Visiting Los Angeles for the first time

The first thing I learnt during our trip to Los Angeles was to never ever book a flight with a layover only because it’s a little bit cheaper. Our first 9 hour flight from Paris to Chicago was fine (I collected 10 ways to survive a long distance flight here) – but then we got stuck there because our second flight was delayed by a couple of hours. We got to Los Angeles at night, after a 24 hour journey, and basically fell asleep right away – which ended up being a good thing though, because I didn’t have any jet lag at all! Despite the 9 hour time difference.

We woke up early the first morning and were out exploring around 8 am, after getting breakfast at a 7-Eleven. Since it was Sunday, there was basically no one around. We walked around the streets and along the beach at Santa Monica, took approximately 1000 pictures because everything looks beautiful with palm trees, and enjoyed the sun.

Since we had found a parking at Santa Monica that allowed us to park for free for 90 minutes, we decided not to stay longer and come back later that day. So we went to Venice beach and strolled along the canals (definitely a thing to do!). Here’s something I learned: If you want to leave your car in an outdoor parking, be careful with the little spikes that come out the ground at the exit – if you try to drive in the wrong way, your tires will probably be dead – and I wouldn’t recommend stepping on those, either.

We ate at an In-N-Out (we had to try a local fast food that doesn’t exist in France! And it was really good) and went back to Santa Monica for shopping (Matt didn’t really appreciate it… but I did).

One thing I had heard a LOT about Los Angeles was that the traffic is terrible. However, we found that if you avoid peak times, it really isn’t bad at all! We didn’t have any trouble whatsoever, neither on Sunday nor on Monday when we left for Las Vegas. You can also use the carpool lanes if you’re 2 or more people. Another fun fact: you can have a beer and still drive. We checked. 😉

For the rest of the day, we drove to the Sunset strip and had some drinks (I just love getting Iced Tea in the USA! In Europe it usually consists of more sugar than anything else which is so gross! ), and through Beverly Hills all the way to Hollywood Boulevard. We never had any trouble with parking – you just have to be careful because some car parks are crazy expensive, but we always found a cheaper option not far away. If you park on the street, make sure that the sides of the sidewalk aren’t painted red (which means parking is prohibited) and always check the signs on the side of the road.

I found the Walk of Fame to be super busy and crazy, totally unlike the rest of the city! We didn’t stay very long, but it was absolutely worth seeing!

In the evening, we drove up to the Griffith Observatory to get a view on the Hollywood sign and the city of Los Angeles from above, which was so cool! It would be a great place to see the sunset, too, but we were too hungry to wait.

To me, Los Angeles seems super chilled for such a big city! I would love to spend more time there to go to the beach and everything, but one and a half days were also enough for us to get quite a good overview.

What are your favourite things to do in Los Angeles?