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.

A Guide To ... New York, New York!

Whether you know the State as: "The Big Apple," "The City," "Gotham" or "The Media City," everybody knows of the place and has seen its many defining features a thousand times or more. The City is home to over 8.4 million people of many different backgrounds from all over the world, and walking the streets this is very apparent. Whether you're in Manhattan, The Bronx or Queens you still have the warm fuzzy feeling that you are in the City where everything happens at any time of the day. The City that literally never sleeps, being able to get an Oreo cheesecake at three in the morning and a cab at four. Being able to walk the streets at any point of the day or night and never being alone. This is the feeling of living in the Empire State that the Business, Fashion and Media world revolves around.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be able to visit Gotham and walk the skyscraper lined streets that hummed with; sights, smells and noise for every minute of the day and night. A City that I had only ever been able to watch in soap operas and films was now lying beneath my feet. Recognising buildings and streets from my favourite programs. The Russian Tea Room from Gossip Girl and Central Park from Sex and the City. Of course there were many sights that had to be seen before I returned to simple Southampton, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Chrysler Building, Central Park, Fifth Avenue and of course hailing a ride or two in a yellow cab.

The sounds of the City never stopped, after 24 hours the sounds became normal and faded into the background. The sirens ringing down the streets and the smells of the underground through the steam grates started to become known as home. As I walked the streets back to my hotel, The Wellington, Times Square started to become the mile stone of us nearly being back in our hotel room. Times Square felt like home, walking through it, knowing the shops, the streets and the vendors on the corner made me feel like a true New Yorker. Storming down the streets as if I knew exactly where I was and where I was going melted me in to the crowd and fade past as an American, not an English tourist.

Knowing that every building, street and park was steeped in history made me want to know more and gather as much information and pictures as I possibly could. I wanted to document every minute of the day so as not to forget how amazing the City is. Also to make sure that this wasn't a dream, that I had actually lived in New York, if only for four days. I am sure to return and would love to live there one day. To work in the skyscrapers and live in a tiny, dingy, smelly six foot square apartment for at least six months. Just to say that I once lived in the City that never sleeps, and that nowehere else I know will ever be as amazing as that one State in America.