HOLLYWOOD IS WHERE I’M AT!! 🍹🍹
I made that first line seem like I’m having the time of my life drinking cocktails when I have yet to have an alcoholic beverage haha.

I made the silly mistake this morning in San Francisco of not checking when the BART started running. I got to the BART station at 7.30am and it didn’t open until 8am with the first train leaving for the airport at 8.30am.
So I was there a whole hour early with my backpack on rearing to go for my 10am flight at SFO with no transport. In my defence I did tell the lady at the hostel where I was going and she didn’t say anything about it not running that early…

It was a a Sunday morning in SF so it was light out but there wasn’t anyone around apart from the odd morning runner and 50 homeless guys with their trolleys and bags filled to the brim with their life in it.
And also me. With my bag with my life in it.

I ended up calling a shuttle and they said it wouldn’t get to me until 8am so I said that was fine and waited outside some nice hotel. I pretty much sat on the sidewalk as there were no chairs or anything and took some pictures of my surroundings and the ole’ selfie snap.

(By the way my arm looks so weird and long in this picture)

At just after 8am I got a call on my phone but as I was already doing something on it I accidentally clicked ‘end call’ instead of picking it up.
I assumed it was my shuttle company so tried calling back and it was engaged. I looked around me and couldn’t see a shuttle so I just waited a bit longer.

Finally, I got through to them and he said that the shuttle had come and hadn’t seen me waiting so left without me :|:|
Turned out I was at like the side entrance of this hotel and not at the main one. That’s probably why they missed me 😧

Eventually it all sorted itself out, I got to the airport on time and checked in. Paid $25 for my bag with Delta Airlines and had to wait around for just over an hour as my 10am flight got delayed until 11am.
The SFO Delta terminal isn’t that interesting with all that time to spare. I did a bit of yoga (yes they have a yoga room at the airport 😮) and walked around the 3 main cafes being very indecisive about what I wanted to eat but ended up getting nothing and started watching Orange Is The New Black on my tablet.
Got through 3 episodes by the time I got to LA 🙂

I got a Super shuttle from the LAX airport to my hostel in Hollywood. There was a guy in my shuttle called Kevin and he recognized me from staying at the hostel in SF. Turned out he was now going to the same hostel as me and he’s from NZ! Small world aye.
Tomorrow we’re both going to do the Warner Brothers Studio Tour so that should be interesting.

When I got to my hostel, I made my bed, Un packed some stuff and put my phone on charge. I’m staying at USA hostel in Hollywood and so far so good! I’m in a 6 bedroom female dorm room and we have our own bathroom attached which is good so you can leave your stuff in there and not have to carry shampoo and conditioner, your razor and soap down the hall with you just for a shower in the morning 😩

When I arrived there was a girl called Joanne who’s in the same room as me. We made friends quickly and decided to head to Mels Diner in Hollywood Boulevard for some late lunch.
I experienced a ‘real American diner experience’ but without the burger as I knew I’d never be able to finish it.
I did however order the nicest oreo shake I’ve probably ever had and an appetiser of chilli fries.
Which I also couldn’t finish 😣

Jo and I headed down hollywood boulevard after that and looked at some of the stars, went to the Chinese theatre and did a bit of window shopping. We’re so close to the Hollywood walk of fame (like it’s literally on the street next to us) that I saw all that pretty quickly.
I’m going to do some shopping tomorrow as I only had a quick look in Sephora and Victoria Secrets!
Not sure if I’ll buy much though, I might save that for New York City at the end of my contiki tour.

(Ew while writing this I can hear someone vomiting in the parking lot next to my room)
As we’re next to Hollywood boulevard there’s heaps of homeless people around and some of them seem to stay at this big parking lot right next door to the hostel.
My window faces the parking lot (I do however have a curtain and a wire window so they can’t see me) and we’re separated by a barbed wire fence. It just doesn’t block out the noise!

Anyways, I also visited a candy store in Hollywood and then we headed back to the hostel.

They even had a picture of Eminem MADE out of M&M’s haha

We chilled out the front for a bit (as the front of the hostel is all privately inclosed) and talked with 2 girls from the UK.
One of them, Helen ended up coming with us to Ghirardelli – finally I know!! And we had some drinks there. Like sugary drinks haha. They specialise in ice cream and chocolate but I wasn’t feeling one after my shake from the diner today so I ordered a raspberry smoothie and it was amazing!
I’m deff going back tomorrow though and getting a proper sundae. 🍨🍧

As we got back to the hostel, it was around 10pm so Jo and me headed upstairs to the lounge and watched a stand up comedy gig for a couple of hours. Helen had to pack her bags as her and her friend were leaving to do Trek America in the morning.

The comedy gig was put on by the hostel. Like they paid amateur stand up comedians to come in and do a few skits. Some were average but the last few were funny.

Now it’s 1.30am! I’ve had a shower and crawled in to bed. I spent ages in the shower scrubbing off my fake tan. It went all patchy so I had to scrub it off with a face cloth haha. That’s what happens when I don’t moisturise!
(I also can’t tan in the sun so I use artifical tanner instead, hence the shower mares)
I’m going to try and find a nice sugar scrub tomorrow when I go shopping.
Finally, I get a sleep in!!

Xx