I was going to give you a week by week run down, yet I have too many photos to fit into a week, so every few days worth of travelling will be okay, right? So this is day 0 to day 4.
I arrived after a 10.5 hour flight from London Heathrow to LA with Virgin Airways. After waiting for 1.5 hours in customs, I finally made my way to the taxi queue. Stupidly, I hadn’t even thought about booking a shuttle service, which would have cost me $16. Instead, true Victoria style, I figured a taxi would get me from A to B the fastest and safest way, so a $70 taxi it was. But I got to the Kawada Hotel by 5pm, or 1am England time.
The hotel really isn’t the best in honesty. Really old fashioned, tiny, old rooms, but the air con worked, as did the shower, so I really wasn’t fazed. I hit the bed for a nap, as I was told my room buddy was Saskia – a girl I had made contact with on twitter before the trip, and I knew she would only be getting in around 9pm. So a power nap later, Saskia got to the room and we immediately got chatting about the horrendous journey. We headed into downtown to find a cheap grocery store for some food and headed home pretty sharpish after realising that it was a fairly run down and quite intimidating.
Day one came and we headed down to the lobby to meet the group. Here we met Mads and Stephanie, a lovely couple from Denmark. Then two friends from Brighton turned up, Emily and Lauren, a lady from Hungary, Agnes, and two friends from Germany, Anna and Mona. Two friends from Manchester ( what are the chances, manchester nights out are on the cards wooop) Leanne and Katy and a gent from Germany, Sebastien. With our awesome tour leader, Brian, we had a bus of 13 people and we were ready to Trek!
We headed first of all to the Hollywood hills, the Walk of Fame and spotted some familiar footprints and hand prints along the way. Then it was off to San Diego, to chill on Mission Beach, eat frozen yogurts in the most amazing flavours and chat with some of the interesting locals. Each time I go to San Diego I love it more.
After setting up camp and getting to know one another a little better, the next day led us to Seaworld, to catch the Dolphins, whales and other water creatures looking pretty damn fancy. I know people have mixed views on Seaworld, but let’s just say our tour guide didn’t mention the recent news to us, so that we weren’t put off going, so I still enjoyed it. Although, I probably wouldn’t go again now after reading recent stories.
Anyway, after a scorching day at Seaworld, we had a great evening at the Baseball game. San Diego Padres vs The Washington Nationals and what a brilliant game it was. San Diego came back right at the end with a home run and the atmosphere was awesome. I donned my Padres jersey from last year, so I secretly think I was their secret mascot ;)
Then we were off to Las Vegasssss. Staying at the Golden Nugget was awesome. Smaller than the Luxor I had previously stayed at, but with so many cool features. The shark tank in the centre of the pool was definitely one of the coolest features I’ve seen, although I have a major fear of sharks. It also had a slide going through the tank, so after nervously mulling it over, I finally took the plunge. That evening, we headed out on a party bus, a stand up bus, kitted with a speaker system, lights, stripper poles and an ice buckets for drinks. So so cool! We stopped off on the way at the Bellagio, Las Vegas sign and finally XS nightclub, with a pool party in full swing. Oh and not after eating two 30 inch pizzas which were just huggggeee!!
The next day we had a free day to do as we please, so me and three of the girls headed to a nearby IHOP for the best pancake breakfast ever. Then back to the pool for a full day of bathing on the water sun loungers, a trip on the slide and awesome strawberry Daiquiris. Then we went back to get ready and off to the Strip. We headed all the way up, to catch the majority of Las Vegas sights, Bellagio, Volcano and Caesars, then raced all the way back to get the last ride on the New York New York roller coaster. So so amazing, especially in the dark with all of Vegas lit up. Just wow. Then it was back to the casino, where I won $27 but if id gone with a strong gut feeling at one point, it would has been $2500. Yep, I know, I hate myself now.
Anyway, the first four days were awesome. Camping, chilling, chatting, drinking, partying. I love these trips!
I’d you want to follow more of my journey in pictures, head to my Instagram @inthefrow
Catch you soon!
Some of these items may have been sent to me for review. Please see my disclaimer for more information
Sign up here for a weekly catch up of everything Inthefrow