America - Part One, Los Angeles
Los Angeles.....
21.10.17 - 25.10.17
As some of you may know my boyfriend and I went to America in October. Our first stop was LA. The plane flight from Melbourne, Australia, took 14 1/2 hours, it was horrible.
We were very relieved when we finally landed although not everything went to plan.
Of course we had big suitcases as well as backpacks and once we landed we had no idea where to go. If you've ever been to LA international airport then you'd know what I'm talking about. The airport was huge and a little confusing but once we got our bags and got outside we thought that was the end of our troubles..
We were staying in downtown LA at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. We decided to get a bus that we thought would just take us down the road from our hotel but unfortunately it took us to a train station about 20 minutes away from our hotel.
Once we got off the bus the driver asked for his tip.. coming from Australia where we never give tips this was strange for us and we had no cash. He then proceeded to tell us how the British and Aussies never give tips and had a little rant about it. So it wasn't a great start. We quickly noticed how some of the people in LA were simply rude and nobody wanted to help us out with directions.
From the train station we got a taxi which was completely overpriced. (We couldn't uber as we had no data on our phones as roaming data costs an arm and a leg!)
Once we FINALLY reached the hotel we could take a breath. Although, since our flight landed so early in the morning and before check in time we had to wait for 5 hours until we could go into our room. In this 5 hours we went up to the Griffith Observatory which had an amazing view of the city and beyond!
We then went to the UCLA campus as my brother begged me to go because that's where he'd love to attend university.
From there we had lunch at some pizza place which was overpriced and not great. But thankfully by that time it was time to go back to the hotel and check in.
We were exhausted. We got into the hotel and fell asleep around 4pm and slept all the way through until the next morning.
The next day we had breakfast at the hotel before heading out to Universal. Universal was amazing and was definitely worth the money. We paid extra for front of line passes and I'm so glad we did. The lines were huge and we wouldn't have had time to do it all in one day! The rides were so much fun but unfortunately for me my boyfriend refused to go on any rollercoaster so I had to go it alone. We spent the whole day at Universal and throughly enjoyed every moment. I would definitely recommend it to anyone travelling to LA.
My boyfriend also had the opportunity to do an indoor flying experience which he loved and would recommend to anybody.
The next day we took a Warner Bros Studio Tour which was a great, informative experience. Not only did we get to see real sets we also got to see costumes as well as props used for some legendary movies.
From there we went to Hollywood boulevard where we were bombarded with people trying to sell CDs and tours. We didn't enjoy that side of Hollywood at all.
We visited Madame Tussaud's which was a good experience and very impressive.
After there we went on a tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills which was good until our bus broke down.
Not to mention we were in LA when there was a heat wave happening.
So we had to wait in boiling weather for another bus to arrive. The next bus had no airconditioning but all the windows were down (thank god!). The tour was pretty fun but something I don't think I'll be doing again. I felt weird peering into the homes of 'famous' people.
The next day we explored a little more and went to the zoo for a few hours but then just stayed in our hotel for the rest of the day. Being on the go all the time is really tiring!
After a day of resting we were on the plane to Orlando.
Make sure to check back in tomorrow for my post on Orlando!!
Thanks for reading :)
Until next time,
Meliss
great trip, love the work you put in
Thank you! ☺️
Ah the US, land of tipping. It is really annoying when you're not used to it, plus everyone expects a tip. As one of the editors for @steemitworldmap’s daily #traveldigest, I would love to see this post pop up on http://steemitworldmap.com. If you're interested, simply go to the website, search for your location, click on code (down the bottom) and add a short description. It will then generate the code you need to copy and paste into your post (not the comments) to have it show up on steemit worldmap. There’s also a FAQ section if you get a bit lost.
You can find out about the project here:
https://steemit.com/travel/@steemitworldmap/steemit-worldmap
Thank you for that! And yes you're right about the tipping. I'll definitely head over and post it now :)
Great job @mel1ss! Lots of work putting the post together, I know. I loved it! I'll resteem 😁
Thank you! ☺️
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=mel1ss
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=take-a-step-into-my-world-america-part-one
Want to have your post on the map too?
Add the following inside your post:
!steemitworldmap xxx lat yyy long description d3scr
(replace xxx and yyy with latitude and longitude)
I'm not so certain that he wasn't trying to swindle a few bucks out of you. I've never tipped for a bus. If that were a thing, they would make bank.
But whether or not he was, you should always keep a few bucks on you in the US. It's actually the law in some places. They can arrest your for vagrancy. Because we hate the homeless.
Yeah he was unfortunately and we didn't appreciate the comments we got having only just landed in the country.
Coming from Australia/England we have never been expected to give tips so obviously, this being our first time in America, we were pretty shocked at how people reacted if you simply don't give a tip.
In our eyes tips are out of generosity and you shouldn't be forced to give out money especially if you personally feel like the person didn't do anything to deserve it :)
That law is one I definitely don't agree with. Yes being homeless would suck but simply giving tips isn't going to change homelessness much.
LOL! Well, having money in your pocket has nothing to do with giving tips. It's a law in some places to give cops an excuse to arrest the homeless.
Well, I'm glad I live in Australia then! We don't have these ridiculous laws.