Travel : Universal Studios Hollywood!

During our stay in Hollywood, we decided to visit Universal Studios. This is a place that I have always wanted to visit and heard so many amazing things about! With this trip being our first visit to America, I was excited to see what an American theme park had to offer compared to Disneyland Paris which I have been lucky enough to visit on many occasions. 

We only had one day to spend in Universal so I had been researching all of the rides that we needed to go on before we went. Universal Studios Hollywood 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! 

As part of our hotel stay, we were able to have early access to the park. This meant we could look around when the park was less busy and go on some of the rides that later on in the day would have a longer wait time. As soon as we got inside we knew that we needed to make a beeline for the Harry Potter area. Even at 8am this section was packed, so if you are going then you need to make sure that you do this either first or last. My dad and I went on Harry Potter and the forbidden journey first, followed by The flight of the Hippogrith. I can't get over how well themed this area is. After watching all of the films over the Christmas holidays, it's crazy the attention to detail that the designers went too. Oh and of course I had to have a Butterbeer which I drank with pride! 

The rest of the day consisted of 3D experience after 3D experience, oh and lots of water splashed in your face (the Americans sure do love the waterworks!). We visited the Simpson's area and went on The Simpson's ride. I had some photo's with Gru and his Minion's as well as going on the Despicable Me, Minion Mayhem ride. We had a very healthy lunch (mac and cheese, yum!) followed by more rides: Studio Tour, Waterworld, Shrek 4D and Revenge of the Mummy. Our final stop of the day was the Jurassic Park ride, which I was falsely convinced to go on. I was told that it was a peaceful ride with a tiny drop at the start then a smooth ride with turns from there on. A complete lie I tell you! The tiny drop at the start was more than tiny, and nothing could have prepared me for the 84ft drop at the end! I am never going to trust my father as easily again! (See if you can spot my terrified face in the ride photo below. My dad doesn't usually purchase these photo's, however decided he wanted something to remember the occasion apparently!) 

We had such an amazing time at Universal Studios Hollywood. It's always nice doing something that everyone in the family enjoys, even my mum who prides being the bag holder for the day! The only sad thing was my brother Daniel wasn't with us. Hopefully this means we can go back at some point to experience everything again with him! That would be the ultimate dream. 

Let me know if you've been to Universal Studios Hollywood! 

What did you think of the rides?!

Lots of love, 

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Travel: Santa Barbara!

After leaving Monterey, the next stop on our California road trip was Santa Barbara. This was literally a brief overnight visit to break up the car journey on the way to Hollywood. I wish that we had more time in Santa Barbara as the whole place was totally up my street. As a gorgeous little costal town, I loved finally being able to visit a beach and although I didn't get to swim in the sea the whole place was stunning. 

Hotel

Lets just say, the hotel that we stayed in was unlike anything I have ever stepped foot in before. I kind of thought I knew what to expect but I was way wrong. Booking through a travel agency meant that we didn't have much choice in the hotels, which came in favour here as I know for a fact we would never have booked into it. The Fess Parker Doubletree Hilton was a stones throw from the beach front. Infact if we were lucky enough to have a room in the front of the hotel we would have been able to see the beach from the balcony. The moment we arrived was the moment we realised how out of place we were in the hotel. (When arriving we walked in at the same time as a glamorous lady tip to toe in Chanel walking a poodle in a tutu. Yeah, it happened!) After checking in we were handed three cookies before being shown to our suite which was huge. Such a shame we were only here for one day! The room itself was pretty basic apart from the size. We were only paying for the room so I can't comment on food, but the onsite Starbucks had everything you needed from snacks to hot drinks! The freebies from the hotel were pretty amazing though! 

What to do?

Unfortunately seeing as we were only in Santa Barbara as a stop off on the way to Hollywood, how glam does that sound!, we didn't actually do much. On the day we arrived we took a slow wander down the pier to look off the side for Dolphins as apparently we were in a hot spot for them. After whale and dolphin watching the previous day in Monterey I didn't get my hopes up for seeing them as we had to sail to the middle of nowhere to find them. Ironically we saw 3 chasing the boats into the dock! Wish we had realised this as I wouldn't have gone out on the rocky rocky sea the day before. After a very sugary ice cream and a little look in the souvenir shop we headed straight back to the hotel for a hot drink and chill. The next day we decided to see what the local town had to offer in the form of shops. I basically got all of my shopping done for the trip in this little afternoon. We visited Sephora, Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works amongst others. We also had lunch in the California Pizza Kitchen, a must go place if your ever visiting California! 

Tips & Tricks!

I really wish that we could have stayed longer in Santa Barbara. I would have loved to have sat on the pier and watched the Dolphins again. I was so surprised at how empty it was during the sunset hour! So make sure you bring a coat as it does get chilly! 

I hope you enjoyed this instalment of my California road trip travel diary. I would love to go back to Santa Barbara, although to be honest I wish I could do the whole holiday again! 

Thanks for reading! 

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Travel : Yosemite!

Yosemite

The next stop on our road trip after San-Francisco was Yosemite. The difference in not only heat but scenery was remarkable considering it was a 4 hour drive! I will be honest, Yosemite was certainly not my favourite part of the trip. I am such a city girl, ironic that I hate busyness, so being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a few random restaurants intimidated me a little bit. The heat was also ridiculous getting to 30/40 degrees every day we were there. With that being said I made the most out of the stop and have some beautiful memories I will treasure forever! (As well as some beautiful photographs!)

Hotel

If you have been to Yosemite before, you may note that there aren't really that many hotels once inside the park, except for the VERY expensive ones or campsites. Seeing as we were on a road trip and wasn't intending to go into the park more than once, we decided to stay just outside in Oakhurst. Our hotel, the Best Western Plus Yosemite Gateway Inn was one of the last hotels before approaching Yosemite National Park, so we were in the ideal place. The hotel itself was set out a little bit like Centre Parcs. There is a reception away from the rooms, with areas to drive to your door. They have a inside and outdoor pool which was lovely considering how hot it was! They also had an onsite restaurant that although being 'connected' to the hotel, offered a discount at breakfast if you ate there, but no other meal plans. We ate at the restaurant for 2/3 of our nights here. It was a lovely place to go, although unfortunately we did have a couple of payment issues here. On our final evening we paid a tip to the server in person, when finding the bill online the next day extra cash had been taken that we didn't agree too. Ironically when calling and querying this was removed straight away. Potentially unrelated but three days later our credit card had been cloned which is a little suspicious! The rooms were clean, tidy and air conditioned which was all that mattered. But they were very basic which is what you can expect for the price! The bathroom also felt a little outdated, but again they were quite large and clean!

What to do?

Once we had found our hotel/motel we felt shattered so had a quick dinner before hitting the hay! We had three nights in our hotel which didn't really give us lots of time to do much exploring, not that there was too much to see. We had already booked and planned a tour of Yosemite with Discover Yosemite Tours. Only being in Yosemite for 3 nights meant that we would never get to all of the places on our own so felt that a tour was essential! We were picked up at 8am and arrived back around 5/6pm. A very busy full day tour but we were able to see all of the places on our list. The tour also provided lunch at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Which was absolutely beautiful! The places we stopped and viewed were Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Three Brothers, Glacier Point, El Capitan, Yosemite Chapel plus more! Again, it was a very busy day but made a lot easier by having a very informed tour guide with a lot of knowledge. In terms of restaurants, we didn't really eat out apart from at the hotel during our stay. However the one night that we did, we enjoyed a lovely meal at the South Brewing Company. Let's just say that was an experience! It's basically a Nando's in terms of you pay before you eat, except you have to find a seat/table yourself which was challenging during rush hour! About an hour after arriving we got our dinner which was well worth the wait!

Tips & Tricks

This one is probably a given but make sure you pack for a warm climate if travelling here in the summer. I LIVED in my pair of Denim shorts. Also make sure you have comfortable footwear if you are planning to visit Yosemite National Park during your stay. Although you would be fine wearing sandals, the flooring isn't that flat so it's easier to wear trainers which have a better grip on the floor. Finally, make sure you have a spare memory card! Yosemite is a beautiful place to take photographs. I loved scenery shots and could have spent days snapping away! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! As I mentioned Yosemite wasn't my favourite stop on the holiday, however we still had an amazing time regardless! 

Have you ever visited? Can you recommend anywhere to visit?

Lots of love,

Please follow me on Twitter and Instagram. I am working really hard on improving my social media sites and am putting a lot of effort into them. I follow back to return the love!