Los Angeles/San Diego - USA Living

After spending my first day in LA checking out Santa Monica Pier, the following morning I headed to downtown LA to go to the Central Market, visit Little Tokyo and just have a stroll around. Unfortunately, none of it was particularly appealing or worth visiting, in my opinion. Yes, some areas look nice, but really nothing to write home about.

I was hoping that the following day would be better, as it was time to check out Hollywood.
The night before, I met two other travelers and we decided to go together. Starting at Sunset Boulevard (another bit of a disappointment), we walked over to the Walk of Fame. That was quite cool and buzzing, but that was already it. It felt very touristy and I did not really connect with the area. Even taking the bus to the Griffith Observatory to get a view of the famous Hollywood sign was nice, but not something very memorable.

In the evening, I suggested going to a LA Dodgers baseball game. So we left Hollywood and took the bus to the stadium. It was a good game (Dodgers lost but we saw quite a few home runs) and I had fun sitting there, watching the game, the people, the food and everything else. We had some cheese nachos and figured out that it had a total of 1600 calories per portion!!!

The next day was the 4th July, i.e. America's independence day. So in the early afternoon, we headed to Venice Beach, walked along the beach and just sat down, had a couple of drinks, watched people and life pass by and simply soaked in the atmosphere. It was busy, but the beach and its surroundings had a good vibe and people were happy and out and about in the sunshine having a good time. It was a good afternoon.

In the evening, we, of course, watched the fireworks on the beach, which I would describe as the most chaotic firework I have ever seen. There was absolutely no coordination and people set off fireworks from literally everywhere - the beach, the car park, the pier, from rooftops, among cars, among people. I would be surprised if there were no accidents. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was quite fun - even if dangerous - and some of the fireworks were really beautiful, but what I will take away from it is the chaos. Even the police showed up, but I think they had no idea how to handle the situation and looked pretty lost. A funny way to end my time in LA.

The next morning, all Germans in the hostel watched Germany play against Spain in the Euros. At the end of the game, I was picked up by Faith, a travel friend I met in Antigua Guatemala 1.5 years ago and who lives in California. After drinking the biggest Margaritas that I have seen in my life, we drove to her family close to San Diego, chilled out during the day and in the evening went to see an open air oldtimer exhibition and ended the day with some delicious pizza.

The next day was Faith's birthday, and we all celebrated it by driving to the pretty Seaport Village in San Diego, drinking beers, eating some very delicious tacos and admiring the atmosphere by the water. It was a sunny day and we laughed a lot, enjoying each others' company, talking about all things travel and just living life in general.

It was a really nice last full day in the US for me. Yes, I obviously have not seen a lot of California and could've spent loads more time there to explore. But the US is expensive, I was there during the middle of a heatwave (>40 degrees), I still felt exhausted from my travels and the US is a place that I have on my list for when I am older. After all, it has amazing national parks that are probably still going to be there in a few decades - I hope. They were simply too expensive for me this time.

But yeah, I enjoyed my time with Faith and her family much more than the few days in Los Angeles and it is a city that I do not necessarily need to go back again. San Diego might be worth another more in-depth shot, but I was glad to leave the US and continue my travels.

Especially, as my next destination is my favorite place in the entire world and I cannot wait to go there again - Antigua in Guatemala.Lue lisää