Category: World of Travel

Venice: not all it’s cracked up to be

April 16, 2011
Venice Beach, CA
Venice Beach

Venice Beach in California that is. My Lonely Planet Encounter guide says “Venice is just plain cool.” It then follows up by describing the oceanfront walk as “… a little bit crazy and a whole lot of fun.” I beg to differ.

Perhaps I should mention it right up front here, that I’m not a beachy person. Going to the beach has never really interested me. It’s a whole lot of sand that sticks to sweat and vestiges of salt water. It’s a whole bunch of waves pounding incessantly forming a tinnitus in my head. I just don’t find it a relaxing experience. I have seen a lot of beautiful beaches in my time and spent a good two months traversing the Brazilian coast where after a couple of hours at the beach, I was chomping for something more active and adventurous than lazing on a sarong. So for me, there is rarely anything charming about a city beach.

I went to Venice with Movie Lass to see the beach, walk the esplanade and observe the circus I had imagined it to be. I was kind of surprised to see the market stalls setting up as we arrived on a Saturday around 11am. That and getting a $15 park just one street back. I had been told to go on a weekend to see it at its craziest yet here we were in a relatively deserted place with crowds I would expect to find on a weekday, not a glorious 30°C Saturday.

Venice scene
Old guy rocking out in Venice

We started off checking out some stalls, for essentials like hats and sunglasses, but didn’t buy anything. In hindsight, we should have bought the hats when we first saw them because the sun started to beat down rays of redness. We wandered past Muscle Beach, an outdoor gymnasium where I saw a really toned chick with ginormous breasts giving instructions to two muscle-bound guys, but otherwise, it was fairly quiet and there weren’t any other dudes with thighs like huge hocks of ham working out.

It’s obligatory to dip one’s feet in the opposite side of the Pacific, so we crossed the wide stretch of sand to the shore where people were sunbathing, kids were building sandcastles and playing in the shallows, girls taking glamour shots of each other with the waves in the background and people running on the wet sand. Just your regular city beach. The water was freezing cold, yet there were still kids running in there.

Freebies
When they were handing out freebies, Movie Lass & I were there. Ping pong balls and free soft drink.

We walked north towards Santa Monica where the pier juts out ostentatiously and if we were so inclined, it would have been a good walk to go the whole way. But instead we had to feed our hunger so we walked back to the boardwalk and got a table at the Figtree Cafe, first in the burning sun, and then we moved to a table in the shade, although it wasn’t as great a place to watch the people go by.

I had been expecting it to be circus, with crazy people everywhere, weirdos, and glamazons, and fitness freaks. I guess I expected a lot more entertainment from the people watching than there was. Sure, there was a guy standing on a stool wearing a leopard print loincloth and holding real looking rubber snakes in his hands, and the guy spruiking tickets to see a two-headed turtle, but that was about it.

Venice canals
The beautiful canals of Venice, CA

Aside from the canals, which are really beautiful and peaceful, I didn’t find much to love in Venice. Maybe there’s some more charm for me hidden in the streets away from the beach, but since I’m not into the weed scene or beach scene, Venice is not my kind of place. I’d be keen to hear your thoughts about Venice Beach. What are your memories or experiences? Would you recommend it to your friends as a place to visit?

In the studio backlot

April 14, 2011
Central Perk set
Kicking back on the Friends couch.

Movie Lass and I travelled around the Warner Bros studios in an oversized golf cart today on our VIP Studio Tour. I was very excited to do something really touristy, as none of my adventures so far seem to have ticked the “you are totally a tourist” box.

We started off in the back lot, seeing all the facades that they make to be any old street in New York or Chicago or other place. Different places were pointed out as locations from scenes in movies like The Mask and Spiderman, and also Central Perk from Friends, which definitely holds a soft spot for Warner Bros as their most successful TV series.

Passing some craft services set up, I took photos of the picnic chairs and tables and the cakes on display, ostensibly to inspire my next stint at craft services on a shoot.

Then we saw a scene of The Event being filmed, it was a driving scene, so we saw the car being towed by a truck with all the lights and cameras rigged to it. That was pretty cool, although I have no idea what this TV show is.

A stop at the costume museum was fascinating as we saw costumes worn by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, by the cast of Inception and The Town as well as some older films and little props and pieces from the sets. I liked seeing Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Cobb’s totem from Inception, the spinning top. Upstairs was a whole floor dedicated to Harry Potter and the most exciting bit, getting to sit on a stool and have the Sorting Hat put you in your house. I was delighted when it didn’t even hesitate to put me in Gryffindor! I think I would be good friends with Hermione and I would tease Ron mercilessly.

We checked out some soundstages, massive warehouses with rigging all in the roof and soundproofed walls. We were told how the pirate ship from the Goonies was built in Stage 16, as was the ship in Poseidon and that the first dream sequence of Inception had been built in there.

At the art department section we dodged trucks bringing back props to the warehouse and got to have our photo taken in Central Perk, preserved solely for the tourists on these tours.

I also went slightly shaky and excited as we got to tour the studio set for The Mentalist, one of my favourite tv shows. Whilst they were filming on location, we got to have a look around the headquarters and see Patrick’s leather couch in person. I loved that.

All up it was great to look through the studios and get a bit of an insight, but after having been on a film set myself, it would have been good to hear more about the filmmaking process rather than just bits of trivia which were interesting, but not particularly useful.

Snow in Sequoia

April 10, 2011
Making a snowman
J preparing the base for a snowman - but then the light turned green so we had to abandon him

When friends Ricardo, Astra and Jolena invited J and I camping for the weekend, I had no idea how cold it would be.

They did say to pack warmly because we were going to the mountains, but my April weather radar is way out of whack. I am still thinking Mildura weather, lovely days in the 20’s, with cool nights, but still easy camping weather. I guess because April brings with it Easter and that is one the busiest time of year for campers in Mildura along the Murray River. In my wildest dreams I would never have believed that I would be seeing snow fall on my tent, but it is the Rockies after all.

Sequoia trees
A stand of sequoia trees

Upon entering Sequoia National Park in California (about 4 hours drive from Los Angeles) we were told by the ranger that the campsite we wanted to go to was for snow camping only and we’d have to camp in the carpark. So we opted for a lower campsite at Buckeye Flat instead. I certainly wasn’t prepared for snow camping and I’m sure my $30 tent I’d picked up at Walmart on the way would agree with me.

Snowed in
Not sure how you get inside

The campsite at Buckeye Flat was beautiful and we were met by the roar of the rapids on the river below. Being late in the afternoon, we made a fire and set up the tent for J and I as Ricardo, Astra and Jolena were sleeping in their van. As we were sitting around toasting marshmallows and making s’mores, it started snowing. Snowflakes fluttered by the fire and whilst this could be pretty, it was just pretty scary. J and I hooked up the tarp we’d also bought at Walmart as an extra barrier to the snow. After a little bit of patchy snow, it stopped, but I’m glad we used the tarp.

Icicles
Icy scenery

The next day we drove up to the sequoia trees. As we climbed higher there were signs about chains for tyres, and we passed snow drifts on the verges. While we were pulled up at a traffic light due to roadworks up ahead, we got out and started having a snowball fight. It was lots of fun and we encouraged those in the car behind us to also get out and have some snowplay.

White maze
The snow maze

Driving higher, I had my face pressed against the window at the magical snow scenery. It was just like a Christmas card, with the pine forest dusted in white frosting. The only thing steering away from this image were the big, rough, red trunks of the sequoias interspersed throughout. I was overwhelmed and lost for words.

Getting out to admire the 2,200 year old General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world when measured by mass, I romped about in the snow, eating mouthfuls of fresh snow, making snowballs and crunching in the winter wonderland.

I have never seen so much snow in my life. There was six feet of snow, higher than the car, so it felt like we were driving around in a white walled maze. Buildings had only their roofs showing, and even then they were covered in a blanket of white. In some places, big icicles jagged across porches. It was all so foreign feeling, yet wondrous and I looked upon the whole scene with amazed, innocent eyes.

Magical snow scene
Magical snow scene that blew my mind

I don’t think snow will ever cease to amaze me. Unless of course I live somewhere where I have to shovel my driveway every day in winter.

On the 5 freeway

April 8, 2011

Our little road trip to Sequoia National Park is fascinating in itself.

We’re taking the 5 freeway north from LA and we’ve driven through the snow where little derelict shacks are made beautiful with white frosting dusted on top.

We stopped at a massive service station where you could watch people come and go all day.

In seemingly the middle of nowhere is an IKEA distribution centre. Then the landscape turns to farming with vines, crops and stonefruit with the odd oil well pumping.

It is such a mixed bag, but right now, about 15 miles out of Bakersfield there are gum trees lining the freeway and it gives me the comforting feeling of home.

Exit the freeway

March 26, 2011
Doorman's Chair
The doorman gets the best seat in the house, although the view of the stage is pretty shoddy.

Astra and I were headed out for the evening to see a musical comedy show, Lost Moon Radio, produced by a (hopefully soon to be) friend I met last week.

We had just got on the freeway and I was telling Astra how I like to sit on about 55 miles per hour (not quite 90kmph) when all of a sudden all I could see in my mirrors was a cop car with flashing lights and sirens blaring. I was being pulled over. I had a mini panic because I didn’t really know what to do. I moved into the far right lane and went to stop on the shoulder when over the megaphone I heard “Take the next exit”, so I kept going. The exit seemed to go on forever and there wasn’t anywhere to pull over. The cop could sense my hesitation and said “Exit the freeway! Exit the freeway!”

I continued to receive barked instructions over the megaphone, which were distorted and unintelligible as we passed under the freeway, so I trundled slowly on and got a commanding “STOP!” I made to turn and get my handbag off the back seat, but Astra warned me not to, just to stay still in case he got spooked about me pulling a weapon or something. Whilst I’ve not had to use it before, I’m sure I could use my handbag as a weapon, especially since I had the mean motorcycle bag with me, but that would be as close as I would get to carrying and using a weapon.

The cop appeared at Astra’s window with a torch. I pressed the button for it to wind down and he asked to see my registration papers and drivers license. He then told me that he’d pulled me over because my tail light was out. He didn’t really want to believe that I didn’t know that but said he would let me off with a warning. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to know when my lights aren’t working, and after just having picked Esmeralda up from the mechanic, it didn’t even cross my mind to check. But I promised to get it looked at the next day.

As the cop went to leave, he asked if I knew how to get back on the freeway, and I said “I have a GPS”.

Not that it helped. We went around in circles for a while as we ended up going north instead of south on the freeway and then east instead of west on an exit to turn around. Despite still feeling shaken, we could see the funny side of driving in circles.

For some reason, the GPS (whose name is Lori the Lunatic), kept telling me to exit the freeway way earlier than I had seen on my earlier Google Maps direction plot. Supremely confident in my ability to find my way, I ignored Lori every single exit until La Brea which is where I wanted to get off. Then I mucked it up and couldn’t get off so I had to wait until the Fairfax exit. Then Lori didn’t want to help me get on West Adams Boulevard, so Astra and I found that on our own and then proceeded to the address. However, after we passed La Brea I started to have my doubts about where Lori was trying to take us.

After a mile and a few blocks, I thought I’d best check the address. And well, human error does occur. It seems I’d typed in 3253 instead of 5253. I think a bit of dyslexia had kicked in there. So we turned around and finally made it to the venue on time – albeit via a most roundabout trip. I would love to see a print out of where we drove, there’d be comedy in that.

Lost Moon Radio Episode 9 was great (and worth the massive adventure to get there). There were some very talented people and some really funny pieces and it was a great opportunity to take advantage of the diverse entertainment on offer in LA. Though I didn’t get up and sing karaoke to the live band afterwards; that would have been bad entertainment.

Esmeralda my new green gem

March 2, 2011

After being in LA for a month, I have finally bought a car.

Car
Me and Esmeralda: the beginning of a great friendship

I won’t lie and say it’s been easy because being in LA without a car is tough. I was feeling hamstrung and completely dependent on my friends who had to go out of their way to take me places. But when I woke up today, I had a feeling that it would be all okay because I had come to a resolution in my head. If I didn’t get a car, I was going to hire one for a week.

Initially I was quite hesitant about driving on the opposite side of the road, however as the days and weeks passed I became a lot more confident and just wanted to get back behind the wheel again. It’s helpful that there is always traffic in LA and also the yellow lines painted down the road are a godsend for staying on the right side of the road.

I can’t even begin to imagine how much time I spent on Autotraders and Cars.com websites, trawling through car after car, trying to find a good car in my price range of $5000. Disappointed by the lack of vehicles, I even moved my budget up a thousand dollars, but still it was tricky to find something that I felt comfortable with. In the beginning I was looking for an SUV and had my heart set on a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Then when Gin and J got Brandon, I thought I could probably get away with having a smaller sedan that would a) fit into the second space for a compact car at our apartment b) be easier to park in general and c) would be more fuel efficient. Brandon’s big Jeep interior and roofracks could handle anything big and bulky that we would be transporting, so something smaller in the family would be fine.

I moved on to looking at Volkswagens. Mainly Passats and Jettas. I test drove a dodgy, smokey Jetta that a dealer wanted $6500 for. Then I test drove a private sale Passat which I made an offer on subject to it passing a mechanics inspection to my liking. That car didn’t even make it to the mechanic I had selected before it had an engine problem. So I dodged a bullet there. I also found out during my research that there are a number of engine problems with the Passat, for which a class action had been taken against Volkswagen for an oil sludge problem.

Disheartened, I finally did a search on Autotrader for any kind of car. I was that desperate. It threw up a few Volvos and on closer look and internet research, they looked to be a good car. So I called Good Vibes car dealer in North Hollywood this morning to see if the green 2000 Volvo s40 was still on their lot, as I’ve gone to a car yard before only to find the car I wanted to look at had been sold already, so it’s always good to call ahead.

J drove me in Brandon to the dealer and we had a good look at the green Volvo before going to see Steve the salesman. Steve was lovely and let us have a play in the car, checking how things worked, opening and shutting the sunroof, pulling down the split fold rear seats to see how flat they lay, getting in the front and then the back to check comfort levels, and wowing over the seatbelt for groceries in the boot. We then asked to go for a drive and after a Castle moment, the cars being detailed in the yard were moved to get the little green Volvo on the road.

The car was very comfortable to sit in. It felt really solid and safe on the road and it just felt good in general. Feeling rather excited, I decided that I wanted to buy it. We checked all the electrics again and found that the right brake and indicator bulbs had gone, so they were replaced for me without any hassle. I then let J go home while I spent a couple of hours filling in paperwork and organising insurance, chatting to Steve about how he loves the film Muriel’s Wedding, getting the skinny on all the paperwork and learning some new road rules.

Finally, after handing over a big wad of cash (predominantly $20 notes) and swiping my debit card for the remainder of the cost (which came in right on original budget), I got the keys to my new little Volvo. I sat in the driver’s seat and inhaled deeply a few times, holding the steering wheel and wearing a big smile. I adjusted the seat and mirrors, opened the sunroof a little and moved out onto the road. I was underway in my very own car, which is one that I would never have bought in Australia.

Getting home after a good run on the Hollywood Freeway, I even managed to ace a reverse park on the hill out in front of our place to cap off an exciting day. 

My new Volvo has been named Esmeralda. It means emerald in Spanish and my little green gem and I are going to be inseparable in LA.

Heading out on the freeway

February 11, 2011

Gin, J and I have headed off on an adventure in the hired Corolla. A drive on multiple freeways to San Diego.

Karen, our Australian GPS, helped us find our way from the 101 to the 5 to the 710 to the 5 to the 55 to the 1 and well, you get the drift, we were freeway whoring all over southern California.

Aside from the snaking entrances and exits, what fascinated me was driving in to San Diego at night. We came over a hill and before us lay two wide reflective lines of red and white lights like an 80’s arcade game. A product of the busy 6 lane freeway.

Everything is bigger in America.

I’m here

February 3, 2011
In the shadow of the Hollywood sign

I’ve finally arrived in LA after months of preparations and dreaming and saving, and well, it was a pretty good welcome. Clear blue skies, plenty of warm sunshine and the Hollywood sign greeted me.

After a shower it was down to the business of getting a US sim card for my phone. Easy peasy. T-mobile will give you a sim card and some pretty good prepaid deals without running a credit check, so it is a good option for travellers. Plus, unlike in Australia, it wasn’t a massive rigmarole of paperwork to get it. Here they have 3 digit prefixes which supposedly tell people where you are from. My rep Palmer asked what I wanted and I just stared blankly at him. 310, 323 and 123 mean nothing to me. So he said “I’ll give you a 310, that’s Beverly Hills, all the cool kids want that one”. So, I am now a cool kid with a 310 prefixed cell number. [yes, cell number, not mobile number, gotta get the lingo down because my pronunciation of data already got me funny looks]

I also called in to Target for a blow up mattress and pillow to get me by until a) we get our apartment and b) til I get a real bed. Another simple procedure.

And then it was lunch at Birds Cafe/Bar where I ordered the turkey baguette with brie and cranberry mayo that came with a side of sweet potato fries. It was delish, if oversized. I tucked into the sweet potato fries, these yummy little waffley looking things, but could only manage half of it. However, the waiter came over with a plastic container for me to take the other half home for later! Two meals in one, my kinda eating out.

Feeling a little sleepy around 3pm, I wandered up the road to a little supermarket in Hollywoodland where I came across my first Australian accents. Three guys had broken down and they wanted to know if I knew somewhere nearby they could have something to eat. I must have exuded some confidence about where I was going (I didn’t feel it) but then when they heard my fumbled response and Australian accent, they just wrote me off.

I think I’m still running on adrenaline, because I barely got any sleep on the plane last night, had 5 hours sleep each of the two nights before that and have lasted til 5pm since I got in at 7:30am. I look forward to sleeping on my new airbed tonight and seeing what tomorrow has in store for me.

Handy tip:
When coming to the US, always fill in the I-94 form, even if the airline staff tell you you only need the Customs Declaration. It could save you time if the officials then say you need it, as happened to me. So I ended up being one of the last three people to get my bags off the carousel. In fact, I was so late that airport staffed had already taken them off and loaded them on a trolley for me.

Surprise:
Airport parking was only $3 for about 30 minutes to an hour. Melbourne Airport’s is ridiculously expensive by comparison – $12.