Vandaag rijden we naar Palm Springs.

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The first of December of 2007, I lift to my hotel in Brisbane - Australia at 8:00 am. (Local Time) to reach at the airport in that city to 9:30 am. and starting with destiny to Los Angeles  - USA at 12:15 pm. (Australia time). The flight lasted about 13 hours to arrive at Los Angeles at 7:30 am.(local time LAX) so to arrive early an half hour in which I lifted the same day, and after breakfast, lunch and dinner, was soon for breakfast again.

In Los Angeles airport (LAX), I wait the van, that picked me up and transporting to the hotel, whert y take in advance a booking “The Travelodge Hotel at LAX”, in the same area of the airport, after my installation, I started to my encounter with this big city and first I take a bus to go to Santa Monica, where I stayed for a walk or even to savor some shrimp (which tastes, it was time for lunch again).
After strolling through the area, I take another bus that took me to Venice Beach, other to say that this is one of the beaches more interesting (for the people who are in their environs), I left there all the afternoon and after walking so much, I take again a bus to go back to my hotel, from my hotel I take a van again to go to a Liquor Store, where I buy some minibottles to my collection, and return to the hotel at 8:30 pm., very very tired after lived one of the very beautiful and longer days of my life.

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As you've seen in my previous blogs...I have a certain crew that I hang out with here in LA. Isn't it amazing to meet "like minded" people? Go figure...you also meet them on a website? What the hell? These people and I would have never met - no matter what circumstance, but thanks to TRAVBUDDY - they are part of my life now. They are my family! We get together at least 2-4 times a week! Can you believe we all live about 15 miles away from each other and we would have never met if it weren't for this site!

They mean the world to me and to know that these brilliant, amazing, kind, compassionate people love me as much as I love them is simply awesome. This is an amazing website, that allows you to meet so many interesting people that share the same passions you have in life! First and foremost is travel... At least for me it is.

There are many more Travbuddies I feel the same way about...but I can't "access" them like this crew. We call, text, e-mail and then get together in the snap of a finger! WOW, they always leave me breathless when we are together and make me crave them again and again until our next LA "Core" Crew Meet-up

So, this is a homage to my LA "Core" Crew who tolerates me through good times and in bad times. Who know the very essence of me and what makes me tick! They have a special place in my heart and I am grateful for their friendship....

Love you guys and can't wait for our next adventure!

No worries my NoCA/Vegas/Missouri/Mexico/UK peeps you're there in my heart as well!

So, I hope you enjoy the montage of photos from all our adventures! I'm not even going to name dates or anything because I can't remember - we get together too often!

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We got back on the road and set off for LA.  Emotion was running a little bit high now as we knew this was the last stop and a flight home was creeping up fast. 

We absolutely knacked after all the driving over the last few days and so we decided on having a day on the beach.  Where better than Santa Monica?  It's gorgeous.  This was more like a typical holiday resort with more focus on eating and drinking out, and time out on the beach; that suited us fine.  A lazy day, some nice food and a few drinks later, we decided we liked L.A. 

The next day we booked out to go to Disneyland to explore some childhood dreams.  Yeah, it is great.  Very interactive and very varied with it it's entertainment.  We managed to try out most of the attractions, Space Mountain being my favorite, but Indiana Jones was great as well.  At teh end of the day, there was Mickey doing a show of Fantasia for all.  This was so well done and I was very impressed.  It's such a great place for kids, I'm certain one day I'll go back (if not, then to Florida or Paris).  The finale is a huge fireworks display which takes you through all teh rides of the day.  It's quite difficult to explain, but if you ever get a chance to go, you won't be disappointed.  We decided on going here pre-trip, and what a brilliant decision that was!

That was our last day in Santa Monica, so we packed up and set off in the morning for Downtown L.A.  It's not quite as nice there as Santa Monica, but it was where we needed to be for the last couple of days.  After we booked in with the hostel, we came down to the reception to find what options we had for the next day, really got lucky.  We really wanted a tour of L.A. and so we checked out what was on offer when we noticed an evening tour of L.A. by bus was setting off in just over an hours time.  We got booked on that and took the tour.  This left the next day completely free, so we booked a trip to Universal Studios as well.  That was a very nice bonus.

The tour took us all over, but teh stop off were pretty brief.  We had about 20 minutes at the harbour, 45 minutes at Venice beach (which was surreal but fun), 20 minutes at Beverley Hills, and then onto Hollywood Boulevard.  We got to see Johny Depp's house, the Viper Room, the Walk of Fame, and of course Mann's Theatre with all the hand and foot prints.  I was definitely grateful to get all this in, but did feel like the day deserved a bit more time to take it all in.

Universal Studios was our last day.  I was really excited to go here and see the attractions, and I was not disappointed.  The rides are amazing and we tried to fit in all of them.  Our first stop was a newer ride called "The House of Horrors".  This is a walk through a house where you get umoped on by actors dressed as warewolves, Frankenstein etc.  It's really good fun and the squeals weer genuine!  Jurrasic Park left us drenched (get a poncho!), The Mummy is fast, the tour bus is cool (tehy show a set from Jaws, the Bate's Motel, Wisteria Lane, Too Fast too Furious, and lots of others.  It was great fun.

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So I definitely have love and hate feelings about Los Angeles. My first time here was the end of October 2003. I had just made the temporary move to Bakersfield, CA, and after being there two days, I had to take my husband to LAX so he could fly to Washington D.C. to catch his flight back to Iraq. Getting to the city limits of Los Angeles from Bakersfield takes a little less than an hour. So we were in the car, going down the interstate, seeing signs for Burbank everywhere, and it's starting raining. Absolutely pouring, AND it's rush hour, so you can hardly see, we were literally crawling on the interstate there's so much traffic. All of the incoming ramps were jammed pack, it was miserable. So, from the city limits to LAX airport, it took us THREE hours! Seriously. It was miserable. So we finally got our hotel room at the airport (his flight was during morning rush hour and we couldn't take the chance of him missing his flight, so we went down the night before.), and we turn on the T.V. and literally, the highway we were just on for three hours, was a river. There were people on the roofs of their cars getting rescued because of the flash flooding. Vehicles were abandoned everywhere, the highway looked like a parking lot. Apparently LA got 3 inches of rain in a short period of time, and all hell broke loose. We were so glad we went down when we did. The next morning on my ride back at like 5:30 am, I was dodging abandoned cars, and I still made it to Bakersfield in an hour. Four hours the night before, one hour the next day. Now that is what I HATE about LA, the driving is horrendous. There is no way I could live in that city. I don't care how nice the weather is, I am not spending a quarter of my life in a car.
Now this trip I made January 7th was a couple weeks before I was moving to the Bay area. I wanted to do the whole sight seeing tour, so we went midday to miss traffic. We went to the usual areas tourists visit, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, downtown. We went to China Town and walked around. I really wanted to get pictures of the Hollywood sign, so we did that. We went to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre and for some reason they have tons of people in costume there for picture taking with the tourists. I didn't know what half the costumes were even of. There was a copy-cat Naked Cowboy there, the original is in Times Square in New York City all year round, in his underwear, no matter how cold it is. I had no idea people copied him in other cities, I thought that was weird. Outside of Grauman's theatre, they were begging people to come in to be the audience for the late-night talk shows, but we didn't really want to waste any time, so we passed. (It was around 1:00 I think, so if that's something you people want to do go then.) We of course saw the Walk of Fame so that was cool. I had no idea it went on for so long. We drove down Rodeo Drive. We went to see the Beverly Hills hotel.
It was a fun trip. It redeemed my bad feelings from my late October trip. I still wouldn't want to live there though.

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The LA "Core" CREW minus one decided to get together and hang out at a local sushi restaurant and enjoy each other's company! So, Jenn (Jenn79), Tracy (Tre69), Nhi (hirondellenhi), Doris (Martinikitty) and I (pvtjoy) decided to have an enjoyable evening of sushi and conversation! What a wonderful evening to share with some amazing women. WOW...can you believe I met them all here on TRAVBUDDY!!!! Way cool!

We decided to hit up ZIP fusion Sushi restaurant. It's located over in downtown LA over by Third and Alameda. I arrived to see Tracy and Doris enjoying some kind of Japanese liquor - I have no F**king clue what it was... clear (Giovanni...was it Sake? Doris and Tracy said a different name) (WHOO-HOO!!! ~ thanks to Reephboy "Kenneth" who gave me the name of the clear liquid...Chamisul soju ~ very cool!) and as Tracy says, "it didn't do a thing to me!" and as Doris said..."if it's clear, it has no calories!" This is why I stick to my dry reds...I don't care about the calories and I know what it does to me.

Anyway, we all shared appetizers of asparagus and bacon with a nice smooth sauce and other things...don't ask me what they were - I had been drinking and the girls started to devour the food before I could take a photo...I know we had the eel and avocado roll, spicy crab roll, shrimp tempura roll - someone break out the epi pen for me! I remember Nhi saying something about RAW oysters - yummy...we kept asking we didn't want it cooked...raw...RAW...RAW please!!!! LOL!!!!

It was a night filled with fun, laughs and planning our next Travbuddy LA "CORE" CREW adventure! (Break out the planners - if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist!) LOL!!! Beware - you join us for fun and adventure and you don't know what will happen! I love my GIRLS!!!! They are AWESOME!!!! Can't wait to spend more time with them; they are soooooo cool!

enJOY the photos...we had a BLAST tonight and hope that if you are ever in LA ~ look us up - we'll show you a GREAT time!

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Finally wrapped up the Pacific coast Highway Road tour from San Fran to LA. Just thought I'd post a few thoughts about LA and about California road trips in general. First, a few highlights from the LA leg of the tour. In addition to the touristy escapades to the piers and beaches and museums and all the usual things to do in Los Angeles, I visited a few events worth mentioning. There was this Taco Truck protest at La Estrella on York. The tacos were nothing to write home about, but there was this delicious feeling of being a kind of protester. I mean, what's the harm if you get to be a protestor just by eating tacos? FYI, LA County officials are out to get rid of the taco trucks in LA, so the truck owners and other intrerested parties, along with LA's taco lovers, are fighting back.

Then there was the cupcake bake-off in West Hollywood.  The grand finale is on the 18th of May, but it was still kinda fun to watch. Plus the cupcakes were delicious and plenty of wine for everyone. Course, you have to pay for entry, but all said and done, as a tourist, it was worth it. At least now I can say I had the best tacos and cupcakes in Los Angeles.

Now, as for road trips in general, and California road trips in particular, there' a few things I've learned. First, don't make very specific plans. When you're the road, and the landscape is so beautiful, there's bound to be detours and delays. So, better to keep the plan flexible in the first place.

Second, try to keep away from hotels, and opt for B&B's or camping grounds. Eating set lunches and dinners doesn't go down well when you're on the road. And munching away on fast food is a recipe for disaster. Solution is that you need access to a furnished kitchen whenever you make a stop. Hence the B&B - So you can make whatever you like, preferably something light and nutritious, so it helps you stay fit and awake while driving. Lastly, about hitchhikers - If you think you can handle wierdos, no harm in taking on single hitchhikers. Best time to drive is early morning - It's incredibly beautiful, and when you see the world just waking up in front of your eyes, it's indescribeably uplifting.

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I think this week has been the longest that we all haven't seen each other - 6 days!!

We got together at Zip Fusion downtown and as usual I was the last one to arrive as Joy, Tracy, Nhi and Doris were already there enjoying Soju and edamame! I was happy to have seen Doris before she left for a home cooked meal at her best friend's house!! I laughed so hard watching Joy chase Doris out the door as Doris dropped WAY too much money before leaving!

We had a blast as normal, but also got down to business, all pulling out our planners to schedule and plan for Matt's return to LA! All I have to say about that is.. what a lucky guy!!! I literally get tired just LOOKING at all the plans!

So we have dancing, stargazing, camping, San Diego, BBQs, bar hopping and a possible pool party! Have I ruined all the surprises? Oh well. =)

At this rate, I am going to be very very broke. I think Alice needs to open a restaurant in LA. What do you think, Alice?? You'd have us as customers dropping a couple of bills every 3 days!

It's funny, no matter where we go to eat or drink or otherwise, I always have such a good time and feel SO comfortable. Wherever these girls are, I feel at home!! I got my fix, so I'm feeling super happy now =) I can't wait to see them again on Friday!!!

P.S. See Joy's Blog for all the GOOD photos. Damn my ancient camera!!
http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/32311

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My mom wanted to take my niece and nephew to Santa Monica. She invited me to go with them, so I went. Well, on our way there, I asked her if we could go to Venice Beach instead, because I'd already been to Santa Monica, but not Venice. She said that was fine. So we were driving down PCH looking for Venice Beach. You'd think that us being from that area we would know how to get there with our eyes closed, but that didn't happen!  We pulled into this one parking lot and asked the attendant where Venice Beach was.  He said we'd passed it by 20 minutes! We were going to go back, but decided to check out where we were first. So we all get off the car and start heading towards the beach. There were a few sun bathers, but it was really a surfers beach.

This beach was a real interesting place. It had the open beach, and when you walk towards the right of the beach there is a section with rocks that form a pond/lagoon like area and then it's the ocean again.  I cannot for the life of me explain it. Another strange thing about this beach was that there was ocean water coming out from the sand and going back into the ocean like a little stream. Again, I cannot explain it. But it was something strange and interesting to see.  Ever since I have always wondered how that is possible. I'd never heard or seen anything like that. I actually thought it was a pipe that burst but there wasn't any when I dug down into the sand. I more then likely didn't dig down far enough.

We saw rocks on top of rocks. But they weren't just any rocks. They were weird shaped rocks that balanced on top of other rocks. I wonder how long it took whoever to actually have them balance and stay there. I don't think I would have had the patience to try and do it, but I was glad to have seen it anyway. Walking a bit down, there was a pier, which we walked on and saw people fishing.  There were private homes there as well, but the beach wasn't private.  That beach had a relaxing atmosphere, which was different from the beaches that I have been to. I really wish I knew the name of it. I am going to have to go back and find it again, just to get the name of it.

My niece and nephew had a blast. They really enjoyed themselves. They got wet and we experienced a new beach in L.A. county. 

But that's my short story of this beach that I do not know the name of.

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Getting together with my friends of Travbuddy is like icing on the cake! Jennifer and Tracy decided to get together one night and I believe it was Tracy who suggested this place. So, as I'm trying to find this place, I got lost...she said it was next to the 99cent Store - has no sign, just a small valet parking lot, but plenty of street parking...ok...whatever - I'm still doing Valet with my "Bruiser!" I don't care if it won't fit in the lot - don't make me find parking out on the street! Rob then calls and says he's running late (or something) but all I could concentrate on was, "WTF??? I can't be f**king lost in my own town!" I finally find the place - pull up into the very small valet parking and thought - I don't care what you say, My Tahoe will fit in here! HAHAHA!!!! LOL!!! I get there and everyone is there already...Tracy, Jenn and Rob - my peeps! Way cool! The wine that first night at this restaurant was not that yummy - but we were learning the menu...so wait a minute! The food though was so yummy! I ate a quarter of my mac 'n cheese - it was way too much food... Anyway, Rob enjoyed his Rib-eye, Jenn enjoyed her Ravioli and Tracy - I know she enjoyed her food - even though I can't remember for the life of me what she ordered! If you do have a chance to get out here - the ambiance out here is great! Perfect date place - romantic, snuggley close, pillows , etc...but...make sure you order the Zin/Cab blend instead of just the Cab...it was wonderful - which we found out at a later date! This is a place I will go again! Especially if you enjoy a cigarette with your wine - this is an outdoor restaurant! You can smoke at your table! Way cool!

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Another dinner event with the LA TBs, joy(pvtjoy), rob(robthetraveler). nhi(hirondellenhi), doris(martinikitty13), alice(alicegourmet), tracy(TRE69), jenn(jenn79), matt(mattrilla), rob's friend and me :)



Another fabulous evening with amazing TBs. Tracy picked me up in my mum's house and off we go to dinner at the cliff's edge (SEE REVIEW ON THE BOTTOM).


this evening was a blur. i just arrived from the galapagos islands. i was very tired. but, i managed to have a good time and smile for the rest of the evening.


tracy and i arrived and we walked across the street, then i heard "MELANIE!!!!" it was alice in her car, she was going to make a left inside the parking lot. she scared the beejesus out of me :P


we waited for alice. then joy and rob arrived had small talk, then rob's friend arrived then nhi. we all walked inside together. as we turned to the left to the bar. we saw matt, jenn and doris drinking and waiting for us.


**********HUGS ALL AROUND***********FOLLOWED BY FLASHES FROM DIGI CAMERAS***********


we all seated outside in the patio. thank GOD there are no insects and raining. we all of course laughed and drank wine well, others did. i did not even drink. i was not in the mood. it was good to see everybody again. doris just got back from southeast asia. she was sharing her shopping and food adventures. i was sharing my galapagos adventures for a bit.


of course i enjoy listening to alice's cooking stories. she always make me more hungry and i just ate!!!!! one day i would like alice to cook for me and learn her secret tricks :P


GOSH I WAS TIRED.  i was flying back to VEGAS the next day. it was an 8pm flight. i had plenty of time to repack and blog the rest of my galapagos blog. i was very obsessed to get it done. my memory was disappearing little by little.



rob invited nhi to come to the our CRAZY shindig. she obviously has never met us in person.  she is fit right in with our LOUD and CRAZY group. i did not talk to her as much but, i know i will meet her soon.......like LA MEETUP in MAY :P


also matt returned to LA after spending a few days in NY for the meetup. then decides to visit the LA TBs before going back to UK.  it was good to see him again. i miss him saying "THAT IS RUBBISH". YOU ARE BEING RUDE", AND "BRILLANT."


it was 11pm some of the TBs has a school night. tracy, matt, and i plan to have brunch tomorrow. tracy was flying to hawaii for the weekend and i was flying back to VEGAS. tracy and i wanted to take matt to our favorite cafe, alcove.



UNTIL THE NEXT DAY MY TBs.................

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Another beautiful day in LA. tracy and i were looking forward to eat at the alcove, i have been here 4 times in the last month. i of course did a review on it.


tracy and i arrived first. matt was taking the taxi from his hotel. gosh i was thursday and already a long line at 10am. we picked a table outside in the corner. then i call from matt that is has arrived.


we all sat down and reviewed the menu. tracy has her heart set on french toast. i wanted belgian waffles. that just sounds yummy this morning. this was my first time eating breakfast. i normally come here for dinner or dessert.


tracy sat down while matt and i stood in line to order. i kept on looking at the menu. then something else cought my eye. scrambled smoked salmon with onions. WOW i ordered that instead. matt did the same too. we both ordered tea and water for tracy.


i ordered blueberry cheesecake tea. i feel bold this morning. matt gave me crap for ordered it. he said it was rubbish HAHAHAHA :P of course he ordered his "earl grey" tea.


we talked about NY meetup, hawaii and more of galapagos. i kept saying "DID I TELL YOU GUYS I LOVE THE GALAPAGOS?" HAHAHAHA :P We all compared people who matt has met in NY. tracy shared her plans in HAWAII. matt shared his plans for the few days he will be in LA.  then more of english and american pronunce with AL-LOU-MIN-IUM, TY-TIN-NIUM, and such. UGH that was brought up again last night.


we only hung out for until 1pm. tracy had to be at the airport by 2pm. matt needed an ATM for a taxi. we walked with him to BofA and hung out with until jenn ordered a taxi for him.


another fun and relaxing day with TBs until next time :)

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If you are old enough to remember The Monkeys and their video to "Last Train to Clarksville" you will likely begin having flashbacks when you visit Travel Town. Yes - this is where the video was shot. Travel town doesn't have the best trains but who cares. Its free and its geared towards kids as evidenced by the number of children’s' birthday parties happening on the grounds on any given day. It's also one of the few places where visitors can pretty much climb all over most of the trains... some of which are very, very large. The area is set up like a rail yard with tracks extending from a "station." Some of the cars and trains are in various states of repair and every once-in-a-while you can catch some one working on one of the exhibits. There is a small engine that gives you a short ride around the museum park. The train goes around twice and there is no commentary but it's hard to avoid the trip (and the $2.50 fare) if you show with your child. There is also a store and a giant shed with non-train exhibits such as old cars. They also have a huge model train set that sometimes is running and sometimes isn't. Overall a good place to run around, climb and play.

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Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum is only open once a week for four hours so it’s not something you just stumble onto. What you find what you get there is probably the biggest set of model trains you will ever encounter. The cost for riding these giant model trains is free but they ask you for a $3 donation before giving you tickets. You can refuse to pay... but its $3 so don't be cheap. The line can get long but not if you go on a holiday like Mother's Day. The model train ride is about one mile and takes about seven minutes. The train passes by a couple of model houses, goes through two tunnels and goes over two impressive mini bridges. Museum Non-members cannot walk around the grounds. I spoke to a museum member and they pretty much have their way with the park for less than $40 a year - which is probably only worth it if you really love model trains. Even if you aren't a model train enthusiast this is a good stop for anyone visiting Los Angeles with kids and looking for something to do on Sunday afternoon. My son loved it and would probably give it 4 or 5 stars. Photos from the model train aren't allowed but as you can see from my photos its not too hard to snap a couple of shots. Live Steamers is tucked away behind large trees and can be tough to spot. It's next to travel town but the two are not connected.

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I can't say enough good things about this place! It's within walking distance to Fred 62 as well as Pinkberry - score! There's quite a bit of parking right behind in a lot at a cost of a whopping 25 cents per hour. The service is impeccable. Dogs get clean water dishes, smokers get clean glass ashtrays, and bread comes with butter and marmalade! The quiche was awesome, but the onion soup was freaking amazing. Delicious to the core! I highly, highly recommend this place any day!

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