Santa Monica Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

It began with one person...Alina (alitoronto), contacted me asking where she should stay and what should she do while she was here in Los Angeles, CA for a work project. That innocent question got the wheels churning for a possible mini meet-up in LA. I knew that my new friend Alice (alicegourmet) would love to join us - so I called her up and told her about Alina coming in to town. She was excited about the up and coming visit.Who the heck knows what happened next...the mini meet-up became a...

OMG I have been looking forward to the mini then BIGGIE LA MEET UP!!!! The last LA MEET UP was on December 8th 2007. I txted joy about 9am, I knew she was picking up Jeremy and then picking me up at 3pm. I just remembered Jeremy (vulindlela) misses IN-N-OUT burgers. It is a must to have an IN-N-OUT burger when you visit California, Nevada and Arizona. I txted  Joy “Jeremy loves in-n-out burgers”. Joy replied with “he could not get a flight to LA and that she and alina is going...

Joy tells me a few weeks ago that she will be meeting up with a couple TravBuddies.  Do I want to come? My response.....of course I do. A few days later...I hear that we will be meeting up with a few Buddies.  Not bad, I had been wanting to meet up with Joy for a while now, since the OC meetup in February.  So know all I know is that there are 2 buddies from other countries and Alice to get together for some talking and eating.  A few days now after a few days....there a...

I left work on the westside around 3:30 pm...YIKES already half hour behind schedule and I get my Blue Iguana Margaritas at the Happy Hour prices!  Since I work about 5 miles away from the Santa Monica Pier, I easily made my way through side streets to the city of Santa Monica.  But my joy was quickly diminished as crazy beach going pedestrians, road blocks, construction, and detours diverted me away from the directions as per Mapquest.  I was got frustrated and called Mel for ...

This mini travbuddy meet-up all began when I got a message a week or two ago from Jason "Kranzj" that he was heading out to the Los Angeles area for business and pleasure. He was going to be in town for just a couple of days and it was going to be a road trip from Washington. So, of course I asked where his "business" was going to be and where he was planning on staying. First he said Inglewood - in my mind, I thought, "Oh, my goodness - what is he thinking?" I let him know quickly that Ingle...

Having had the illustrious privilege of being at the first ever TB meetup, I was definitely looking forward to the 2nd but was so exhausted having just come back from NY and then being hit with a zillion projects at work (and what work week is complete without tons of drama) that by Friday, I was so close to throwing the towel in and diving under the covers for the next 48 hours. But I REALLY wanted to meet some people that I had seen online and may not make an appearance for a while. Among t...

So in the midst of the banking meltdown and right before both Sheila and I are leaving for adjacent states (I'm going to SC this weekend and Sheila is going to the ATL for a week) we joined Doris for dinner at Rustic Canyon. It was featured in the LA times last week and we all thought it would be cool to check it out! I arrived exactly on time at 8:15pm and Doris and Sheila were already there. It was such a great gabfest but as Doris pointed out the acoustics of the place were pretty awful. T...

I was ready to chicken out on going to my first meet-up since I didn't know anyone, but Joy wouldn't let me off the hook. She told me I was going and didn't have a choice. She said I'd have fun, and darn it, she was right!

 I was reading the travel forum at work when it said that there is going to be a mini meet up in Santa Monica on March 28. I contacted pvtjoy (the organizer)to let her know that i was thinking of going, i gave her my contact number and immediately responded to me. She sounded really nice on the phone, we chatted for a little bit. She said don't think about going just go and you'll have a good time, boy  was i glad i  did because it was a blast! I want to thank Jo...

After my first mini TravBuddy meet up on 2/26, I'm kinda addicted to the fun group. Then I got a message from Joy (pvtjoy) that Alina (alitoronto) will be in town and then another member Matt (mattrilla) will be coming from U.K. She asked if I want to have another mini meet up. Of course, I can't resist the fun of the meeting. She posted the meet up news on the Travel Forum.  Having a few messages with Warren (ocwarren), we decided to have the venue at Rusty's Surf Ranch at Santa Monica ...

Jenn wanted us to get together before she leaves to hawaii.She came up with this place in Santa Monica called Casa del Mar which is literally located by the beach, it's on Ocean Ave. Great  place to chill and have drinks with friends or even for a happy hour. I love the atmosphere it makes me feel like i'm in Hawaii;)..I used to come here when a friend  of mine was one of their server,(shh, used to get free drinks hehehe) but stopped going when my friend left, wondered why?No he did...

As part of the Twilight Series at the Santa Monica Pier, Victoria Secret sponsored "Pinkapalooza" with the Fallout Boys (Pete Wentz's band, or as my friend explained, Ashlee Simpson's husband's band).  We actually didn't realize who was playing when we got there - we just wanted to have a nice picnic on the beach while enjoying live music.  Instead of cooking (because we are horribly lazy), we swung by Honey's Kettle in Culver City and got the Family Pac - 8 piece chicken, biscuits,...

when ever i wanted some "me" time i'd grab my pair of flip flops, my beach towel and go to my favorite spot in santa monica beach. Along Montana street and ocean there's a stairway that will lead you down to the beach to just kick back, it's great for just walking, rollerblading or biking plus you get the beautiful view of the ocean.

Living in Vegas I don't get to see the beach very often. Luckily my friend who I was staying with for the weekend, lives only a 15 minute walk from the beach!

So I am back rather early from the meeting in Santa Monica this evening because my husband kevin wasn't feeling well. While at McCool's Irish Pub we had a dinner which was not remarkable, but we got to tell people (some were couchsurfers and others were from another group) about travbuddy.com, Eric gave out business cards, and I gave out T-shirts, and tiny origami books. Jennie  won the surprise prize of a weekend stay in Mammmoth Lakes, so we will have to wait for her to report on that ...