Los Angeles x Liam Payne Part 2 (being tourists in America)
Hey everyone!
So as promised here's part 2 of the "Liam Payne Lunch / LA Trip" blog post.
As you guys will see, if I had to add this to last week's post it would've been about 10k plus words, that's just way too many words, way too extra and way too rude of me, to be honest!
How can I expect you guys to read a 10k plus post? Nah!
So hope you guys enjoy this one as much as the Liam Payne post, I got a lot of love and views on that one... so happy reading!
Here we go...
26 July
Today, we woke up still on a high from our previous day, where we met Liam Payne.
But today we explore. We'll be tourists. We'll see how beautiful LA is!
On our first full day of exploring we took a bus to Santa Monica Pier.
To this day, I still say that apart from meeting Liam this was my favourite day out of the entire trip.
I think the reason why I enjoyed it so much is because I had no expectations for Santa Monica. In my mind there was just a pier, rides, we could ride bikes and explore Venice Beach - oh! you can also catch the "home of the stars tour" from Santa Monica pier too.
But let me tell you, Santa Monica is LIFE!
Santa Monica Pier
The day we went, the weather was extremely beautiful, around 38 degrees Celsius.
The first thing we did was go book our spots for the "home of the stars tour" which would be leaving in 2 hours time. So we went for a walk down the pier, walked through the fun fair area - just taking it all in.
Santa Monica Pier
All the walking made us pretty hungry so we stopped at the diner spot along the pier for some burgers, chips and soda at "Pier Burger"
Our meal at the "Pier Burger"
Two hours had passed and it was time for our "home of the stars" tour - a tour from the Santa Monica Pier to Malibu!
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Sidenote.
We purchased something called a "GO LA Card". This helped us save a lot of money, pretty much 50% of what we would've paid at each attraction.
So obviously the main thing we would be doing in LA would be going to visit and experience all of LA's top attractions.
Now with the GO card, it offers 35 top attractions like the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Madame Tussaudes Hollywood, Oue Skyspace, the Grammy Museum and a whole lot more that you're able to visit and instead of paying at the gate everytime you enter an attraction, you pay a once off fee for the card. You then download the app on your phone and everytime you enter an attraction, they just scan the QR code on the app.
The only catch is that you need to pick a 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 day pass (obviously the more days you pick, the more expensive it will be), we picked a 3 day pass.
Now how it works is, if you scan or visit one of the attractions for the day, it is considered as one of your day pass days used up. So as soon as you scan an attraction off the app, you need to fit in as many attractions as you can on that day. However, we didn't need to use all 3 days consecutively, you're able to use your 3 days whenever as long as it's within a year - hope this all made sense?
Another sidetone, LA is seriously something else guys! Majority of the time we were able to connect to the "city wifi". Which is wifi you can literally connect to anywhere and everywhere while roaming the streets of LA, which was super useful because we didn't sign up to any data roaming services. So the "city wifi" came in handy, especially when we needed google maps to get from one place to another whilst walking and also when we needed to order an uber. However, sometimes we weren't able to connect or the connection wasn't strong enough but unlike SA every second store has really good WiFi (as in I could even upload a YouTube video in 5 minutes, thanks to the Maccie Ds Wifi).
Whether it be a Starbucks, Mc Donalds, Target or a random lunch stop, the WiFi is incredible.
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Firstly, I didn't realise HOW MANY celebs actually live in Malibu but what shocked me the most was that you would expect each house to have some serious security system, which is not the case. Majority of their houses didn't even have any walls around the property and were alongside a main street too.
Now don't get me wrong, the celebs enjoy a good old Malibu sea view and all of them are 100% mansions but the houses in SA at least have walls and electric fences, majority of these houses in Malibu didn't have either.
Some of the houses we saw were the houses of Jennifer Aniston, Simon Cowell, Tom Hanks, Drake, Cher, Janet Jackson, Orlando Bloom, David Beckham - the list goes on and on.
We saw a whole bunch of fancy million dollar houses!
(I'm bummed because all of my pictures of the houses are all blurry because we were driving past them, the tour guide didn't stop for us)
The tour was about 2 and a half hours, when it was done the tour bus dropped us back off at the pier where it was time to now tandem bike from Santa Monica all the way to Venice beach.
I was freaking out about this because I cannot ride a bike to save my life, hence why we had to tandem. It wasn't because of 'couple goals" and because it would look cute for the 'gram, it was because I couldn't ride a damn bike!
Anyway, we both got onto the bike and started riding down the designated bike pathway from Santa Monica to Venice beach - the stretch must be approximately 5kms one way.
The things you see in those 5kms are unreal. We actually did stop quite often to see what was happening.
Tandem bicycle ride from Santa Monica to Venice Beach
When you're riding, to your right there's the beautiful view of the beach where people are just enjoying the American summer days.
There are also spots along the beach where they have an outdoor gym set up.
There are some seriously strong guys competing and doing pull-up competitions.
There's a skate park in the mix of things.
There's a basketball set up too.
And there's dancing competitions.
To your left,
There's markets selling everything and anything.
There are the most beautifully painted buildings.
And there are people chanting/singing very loud through speakers too.
This is all along the bike pathway. It's alot for just taking a ride down the beach. But it's so beautiful and lively, the energy is electric.
We even managed to make two full of life friends along our way back (the other one was taking the picture) from Venice beach to Santa Monica...
This is what I mean when I say it's ALIVE!
With our new friend
After our very entertaining bike ride we spotted an aquarium right by the Santa Monica pier, where we dropped off our bikes. So we decided to pop in.
What a waste of time. Haha.
It's such a pointless aquarium, it's pretty much for little kids. Where they are able to play with rocks they found in the ocean, seaweed and learn about the history of fish and the ocean.
I really wouldn't recommend anyone to step foot into that aquarium, we ended up popping in because it was one of the many attractions offered on the GO card. But we lasted an entire 2 minutes in there, which we weren't too bothered about because we were super tired from our full day anyway.
On our way back to the bus stop to head back to the hotel we walked past a Mc Donald's.
You have to try some American Maccie D's, right? So that's what we got for dinner.
I have never in my entire life had a better, tastier and more delicious Maccie D's burger.
I ordered a "chicken Siracha burger". OMG! The things that happened to my tastebuds.
Incredible!
The best Mc Donalds burger I've ever eaten, the chicken Siracha burger
After our burgers it was hometime, aka The Sitaj Hotel.
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27 July
We woke up in Beverly Hills one last time, hearts completely full and grateful.
Today we check out of The Sirtaj Hotel in Beverly Hills and move to our Air BNB in downtown LA.
The reason why we didn't stay in Beverly Hills: one, it's damn expensive.
Two: All the tourist things on our itinerary were closer and more convenient from the Air BNB.
Before checking out of The Sirtaj, Jethro and I took a walk down Rodeo Drive one last time (stopped at Sephora for like 3 hours) and we also went to check out the Beverly Hills sign.
Headed back to the hotel, got our bags, got into our Uber and made our way to Downtown LA.
Beverly Hills sign
Rodeo Drive
Sephora, aka heaven on Rodeo Drive
We got to the Air BNB at around 5pm, all I wanted to do when we go there was find a Dollar store.
Obviously there would be no Dollar store in Beverly Hills so I needed one ASAP, somewhere, anywhere and we would buy all our snacks from there.
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Side-note.
A Dollor store, very similar to the Pound store in the UK - is a store where everything is a dollar.
The things we overloaded on were Pringles, the Pringles in America taste soooo much better than the ones in SA. They're bigger, crispier and tastier. And doing the conversion, it was on R14 for a tin of yummy Pringles. My mouth's watering just thinking about it.
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After buying way too many snack for really cheap, we decided to get some dinner.
All our snacks from the Dollar store
Jethro and I also decided before flying out to LA that America is literally the fast food capital of the world and we have to try every single fast food chain out there - and trust me - we did the damn thing!
So right around the corner from the Dollar store there was a "Jack in the Box"
Jethro enjoyed their burgers, I didn't.
I think he enjoyed the fact that at every fast food chain, which ever one you go to, there's bottomless coldrink or "soda" as Americans call it.
But every flavour imaginable in Coke, Fanta, Sprite etc.
It is pretty cool...
Jack in the Box
We had our dinner and headed back to the Air BNB for some rest and another full day of exploring LA when we wake up.
28 July
Today, WE TAKE ON HOLLYWOOD!
I was really excited about this day, to go to the place where all the glitz and glam happens.
Our first stop was the Griffiths Observatory (have you guys watched La La Land?)
It has the most beautiful view of the city and of the Hollywood sign.
Griffiths Observatory
So let me tell you a little story of the Hollywood sign... standing their, just staring at it I started to cry. I couldn't believe I was in America, in Hollywood, staring at the sign. The sign you see in so many movies growing up like "Crossroads" with Britney Spears, "Friends with Benefits" (I think that was my fav Hollywood sign moment), "Mighty Joe Young" with our very own Benoni girl Charlize Theron and of course "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton", another fav growing up.
So to see the sign up close and personal was bit overwhelming.
The Hollywood sign from Griffiths Observatory
One thing I still regret today and the reason why I will definitely go back to LA is the fact that we didn't do a hike up to the Hollywood sign. I'm still upset about that but there was no way we were able to, the days we had remaining the weather forcecast was scorching. The weather was between 36 and 42 degrees Celsius so we'd either pass out from heat stroke or get seriously bad sunburn, which by the way, we weren't too far off already from our day in Santa Monica (as you saw in Jethro's "Griffiths Observatory" pic).
Next on our list was the Universal Studios.
For this one, I'm not gonna lie Jethro and I were a bit silly.
We knew of Universal Studios, we knew what it was about (generally) but we didn't know that you pretty much need a full day or two to explore the greatness, that is Universal Studios.
(Another thing calling me back to LA: do Universal Studios properly)
Anyway we ended up checking out the theme park which is a world all on its own, it's insane and magical all at the same time. I actually thought to myself, "how will Disneyland ever top this theme park?" AND when we arrived, they were shooting a live taping of the show "Extra TV" with Mario Lopez which was pretty cool, to see how it all works on their side.
Universal Studios and Mario Lopez
Exploring Universal Studio theme park felt like there were a million things happening all at once. Our top 2 favourite rides (even though they were more like experiences) was the "Walking Dead" walk-through. Now Jethro and I love "The Walking Dead" we started watching season 1 through to season 8 together, so this was super exciting for us!
The Walking Dead experience at Universal Studios
So what happens in this "ride" is that you walk through the hospital that Rick Grimes (the lead actor) woke up in in season 1, episode 1 of "The Walking Dead". However, it's not a cool, calm and collected walk, there are banging loud noises, screeches, people crying and men who look like the zombies from the series coming out at you trying to "attack" and "catch" you. But they literally come out of nowhere... from the roof, they'll be crawling on the floor, up and down the wall, they'll even come running at you with full speed.
I loved it but I'm not gonna sit here and act like I wasn't scared, I definitely felt trapped and just wanted to get out of there. But looking back now I would do it again in a heart beat.
One thing I remember clearly is how annoyed Jethro got with me at the end of it because right at the very end of the walk-through, there weren't even any zombies coming our way, I was still freaking out and acting like a big baby and ended up stomping on Jethro's very white sneakers - he was so annoyed.
The second ride I really enjoyed was the "Minions" one.
So outside, before you enter stands a full real life version of Gru's house.
Guys! Gru's actual house, that dingy, cold looking one.
The Minions experience at Universal Studios
You're also greeted by Minions outside his house.
Now as you enter the house we received 3D glasses, we preceded to walk inside his house and the first room we went into was a huge cinema looking room with seats that buckle up.
On this ride, I could actually compare it to a 4DX movie experience, thats exactly what it was. After the "movie" we exited to the next room where it's time to party with the minions, this was really fun. Its a huge room where everyone, a whole bunch of strangers, dance together. There is also a screen on the wall where you're able to see yourself and everyone else plus a few special guests, the Minions themselves all dancing together!
So on the screen it looks like the Minions are dancing right next to you too.
I lowkey think I enjoyed this one because my nephew (Kai) and niece (Maya) love the Minions and "Despicable Me" so much and I've literally watched all the movies a hundred times because of them.
Meeting the Minions at Universal Studios
The last ride we (more Jethro than me) wish we actually went on. It was the Harry Potter ride. So Universal Studios has an entire "Harry Potter" area where it feels like you are walking in Hogworts town. There are mini Harry Potter shows happening every corner you turn, Jethro ended up drinking like 3 butterbeers (that were so damn expensive) and there were many stalls selling anything and everything Harry Potter.
Jethro enjoying his third Harry Potter Butterbeer drink
Jethro is a HUUUUGE fan (please note, he even wore his Harry Potter t-shirt for this outing, LOL), he was in heaven.
Me on the other hand? Not so much, I just loved watching him love it as much as he did.
So... as I said, the ride! The ride looked super cool, it was some sort of a rollercoaster that went through a mountain or something like that... but we didn't go on it :(
This is one thing that will bring Jethro back to LA.
Now the reason why we didn't end up going on the ride was because of the damn line!
Guys, it was soooo long!
So what Universal does is, they have a board at different points of the line to tell you what the estimated waiting period will be from the point you are waiting at to actually getting onto the ride.
Where we were about to join the line the waiting time was three and a half hours.
We left that line quick fast!
Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios
After doing quite a few of the rides and a whole lot of walking in the theme park we decided to head to our next stop.
The GO LA Card also rushed us a bit because this was the first attraction we'd swiped for for the day and it was already around 4pm, so we needed to get to the card's next location/attraction to make this day worth it.
Unfortunately, we didn't even explore the actual Universal studio's. Bummer.
Alright, our next stop was the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the Hollywood Boulevard. You don't need to swipe your card for this one, it's free, but Madame Tussauds is on Hollywood Boulevard and that was the next stop after the Walk of Fame.
Tom Cruises star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Guys. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is the biggest disappointment and anticlimax I've ever experienced. They make it look so cool in pictures when they do the big reveal of a star for a celeb but in reality, the pavement/sidewalks where the stars are placed are so crowded with thousands of tourists walking all over them, in every direction too.
However, you NEED to experience the vibe and hustle of Hollywood Boulevard.
You have every movie character look alike on the sidewalks hustling you to take a pic with them and then after, they force you to pay them for the pic you took on your own phone!
You also have groups of people chanting and worshiping God, there are magicians, buskers, dancers and a whole lot of street vendors too.
Hollywood Boulevard is WILD.
Walking along the Boulevard a few more metres you get Madame Tussauds.
I've been to the one in London about 10 plus years ago so this one was really cool to see because it had all the current celeb wax figures like Kylie Jenner, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift etc.
It was Jethro's first time and I think he really enjoyed this one.
Madame Tussaudes in Hollywood
After taking 1000s of pics with the wax figures we were extremely hungry and one of the things on Jethro's to-do lists while in America was to get one of those gigantic pizza's you see on all American shows and movies.
So we found one around the corner.
It happened to be the very same pizzeria that Ellen DeGeneres made famous while hosting the Oscars in 2014. Where she had "Big Mama's & Papa's" pizza delivered to the stars during the live taping.
There's a reason why Ellen chose their pizza, it was damn delicious, damn big and damn expensive. We ate that pizza for breakfast 2 days after buying it...
Big Mama's & Papa's Pizza - please note how big the pizza is compared to my head!
29 July
So yip, we woke up this morning and what was on the breakfast menu?
"Big Mama's & Papa's" leftovers.
But who's complaining? Left over pizza is even better than some Fruit Loops.
So on this day, looking back at our pictures, I realised we did so much because majority of my pictures are all in the same outfit - the outfit I wore on this day.
It was an early morning for us and our first stop was the Warner Brother's studios for a tour that started at 8am - to be fair - I wish Jethro and I actually knew what a bomb ass time we were about to have.
Online it just says you'll experience some of the most well-known movie sets.
We had no idea that we'd be able to walk on the "Friends" set, walk into Central Perk Cafe and even sit on the famous couch.
On the set of Friends at Warner Brothers Studio
We saw the house "Gilmore Girls" was shot in.
Parts of where "La La Land" was shot.
AND... we sat where the live audience sits during the taping of "Big Bang Theory" - we saw the set, we saw Sheldon and Leonard's famous apartment, the famous stairs they alway walk up to get to their apartments because the lift is out of order (blooper ahead: there's actually only one flight of stairs, they just keep walking up and down the same flight of stairs and when they get to the top to the different "levels" the props and art department just change the numbers on the door, add/remove a plant or mat to make it appear like a different level. I found that really interesting and a little funny too.)
A huge bummer was not being able to go onto the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" set.
The show was on production break when we visited and they were busy with renovations.
So reason number 2 why I have to go back to LA. One being the hike up to the Hollywood sign and number 2, visit the Ellen set.
The tour lasted about 3 hours and it ended with our tour guide dropping us off at the "Friends - Central Park Cafe" for some coffee and snacks.
At Central Perk, Friends set at Warner Brothers Studio
With full tummy's, happy faces and still the whole day ahead of us we were off to our next location, Oue Skyspace.
Once again, I wish Jethro and I knew what we were in for here.
Unlike the "Warner Brothers Studio" tour which completely took us by surprise in a good way, the Oue Skyspace was so disappointing, Even though it is California's tallest open-air observation deck with a glass slide. It was kind off the typical "Instagram vs Reality" scenarios. I was really excited about the Oue Skyspace, more for the slide than for the view, but it was such a disappointment.
Now online (and I'd even seen it on Facebook the slide looks seriously cool and adventorous but when we got there, we had to pay entrance to go all the way to the top for the obersvation deck (which we knew about and were completely fine paying for, it was R350 each) but the slide was an additional R200.
Now, once again, we would have been fine paying for it but when we got to the top and saw the slide it was the smallest, shortest slide ever.
Ok, maybe not ever but it literally is the size of the small kid's slides you get at Spur.
I guess you're paying for the fact that it's a glass, transparent slide and the fact that it is on the 70th storey of the US Bank Tower.
But still, we'd rather wait to come back home and go to Spur for the slide (and texan fried chicken burger.)
Oue Skyspace entrance
We were, however, VERY happy with the view from Oue Skyspace. I actually think the pics taken from the observation deck are my fav pics from our entire trip, we had a 360 degree view of LA and it was just breathtaking. So I'd definitely recommend going to Oue Skyspace, pay the entrance fee for for the view from the observation deck but the slide that Instagram and the internet hype up so much, hell nah!
The beautiful LA view from Oue Skyspace
After Oue Skyspace, everything else that happened throughout the day was completely not planned and we were just winging it.
We had heard about a market called "Grand Central Market" it wasn't on our to-do list but after leaving Oue Skyspace a gentleman had told us that the market was close by and in walking distance, at this point we were starving anyway so we decide to give it a try and go find it.
Listen, Neighbourgoods market aint got nothing on this market!
PIC
It's the biggest, busiest and most amazing thing to experience. All the diffrerent types of food on sale, the huge variety in drinks and just 100s of people sitting around enjoying the market life. The one downside of it was the fact that it was extremely hot in there, it nearly felt like I was suffocating.
This is the only pic I have of Grand Central Market :(
With our tummy's all full and the serious need for some fresh air and some cool wind we decided to keep up with the trend of walking, and walk to our next destination.
Walking was also so refreshing, it's so safe, the streets are so clean and the palm trees everywhere makes your walk so beautiful.
So from "Grand Central Market" we made our way to "little Tokyo".
When we researched "little Tokyo" in its defence, it didn't say much happens there but it sounded pretty cool and when we got there we really expected to see a "little Tokyo" - I mean it's all in the name right?
Nope, dololo. Nothing guys! Nothing!
It's literally just a very normal neighbourhood that they happen to call "little Tokyo". They could have called it "Benoni part 2" if they really wanted to.
The closest it ever got to looking like Little Tokyo
So that was a complete fail and the city's wifi seemed to have cut out in Little Tokyo, so all Jethro and I had left to do was walk aimlessly until we caught city wifi again or until we stumbled upon a Starbucks or somewhere where we're able to connect and order an uber to make our way home.
After walking aimlessly for about 30mins with zero wifi connection we saw a whole lot of "tourist-looking-people" walk in the same direction as what we were, except the difference between them and us is was the fact that they actually looked like they were walking with purpose, like they had an end destination.
So Jethro and I decided to be sheep and follow them. Haha.
All of a sudden, in the distance we hear loud music and a whole lot of people screaming and it sounds like they are living their best lives.
Thanks to the tourists we stumbled upon, we had somehow made our way to Olvera street!
Olvera street is filled with many little Mexican market stores, the atmosphere is celebratory and fun - there is even a section to the right of the street where they play latino music (this is the loud music we initially heard) and anyone grabs anybody, young and old, and dances to their hearts content. It was a beautiful thing to see.
The section in Olvera Street where everyone dances
30 July
Today was a Sunday and as you've read on this post, since the day we arrived we had been on the go and making the most of our time in LA. But by Sunday we were finished! We had been fighting the jet lag for many days but finally on Sunday it caught up to us. So on the 30th of July we decided to just walk around downtown LA, see whats around the area we're staying at, buy a whole lot of fast foods and then head back to the Air BNB, watch series and chilll the hell out!
This is exactly what we did...
We walked for about 30mins taking in all the scenery and being "normal" in LA without any pressure to go out of our way and explore the city.
Our first stop was Target, I really wanted to go to Target (and CVC - a pharmacy/supermarket, they're super expensive) while I was in LA because they always mention these two in movies and on The Ellen show. Target is a supermarket that sells everything and anyything (kinda like a huge Pick n Pay Hypermarket)
I did some clothing, shoes and grocery shopping at Target. I was super happy because I didn't do any shopping on this trip, just exploring.
After our little shopping trip we found a Wendy's and an in-n-out right next to each other. We were super lucky that they were right next to each other because these two fast foods were both on our "great American fast-food list" -
In-n-Out
We bought 2 Wendy's burger meals for dinner a little later on when we're back at the Air BNB and then we headed to in-n-out for a sit down lunch. Listen, the hype around this fast food chain is SO REAL! I mean, there are always paparazzi pictures of celebs eating their famous burgers and even on the 'gram celebs will post pictures with in-n-out meals.
Firstly, when we got into the in-and-out the line and waiting period was insane. I think we waited just over an hour to get to the counter and order our meal. Secondly, the hype is ALL FOR NOTHING. "Jack in the Box" and their burgers were way more tastier than in-n-out but I guess the latter be doing their marketing damn good, I mean, they caught us?
Outside Wendy's before we went in to order the meal
Our tummies were full (as always) but not completely satisfied because in our minds we had hyped up in-and-out so much, it was disappointing. But the fact of the matter was, we had just eaten a large in-and-out meal (each) so it was time to walk it all off and head back "home" in downtown LA to chill, rest, watch some series, eat our snacks and Wendy meals a little later and then, hit the sack because the next day was DISNEYLAND!!!!
1 August
Alright, so I had been looking forward to Disneyland our entire trip.
I planned and booked our tickets on our last full day in LA, it was a strategic move from my side because I knew I was slowly going to get a little depro that our trip was coming to an end, so I needed something to keep me happy and excited up till the very last day of being tourists.
Our Disneyland payment confirmation
Getting to Disneyland wasn't magical and lovely in any sense!
Disneyland is generally super far from anywhere in LA, whether we were still staying in Beverly Hills, if we stayed in Hollywood and even Downtown LA - it was far.
So Jethro and I woke up super early on this Monday morning, around 4.30/5am because we had to still walk to the bus stop and catch the 6am bus to Disneyland.
By the way, it was a TWO HOUR bus ride!
Disneyland opened at 8am so we wanted to be there early so we could get as much out the day.
Our Disneyland bus stop at 6am
So 10 years back I went to Disneyland in France and I had the best time of my life, I even cried when the night time parade made it's rounds (I was way younger though), so I was super excited about Disneyland in California seeing as I'm older and would be able to absorb a whole lot more now.
So Disneyland is split into two different parks, Disneyland park and then Disney Adventure park - each with different price tags attached. To be dead honest with you, I STILL don't know the real difference between the two.
What I did know is that the Disneyland Park had the famous picture-perfect pink castle in the middle of the park, and that's where I wanted to go, there was also no way we would be able to explore both parks in one day so we chose one (well I chose one, Jethro wasn't too keen on going to Disneyland from the start. I forced him. Haha).
Our Disneyland entry cards and standing in front of the famous pink castle
I could honestly go on and on about the magical park but I'd have to probably release a third blog post about just Disneyland, and nah. NEW CONTENT GUYS!
So in short, it was truly magical. We went on a "Finding Nemo" submarine ride, a rollercoaster, met every single character from "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and listen, I need to elaborate on this Mickey Mouse part...
They have meet and greet times for Mickey in his house (which by the way is scarily identical as the one on "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". You walk through his entire house and all his different rooms until you reach his lounge which is the waiting area for the meet and greet. After waiting in his lounge they then take 10 people at a time to another room, this is the final room/stop before you open a door to another room where Mickey is waiting for you.
What we found so bizarre is how they treat Mickey like a genuine and legit celebrity.
It was so exclusive, waiting in the final room until it was my turn to see Mickey, I actually started feeling butterflies in my tummy! That's how much they hype it up and make it like you're about to meet Bieber and to be fair, Mickey is probably the Bieber version for little ones.
Anyway, I met Mickey! Yay!
Finally meeting Mickey after the long wait
After exploring Disneyland until around 5pm , we were starving and went on search for some food. Only problem is that the theme park was soooooo damn expensive. Seriously, the way they mark up their prices on food, drinks and all their memorabilia stores was ridiculous. For just some chicken strips (I mean, like 5) and a few chips it was R120. imagine? No thanks.
So Jethro and I remembered that there was a Mc Donalds right across from the Disneyland entrance and Disneyland allowed passouts, also, we had time to kill. It was only at 8pm when the night time parade began (my fav) so we made our way to Maccie Ds and I knew exactly what I was ordering, the "chicken Siracha burger" for the win! I ain't even tryna order anything else!
After eating the best Maccie Ds burger of my life (for the second time) we made our way back to the park ready to relive my Disneyland France experience with the night time parade.
Unfortunately, I don't even have any pics from the night time parade because I was so fixated and sucked into the moment that I didn't lift my camera up once - just shows how much I love this part of Disneyland and wasn't taking any moment for granted!
Then, to end the beautiful parade they did the famous fireworks display show by the their main attraction, the pink castle.
Gosebumps even just thinking about it!
After the parade my heart was so happy. The parade is what I came to Disneyland for. Jethro and I went to go grab something to drink, he got some Starbucks and I got a Rootbeer float (so damn good). By the time our drinks were done, it was midnight. We didn't even realise it was that late but apparently they open till around midnight during summer vacay.
But after realising it's past midnight and that we'd literally been in this magical land for about 16hrs - we were exhausted and mentally prepared ourselves for the 2 hour drive back "home", this time round we'd be uber-ing though because no busses ran after dark via our route.
2 August
And today, we wake up for the very last time in LA :(
Yip, today is our last day. We only had to be at the airport at 1pm so Jethro and I being Jethro and I woke up at around 9am and went to go find some more fast food outlets that were on our list that we hadn't tried out yet. We looked on Google maps and found a Carl's Jr (Jethro really wanted to try their burgers) which was a 15 minute walk away from the Air BNB. En route walking, we realised we had a whole lot of coins that we needed to use before we flew back home, so we stopped at a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for breakfast and yes, by this time the one in Sandton had already opened but we hadn't tried it yet and we thought we'd try it in America and have something to compare it to when we eventually try it in SA.
Poppeys Chicken in LA
We also stopped at a 7-Eleven and bought a slush-like drink.
Now I need to explain this drink, for Jethro's sanity!
He was actually so annoyed we didn't discover this drink called a "Slurpee" sooner on our trip, he still talks about this refreshing tasty drink to today and everytime he does, his mouth waters. LOL! I think we got a blueberry flavoured one, it's nearly like a slushy but it's a lot more tasty and not watered down. It also has a very slight fiz to it.
Jethro wants one. Right now, today and always for the rest of his lif
Here I am sipping on Jethro's fav Slurpee
Okay, after our quick pitstop at 7-Eleven and feeling happy that our wallets are dime-free we continued on our original mission: getting Carl's Jr that we'd eat right before hopping onto the plane.
We got to Carl's Jr and thinking back now, we were 100% so lucky that we always stumbled upon surprises on this trip because right next door to Carl's Jr there was a Panda Express.
Guys, I completely forgot that Panda Express was on MY fast-food list. I was so happy!
So Jethro got a burger meal from Carl's and I got orange chicken with special friend rice from Panda Express (this meal and fast food chain actually trumps my Maccie Ds chicken Siracha burger, and that burger was already so damn good).
My all time fav, Panda Express' orange chicken and Jethro got Carl's Jr.
With our padkos in hand, we headed back "home", the Air BNB, one last time. Packed up our final belongings and made the drive to LAX for our 9 hour flight to London Heathrow and then the last stretch, Heathrow to OR Tambo which would be an additional 12 hours in the sky.
After 21 hours of flying we landed back all safe and sound. Back to our original bae and home, Johannesburg.
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This post took me surprisingly long to do, didn't realise how much we did, how much I'd need to share with you all and how much detail I'd have to go into.
(Btw, I've added extra pics in the slideshow at the end of the post)
Also, these past couple of weeks I've been having the toughest FOMO, I have such an itch to travel again.
I always say, if I could get a job that paid me to travel, that would be such a dream come true (from my mouth to God's ears!)
I need to, want to, have to travel again ASAP!
On my bucket list I have: Italy, Greece, China, Spain (I went when I was 12 and remember absolutely loving it) and of course, back to LA.
So crossing fingers I'll be able to tick these places off real soon!
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Thanks you so much for reading this new blog post guys!
I know it's super long, that's why I knew there was no way I could've combined this post and my "Liam Payne Lunch" post, it would have just been reading overload.
But also, thank you for reading last week's post, I received so much love, interest and views on that one. So THANK YOU! I appreciate it!
I haven't quite decided what I want next week's post to be about just yet, so please hit me up with ideas in the comment section down below and also, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! PLEEEEAAAASE!
(I also have a YouTube channel you can subscribe to: Chanley Wong)
But until next week guys, have a beautiful week ahead and be safe.
Chanley
xoxo
