Los Angeles Tour

    I booked a mini vacation to Los Angeles because I wanted to bring meaning to all of those magical places that I had dreamed about for my entire life.  Names like Beverly Hills, Melrose Avenue, Sunset Strip, La Brea Tar Pits, TCL Chinese Theater, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Venice Beach and Muscle Beach were exactly as I had imagined as I saw plenty of buff guys and beautiful women.  In Santa Monica, I saw people fishing off of a pier, a man blowing huge soap bubbles for the children to enjoy, and hawkers everywhere.  Rodeo Drive had stores for all of the exclusive brands, statues of gorillas and tigers for some unknown reason, and a huge silver sculpture of a woman’s torso.  And, of course, I had to get a picture of myself pointing at the Hollywood sign while visiting the Griffith Observatory.  

   The highlight of my long weekend was visiting the Reagan Library and the Getty Museum.  The Reagan was impressive because it housed Air Force One and Marine One.  A special pavilion made mostly of glass was built around the aircrafts and my tour allowed me to walk through both of them.  The Getty is made up of a complex of buildings that were every bit a piece of artwork as the paintings that they housed.  A special tram service took tourists from their cars to the front entrance because The Getty is such a popular destination that everyone had to park a long distance away.

    For some reason, the tour guides felt the need to point out the darker side of L.A.  For example, they pointed out where the following celebrities died of a drug overdose: River Phoenix at the Viper Room, Marilyn Monroe in Brentwood, John Belushi at the Mormont Hotel, and Whitney Houston at the Beverly Hilton.  It was sad to recall these deaths but the tourists want to know about them.  

   My long weekend began with the hop on, hop off, “Big Bus” sightseeing tour so that I could familiarize myself with the attractions of Los Angeles.  After that, I took an Uber everywhere, which was expensive but it saved me a lot of time by avoiding public transportation.  The drivers always add a little spice to my trips.  Sammy was my first driver and he made the sign of the cross before merging onto I-10 because Los Angeles is notorious for its bad traffic and a little prayer to God couldn’t hurt.  He didn’t do it for show as Sammy didn’t realize that I was watching him.  Joe was my first tour guide and after seven hours in the driver’s seat I could see that he had enough of the bad drivers.  At the TCL Chinese Theater, our last stop, he honked at another driver and rolled down to window to call him a moron.  Tour guides usually are better at staying calm but Joe was clearly worn out.  My next Uber driver was Rondo, an immigrant who thought that the U.S. should intervene to solve the problems that the warlords are causing in his native country of Haiti.  Usually the Uber drivers are not that talkative but Anthony was from Philadelphia and he spent the whole ride talking about politics and of his dislike  of California Governor Gavin Newsom. 

   This was a flawless trip because I was prepared for it and am getting pretty good at travel.  For me, the fun of it is to put all of the pieces together for each vacation like it is one big puzzle.  I’ll start off by finding a city that has some attractions that I would like to see then I’ll book a hotel near that attraction or a transportation hub.  I’ll purchase the tour tickets next and the last thing that I will buy are the plane tickets because, with so many airlines, they are the easiest to get.  For Los Angeles, I took the 6:00 am flight out of Louisville and was on the tour bus in L.A. at 11:00.  It was like getting an extra day for free and if my flight was delayed for any reason then I had given myself some wiggle room.  This trip went like clockwork and I take pride in that.

   Over time I have learned some invaluable lessons when it comes to travel.  The first is to always get to the attraction early.  My appointed time to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, was at 10:30 but the guard let me in at 9:00.  This meant that I could relax and explore the other exhibits at the Reagan Library for an hour and a half before taking an Uber to the Getty Museum.  It felt good to not be in a hurry for the rest of the day.

   A couple of more lessons are to stay hydrated  and eat whenever you can.  I carry a bottle of water with me at all times and was always on the lookout for a McDonalds or a Subway, even if I just had breakfast at the hotel’s buffet.  I also carry a backpack with me which contains my journal and a book to read in case I have some unexpected down time.  Finally, I always wear a jacket that has zippers on the pockets so that my iPhone recharger and its wires don’t come spilling out.  It is very easy to leave things behind on an airplane or an Uber.

   No single attraction was worth this intense trip to Los Angeles but, in the aggregate, it was a great mini vacation.  Usually, after visiting another city, I think that I could move to that place after seeing their attractions.  But not L.A..  It is too expensive, too crowded, and too spread out for me to ever want to live there.  For example, every Uber cost between $70.00 and $100.00 and it took forty minutes to an hour to get anywhere.  That is another reason why I like to travel; it makes me realize what a great life I have in Louisville and now I know that I have no desire to live in Los Angeles.  Still, it is one more place that I can scratch off of my bucket list and I am already preparing for my next trip when my wife and I take a cruise around the islands of Japan.