Helloooo!
We're back from our 4 day vacation within a vacation and I'm writing this overdue post on a virus ridden laptop in safe mode...not ideal but it'll have to do. I've got a feeling Loz and I may have got a bit keen on the downloading front and invited the bug onto Chris's property with a golden invitation, oops.
A lot has happened in the last week, the days are flying by but we're ticking off things we've wanted to do and that's all good. Last week was a bit of a mish mash of beach days and downtown exploration. I've discovered how hard it is to cycle with a 9m kite, wetsuit, beach bag, board and harness on my back and look like an overloaded Mexican donkey.
I also experienced some nasty sun burn that looked like Picasso and Pollock had an argument on my right leg and threw the results down in angry abstract red splodges, that wasn't too cool either.
On a better note Loz and I have pinned down our movements between July 19th - July 24th when we'll be driving to San Fran on costal road highway 1, road trip time! We decided we wanted to rent something inconspicuous and understated so have gone for a Ford Mustang convertible to cruise around in :D.....We'll be leaving LA on the 19th and spending the following two nights up the coast in Pismo Beach and Monterey Bay (in the cheapest motels possible).
Last Wednesday and Thursday we spent the evening getting our camping things together and going to budget food stores to load up on snacks and just generally nasty food for the body and then on Friday it was bon voyage and off to three separate canyons and Las Vegas via California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah (really backward serial killer type state). It took around 4 hours to get to our stop over in Vegas and we were all knackered so bundled into the Mexican style motel and collapsed in front of the film Chuckie. Not ideal viewing but oh well.
Saturday's early morning start began with a coffee hunt and then the second 3 hours of the drive began. This time we were off to set up camp in Duck Creek, a site close to Bryce Canyon in the wooded hills of Utah. Once we left the desert and started climbing the tree lined mountains the scenery got spectacular. Jagged horizons, rocky overhangs and splashes of green surrounding lakes in the crevices.
Chris had just had his satellite radio connected for the trip and we had over 400 music channels to choose from so I chose 'Cinemagic', a station playing classical film scores which really completed the filmic experience I felt we were getting. There's nothing like the feeling of pretending to conduct the Batman score while soaring over the skyline!
Eventually we arrived at Bryce Canyon. Not many people have visited this one as it's a little off the radar so we impressed the local nature enthusiasts as we roamed around. Bryce is made from bright red rock and from above looks like a Crystal Maze game formed out of thousands of stalagmites. I thought I had done well dressed in my jeans, trainers and shell jacket, but obviously not well enough as the rain storm ten minutes earlier had turned the downhill foot trail into a steep, thick red muddy bum trail which it turned out I was not suitably dressed for.
We had loads of fun though and attempted to jog the near vertical uphill mile on the way back up. Notice use of the word, attempted!
There's loads more I could go into but this is a blog not a novel so after Bryce we returned to camp and successfully lit a massive bonfire to do voodoo dances around and burn marshmallows. I was really pleased with our pitch, it was nicely hidden from others by a circle of pine trees and came with a picnic bench and fire pit.
The temperature dropped fast after sundown and I prayed I wouldn't have to break the 'heat seal' of my sleeping bag in the middle of the night for a bathroom break...but I did, damn. Loz also had an almost entirely sleepless night by visualising all the ways an axe murderer would capture and torture us, or a bear rip us apart. Nice!
Sunday was utterly chaotic, we packed up and drove the miles and miles to the Grand Canyon as it's something you've got to do! It was great, fantastic views and sooooo huge. I don't think we had gone to the 'best' viewing point on North Rim but it was still totally amazing :)
Then on the way back to Vegas we took quite a large detour and went to Zion. 'What? The capital city in the Matrix?' I hear you say. No, a third state park in Utah which was also mind blowing. I really felt like I was in Jurassic Park, all gigantic, oversized rocks with pinky red tones.
Getting back to civilization (if that's what you can call the madness that is Vegas) was a relief and we got straight into the spirit of things by meeting up with Spencer and Christina (friends from the UK) and out into a club. Spence and Christina had been extremely kind and let us crash in their hotel room for a couple of days for free...what we didn’t realise was that they were staying at the 'Paris' hotel right in the heart of the strip, an amazinggggggg blag!
We found a tout offering heavily discounted entry into all the big high end clubs and managed to get passes into Pure and Jet for $5 each when it would have been $30 each on the door, woohoo. So that night we headed out to Pure club in Caesars Palace and as I stood on it's roof top bar listening to some tunes and sipping a drink I felt pretty damn good!
The next day (being Monday) was spent at the Paris pool in the morning and then the Hard Rock Hotel pool in the afternoon. Paris's offering seemed a little tame and we were after some Vegas action so after hearing Hard Rock was for the 'younger lot' we taxied down their way. I don't really know how to explain what we found there...it was just nuts. The pool itself was GREAT, kinda tropical vibe with palms and a fake beach leading into the water. There were cabana beds for hire ($500 upwards just so you know!), poker tables under waterfalls and a stage with DJ's pumping out house. But i've NEVER seen anything like the clientele there was at this place before. I would say 99% of the girls had silicone valley implants and a serious case of tango body (fake tan) and 99% of the men were complete meat head posers checking themselves out every 30 seconds.
The whole afternoon was spent checking everyone out while they checked everyone else out while they checked themselves out before checking some other people out. It was exhibitionism to the max and not a place to go if you're insecure!
That evening we went to the Jet club, our passes meant we had to be in by midnight so we arrived at 11.30pm thinking we'd be ok. The line was virtually out of the Mirage door and the bouncers were smirking at us so knowing action had to be taken asap I attempted blag number 3 by strolling straight to the front of the guest list queue saying the concierge had called ahead to put us on the list and if we weren’t on it then there was a mistake. Obviously we weren’t on it but I managed to get 5 free entry passes with a wink and a smile. I then spent the next two hours on the podium dancing and being filmed for MTV haha!!
By Tuesday to say we were struggling was a huge understatement. We popped into the Bellagio where Oceans Eleven was filmed and suddenly felt very poor, it was beyond luxurious. Then we went to the most amazing all you can eat Sushi buffet which had unlimited choice and was sooooooooooo gooooood. Love it :D
After lunch we needed some urgent chill time and made our way over to the MGM Grand pool to check it out. We happened to walk into blag 4 by picking up some random guest passes that got us into their pool party called Wet Republic. It meant free entry and was awesome, a much better vibe than the pretentiousness of Hard Rock. We just chilled on chairs in the water listening to good music and feeling the sun on our skin. That evening we said our goodbyes to Spencer and Christina (till Thurs when they're coming to Long Beach to stay) and began the long drive home to LA.....via Carl's Junior, the best burger and fries joint in the world.
That brings us to yesterday where we slept for 11 hours straight and went to The Library in the evening, our local coffee house for a frappucchino. And today where Loz and I took the bus down the coast to Laguna Beach for a day in the sun and waves. Spence and his sis have just arrived so we've lit a fire in the pit and are sipping some wine before things get crazy again. We're off to Hollywood this weekend.
So after two days camping and two days in Las Vegas I guess it's fair to say opposites really do attract!
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Celeb spot number one....we think...
It's been an eventful few days in Belmont Shore and after two weeks in tinseltown we've finally been to Hollywood and spotted our first real life celebrity, and it's a good one. More on that later.
So I think I last left the blog at 2am on Weds morning right? It's hard keeping track of the days and activities and as a list addict i'm finding myself writing mini-blogs to remember what I need to write for the actual blog!
On Wednesday I ventured out alone for the first time and made my way down the coast to Huntington in the hope of getting some lesson time in the water. It's been a bit of an annoying week as i've had to be at Nudge's beckon call but I needed to go and pick up my snazzy new wetsuit anyways so nothing was lost. As it turned out the wind stayed calm and we just had a beer together instead.
There were some bits and pieces we needed to get done on Thurs which included looking into hire cars for our drive from LA to San Fran and blagging more free passes to the gym. We wanted to be quick and it was a nice sunny day and required urgent beach time so cycled into downtown Long Beach and much to our misfortune came across a couple of horrible excuses for the female species in Budget car hire.
I can't be bothered to go into the conversation but I told them not to worry themselves with helping us and swifly left leaving some simpson rage in the air behind me! Our second mission was more successful and we successfully bagged some free passes to the infamous Golds Gym which i'll be using for boxing on Thursday :)
In the evening I had to pour Loz a couple of strong vodka shots as we were going to Ripples, the local gay bar. The drag show started at 10pm so after a few drinks we walked down, paid entry and pushed through the thick red velvety curtains to reveal the costumed delights of Long Beach's finest alternative entertainment. There was quite a variety of acts on offer, one guy that looked like a deformed Cher, another with far to much plastic surgery and hidious cheek implants and not forgetting the 45 stone 'thing' that wore a tight elastic tube dress and reminded me of a whale shoved into a sock. Sorry I know that's rude....but true.
We got into the spirit of things and threw some dollar notes their way but one girl at the front was wasted and must have shoved over $50 down those sweaty fakes clevages. After the show we went downstairs and performed some pretty awful karaoke. (Mum, you won't believe this but Chris turns round to me and says "Have you heard of Neil Diamond?"! Turns out Neil is one of his favourites and we both sung Sweet Caroline to the almost empty room while the tranny working the karaoke machine looked on).
The night ended with some random dancing where Loz was practically clinging to me as two guys were trying to stroke his arm and I moonwalked right into a lesbians lap by mistake. ARGH.
Friday was more chilled, I finally finished up my lessons and got some time in the water with the kite. Yes it is bloody hard and no I am not zipping around on any board yet! Ashley, a girl who lives in the building came round for dinner in the evening and once again we polished off too many bottles of red wine. This has got to stop as you can see from the evidence on Facebook.
I'd only had 6 hours sleep but forced myself up for Gary's box aerobics class on Saturday morning at 8.45am, it was worth the pain and I was chuffed as managed to finish all 9 minutes of skipping this week. I throughly believe that was because he was playing house music and it gave me that extra boooost of energy, love it.
During the day Chris drove us into Hollywood and gave us a great tour of all the sights, horribly touristy but a box to tick off.
It was cool seeing the Hollywood sign and I nearly died when I realised I was standing on Kiefer Sutherland's star, if only he'd been there in person *sigh*. We also drove around Beverly Hills looking for the Fresh Prince's mansion and passed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive in tribute to Pretty Woman.
We were desperate to see a star so starting cruising Sunset Strip (a famous stretch of road where the celebs hang out to eat) but saw nothing except the tinted windows of escalades and lamborghinis....until....we passed a guy in a matching white suit and flat cap with big black glasses and it was Samuel L. Jackson! Woohoo!
That eve we chilled it out and had 8 or so people round for some marshmallow toasting in the fire pit and (more) wine drinking.
So that brings us to yesterday when we tried to feel 'LA' by going to a champagne brunch at a jazz club but failed by not buying anything because we couldn't afford it :( We're on a tight budget here and $10 for a drink is a luxury we couldn't afford, however, Ashley was great and managed to steal us loads of amazing food to nibble on to accompany our water LOL. When we left we saw the number plate 'DRE' on an expensive looking car.......could it have been Dr Dre himself????
So I think I last left the blog at 2am on Weds morning right? It's hard keeping track of the days and activities and as a list addict i'm finding myself writing mini-blogs to remember what I need to write for the actual blog!
On Wednesday I ventured out alone for the first time and made my way down the coast to Huntington in the hope of getting some lesson time in the water. It's been a bit of an annoying week as i've had to be at Nudge's beckon call but I needed to go and pick up my snazzy new wetsuit anyways so nothing was lost. As it turned out the wind stayed calm and we just had a beer together instead.
There were some bits and pieces we needed to get done on Thurs which included looking into hire cars for our drive from LA to San Fran and blagging more free passes to the gym. We wanted to be quick and it was a nice sunny day and required urgent beach time so cycled into downtown Long Beach and much to our misfortune came across a couple of horrible excuses for the female species in Budget car hire.
I can't be bothered to go into the conversation but I told them not to worry themselves with helping us and swifly left leaving some simpson rage in the air behind me! Our second mission was more successful and we successfully bagged some free passes to the infamous Golds Gym which i'll be using for boxing on Thursday :)
In the evening I had to pour Loz a couple of strong vodka shots as we were going to Ripples, the local gay bar. The drag show started at 10pm so after a few drinks we walked down, paid entry and pushed through the thick red velvety curtains to reveal the costumed delights of Long Beach's finest alternative entertainment. There was quite a variety of acts on offer, one guy that looked like a deformed Cher, another with far to much plastic surgery and hidious cheek implants and not forgetting the 45 stone 'thing' that wore a tight elastic tube dress and reminded me of a whale shoved into a sock. Sorry I know that's rude....but true.
We got into the spirit of things and threw some dollar notes their way but one girl at the front was wasted and must have shoved over $50 down those sweaty fakes clevages. After the show we went downstairs and performed some pretty awful karaoke. (Mum, you won't believe this but Chris turns round to me and says "Have you heard of Neil Diamond?"! Turns out Neil is one of his favourites and we both sung Sweet Caroline to the almost empty room while the tranny working the karaoke machine looked on).
The night ended with some random dancing where Loz was practically clinging to me as two guys were trying to stroke his arm and I moonwalked right into a lesbians lap by mistake. ARGH.
Friday was more chilled, I finally finished up my lessons and got some time in the water with the kite. Yes it is bloody hard and no I am not zipping around on any board yet! Ashley, a girl who lives in the building came round for dinner in the evening and once again we polished off too many bottles of red wine. This has got to stop as you can see from the evidence on Facebook.
I'd only had 6 hours sleep but forced myself up for Gary's box aerobics class on Saturday morning at 8.45am, it was worth the pain and I was chuffed as managed to finish all 9 minutes of skipping this week. I throughly believe that was because he was playing house music and it gave me that extra boooost of energy, love it.
During the day Chris drove us into Hollywood and gave us a great tour of all the sights, horribly touristy but a box to tick off.
It was cool seeing the Hollywood sign and I nearly died when I realised I was standing on Kiefer Sutherland's star, if only he'd been there in person *sigh*. We also drove around Beverly Hills looking for the Fresh Prince's mansion and passed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive in tribute to Pretty Woman.
We were desperate to see a star so starting cruising Sunset Strip (a famous stretch of road where the celebs hang out to eat) but saw nothing except the tinted windows of escalades and lamborghinis....until....we passed a guy in a matching white suit and flat cap with big black glasses and it was Samuel L. Jackson! Woohoo!
That eve we chilled it out and had 8 or so people round for some marshmallow toasting in the fire pit and (more) wine drinking.
So that brings us to yesterday when we tried to feel 'LA' by going to a champagne brunch at a jazz club but failed by not buying anything because we couldn't afford it :( We're on a tight budget here and $10 for a drink is a luxury we couldn't afford, however, Ashley was great and managed to steal us loads of amazing food to nibble on to accompany our water LOL. When we left we saw the number plate 'DRE' on an expensive looking car.......could it have been Dr Dre himself????
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
June Gloom, What June Gloom?
It looks like our blue skies are back and Sunday afternoon saw our first bit of sun for a few days woohoo!
Loz and I were suffering from minor cabin fever by then (too many dvd's and looking out of the window for the clouds to clear) so jumped at the chance to throw on some sunnies and take a walk down 2nd street.
The good vibes must have made us feel a little spontanious as Loz bought a Jumba Juice (extravagant health smoothie) and I indulged in frozen yoghurt from the aptly named 'yoghurt factory'. It was actually quite fun as it's self serve and there's around 14 random flavours to choose from. You just grab a pot, pull a handle, and watch the multi coloured goodness slither out the nozzle like a mr whippy.
At this point our sugar high combined with the quadruple shot espressos we made back at the flat kicked in overtime and we headed to the beach for an hour of karaoke while lying on the warm sand. For some reason we were going through the entire Backstreet Boys back catalogue with the odd N Sync 'It's gonna be me' line thrown in for good measure.
Yesterday, being Monday we wanted to feel highly productive and seeing as the weather was set to remain grey we planned a trip down the coast to Newport on the number 1 bus....(I think there are only 3 drivers and we know them all now).......(Only one is nice though).
Once in Orange County we headed to 'fashion island', a massive mall complex designed to feed the appetites of the local spoilt kids and rich house wives. It was really nice with great design etc. but the only thing Loz and I could afford was a Subway and then we left again...
Seeing as we finished at fashion island a little early and the sun was trying to poke through we decided to head to the beach for a few hours. However, as we're discovering, to get ANYWHERE in LA you need a car.
Loz and I began a long and boring walk along another freeway until we found ourselves completely by chance on Balboa Island, a really dinky, highhhhly American town with a marina and boutique high street with ice-cream parlours, that kind of thing. We asked a lady how to get to the beach who asked the 'Whatttt??? You WALKED here????' question and then directed us towards a charming, totally unexpected little ferry crossing.
After walking past more amazing houses and paying a dollar to cross the harbour we found ourselves in 100% OC territory, totally awesome. I don't watch the show but it was pretty cool to be exactly where the scenes were shot and it felt just a little bit Hollywood.
We walked into a local surf shop run by this big American woman who was really pleased we visted and kept saying how cute we were lol. She even insisted on talking photos of us to put in her shop to tell people the British had come!
By now our feet were feeling pretty sore and we came to the conclusion that you should not trek all over Newport in flip-flops. However we were just down the road (30 min walk in USA talk) from the wedge, an infamous surf spot which Loz was dying to see and so we pushed the tootsies forward and had a little look at that too. Shame it was a flat day as it can get up to 18ft with big swell.
That evening we went to George's the greek reastaurant and indulged in their half price wine offer, enough said.
At the moment it's 2.15am Weds morning and i'm more that ready for sleep so i'll rush Tuesdays fun....It was a pretty simple day, I had to meet Nudge at 2pm for more kiting and Loz brought his bodyboard to the water for its first taste of the LA ocean. The result is two extremely crispy red and tender Brits. We got lax with the suncream, lesson learned :/
I was hoping to get in the water with the kite but the wind just hasn't been strong enough yet so it's a bit of a waiting game now. The major news for me though is that i've just put the order in for my kite gear and $1500 of equipment is heading my way in the next few days. I can't believe it's finally happening, this is crazy! I've even decided on a wetsuit ($230 down to $150), not cheap but a good saving for a good suit.
Wow...these posts take ages to write. Defo bed time, laters everyone!
Loz and I were suffering from minor cabin fever by then (too many dvd's and looking out of the window for the clouds to clear) so jumped at the chance to throw on some sunnies and take a walk down 2nd street.
The good vibes must have made us feel a little spontanious as Loz bought a Jumba Juice (extravagant health smoothie) and I indulged in frozen yoghurt from the aptly named 'yoghurt factory'. It was actually quite fun as it's self serve and there's around 14 random flavours to choose from. You just grab a pot, pull a handle, and watch the multi coloured goodness slither out the nozzle like a mr whippy.
At this point our sugar high combined with the quadruple shot espressos we made back at the flat kicked in overtime and we headed to the beach for an hour of karaoke while lying on the warm sand. For some reason we were going through the entire Backstreet Boys back catalogue with the odd N Sync 'It's gonna be me' line thrown in for good measure.
Yesterday, being Monday we wanted to feel highly productive and seeing as the weather was set to remain grey we planned a trip down the coast to Newport on the number 1 bus....(I think there are only 3 drivers and we know them all now).......(Only one is nice though).
Once in Orange County we headed to 'fashion island', a massive mall complex designed to feed the appetites of the local spoilt kids and rich house wives. It was really nice with great design etc. but the only thing Loz and I could afford was a Subway and then we left again...
Seeing as we finished at fashion island a little early and the sun was trying to poke through we decided to head to the beach for a few hours. However, as we're discovering, to get ANYWHERE in LA you need a car.
Loz and I began a long and boring walk along another freeway until we found ourselves completely by chance on Balboa Island, a really dinky, highhhhly American town with a marina and boutique high street with ice-cream parlours, that kind of thing. We asked a lady how to get to the beach who asked the 'Whatttt??? You WALKED here????' question and then directed us towards a charming, totally unexpected little ferry crossing.
After walking past more amazing houses and paying a dollar to cross the harbour we found ourselves in 100% OC territory, totally awesome. I don't watch the show but it was pretty cool to be exactly where the scenes were shot and it felt just a little bit Hollywood.
We walked into a local surf shop run by this big American woman who was really pleased we visted and kept saying how cute we were lol. She even insisted on talking photos of us to put in her shop to tell people the British had come!
By now our feet were feeling pretty sore and we came to the conclusion that you should not trek all over Newport in flip-flops. However we were just down the road (30 min walk in USA talk) from the wedge, an infamous surf spot which Loz was dying to see and so we pushed the tootsies forward and had a little look at that too. Shame it was a flat day as it can get up to 18ft with big swell.
That evening we went to George's the greek reastaurant and indulged in their half price wine offer, enough said.
At the moment it's 2.15am Weds morning and i'm more that ready for sleep so i'll rush Tuesdays fun....It was a pretty simple day, I had to meet Nudge at 2pm for more kiting and Loz brought his bodyboard to the water for its first taste of the LA ocean. The result is two extremely crispy red and tender Brits. We got lax with the suncream, lesson learned :/
I was hoping to get in the water with the kite but the wind just hasn't been strong enough yet so it's a bit of a waiting game now. The major news for me though is that i've just put the order in for my kite gear and $1500 of equipment is heading my way in the next few days. I can't believe it's finally happening, this is crazy! I've even decided on a wetsuit ($230 down to $150), not cheap but a good saving for a good suit.
Wow...these posts take ages to write. Defo bed time, laters everyone!
Sunday, 31 May 2009
5, 6, 7, 8 and Left Jab
It seems we've done some sort of (very) unintentional weather exchange with the UK and it's getting me down dammit. The last 3 days have been ridiculously 'fresh', i.e cold and a miserable shade of grey while I believe you guys are getting crispy in the sun. This was not meant to happen! Hopefully it will pass sharpish but when I heard the locals going 'Oh it's May grey and June gloom every year' in Cali I was not impressed to say the least.
Anywaysss...that hasn't stopped me getting going on the kiting and i've done a couple of land sessions with Nudge which is kinda intimidating but cool...and horribly expensive. The local kitesurf scene is thriving, it seems everyone knows everyone and I'm getting quite a few 'Who the hell is she?!' looks at the moment. My first sesh was with a 9 meter kite and the second a 12 meter which kept me on my nervous toes as I had visions of be yanked up the beach and into the air like Mary Poppins while the surf community watched on with smiles on their faces. Luckily that didn't happen and I seemed to do alright.
Thursday night was interesting as in true Chris form he came home from work and litrally dragged us into a local bar for '1' drink.
6 drinks later I learned you're not allowed to jay-walk in America and found myself screaming and running acoss the middle of the road away from the cops. Thank god I didn't get a $50 ticket but still got the embarrassing megaphone treatment of "Get on the sidewalk miss, I repeat, get on the sidewalk". We all legged it into blockbuster and must have been a little tipsyer than planned as ended up singing an orchestral rendition of the Jurassic Park theme tune in the horror isle.
Last night we had dinner with Chris's best friend Brian who's hilarious and as we drank copious amounts of red wine and port he informed us of all the closet gay leading males in Hollywood (Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves) and talked about the A-listers he's hung out with a spotted over the years.
Anywaysss...that hasn't stopped me getting going on the kiting and i've done a couple of land sessions with Nudge which is kinda intimidating but cool...and horribly expensive. The local kitesurf scene is thriving, it seems everyone knows everyone and I'm getting quite a few 'Who the hell is she?!' looks at the moment. My first sesh was with a 9 meter kite and the second a 12 meter which kept me on my nervous toes as I had visions of be yanked up the beach and into the air like Mary Poppins while the surf community watched on with smiles on their faces. Luckily that didn't happen and I seemed to do alright.
Thursday night was interesting as in true Chris form he came home from work and litrally dragged us into a local bar for '1' drink.
6 drinks later I learned you're not allowed to jay-walk in America and found myself screaming and running acoss the middle of the road away from the cops. Thank god I didn't get a $50 ticket but still got the embarrassing megaphone treatment of "Get on the sidewalk miss, I repeat, get on the sidewalk". We all legged it into blockbuster and must have been a little tipsyer than planned as ended up singing an orchestral rendition of the Jurassic Park theme tune in the horror isle.
Last night we had dinner with Chris's best friend Brian who's hilarious and as we drank copious amounts of red wine and port he informed us of all the closet gay leading males in Hollywood (Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves) and talked about the A-listers he's hung out with a spotted over the years.
This morning I went to our local gym for a box aerobics class with Gary. I have never, ever, ever felt more American in my whole life but loved it! Gary is this 'all American' 50 year old legend who does his box aerobics class to 80's synth music (Cat, you would love this class!) and warm downs to The Beatles. He had everyone singing Yellow Submarine while working those abs and stretching those hamstrings. He throughly loved having a new Brit in the class and I'll be back next Sat.
After that I went down to the beach to have a gander at this 'swap meet' thing Nudge told me about. It happens once a year and is basically a chance for kitesurfers to sell used gear. I didn't see anything suitable but am in the process of negotiating my first kit which will cost an absolute fortune and I'm trying not to hyperventalate when thinking about it.
In the afternoon Loz and I cycled down to downtown Long Beach which was pretty unimpressive to be honest! Everything obviously happens in Santa Monica up the coast so when the weather picks up we'll just metro up there instead.
That's it for now, just watching some films and eating my ice cream tonight...
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Camera Rolling......Action!
Touchdown, we made it! Loz and Simpson have sneaked through the United States borders, rocked up to Belmont Shore, Los Angeles and boy, life is goooood.
So May 24th was a bit of a random day, it all started with some fresh salmon and a giraffe. In Terminal 5. At 9am.
.
As Loz and I talked over our crazy plan and how it had got us to where we were we heard 'Last call for flight BA279 to Los Angeles'. Argh, runnnnn!!!! Luckily we made the flight and even had time for a few cheeky snaps along the way. This was Loz's first time in a long haul jumbo and he was, I quote "as excited as a 5 year old".
The 11 hour flight went suprisingly fast, we watched a few movies including Benjamin Button which we wern't too impressed by. A little down beat. Bride Wars was much more suitable for the light hearted vibage and before we knew it we had landed at destination 1 in the US of A. After 10 hours of probing by the US military services and having our fingers and eyes scanned like something in minority Report we got on the Super Shuttle and cruised it down to the big PP (Pomona Place).
We knew we'd hit gold when we arrived as our friendly neighbours Shane and Sarah escorted us to le crib, a french/Italian inspired villa type pad. Chris (our flamboyant flatmate) was out for the day but totally chillaxed and left the place unlocked, access all areas top Alex and Loz, sweeeeet. We spent the rest of the day checking out the neighbourhood on our new beach cruiser bikes (courtesy of Chris) and learning that all the American stereotypes are true. Big trucks, big shades, running with tiny dogs in oversized LA Lakers hoodies. Amazing.
Day 2 Loz was in heaven as we grilled it up on the patio in the sun with copious amounts of booze. It was steaks at dawn as we all tucked right in. We also got to meet around 10 other locals and have secured lots of invites everywhere. Leon (who owns a gym in Santa Monica) is taking us to Hollywood to play 'beer pong', fun! We rounded off the day with a tipsy beach power walk with Chris and his boyfriend and checking out the millionaires mansions in the marina.
And yesterday was the day of days. It's true, when you're open to anything, anything will come your way. Our 15 min bike cruise down to Huntington Beach turned into a 2 hour sunstroke mission along the desert. All good banter though. Easily the equivilant of Worthing to Brighton Marina.I was up for visiting Huntington which is in the OC to find my kitesurf instructor. I had no idea where to go but luckily and randomly bumped into Nudge (his very surfer like nickname) on the beach and have taken the plunge and booked in for my 6 hour lesson. (First three hour one should be this afternoon).
We sunbathed, played in the waves, had a few beers with Nudge and dreaded the return back to Belmont so at sunset decided to get bus 1 which SHOULD'VE taken us home. But instead, decided to take us to a near death experience.
After chatting to this rather disturbing ADHD skateboard kiddie at the bus stop we managed to escape him by jumping off the bus at what we thought was our stop but turned out to be really, really wrong. We were completely lost in American suburbia...
Sunset had been and gone, the light was fading as was the temperature and Loz and I couldn't have stood out more if we'd tried in our swimwear with towels round our necks. At this point my main concern was making sure we didn't wonder into Compton or I might not be here to write this post today.
Why not grab a cab home? Because we had the bikes and ditching them was not a cool option. So we rode, we rode like our lives depended on it...except in the wrong direction.
Our chillaxed beach cruise had turned into a shady race against the light to safety and Loz and I had decended into hysterical fits of laughter fuelled by the disbelief at how bad our situation was getting.
Just as we thought we'd hit jackpot with the right road we noticed a steady increase in traffic and then it hit us....the FREEWAY. Loz and I were riding on the bloody freeway in pitch black on beach cruisers with no lights on. As the cars screamed past us I thought silently "We're screwed".
In our desperation, Loz, while pedaling for his life shouts across to a surgery-fied woman in her massive truck "Where is Belmontttt Shoreeeee????"...................."Oh dear. Way back that way i'm afraid dear" comes the response.
After some freak outs and more pedaling on the hard shoulder our guardian angels threw us a lifelife and three teenagers rode past on BMX's. We asked them for directions and thank god they were not only heading to Belmont, they said they'd personally guide us home. We spent the next hour following these dudes and getting a private stunt show as they were increbible bikers and pulling tricks the whole time.
We were relived to get home to say the least.
Anyway so we're off to a phone store in a minute to get American sim cards and then some beach action followed by our first grocery shop this evening.
I'm going to buy a 10 litre vat of vanilla ice-cream, oh yeah :)
So May 24th was a bit of a random day, it all started with some fresh salmon and a giraffe. In Terminal 5. At 9am.
.
As Loz and I talked over our crazy plan and how it had got us to where we were we heard 'Last call for flight BA279 to Los Angeles'. Argh, runnnnn!!!! Luckily we made the flight and even had time for a few cheeky snaps along the way. This was Loz's first time in a long haul jumbo and he was, I quote "as excited as a 5 year old".
The 11 hour flight went suprisingly fast, we watched a few movies including Benjamin Button which we wern't too impressed by. A little down beat. Bride Wars was much more suitable for the light hearted vibage and before we knew it we had landed at destination 1 in the US of A. After 10 hours of probing by the US military services and having our fingers and eyes scanned like something in minority Report we got on the Super Shuttle and cruised it down to the big PP (Pomona Place).
We knew we'd hit gold when we arrived as our friendly neighbours Shane and Sarah escorted us to le crib, a french/Italian inspired villa type pad. Chris (our flamboyant flatmate) was out for the day but totally chillaxed and left the place unlocked, access all areas top Alex and Loz, sweeeeet. We spent the rest of the day checking out the neighbourhood on our new beach cruiser bikes (courtesy of Chris) and learning that all the American stereotypes are true. Big trucks, big shades, running with tiny dogs in oversized LA Lakers hoodies. Amazing.
Day 2 Loz was in heaven as we grilled it up on the patio in the sun with copious amounts of booze. It was steaks at dawn as we all tucked right in. We also got to meet around 10 other locals and have secured lots of invites everywhere. Leon (who owns a gym in Santa Monica) is taking us to Hollywood to play 'beer pong', fun! We rounded off the day with a tipsy beach power walk with Chris and his boyfriend and checking out the millionaires mansions in the marina.
And yesterday was the day of days. It's true, when you're open to anything, anything will come your way. Our 15 min bike cruise down to Huntington Beach turned into a 2 hour sunstroke mission along the desert. All good banter though. Easily the equivilant of Worthing to Brighton Marina.I was up for visiting Huntington which is in the OC to find my kitesurf instructor. I had no idea where to go but luckily and randomly bumped into Nudge (his very surfer like nickname) on the beach and have taken the plunge and booked in for my 6 hour lesson. (First three hour one should be this afternoon).
We sunbathed, played in the waves, had a few beers with Nudge and dreaded the return back to Belmont so at sunset decided to get bus 1 which SHOULD'VE taken us home. But instead, decided to take us to a near death experience.
After chatting to this rather disturbing ADHD skateboard kiddie at the bus stop we managed to escape him by jumping off the bus at what we thought was our stop but turned out to be really, really wrong. We were completely lost in American suburbia...
Sunset had been and gone, the light was fading as was the temperature and Loz and I couldn't have stood out more if we'd tried in our swimwear with towels round our necks. At this point my main concern was making sure we didn't wonder into Compton or I might not be here to write this post today.
Why not grab a cab home? Because we had the bikes and ditching them was not a cool option. So we rode, we rode like our lives depended on it...except in the wrong direction.
Our chillaxed beach cruise had turned into a shady race against the light to safety and Loz and I had decended into hysterical fits of laughter fuelled by the disbelief at how bad our situation was getting.
Just as we thought we'd hit jackpot with the right road we noticed a steady increase in traffic and then it hit us....the FREEWAY. Loz and I were riding on the bloody freeway in pitch black on beach cruisers with no lights on. As the cars screamed past us I thought silently "We're screwed".
In our desperation, Loz, while pedaling for his life shouts across to a surgery-fied woman in her massive truck "Where is Belmontttt Shoreeeee????"...................."Oh dear. Way back that way i'm afraid dear" comes the response.
After some freak outs and more pedaling on the hard shoulder our guardian angels threw us a lifelife and three teenagers rode past on BMX's. We asked them for directions and thank god they were not only heading to Belmont, they said they'd personally guide us home. We spent the next hour following these dudes and getting a private stunt show as they were increbible bikers and pulling tricks the whole time.
We were relived to get home to say the least.
Anyway so we're off to a phone store in a minute to get American sim cards and then some beach action followed by our first grocery shop this evening.
I'm going to buy a 10 litre vat of vanilla ice-cream, oh yeah :)
Saturday, 18 April 2009
5 weeks to go...
Well, you'd think with only 5 weeks to go things would seem more real than ever, but to be honest everything is more surreal than its ever been. I mean, how often is it that I sit watching G.I Jane with a pear cider by myself on a Saturday night?.....Exactly.
Trip wise, pre-preparation is going well and things are slowly and surely getting ticked off the list. Things are falling into place nicely and my travel route as it currently stands goes something like this - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Seeing that typed out in front of me as just increased the surrealism levels once again. Or maybe that's the pear cider taking effect.
I had a great day today walking around London and taking photographs with Michelle (my housemate and very good friend) and thought that although i'm ready for this experience, I'll miss my friends and our good times so much. I'll definitely be squeezing a good few nights out into the next few weekends. :)
Our flight to LA is on May 24th so I guess i'll see you on the other side.............(in 5 weeks).............(which is actually quite a long time).......oh god, who am i kidding.
Trip wise, pre-preparation is going well and things are slowly and surely getting ticked off the list. Things are falling into place nicely and my travel route as it currently stands goes something like this - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Seeing that typed out in front of me as just increased the surrealism levels once again. Or maybe that's the pear cider taking effect.
I had a great day today walking around London and taking photographs with Michelle (my housemate and very good friend) and thought that although i'm ready for this experience, I'll miss my friends and our good times so much. I'll definitely be squeezing a good few nights out into the next few weekends. :)
Our flight to LA is on May 24th so I guess i'll see you on the other side.............(in 5 weeks).............(which is actually quite a long time).......oh god, who am i kidding.
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