Today I’m going to write about something a little different to camera or photography related things. I’m going to tell you about my trip to Los Angeles. More specifically, Hollywood! I’m thinking this blog will be done in 2 parts. The first part is more personal about the trip, and the second about some tips we discovered while out there.
The surprise
Los Angeles is the place I never thought I’d want to go to until I was told at the airport 2 hours before flying. Let me just tell you what happened.
So for months, I had no idea where I was going. My friends at work were equally excited to find out where this surprise destination is. A few weeks before my trip to LA you would have heard me say things like “I hate the idea of a long haul flight. Especially to somewhere like Australia.” and “Anything over 4 hours in a plane is enough for me.”
So 48 hours before our flight, my boyfriend says it will be hot. In November? So I packed my bags for hot weather while googling “Where is it hot in November?” and places like Cyprus and Australia came up. That’s it. I must be going to Cyprus!
At 5am we get up and leave the house for Heathrow airport. I’ve only flown from Heathrow once to Greece so I just thought we’d be going straight forward from the underground at Terminal 2/3 – cause I’m going to Cyprus right?
The realisation sinks in
We’re going towards Delta and Virgin Atlantic. My first thought was “Where the fuck do they fly to?” I was terrified we’d be flying to Australia. A 22 hour flight doesn’t sound so good right now when I haven’t had my coffee yet. We get to the flight board and our conversation goes a little something like this:
George: “So Amy, where do you want to go?”
Me: “Wait, these are all in America. Are we going to America?”
George: “Maybe. Where do you want to go?”
Me: “Well, you’ve already said our flight is at 9:40 and I don’t particularly know what’s in Boston…. soooo LA?”
George: “OK. Let’s go!”
Me: “Wait seriously.. We’re going to LA?”
(If you know George, he enjoys joking about things. He once let me go up an escalator in Athens where I had no idea where we were going and he ran away. I panicked hard and tried to run down and jump off but fell flat on my face. So you can understand why I thought he might be pranking me right then. Anyway, back to the story…)
George: “Yep! We’re going to Universal Studios and you can see the dinosaurs and we’re staying in Hollywood.”
Me: “We’re going to America?!!”
Best. Surprise. Ever.
Being a tourist for 8 days
If you know me, I’m also a big movie nut. I love to just zone out and watch a movie so being in Hollywood was soooo coooool. For at least 2-3 days we were still saying to each other “I can’t believe we’re in America.”
We did all the studio tours, Warner Bros, Paramount, and the studio tour at Universal Studios. Seeing the sets and hearing about the movie magic was epic. We saw the sets for Gremlins, Friends, Back to the Future, The big bang theory, Ellen Degeneres, Dr Phil, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and so many more.
Tip: The main tip I can give you when you do these studio tours is to not be shy. You will get so much more out of each tour by talking to your guide because each tour is tailored to the group. There’s no script!
We walked down Hollywood Boulevard and tried to spot all our favourite celebrities. We ate in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s favourite diner for breakfast and had real American pancakes with syrup, eggs and sausage. We went to the Museum of illusions, and the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaurs. We also took the subway/metro to Santa Monica and had lunch on the pier. We walked along the beach to Venice beach which wasn’t so great but the pub where we stopped for beer was nice. The entertainment was brilliant. And we even managed to get tickets to see Conan O’Brien. That was a brilliant little treat to the holiday as we both enjoy watching him on YouTube. And last but not least, we went to the Hollywood sign. Twice.
The first time we wanted to walk to the observatory but the weather was very hot and I didn’t anticipate how hot it was going to be up in the mountains. So we stopped off early at the sunset ranch and got the Uber home.
So when it came to the last day of our holiday, George asked me what I want to do and I said I’d like to go back and do the walk around Griffiths park but this time, wearing shorts. When our Uber dropped us off (at the best secret location ever), to the sign we started taking pictures again. We had already taken some pics and selfies the first time, but I thought it would be nice to do some more. So there’s me asking George to do his silly jump which I think is so funny in front of the sign but he refused. I called him boring so then I asked him to take a pic of me instead. This is when he then said that he’d like to just stop for a minute. He took my hands, said some super lovely things, (which I’d like to keep private) and then got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I sort of blanked out for a little bit and I know emotions were going all over the place. I said yes!
After 5 minutes of just smiling, hugging, kissing and laughing we walked the 10km through Griffiths Park to the observatory. Honestly, one of the best days of the trip. (The other best day was at Universal Studios.)
There’s lots of great and not so great things about Hollywood. In my second blog I will give you some tips and pointers about getting around LA (Uber or the scooters are your best friend) or the best places for pictures. For now, I would like to share some of mine with you here.
I can’t thank George enough for such an amazing trip to Hollywood – the destination I didn’t know I wanted to go to until I was told at the Airport. It was honestly the most memorable holiday we have had together and I will cherish the memories we’ve made forever. Same again next year, yea?