A Guide To ... Los Angeles

As there was no Law lecture this week I thought that I would indulge in a little travel writing. I love to travel and although i have all ready travelled quite a bit for someone of my age there are still many places I would still like to experience.

I have travelled most of England and a few places in Europe but by far my favourite holiday destinations are Los Angeles, New York and Egypt. I have all ready written a guide to Egypt and New York which you can find linked to their names.

Los Angeles, home of Hollywood, Venice Beach and The Dodgers. I stayed on Venice beach at a hostel owned by Britney Spears father, Jamie. It is called Cotel and was my first hostel I have ever stayed in. I am a girl that loves her creature comforts, good food, a bell boy to carry my suitcase to my room and a comfortable bed. I am not made of money but I do prefer to spend most of my money on my hotel. So... imagine my horror when I first arrived, three flights of stairs, an 18KG suitcase and no bell boy.

Cotel is right on the beach, you walk out of the front door and you are there. There is a huge atmosphere on the beach with people cycling, jogging, rollerblading and even people on Segways. One side of the street is lined with restaurants, hire stores, books stores and the normal beach shops with spades, buckets and bikinis. The other side is lined with little stalls with people from every background on. They sell henna, face painting, food, spices, paintings, anything you can imagine.

The homeless people even have style on Venice beach with sarcastic signs about what they will do with your money and how they deserve it too. This is one of the only bad points of Los Angeles, the line between rich and poor is very fine. At one end of Venice Beach is Santa Monica Pier which caters for the standard family with their amusements and the other end is Muscle beach where ripped men work out all day. However, in between these two ends of the beach it is lined with homeless people in doorways, slumped against lamps and sleeping on a cloth on the floor.

Whilst I was there I saw a phone commercial filmed for AT&T, on the street of our hostel. This was exciting and just what I wanted to see in LA. I also visited Universal and Paramount studios in which I saw a film being filmed. I am not sure what the film was but it was outside with a typical New York cab. These are must see places to visit in LA. You can not visit the land of the rich and famous without popping in to a studio for a tour. I am a huge fan of films and television shows and being on the set of some of them was amazing.

I visited the Farmers Market which I was told was where I would find many celebrities doing their shopping but this was not for me. It was smelly, cramped and very big. I made a de-tour from the smelly stalls of foreign food and came across a little place called, The Grove; and I loved it. I can only describe it as a mini disney land. The streets are lined with designer boutiques, music in the perfect flower beds and trams that you can hop on and off. I walked around here with my friends on an early evening and it really felt very surreal.

The Hollywood sign was a huge disappointment, we could not get very close to it and so only saw it on the streets of Hollywood and it was teeny tiny. i did feel a little warm nuzzle in my heart that I was seeing one of the worlds most famous landmarks but it was a disappointment. Be warned of this when visiting.

My highs of my holiday were: playing volleyball and cycling/rollerblading on Venice Beach, sitting in the audience of the Jay Leno Show and sitting on the couch in Central Perk, (FRIENDS).

I had the most amazing eight days in Los Angeles and I think the fact that I went with a huge group of friends really added to my enjoyment of my time there. We could literally hang loose and do whatever we wanted. The bus is only one dollar so we could go wherever we wanted too. The fact that I stayed in a hostel has actually made me see that I do not need to spend an absolute fortune on my room for the length of my stay. The hostel was clean, friendly and safe. I guess that is all the really matters and I do not need a four star hotel to make my holiday.