A Day in LA

Good morning to everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this thanksgiving weekend spent with family and friends. It has been awhile since I have updated you all on my adventures. Last month I flew quite a lot. From one side of the country to the other in 3 days, literally!

The farthest I have ever been west has been to Arizona, about 3 years ago. Daniel had a business trip out in Los Angeles for a week last month. I decided to hop on a flight in the middle of the week to see what all the talk is about. I would only have a full day to spend there, so I immediately started my research on the best places to visit. I also know that LA is hard to maneuver in, so I also researched the best ways to get around the city without it costing me a ton of money.

On a Wednesday morning around 10am, I depart Little Rock and fly to Dallas for my layover. I then board my 3 hour flight to Los Angeles. I arrive, get my bags and start looking for the FlyAway bus to take me to downtown LA. I researched easiest ways to get from LAX to downtown and they really talked up these FlyAway buses. I watched a YouTube video on how the process went and it looked super easy. It only cost me $9.75 and was a really nice bus! I will link the helpful YouTube video here. I also took the time to download the Tap app, which is a ticket transit app only used around greater LA. It makes it easier when it’s time to pay for your transportation by just taping your phone on the sensor. It is accepted on 26 transit systems, including the LA Metro train, which was super helpful.

One of the FlyAway bus drop-off locations is the downtown Union Station. From Union Station I got a Uber to the hotel, Hilton Checkers Los Angeles, a little over a mile down the road. The Uber was way cheaper from Union Station rather than from LAX. By the time I arrived at the hotel, it was already dark. I dropped off my bags at the room and joined Daniel upstairs on the rooftop bar for dinner and a drink. The city lights were beautiful at night!

Thursday was my only full day in LA before having to catch a flight on Friday. So, I had to check out all the “must-see” places! I got to sleep in and went downstairs for some delicious breakfast at the hotel. It was nice to just sit and relax with some coffee. I had Brioche French Toast & it was so yum! After Daniel was finished with his meetings for the day, we rode the LA Metro train over to the Santa Monica pier. I had never seen or touched the pacific ocean before. It was so beautiful, especially with all the mountains around it. The wind was a little chilled for it being October in the city where it’s supposedly 70 degrees and sunny year round.

I wanted to see Beverly Hills and Rodeo drive, so that’s where we went next. The area was so cute! Very clean, many restaurants, and nice shops. For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Wally’s, two streets down from Rodeo drive. It’s a wine and cheese bar that had truffle on almost every dish they serve. We ordered the wood oven baked brie for our appetizer and then the pizzetta black truffle for an entrée. Each dish had slices of truffle you could taste in every bite. So good! I also bought a small jar of their truffle honey to bring back home. We took some last minute pictures around Beverly Hills and went back to our hotel.

We had an early flight to Dallas to meet up with some friends and then the following day, we flew to Orlando, FL with them and went to Universal Studios & Walt Disney World. So, like I said, we flew from one end of the country to the other haha. I know that sounds crazy, but we had a lot of fun! We never get tired of being on airplanes!

Surprisingly, I was not super impressed with LA like I thought I would be. I’m not sure if I went to all the right places or stayed in the right area. It’s nice to say that I have now been to California, but I would love some recommendations for when I plan to go back. I have also heard San Diego is a fun time, so I would like to visit that area as well. What do you recommend to do in LA or San Diego? Neat attractions? Night life? Beaches? Restaurants and shopping? I would love to hear your California experiences!

Until next time…

Love yourself xoxo