The USA is A-OK

Coast of California and Los Angles- Home to the rich and famous

I had been out of the UK for approximately 5 months 21 weeks and 740 hours. I had travelled over 4 continents with only my self, my memories, my back pack and how can I forget those famous scruffy old second hand pair of smelly converse that I paid £6 for and told everybody I met about the bargain. America was last on my list before heading back to the UK. I had the pleasure of spending my American trip with my friend Sarah, luckily she planned ahead and managed to book is us the best hotels at a cheap rate because she was a fellow Hilton employee (lucky us) She managed to bag us a bargain at a Hampton. Yes a Hampton-Hotel on the very posh Channel Islands Oxnard- located in the Pacific ocean off the coast of Southern California along Santa Barbara beach in the USA. It was fabulous and very different from the type of accommodation I had been previously been staying in. After a long 8 hours of travel via greyhound coach we finally arrived  at the Hampton and checked in our bags.

(The outside and inside of the hotel)

I was amazed with the service and was actually shocked when the bell boy was willing to take our bags to the room. We decided to go straight to the pool/beach after we had checked in. Whilst walking over to see our room the bell boy who had taken our bags came running over shouting "Miss, Miss" so I was like . Yes?? " "What's happened?" and he replied .. "There is an alarm setting off from your bag"...I automatically died inside once he said that cause I knew straight away what it was. Before I set off on my travels my mum attached a "rape alarm" to my bag just in-case of emergency's, it was the loudest device I have ever heard, I had been dreading the whole time I was travelling of the alarm setting off in public place and of all the places it was in the Hampton's. I quickly ran to the room with a bright tomato face cause I felt so embarrassed and sorry for the boy who probably had the shock of his life.

Following on from this we walked down to the beach to investigate, it was gorgeous and very secluded because it was a private beach. It was so nice to sit and relax for once without people trying to sell you things- We both fell asleep I'm not sure how long but I was red raw from the back and Sarah was red raw from the front (hahaha) It was the funniest sight. We then had to spend the next couple of days like two lobsters and it was that uncomfortable we actually walked to the local store where they sold absolutely everything in super size, I have never seen anything like it in my life. We found some banana boat cream to smother ourselves in to ease the pain (We definitely learned our lesson from that).

(The amazing private beach) 

We spent a few nights at the Channal Islands; I would say it was the posher side of California. With its boats and yachts attached to massive mansions. In the day times we would explore the area but there was not much happening. We managed to find a few restaurants but most were either fine dining or really expensive. No place for us Beachy bums. We remained hungry and decided to ask at our hotel for advice on where to eat that was reasonable. The lady who worked at the hotel happened to be from the UK and was living/working out in the USA so we chatted for ages and she gave us lots of advice. She told us to visit a restaurant called “Toppers Pizza” and told us all the good times to go and what offers they had, she was defiantly a foodie and her advice was great.

After walking for about 10 minutes we came across the famous Toppers Pizza, I'm not really a huge fan of pizza it is probably the last thing I would choose but I was that hungry I would of ate a horse at that stage. I ordered a meal deal which was some sort of sandwich with chips and a drink. I think it was maybe between $5- $10 dollars. The drink you could help your self to from this amazing drink machine and of course because it was America everything has to be super duper, the machine had over 100 choices of drinks ranging from the common ones such as- Coke, Lemonade, Fanta to every possible drink that is known to man. I was that excited I would fill my cup up half way, drink it and then fill it up half way again with something else just so I got to taste all the different drinks available. 

The few nights that we did stay at the Channel Islands we decided to make one of our nights our going out on the town night, We asked the young staff at the hotel where was good to go but it would of meant actually going close to LA which would of cost so much money in a taxi so we decided to scope the area for clubs. We walked to the harbour as we could see lights and I was sure I heard music we stumbled across a small pub very British style we then found out that the man who owned the pub had British heritage. Hence  the style  of the pub, we had a laugh with the owner and met some peeps, we got talking to some proper Latino G- units all full of tattoos, one was the chef at the pub and one was his friend (Most of the locals from LA come to get jobs in the Channel Islands because the money is good) They were so nice and made us feel welcome, a couple of whiskeys later we found our selves taking selfies with everybody in the pub and just having a ball. We stayed till the pub literally kicked us out cause it was last orders- we then decided to take them photos where you plank something (hahaha) so there is photos of us on the massive California roads planking, at the time we thought this was hilarious. (Photos not available for viewing) 

(Just the two of us) 

Los Angles- Get rich or die trying.

(Coming soon)

San Francisco- The home to a little bit of everything

San Francisco, officially is the cultural, commercial, and financial centre of Northern California. The city its self holds a number of very famous landmarks/attractions such as: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz Island, China Town, Union Square and the Cable car system.

Playing a host to every type of traveller- from,  foreign dignitaries to foodies to new age nomads to fashionistas. The city offers hotels as diverse as those of any city to meet the needs of the different amounts of travellers that embark the big city. As-well as a large range of pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafe/bars, coffee shops and outdoor food stands. I was travelling to the USA from Australia and Sarah was travelling from the UK and meeting me in San Francisco. I had been awake for nearly 24 hours but finally arrived I waited in the Airport for what felt like a million years waiting for Sarah's arrival. After a few hours she arrived safe and sound, it was so nice to see a familiar face after so long being without one. I felt like my lungs didn't open up for air cause I was that excited. We spotted a yellow taxi and travelled to our hotel, we were staying just outside of the city which was quite annoying but it was literally a 30 minute train journey on the BART system. The area that we was in was very Mexican it was just like the movies. On a daily basis we would fill our boots up and plan our day and off we would go into the beautiful city that is San Francisco, it was amazing and truly looked exactly how I imagined it.. if not better. Luckily enough the weather was great so we would just spend all day touring, shopping, getting lost and taking endless amounts of photos.

(The massive killer hills)

(The famous trams)

Later on in the evening we decided to try and find the famous China town and we decided we would also grab dinner whilst we was visiting, as we approached we were just walking down the road taking in the sights and taking some photographs.. There was this little Chinese man walking just in front of us with his hands behind his back minding his own business, next minute he lets out the biggest fart I have ever heard but he did not even bat an eye lid  ( hahahahahaha) Me and Sarah just could not help but laugh we actually had to remove our selves away from the man cause we was laughing that much.

TOP TIP- When it comes to visiting Alcatraz please note you MUST book in advance otherwise there will a chance you will not be able to book a tour, most tours sell out a week in advance so when I went to book I couldn't because the tour was fully booked and the next available tour was the week after. I did however pay $10 for a boat ride from Pier 39 which takes you around the harbour and you can get some good shots of the Golden Gate which was worth it.



- Please note there is a huge amount of walking involved when it comes to San Fran, unless you hire a car you will solely relay on walking and public transport and YES the hills are MASSIVE booty killers. 

(My fave photo , a hobo wearing Nikey's wanting some beer)

Until next time...

"A ship in port is safe but that's not what ships are built for"