So, I have left the comforts of a place I had really gotten to know and the people that had made it feel like a home. I am sure it was for a good reason, but it’s definitely going to be a hard adjustment. How to explain the feelings that come up? Strangely, I think it’s a feeling of disappointing people, that my activities and stories will not come up to what people expect. As well as a whole bunch of other things, like not meeting people,  not making friends, not being comfortable by myself, not enjoying my own company, and not meeting my own ridiculous expectations.  But I know these to all be irrational fears, as I have overcome all of them before and so I will again. So I am using this blog to keep myself sane, as when I write it all down, I am like “huh, I actually did a lot!” I did have a thought that perhaps I shouldn’t share this part of it, but I believe that I will overcome them and I want everyone to see it when I do. Plus, I think it’s an important part of my travels and if anyone does read this and get anything from it that is a tiny bit useful or they can relate, then I guess its not a waste.

So day one was hard, new place and faces, unfamiliar surroundings. After almost missing my bus by a hair, a horribly long bus ride that was delayed by more than 2 hours and being way over tired by the time I arrived, I was not in the best mind set. But after a good chat with mum and a good night sleep, my outlook was lot better in the morning. It ended up being a good Day 2. I began the day with a hike up to Grafton Canyon for great views of the whole city and the hollywood sign. Not as close to the sign as hoped, but still a good start. I took the trip up with a group of travellers from the hostel, where we took the free shuttle from the Banana Bungalow West Hollywood hostel to the hike starting point. After a good hour long journey and plenty of pictures, we walking down to Hollywood Boulevard.

After arriving for only a couple of minutes, I spontaneously hopped on a 90 minute tour of down town LA and Beverley Hills, including the stars mansions, famous movies scenes etc. One highlight was seeing the shop from the movie Pretty Women, where she gets turned away when trying to shop. Lol. It was a good way to spend the afternoon, and not too expensive, after getting a deal from a tour company walking the strip. After the tour, I explored Hollywood Boulevard a little more, got a few more pictures, and then took the bus back to the hostel.

My third and last full day in Los Angeles was an awesome day exploring an area that I didn’t get to see in my last visit to LA over 7 years ago, Santa Monica! The weather pulled out all the stops at a lovely sunny 22 degrees. Joined by four other travellers we caught the local bus from west hollywood all the way to Santa Monica Pier which was a deceivingly long trip, over an hour! They are not lying when they say that Los Angeles is spread out. But when we finally arrived, we caught another bus down to Venice Beach, so that we could visit venice beach and the famous “Muscle Beach”. We then walking all the way back to Santa Monica Pier. We got lunch along the way, at a cute place on the boardwalk with outdoor seating and we were well entertained by street performers and live music as we ate. There was a little girl doing an amazing Michael Jackson impersonation to all his greatest hits, which was incredibly cute. Once we were full the the brim, we continued our way down to the Pier which has a theme park set on top of it. Here we stayed and watched the sunset over Santa Monica beach.

It was a short but sweet visit to Los Angeles, but it was surreal to be back after such a long time. Keep an eye out for my next blog including San Diego and Austin.

xxx