My journey to LA started off with me being plain irritated. I decided to take the 73 minute long ass journey to Heathrow Airport, all in the name of saving £60 on a cab. Facing an 11 hour flight after this journey was just going to be LONG.
So, I got to Heathrow, met my friend, tried to check-in for bag drop, his was fine but mine flashed up with a problem. What could it have been? All I wanted to do was get on the plane, chill out, have a drink and sleep but nope. My personal admin follows me absolutely everywhere.
*sigh*
It turns out if you get a new passport, you also need a new ESTA…
Might as well rename it STR-ESTA; but not to worry, I managed to get it sorted.
*exhales*
So much for me being organised, anyway.
After this debacle, we headed on through security and meandered our way through Heathrow Terminal 3. Usually, its my airport ritual before a flight to grab some sort of food and an overpriced glass of champagne from the bar. But time wasn’t on my side, so I figured I’d eat on the plane and indulge in a few rum and cokes too. I’m a frequent flier these days but 11 hours is LONG – especially when the flight is bang in middle of the day. Do I sleep, stay awake or do a bit of both?
It ended up being a bit of both but watching ‘How to Be Single’ improved my mood dramatically and this stunning view:
Seriously, it’s views like this that make all the stress and travelling all worth it. At that moment, I no longer cared about my London problems and I was ready embrace all things LA.
We landed in LAX at around 7pm and if I’m honest, the airport looked a bit a little tired and in need of a refresh. I wouldn’t be spending much time here so onwards to the City of Angels.
But, figuring out where to meet the Uber driver proved a little difficult. After being in a confined seat for 11 hours, all I wanted to do was go for a jog. We soon realised the Uber pickup was upstairs, so we dragged our luggage up the escalator and waited for our driver to arrive. It was pretty astounding to see how busy LAX was as an airport, with 5 terminals and roughly 5 lanes of traffic mirroring outside. I know I complained about Stansted Airport being busy, but this was something else.
Our Uber driver came within 2 minutes and the fare estimate (Roughly $25) I’d received was much cheaper than the taxi prices I’d looked at online (Between $70 and $80). It definitely pays to find out from people who have been before, live in LA or just doing a little online research.
We shoved our bags in and made our way to The Beverly Hilton. It took around 20 minutes and I was in love with all the palm trees we saw on the way. I couldn’t help comparing it to New York, which I visited earlier this year in the dark of Winter. LA seemed very quiet on a Sunday evening, whereas New York was a little more alive and buzzy. But again, I couldn’t make such a comparison when I’d barely been in LA a few hours.
We arrived at the iconic The Beverly Hilton and I was surprised to see how hidden it was from the busy street. I could see why it was popular with celebrities and home to the Golden Globe Awards as it offered complete privacy.
One thing I hate about the whole travelling malark is just feeling eh and miserable after a long journey. All you wanna do is get to your hotel, take a shower and sleep. If I could afford to, I would definitely travel first class. Alas, I cannot, so like the economy, I will stick to my confined space for now and repeat to myself ‘it’s not about the journey, it’s about the destination’.
Our check-in at The Beverly Hilton was super smooth, so we proceeded to our room to get some much-needed sleep. We’d planned on going out for drinks but we would have missed our reservation anyway by the time we got ready. Our room was classic, spacious and I loved you could see the Beverly Hilton sign from our window as well as the mountains in the distance.
We realised we hadn’t eaten since the plane journey, so my friend and I sat there for a good half an hour debating about what to eat – room service or UberEats?
You know when you’re so hungry you can’t decide what you want and you just get even more irritated because you’re hungry? Ugh. In the end, UberEats won and we ordered Chinese food from a place called ‘Tasty Wok Cuisine’. If it has tasty in the name it has to be good right?
The food came in around 30 minutes and it worked out much cheaper than ordering room service. The portion sizes in the US are insane and if anything it kinda makes me sad to know so much food is being wasted. The food was SO good, not knowing if it tasted better because we were so hungry or it was actually really good?
We then watched a little X Factor and fell asleep; after all it was 5am UK time.
Jet lag is a b!tch.
Char xo
Kayleigh Zara says
I hate flying to the USA it always make me feel so ill and I get the worse jet pack! I can agree that the views are gorgeous though. Hope you had a lovely time x
Sincerely Sarah says
Your nails are GORJ! I love that green shade. The journey sounded stressful but your hotel sounds and looks lovely! xx
Sincerely, Sarah xx
http://www.sincerelysarah.net
Memoirs & Musings (Char) says
Thanks so much Sarah! Its all about the destination in the end <3 xxxx