• Hannah Pallubinsky

USA west coast

A 26-day adventure by Hannah Read more
  • Day 21: Hermosa Beach and off to Vegas

    September 3, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    The rest day was badly needed and felt much better after a good night’s sleep. Had a nice brunch at Hermosa beach and walked around a bit. Liked this area better than St Monica and Venice, actually! Lots of sports and games going on, live music, happy people, everybody enjoying the Labour Day weekend 😎🥳 then packed my stuff (obviously forgot half of the things I needed, and paid for it later 😭 literally and figuratively) and went off to the airport to fly to Vegaaaas 😁 Nevada = state no. 4 on this trip!Read more

  • Day 22: Vegas 🤪

    September 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Waking up to a call from the Grand Canyon Tour Company to ask about my whereabouts - bc I booked the tour on the wrong day 😭 they were kind enough to re-book me to the 5th of September though, so I’ll still be visiting the place I actually came to Las Vegas for 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

    Then got my head together a little bit and headed out for some exploration of this wild city, and oh my, its very wild. It’s also impossible to focus your gaze on one thing at a time, as there are simply too many things to look at 😀 it’s crazy, but also interesting for sure, and certainly worth a visit. I wandered around the city for the whole day, and in the evening, I went to a Cirque du Soleil show 🤩 it wasn’t allowed to take pictures though, so I just took one sneaky shot.

    The wildest thing I experienced in Las Vegas so far was a public bus ride from the Strip to Fremont Street. It included an eviction of every single passenger from the bus bc of somebody who didn’t pay the fare and a thereby very pissed off bus driver, then scramming onto a second bus, then a fist fight and lots of yelling, then a Lamborghini in a bus lane that we nearly hit by maybe 2 cm followed by at least 1 minute of honking the horn before the Lamborghini made space for the bus, then some very drunk and very loud flirting across the aisle. So. Much. Fun. 😂😂😂
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  • Day 23: the grand Grand Canyon

    September 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    As everybody always says: photos just don’t do justice. This thing needs to be seen through actual eyes, not a lens.

    Today: full day tour of the Grand Canyon, driving past Josua Tree Forest in Arizona (5th state!!), Eagle Point, Guano Point, and the Hoover Dam. Everything was super impressive!

    Back at the Mirage, I consumed a 10$ ice cream consisting of 1 (!!!) scoop of chocolate! I thought 1 scoop couldn’t be all that bad, but I should have known better 🥴 then some wandering around the casino floor past the slot machines and tables, watching the desperate gamblers loose mostly.

    Our tour guide said today: the only way to make money in a Las Vegas casino is to wander around, find a freshly mopped tile floor, make yourself slip, and visit the website injuredinahotel.com. They’ll settle for 15.000$ 😂 Thinking about trying this tomorrow.
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  • Day 24: more Vegas, then back to LA

    September 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Breakfast in Vegas, at the Mirage Starbucks: 1 cappuccino and 1 pain au chocolat for 15$ 😂 The last few hours in Sin City, or also the Atomic City (😱), I spent exploring the Fremont area a bit more. This is the original downtown LV, where the first casino and hotel were built (the Golden Nugget). Fremont is so much cooler than the Strip!

    After another interesting bus ride, I arrived at LAS and had an uneventful flight back to LAX. I spent the night at Hermosa Beach (in the hostel there 😂 not at the actual beach). Last night of this looooong trip 😭 the nostalgic feelings are starting to kick in.
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  • Day 25: the final countdown 👋🏼 🇺🇸

    September 7, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    A final good morning to Los Angeles 🥹

    Mixed feelings over here - of course I’m missing home, all of you, the cats, my own bed, Aachen and cheap healthy food (😂), but the weather is so beautiful here now (as compared to before Las Vegas), and I would have liked to explore more places e.g San Diego), but I guess it’s always good to leave some things for a next potential trip.

    Managed to arrange my bags to fit all my stuff (okay, I have 1 more bag than before 😂), then spent some time at the beach, had a last coffee in Beverly Hills, drove around a bit, and then made my way to the airport. First stop: dropping off the car at the rental agency. And now the drama began. I didn’t have a single problem with my credit card so far, but at the last gas stop, the machine swallowed my card for 30 minutes 😭 add in crazy traffic, not being able to find the car rental place (which did not have a single sign outside the building 😡), and I wanted to cry 😭 in the end, I made everything in time. Once through the check-in and TSA, I allowed myself a big fat burger and canned chardonnay 😂😂😂 USA-style.

    Only 5 minutes to boarding the flight to Dublin. See you all very soon 😍😍😍
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    Trip end
    September 8, 2023