This is the first of 7 posts about LA that will be happening as part of my series LA Fridays. The first post will be all about the travelling to LA and my first evening in the wonderful city that is LA.
Friday 2nd March 2018
Technically, I should start this at 8:30pm on Thursday as that is when my Mum and I left for Rownhams Services to meet Mike and Alex and the rest of the college who was going on the trip to go to LA! We weren’t supposed to be meeting there until 2am, however the UK had been suffering with the #beastfromtheeast or Storm Emma. Essentially the UK was covered in snow, which caused absolute chaos! Mum and I were stuck on the A31. We were stopped outside the Burley McDonalds for TWO HOURS and we didn’t move once! In the end, we didn’t meet the bus at Rownhams, so my incredible Mum drove me all the way to Heathrow, Terminal 3.
I ended up meeting the rest of the group at 4:30am, Mum and I had been on the road for 8 hours and we were both shattered. Mum left pretty soon after I had found the rest of the group. By this point she had been up for nearly 24 hours at this point. I am honestly so grateful to my Mum for taking me to Heathrow, and well, for everything!
As we got to Heathrow so early, we ended up sitting there for a couple of hours until they opened checkin. Thankfully, they opened it a little early for us, so we didn’t have to wait in the cold anymore! (thank you!) Bag drop off was fine and so was security. I went through super easily and wasn’t stopped! YAY! It was a walk in the park in comparison to the car journey that I had on the way up!
We had a fair amount of time to kill in the airport and there wasn’t all that much there. Alice and I ended up going straight to Cafe Nero to get a sausage bap, which was so yummy and so needed after that long journey! Alice and I wakes around the airport, in and out of shops for three houses. I ended up buying a book of word searches that I am actually really glad I bought as they kept me entertained for most of the plane journey.
Mike and Alex both asked that we didn’t board the plane without them, so that they know that we are all on board the flight. However, when the gate opened all the college kids headed to the gate (I was obviously first!), however, Mike and Alex were one of the last in 😂. The staff at Heathrow were keen to get us on the plane as it was icy so they needed us to act quickly. When the stewardess asked us to board the plane all the students got up to head on the plane without Alex or Mike! So adult me got my act together and told them to not board the plane. It just came out of me at that moment, as I know how stressful and worrying it can be when people don’t listen!
Alex and Mike finally came through to the gate and we finally boarded the plane. Some idiot college kid sat in my seat as he wanted to sit with his friends (which I can understand, but don’t move until the plane has taken off!) Anyway, I sat in the row behind, hoping for the best, and let me tell you, it was the best! I was supposed to be sat in the middle and there was a lady next to me by the window. I was honestly, hoping and praying that no one was going to sit in the aisle seat! Thankfully, no one came! So, once we had taken off, I was able to move over and have my beloved aisle seat! I really appreciate those aisle seats on long haul flights!
The flight felt sooooooo long. It was a ten and a half hour flight, which wasn’t as long as I thought it was going yo be, but its still a long time! I tried to sleep on the plane, considering I had had no sleep the night before. However, I only managed to sleep for about 3/4 hours. I also watched three films on the plane, the first being Paddington 2 (which was awesome! I nearly cried at the end), Cars 3 (which was good! A nice way to end the franchise) and Wonder (which was eye-opening).
We landed at LAX and I got through immigration fine. Does anyone else get worried going through American Immigration? I was honestly so scared of doing it all wrong, but anyway, I didn’t and I got through fine. The only question they asked me was how long was I staying in America, in which I answered a week, which was correct.
Once we had all collected our bags we headed outside and guess what. It was raining! At least it wasn’t snowing because I think I may have cried! We got on our bus and headed to the hostel. The journey took much longer than I thought. We were staying in Santa Monica which from the map looked like a 15-20 minute journey approximately. However, it took much longer due to the famous LA traffic. We dot to the hostel and waited to find out who we were sharing a room with.
Mike called out the names of who was sharing a room. In each room a leader was assigned, and obviously that was me for my room! 😂 I don’t know what I would have done if I wasn’t the leader. Perhaps maybe collapse. I have a real thing about making sure I am the one in charge and in control of everything! So Mike, thanks for choosing me!
I was in a room with 6 people and the room was fairly small. Much smaller than I thought they would be! I mean we barely had room to walk, let alone keep our stuff! In the room there were 3 bunk beds that were made out of metal, they were a bit squeaky! There was also a locker for each person that I assume usually you would keep your case in. As we all knew each other we all felt fine just leaving our cases under the beds. I personally would lock away all my valuables, such as money and passport. But the rooms were secure and a cleaner came in once a day to empty the bins, so I felt safe leaving my stuff there.
One of the first things that I like to do after being on a plane for hours on end is to have a nice shower. The bathrooms were communal and they were just round the corner from our room. The bathrooms were much nicer than what I was lead to believe, so that was a bonus!
After I had had my shower, got changed and put fresh clothes on and put a face of makeup on we were ready for food! Alice, Emily and myself headed out for food. We walked all over the place trying to find somewhere we could all eat that wasn’t too pricy. I felt like we were walking around for ages! We then decided to head down to the pier and see what was there. We ended up having Hot Dogs which were good. The pier looked like sooooooo much fun. There was a funfair on it and I wish I had gone on some of the rides, but we were far too tired. So, we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.
I wanted to try and keep my eyes open for as long as possible to try and help with the jet lag! I didn’t want to be up super early! However, I succumbed to the tiredness at 8:30. I just could not keep my eyes open for any longer! During the night, I slept all the way through until 1am. After that I woke up pretty much every hour and I had to force myself back to sleep, so I wouldn’t be tired for the next days adventures!
I vlogged the entire trip, therefore, you can check out this day in vlog form here:
I had a great first day and I’m so excited to share with you the rest of the trip!
