1st stop - LA

central city
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I flew to LA a few days before my Trek tour started, so I could have a bit of a look around the city. I thought I’d leave booking accommodation til I got there, so I’d get the full backpacking experience – not a good idea in LA tho (or anywhere unless you have plenty of time on ur hands)! LAX is massive, but when you get off the plane you pretty much walk straight on out without going past any shops or info desks. It therefore took me ages to find out where to go to sort out a good hostel – and was quite a walk to get to the correct terminal from arrivals. Then I found out about the traffic when the courtesy van from the hostel took a good couple of hours to arrive (and the hostel was not very far away!). I wanted a hostel as close to the airport as possible so I’d be near the pickup hotel for Trek tours – but as I found at later the area around LAX is one of the worst areas of LA, and has a lot of crime!!! Apparently the hostel I stayed at was cheap for a reason and the authorities had tried to close it down in the past because of gang trouble (that’s what I was told anyway – it seemed quite safe to me tho).

hollywood sign thru the smog
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The next day I took the metro into downtown LA to have a look around and then went out to Hollywood. I’d read on the internet that Hollywood isn’t all that anymore – and I’d agree but it was still awesome to visit. I’d have to say tho that the photos of the Hollywood sign usually show it clearly sitting on the hills behind LA, but the day I was there the smog was so bad that I could hardly see it!! I took the buses back to my hostel just before it got dark at 5.30. Near my hostel I got off at a stop which it turns out I didn’t even need to and had to wait for another bus. There was a little burger joint there so I went in to get a burger and didn’t think much of a group of Hispanic guys also there. They noticed me tho and followed me out – they could tell I was a tourist! One of them started questioning me and wouldn’t go away which freaked me out a little – especially when he started asking me if I was carrying much money, then if I wanted drugs or a prostitute… I’d read a few stories about this sort of thing happening b4 I left nz and even the travel agent warned me, but I didn’t think I’d get it so early (it was right on 5.30pm and just getting dark). I just waited at the bus stop tho and he gave up questioning me after a while and just sorta left. I realised afterwards how lucky I was the guy was all talk – against him and all his mates I couldn’t have done anything if he actually wanted to rob me – so I was more cautious after that and didn’t go out after dark (apart from to go to the supermarket down the road – I didn’t realise then that that part of town had one of the highest drive by shooting rates in LA).

central city driving range
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During the day I felt quite comfortable travelling around by myself on the metro and buses tho and never had anyone dodgy approach me!

The next day I went back to Hollywood and then took the bus down Sunset Boulevard which winds its way through the Hollywood Hills, between Bel Air and Beverly Hills. As you’d expect the mansions up there were amazing (what you could see of them anyway) and the contrast with where I was staying in LA was huge!! I then went out to Santa Monica beach – very nice and then accidentally started taking the bus out to Malibu, home of the ultra rich and famous (but apparently you cant see much at all b/c the mansions are all hidden away in the hills).

walt disney sound hall
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The next day was the joining day for the Trek tour, and we started this by driving down Sunset Boulevard again and had breakfast on Hollywood Boulevard. I’m not quite sure whether I enjoyed my time in LA – it definitely seemed like the most dangerous place in the US that I stayed, and the world for that matter. It’s not a big tourist city either – apart from in places like Disneyworld and Universal Studios, but it was an interesting city to visit, mainly b/c of its huge contrasts between rich and poor areas.