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Los Angeles
Hello America! What can I say about this city? Well, I can say with confidence that this was by far my best holiday experience ever. The night before my flight, I and my friend couldn’t manage to fall asleep due to the excitement we had for Los Angeles. The only downside about this holiday was that long, pesky 11hr flight! My goodness, I have never flown for that long before in my lifetime. The craziest thing about visiting a country that you’ve never been to before is that everything doesn’t seem real at first, especially California.
The plane journey from London Heathrow was better than I expected, even though I just endured a painful 11hr flight. I managed to distract myself by watching movies that the airline provided us which in fact, came in handy at one point. As I was descending from the sky, I looked out my plane window and witnessed pure beauty. If you’ve ever played the video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’ you would have felt a wave of nostalgia hit you almost immediately. As I was getting off the plane, I headed towards the exit to call myself an Uber near enough outside the airport. The weather was perfect to say the very least.
One thing I’ve noticed about Los Angeles is that the roads seem rather close to each other on Google Maps… I thought wrong. I was inside the Uber for about 40mins because of constant traffic! Even though on my maps it said you were a few blocks away from the destination. Our Airbnb was located in central LA, which was very convenient for us to navigate from A to B. After settling in our guest house, we quickly headed out to explore this great city and what it had to offer.
I and my friend stopped at a burger place that looked very authentic from the outside, we looked at each other and said: “hey, why not?” The burger we had was delicious, cooked to perfection! Now let’s talk about meal sizes. If you were to order a medium-sized meal, be prepared for a large cup and an extra portion of chips. In terms of quantity, you’re getting your money's worth. After leaving the restaurant, we decided to take a long walk into downtown LA to look at the famous tall buildings this city had and also digest that massive meal we just had. We saw a supermarket (Target) and decided to head inside to grab some snacks for when we head back to our Airbnb. I went into the cereal section of the store and saw a selection of cereals which looked very enticing. The snacks are far better in America I can tell you that for sure!
It’s day 2 of our holiday and we were awake at 7 am, freshened up and ready for the day. We called an Uber around 8am, itching to get to Venice Beach! We were so excited to see the beach because we’ve always seen it in pictures and wondered if it would live up to its expectations. I can say without hesitation that Venice Beach did not disappoint! It was such an amazing experience to say the very least, it exceeded my expectations for sure. The people were extremely friendly, at one point I had an interesting conversation with one of the locals. The sun was beaming on my skin, it felt like I was in the middle of a dream. When I looked deep into the ocean, it felt so therapeutic and refreshing. You could sit on the rocks for hours and just contemplate life itself for hours and feel at peace.
Around the 4th day of our holiday, and my buddy wanted to shoot some guns at a firing range. As we walked inside the gun range, my jaw dropped because I have never witnessed that many powerful guns in one place. The assistant over the counter recommended we choose an AR15 assault rifle and an M12 shotgun for beginners. I also picked out a handgun to see how that would feel. I was locked and loaded, ready to fire at the zombie poster in front of me. I landed so many headshots for my first time firing an actual weapon! I thought I would miss so many shots because of the lack of experience I had. On that same note, I underestimated the M12 shotgun… The first shot I took almost had me flying back! The recoil on that weapon is deadly. Overall, an unforgettable experience, I would recommend visiting a firing range in America.
Las Vegas
Oh, you thought it was just Los Angeles? Think again! We went all out and decided to take a 5hr bus journey heading straight to Las Vegas. At first, I thought the long journey would tire me out before I even reached my initial destination. However, the thing that kept me fully awake was the great mountain views that kept whizzing past the bus every 5mins or so. When you start to inhale reality, you then start to realise that you need to experience every second of the trip.
Upon arrival, the bus driver announced that we were 5mins away from Las Vegas and we should double-check our belongings before exiting. Once we got off the coach, we called an Uber to get us to the second Airbnb we reserved. The Uber finally arrived and I was excited to spectate the strip from inside the car window. I have never seen anything like Las Vegas! The shock hits you so quickly that you end up questioning yourself if anything is even real anymore. I was like a kid in the backseat, mesmerised by everything that whooshed past me.
I loved the welcoming atmosphere Vegas had, the locals would approach you to have a chat with them and it wouldn't feel awkward at all. One thing I may add is that the whole city smelt of weed, so it did get tiring having to smell it everywhere you went. Luckily, it didn’t bother me that much.
Las Vegas was a dream come true, for real. The bright lights everywhere and the beautiful buildings made coming to Vegas 100x better. The people are super friendly and the streets are extremely clean during the day, which surprised me a little since the city never sleeps. I speak highly of Las Vegas and I recommend anyone to come to visit this beautiful town. I promise you, you will not regret it!
As our time in Vegas was coming to a sad but lovely end, we packed our things and walked towards our coach which was heading back to Los Angeles. The journey back to Los Angeles was incredible because it was now dark outside and everything looked aesthetically pleasing from the window view. When we arrived back in LA, we had to pack our things the night before our flight that was scheduled in the afternoon.
Tuesday afternoon came, I and my friend were on our way to LAX airport with saddened faces. We didn’t want to go back to London because we knew the fun would stop as soon as we landed. Los Angeles and Las Vegas was a dream come true and I can finally tick it off my bucket list. The only thing that bothered me on this holiday was the number of homeless people Los Angeles had... I was devastated to hear that the homeless people receive one-way train tickets to come to LA. Just so sad to see a beautiful and rich city like Los Angeles has over 50,000 homeless people scattered across each area of the map.
On a brighter note, this for me was a memorable experience. I urge anyone that hasn’t been to Los Angeles that you go as soon as possible! You will not see the views as I saw in California. Until then, goodbye Los Angeles! You have been great.