US Trip - Part 3: LA, San Diego, Mexico

After Disneyland, the next part of my trip was to LA.  I was staying at UCLA as I was spending a few days doing some PhD research.  The campus is really nice and the houses in the surrounding streets were gorgeous (I don't think I want to know the prices!). 

I had decided just before I left Anaheim to book an overnight trip to San Diego, as lot and lots of people were telling me to go.

I arrived in LA on Thursday, and went to Santa Monica that night.

Friday late afternoon (after spending a day in a library - I sure know how to enjoy my vacations!) I took the Amtrak to San Diego.  It was actually a really nice trip down as you got to see a lot of Coastline.  I stayed at the US Grant in San Diego, more extravagant than where I would usually stay (as I take the attitude that why pay for a 5-star hotel unless you are going to be spending your holiday at the hotel!) but as it was only for one night decided to treat myself.  (It was also close enough to the train station to walk).  It was VERY nice, but realistically, all I did was sleep there!   

On the Saturday I had booked on a day trip where you spent the morning see highlights of San Diego (including a harbour cruise) and the afternoon in Tijuana, Mexico.  I'm glad I went to Mexico, partly for the novelty of "we are driving into a different country" which obviously you don't get to do in Australia, but honestly, I'm glad I only had a few hours there.  Keep in mind my observations are only based on a couple of streets in Tijuana, and I've heard that some other parts of Mexico are beautiful.  But honestly, in Tijuana you just have blocks and blocks of store owners harassing you to buy things, sometimes children, and it can get quite disheartening.   I really enjoyed San Diego though and wish I had had some more time there.  But Saturday night it was back to LA. The trip back (on the Amtrak) was not as pleasant as the trip down.  It was night so you don't see much, and there were quite a few rather loud tipsy passengers on board.  I was glad to finally get back to UCLA. 

 

USS Midway

Sea Lions seen from San Diego Harbour Cruise

The rest of my time in LA was spent between UCLA and seeing some of the "must-see" sights.  I visited Griffith Observatory where you get a great view of the Hollywood sign (and you can weigh yourself on different planets - on Mercury I'm less than 50 pounds - how is that for instant weight loss!), as well at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Graumann's Chinese Theatre, and Rodeo Drive.

You can't really see it - but the Hollywood sign is in the background somewhere!

My brother met me in LA as we were going to Vegas together.

I'm a Star Trek fan (as you will see shortly from my posts about Vegas!)

I did also go Universal Studios, where I had planned to spend a full day, but honestly, I just wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought (I'll explain why in a second) so I left in the afternoon.

It was still fun, and the Studio Tour was very interesting.

Houses from Desperate Housewives - seen on Studio Tour

Part of set from War of the Worlds

Bates Motel from Psycho

JAWS!

I also really enjoyed the Water World show.

The main problem for me was that a lot of the rides have the potential to cause motion sickness, which (although a lot better than I was a child), I still suffer from.  (E.G. The Simpsons Ride caused me to feel a bit green!)  I did enjoy the Jurassic Park ride (similar concept to Splash Mountain) but YOU WILL GET WET! 

And of course, I couldn't go without getting my photo taken with quite a few characters. 

Overall thoughts / tips for LA:

• Traffic is awful, no matter what time of day.  If you are getting taxis they won't be cheap because of this. Generally, you will also need to call for one.   
• Buses aren't as bad as people make them out to be.  Most times I caught them, just make use of the trip planner online (http://www.metro.net/).  However, just like Sydney, they aren't always reliable.  I was pleasantly surprised most of the time, but my first night when I was trying to get back from Santa Monica, I did wait over 45 minutes for a bus that was meant to come every 15 minutes. 
• Food is generally cheap, but prices do not include sales tax or tips.  (And on the topic of non-restaurant food - It was a joy to eat bananas every day - $0.69 a pound from the grocery store).
• CVS is a huge pharmacy and a lot of them have quite a large grocery selection as well.  There is one near the Chinese Theatre.
• If you want to avoid queues at Universal, buy a Front of Line Pass.  Even though I didn't spend a full day there, I'm glad I had one - otherwise, particularly in summer, it is VERY doubtful you will be able to see everything in one day.