Day -2 ... Firstly I had to get to London from 'up North', which almost didn't happen due to a huge train strike which ended up being called off last minute as it caused absolute chaos across the UK! Anyway, I made it to London... By this point I just felt like I was off to London for a bit, not London for a day and then all the way to America!
Day One
The journey from LA to London...
I woke up at about 4am after only getting to sleep at midnight (panicking that I would sleep through all of my alarms! - I set 5 just to be sure). I had my last 'proper' cuppa tea (Yorkshire tea bag, of course) and then set off to Heathrow in the pissing rain!! Everything got soaked, but not to worry I'M GOING TO LA! Whaat. Even though it still definitely hadn't sunk in by this point. It took over an hour to get to the airport on a direct line, but that was just enough time for me to wake up and realise what I was actually doing. The check-in and security bit was actually super straight forward, this is the part I was probably most Nervy McNervyson about (only because people kept telling me how serious and scary it was, and I often get a nervous laugh in those kinda situations). Anywayyy there was a self service/Print your own baggage label thing... Handed in my suitcase and then went through security, I made sure I literally only had a lip balm and hand sanitizer that would class as liquids in my hand luggage, because I couldn't be dealing with getting the allowances wrong and getting shouted at.
HELLO LA!
The Kiwi House, my cute little Hollywood home for the next week...
Day Two...
Free shoes for anybody who may need them!! I love this place.
Started the journal scribbling.
Meet Rascal! He made me come out in a huge rash but he's still cute. I'm going to nickname him Wiggy after the Guinea Pig I had when I was younger, he looked like a wig and you couldn't ever tell whether he was front to back or back to front... like Rascal! (apart from when he's sticking his tongue out)
Day Three...
The View from Griffith Observatory, incredible.
Free shoes for anybody who may need them!! I love this place.
Started the journal scribbling.
Meet Rascal! He made me come out in a huge rash but he's still cute. I'm going to nickname him Wiggy after the Guinea Pig I had when I was younger, he looked like a wig and you couldn't ever tell whether he was front to back or back to front... like Rascal! (apart from when he's sticking his tongue out)
Day Three...
The View from Griffith Observatory, incredible.
Day Four...
Santa Monica
Venice Beach
Soho House - West Hollywood
The view was ridiculousss, LA is SO FLAT!
Day Five...
Meet Rascal and Knuckles, my best friends.
These two live at The Kiwi House, where I'm staying.
Marilyn Monroe - 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (Chinese Theatre)
Michael Jackson's glove hand print - After Googling this when I got back I found out that it's not actually Michael Jackson's hand print, it was done after he had died by his children... They used his shoes and his famous glove to make the imprints. Kinda sad that he didn't get chance to do it!
Day Six...
Breakfast!! Mmmmm
Shout out to the man who let me use his 'rest room' even though I didn't buy anything from his shop, oops! He said "I allow you because you're tourist"... Paaha! It was ridiculously PINK.
Day Seven...
* served us a block of cheese soaked in vodka and set on fire... As you do!!
I spent the morning taking photos of Knuckles!
Rodeo Drive
Cupcake ATM!!
Day Eight...
So, this pretty much sums up how my brain feels the majority of the time!
The Barbara Mendes Gallery which I really wish I'd taken a proper look at, but didn't have time before my flight aaahh.
Arriving in to Salt Lake City (Utah) as the sun was setting behind the clouds
Day Nine & Ten... Kinda blended in to one!
Day Eleven and Twelve...
Day Thirteen and Fourteen...
Grace
(The cutest little munchkin in the whole world)
Ethan
Day Fifteen and Sixteen... The wedding!!
Salt Water Taffy
The Salt Lake Temple
Day Seventeen...
Day Nineteen...
This place is so beautiful.
Day Twenty one....
Day Twenty two...
Stroll and Savour
I got a pizza from Big E Pizza (Because I'm a Big E... But I didn't get discount unfortunately) and ate it on the balcony whilst watching the sun set for the final time, booooo!
Jen - My Twitter stranger, who is no longer a stranger - yay!
Shots... Apparently....
I started writing these when I was in Utah on some of the days I didn't have as much to do, and then added to the list as I went along...
Day twenty four...
A lot of people in LA (especially those tour guide people) tell you that you can't get any closer to the sign than seeing it from a distance, but you can! We drove to this point and a bit further but if you really want you can hike even further to it.
Almost $7 for that bottle of water... Jeeeeez!
My flight home... With a cheeky stop off in NYC!
Now I must sleep for three weeks... I hadn't realised I'd been awake for two days pretty much as well as running around sweaty New York and then arriving in London at what should have been 2am but it was 8am... AHH! and then to make things worse, I thought I had booked my train back home the day after, but it turns out it was the same day I got back so after sleeping for a minute I then had to get a Nando's (obviously!!) - They don't have Nando's in America! and then get my train from Euston back home, which arrived home at midnight... zzzzzzz!!
Yayyy! Just about managed this photo, after many failed attempts.
As close as I got to seeing the Statue of Liberty... boooo!
Attempt one at getting a photo of me and the Empire State Building!
Grand Central
Rockerfeller Plaza
Time Square
The view from The Rockerfeller Center - Central Park!
Empire State Building
Goodbye New York, I'll be back - I promiseee!
And they all lived happily ever after...
HAHA! If you've made it to the end, congratulations! and you've got wayyy too much time on your hands - Only joking! I really appreciate it, because it took me bloody ages to keep this (sort of) up to date. I did it mostly for myself to document, and remember everything that I did - So it's all a little bit silly really, it certainly isn't a serious blog/journal thing... Also I'm sorry if you couldn't read the handwriting very well, I didn't think that bit through.
"Travel whilst you're young and able. Don't worry about the money, just make it work. Experience is far more valuable than money will ever be"
I have to say that this whole trip is the best thing I've ever decided to do.
In
the end we only regret the chances we didn't take. I can't emphasise
enough that if there's something you want to do, go and do it! Life's so
so short to regret anything. I've always had something in my heart
telling me to travel, yet I haven't been out of the country since I was
17! So when I found out one of my bestest friends was going to be
getting married in America, I literally couldn't think of a better
oppourtunity to go and see even just a little bit more of the world. I'm
at a point and age where doing what I love is SO important to me, and
spending nearly a month in completely new surroundings with wonderful
and weird strangers has filled my little soul with the most happiness I
could ever imagine. This world we live in is such magical place and I
can't wait to see more of it, as soon as possible.