The train from San Diego got in around 12.30pm. We had arranged to pick up the rental car from LAX originally but never thought about how it would be much easier to get it when we hoped off the train at Union Station... not to mention cheaper seeing as we would avoid another $70 cab ride! So after a little deliberation with the guy at the desk we got it all sorted and drove out of the station with a Chevy Malibu.
We drove around LA for a few hours looking for a video camera again and a laptop for Caddy with no luck. We ended up leaving downtown right around 4.30 and by the time we got 'gas' we were heading out of town right in time for the dreaded '5 o'clock gridlock' as they kept referring to it on the radio.
We had planned a 4.5 hr trip but it ended up being more like 6.5 by the time we arrived on the strip in Vegas.
After a $70 cab ride from Venice Beach we got to Union Station and boarded the Amtrak which took us right along the coast to San Diego which took about 2.5 hrs.
Amtrak Route
We arrived at around 4pm and took a bus to the Banana Bungalow right on the beach.Possibly the worst hostel I've stayed in in many respects but you can't complain when your literally on the beach and it's basically a party place anyway so when you retire to your bunk bed in your 18 person dorm you're more than ready to crash.
First night we discovered Ralph's supermarket across the street and scored a 12 pack of Corona's for $11. Much better than $18 for a 6 pack in Oz! We just sat on the deck and chatted to a few of the packers and enjoyed the chillaxed environment after the hectic LA experience.
In the morning we helped ourselves to the 'Free breakfast' which consisted of black instant coffee and toast... it was free I guess. Then we went into town and explored a bit of the Old Town and ended up on board the USS Midway and spent about 3 hours doing an audio tour of the whole ship. Pretty impressive piece of machinery. It was launched at the end of WW2 and served in Vietnam and Desert Storm and only became a museum this year.
Upon returning to the Bungalows we joined the crew for some drinks before heading to another hostel downtown for a pre-game party before we all went to watch the San Diego Padres play the Colorado Rockies. It was a pretty good game (I guess) and the Padres got up 6-0. After we went to a bar with a bunch of messy people and kicked on for a while.
Wednesday morning we went on a mission to Best Buy to try and find a video camera do document this trip... bus as with the stores in LA they had little or no stock of the ones that I was interested in. We just made it back to the Hostel in time to get ready for the excursion to Tijuana which left around 11am. There was about 10 of us in the old hostel van with our guide Chaz who spoke Spanish and was almost a local south of the border. It took about 20 minutes to drive to the border where we parked the van right near where people cross the border on foot. As we neared the gates we were approached by a Spanish TV crew who asked if they could interview 1 or 2 of us for our thoughts on the shootout between drug dealers and police the previous day and the subsequent travel warnings to tourists. This was the first we'd heard of any of the. One of the Welsh guys in our group did a short interview as we all looked on.
Nobody seemed that phased and we proceeded across the border into a VERY quiet Tijuana. The day consisted of walking around town with multiple stops one of three things... a Corona, a tequila shot or a taco... good times!
We left around 10.30pm and by then things were pretty messy. One of the guys fell asleep in the van on the way back to the hostel and we couldn't wake him up so we decided to let him sleep it off in the back seat.
The next day (Thursday) we got the train back to LA at about 9.30am.
Caddy and I landed in LA at about 1.30pm on Thursday the 10th of April... which was the exact time and date we left Australia so you could expect some serious jet lag. But we managed to find our way to a shuttle that took us to the Banana Bungalow on Hollywood Boulevard. The first thing we did (after checking in) was to hit up the Thai restaurant next door to the hostel for a late lunch/early dinner or whatever... we're on holiday now so either or. That night we took it fairly easy and just had a couple of 40's at the hostel and watched some TV with our roommates. I'm almost certain the hostel was an old motel that had been converted. Each room had 3 bunks, a TV and a separate kitchen and bathroom... not bad for $22ea a night.
On our first full day we thought "when in Rome..." and hit the streets in search of a good tour of the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills. We only had to venture about 500m down Hollywood Blvd to find Sam the magician spruiking out the front of his tour office and soon enough he had us convinced that his company provided the best value tours in the city. I cant remember exactly but I think it was around $25US (the AUD was still strong at this stage) for the tour up to the Hollywood sign then Beverly Hills and back via Rodeo Drive... about 3 hrs in total. The neighborhood near the Hollywood sign was awesome. It didn't feel like we were only a few k's from one of the biggest, most polluted cities in North America. Our tour guide was great too. There was only about 8 of us in a Combi with no roof and she kept us well entertained the whole way with her anecdotes and jokes.
After the sign tour we headed back to Sam's to swap guides. this time we had a guy who was equally as enthusiastic extremely knowledgable. When I look back I think... who knows if he really knew his stuff or not. I wouldn't know if we were looking at the former residence of Elvis or Frank Sinatra so who am I to argue?!? Anyway it was a good tour and he even made a small detour to what was supposedly one of Neil Diamonds' mansions after I told him how mum would kill me if I didn't ask.
Come night time it was time to party hostel-style. The guys at the Bungalow drove a group of us to their sister hostel in West Hollywood for a keg party and BBQ. It was $5ea for all the food and beer we could consume then they had a DJ and a bit of dancing before we all headed out to a nearby club. The (typically asshole) bouncer had a problem with Caddy's t-shirt or something so we bailed and went to the Saddle Ranch on Sunset Blvd for a few beers and a little mechanical-bull riding contest. We left that bar about midnight and met a couple of random guys on the street... to cut a long story short we got chatting and they said their buddy had a recording studio nearby and when we hinted we'd be interested in checking it out we all hopped in their Range Rover and drove around there... only to find nobody home... or nobody that wanted to answer the door at 1am?
The next morning (Saturday) we awoke to a perfect sunny day about 30C... it was time to hit the beach! We packed up and got in a cab to head towards Venice Beach for the next couple of nights. Cabs in LA are a joke. You cant get anywhere for under $40 and I think we ended up paying about $60 for this ride... which I'm fairly sure included a scenic tour of Santa Monica pier which was a minor detour. We checked in to the Venice Beach Cotel (no idea what a 'cotel' is?!?) where we got a private room with a TV for about $55 which was all good. We were right on the beach and right in the heart of the action in time for a busy, hot weekend in the land of Baywatch babes, White Men Can't Jump and Muscle Beach.
We got our boardies on and hit the beach. We didnt't even notice how few people were actually in the water as we made our way through the crowds on the sand. Then after making it just past our ankles we realised that the water was frikin freezing! We took the plunge anyway and after about 20 heart-stopping seconds we'd had enough. We strolled along the beach and up to watch some b'ball for a while. That night we went to a Mexican restaurant that the girl at the hostel recommended. We ordered way too much food and ended up super tired and ready to crash.
Sunday morning we made our way on the bus to Staples Center for the Lakers/Spurs game. Tip off was 12.30 and we made it with enough time to smash a $10US hot dog and coke combo. The game had a great atmosphere but unfortunately wasn't too close 106-85. When we got back to Venice we rented bikes and cruised up to Santa Monica pier along the beach. An awesome ride with people everywhere and plenty of entertainment, some intentional and some just... not. After that we watched some more b'ball then went back to the 'Cotel' for some beers with some other Aussies. For dinner we went to another cantina about 10 min walk up the beach. We met a bunch of people there and kicked on with them for a while and ate too much Mexican again!
