was legit.
It was really nice that today (not sure if they always have this), there was a live band outside playing Soca music. Really nice experience.
We then made or way over to Crypto.com arena. It was time to watch Clippers vs Spurs. Get our first glimpse of the rookie, Wemby.
The tickets for this game were only $71.92CAD per person. I thought that was okay. I know if it was the Lakers it would have cost a fortune.
We had a good time at the game. They should be ashamed of themselves for how much popcorn and water costs though. I know concessions at all sports facilities are a lot of money, but with the damn exchange into Canadian? Fuck. Too expensive for some stale popcorn.
Clippers won tonight and the funny thing is, I think they signed Harden the next day and then lost like five games in a row? Madness. Happy we saw them win and happy we saw the big deal rookie on the Spurs play in his first week in the NBA.
On the Monday we just flew home. Nothing too crazy.
I liked LA. I liked it more than I expected to.
Still better than Miami, to me.
- Mirna