Travel : Hollywood!

It's been a while since I last sat down and wrote about my trip to America last Summer. I had been debating whether or not I was going to continue this little series, but decided that I love recapping on my trip and sharing the photographs and experiences on my little blog. (If you want to read the last post check it out HERE)

After our brief stay in Santa Barbara, we took a short hour car journey along the coast to Hollywood. We were staying just outside of the Universal complex, so was in the best place to see everything that we had wanted. Before the trip began this was the place that I was most excited to visit. As you can imagine, being a movie fan and a lover of Disney, I was excited to see everything that LA had to offer. 

Hotel

In Hollywood we stayed in The Garland hotel. This hotel was probably the nicest one that we stayed in during our two week trip. The Garland is such a retro and trendy boutique hotel, that offered free coaches to the Universal park. As well as facilities to arrange other trips and tours at the front desk. It felt like a 'proper' American hotel, well what I imagined it to be anyway! One of the best memories at this hotel was the poolside movie nights that they offered whilst we were staying there. We watched E.T sprawled out on a pool lounger and it was the most perfect thing ever. The inside of the room was also amazing. There was a black and white with a pop of red colour scheme going on, and the room had a gorgeous painting of Audrey Hepburn on the wall. The hotel also had a restaurant attached which we were able to visit for breakfast one of the mornings. The most expensive breakfast of the trip, but probably my favourite!

What to do?

Let's be honest, what isn't there to do in Hollywood!?! Of course, the main thing on the list is to see the Hollywood sign. As we only had a limited time in Hollywood (2 nights), we decided that it would be a good idea to book a tour to see the sign as well as other landmarks too. We were picked up at 9am and visited the Walk of fame, Staples Centre, Hollywood Sign, Stars Homes, Beverley Hills and The Grove. It was definitely the best decision that we made as we wouldn't have been able to see everything properly without the tour guide. I still feel so lucky that I have actually been to Hollywood, as it had always been the top thing on my list of places to visit. During our stay in Hollywood, we also decided to visit Universal Studios. This is another place that I have always wanted to visit too. I have been so lucky to have visited Disneyland Paris on various occasions, but have never been to any of the parks in America. On this trip Universal was our first one to visit and we had the best day ever. It is a lot smaller than Disney, but just as enjoyable. I even managed to go on the Jurassic Park ride, which I thought I would never be able to do due to the sheer drop at the end! So I was super impressed with myself, all be it very wet afterwards! 

Tips & Tricks!

My main tip for Hollywood is definitely look in to booking a tour to visit the important landmarks. Depending on what time of year you go, these popular places can be very busy. As I said above, without being with the tour guide, we wouldn't have been able to get from A to B and C with ease. It also allowed my dad who was doing the driving on the holiday to enjoy himself and look around too. 

I hope you enjoyed the next instalment to my America road trip series. I only have a couple more left to post. I have really enjoyed sharing the pictures from my trip, as well as thinking back over old memories. 

Until next time, 

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