My husband and I planned a road trip that started with meeting up with friends in Los Angeles and ending in Las Vegas. In this post, I’ll be going over our whirlwind 40ish hours in Los Angeles.
We flew from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport on March 7th, 2020. We bought basic economy tickets through American Airlines for an evening flight. The airport wasn’t that busy due to corona virus starting to become more and more prevalent in the United States. We swiftly got through security and decided that we should officially start our vacation there. First stop, Applebee’s.
What’s better than starting your vacation with chicken tenders, a cheeseburger, and Shiner Bock? I’m not quite sure, honestly. However, I would recommend for Applebee’s to serve their $1 margaritas in airports but that may be a far off dream.
Soon after finishing my meal, my husband and I boarded the plane. I have never been to Los Angeles before so I was very surprised to see that the plane had three rows in economy. My husband and I settled in our seats and settled in for our flight.
I hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream and hand sanitizer. (Sorry, I had to plug in Miley somewhere). We had carry on luggage only so we went straight to the shuttle that took us to the Uber and Lyft pickup area. Plenty of drivers were already there so it didn’t take long to start our ride to our Airbnb in downtown L.A. where our friends were already waiting.
We arrived at our loft downtown and spent a few minutes settling in and catching up with friends. By this time, it was about 8:30pm so all of us were getting hungry. We decided to go to the Grand Central Market which was only a 15 minute walk from the loft. Grand Central Market has been open since 1917 and has had an assortment of vendors since. There were many different booths with a variety of food options. My husband and I decided to go with Sticky Rice which serves an assortment of Thai food. I went with a good basic, shrimp pad Thai, and was not disappointed. There was some seating at each booth but my group decided to sit at the open seating tables that were spread out through the building.
After filling our stomachs with delicious food, we decided to walk back to the Airbnb for a restful night’s sleep. All of our friends were from the UK so they were very jet lagged. We made it back to the loft and all got ready for bed so that we were energized for the next day. Unfortunately, it was insanely loud the entire night. I feel like I have stayed in some noisy areas during my travels, but I have never heard this amount of sound at that particular volume either. There was constant yelling and screaming, sirens, car horns, engines running,etc. I can’t even start to describe how loud it was. I’m not sure if this is a typical Saturday night in downtown L.A. or not, but it was definitely a unique experience to me.
After our not so peaceful night’s rest, we were ready to start our day at about 9am. We passed by a donut shop called Donut Friend the night before so we went there for breakfast. GUYS! This was the best donut shop that I’ve ever been to. They had so many donut options and combinations that I’ve never heard of. You will not be disappointed! I ended up getting the angry samoa. If you’ve ever had samoa/caramel delights Girl Scout Cookies, this donut is just like that but infinite times better (I never thought I would say that because I’m a big fan of the caramel delights). I paired this incredible donut with an iced latte and chowed down in style.
Once we all achieved a sugar high, we got an Uber to Santa Monica. It was so cool riding in the Uber and seeing a city that you’ve only seen through TV and pictures before. After about 30 minutes we arrived in Santa Monica. Turns out the Los Angeles marathon was on this same day and it ended in Venice Beach. After making our way through a mixture of fellow tourists and achy runners, we made it to the pier.
This is what I imagined California to be like! Sunny, 70 degrees, and blue skies. I was in pure bliss walking down the pier. It also wasn’t overly crowded once we made it down. We could walk easily around. We spent a good while at the end of the pier and were surprised by the appearance of some dolphins! We were able to watch them swim around for about 20 minutes.
Once the dolphins were out of sight, the group was hungry again. At this point it was about noon. Our next stop was Venice beach so we decided to start walking that direction and get some food on the way. We did check out some restaurants towards the entrance of the pier, but they were packed full of marathon runners. After about 30 minutes of walking along the beach, we found a colorful carribean restaurant called Cha Cha Chicken. I got the coconut fried chicken with fried plantains and dirty rice with black beans. It was so delicious. This place was BYOB so my husband went and grabbed some beer for the group and it was an amazing paring with the crispy chicken.
After lunch, we continued towards Venice Beach. We walked for another hour or so along the beach. We walked past a muscle beach and saw people using the gym like it was monkey bars. There are some very talented people who make tight roping and using the hang down bars look like it’s nothing.
As we were nearing Venice Beach, we could see Hotel Erwin from a distance. There was a rooftop bar that looked super appealing. We were tired of walking and Venice Beach was packed with other tourists so we made our way to the rooftop to relax for a bit. We made it up with no problem. We didn’t need a reservation, but if you want a guaranteed spot you should make one. I highly recommend sipping some drinks here and looking out on Venice Beach here.
After we left Hotel Erwin, we got an Uber to Rodeo Drive. Admittedly, I was the only one of the group wanting to go here. And honestly, I was underwhelmed. It was cool to see it in person, but we didn’t stay long because none of us could afford to shop in these stores. Also, there were a ton of people posing for pictures so it was hard to walk through it.
A big chunk of the group are into 80s rock n roll so we headed to Sunset Boulevard to checkout some hangouts from rock groups. We went to the Rainbow Bar and Grill, walked past Whiskey a Go Go, and grabbed a drink in the Viper Room.
We had to leave the Viper Room because a band was about to do a sound check so we went to Pink’s Hot Dogs. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to order but our food was delivered very quickly. I ordered a turkey dog with mustard and relish with a side of onion rings. The inside seating area was small so we headed out back and ate on the patio.
After dinner, we went to the Griffith Observatory. The observatory was only open for another hour after we arrived so we tried to get in as much as possible. We walked through the exhibits and made our way to the roof to look out the telescope. Unfortunately the telescope closed before we made it, but the view of Los Angeles was amazing from up there. You could see the Hollywood sign and all of the city lights. This was my La La Land moment.
After enjoying our time at the Griffith Observatory, we headed back to our Airbnb. Thankfully it was a little more quiet that night so we were able to get a bit more sleep. The next day we were starting our road trip, so first thing in the morning we picked up our rental car. What type of rental car do six millennials on a badass vacation want? A Dodge Caravan, of course.
Our last stop before heading to Joshua Tree was the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We found a parking lot for $15 to park all day one block off of Hollywood Boulevard and started to follow the stars. The Dolby Theater was hosting the Mulan premier later that day. It was so amazing to see a red carpet event in person.
We also stopped by the TCL Chinese Theater and stood in the same spot many famous people (and other travelers) had before.
After walking along Hollywood Boulevard, we loaded back up in our minivan and officially started our road trip. Check back to read about our night in Joshua Tree!
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