Now that I am back. Also after 13 years man do I miss the best coast, Cali in some ways reminds me of Turkey, the climate is very very similar. Cold in the early morning and evening + warm/hot minus humidity during the day. I used to go there a lot when I was way younger even before we moved to US cause one of my dads close friends lives in Glendora since the 80's. There is some nostalgia to it for sure.
Started the trip by going to San Diego. Landed in LAX, grabbed the turo rental, which is located in quikpark as they don't allow those in regular parking spots. Waited the shuttle for it for a good 30-40 minutes.
Before that, but didn't really quite surprised me,
decided to go with a bigger bag that required to check in. At the baggage claim, I decided to use the mens room. While I saw one stall door that was open, I was surprised and greeted by a homeless lady talking to herself. Done my business. That's it.
Anyway grabbed the m440i vert, very nice car. Our belongings did fit to a brim of course, a large luggage, a carryon luggage and a backpack. Hit the start and the b58 just comes to life, gotta tame the beast down in rainy LA which of course people seem to drive like granny's.
Went straight to our accommodation in San Diego (after my first time in in n out), mostly on 405 and 5, which we did see the Pacific Ocean along the drive. Speaking of which, I find driving myself to be more calmer here, everyone goes 75-85, not often here I find someone going 50 in the left lane, nor someone cuts in front of you as if you're not there, treat other cars like traffic cones going at jail speeds, no hesitant drivers; all 4 of which, I see it on a VERY regular basis here in my neck of the woods. People know how to drive there compared to the DMV, people there drive like they have somewhere to go. Even when someone cuts me off, they accelerate, I never have to slow down (unlike DMV). Just today, I had a Tesla cut me off, I was on the far right, then forced me to slow down from 50 to 20
. That's enough of my driving ted talk.
Got to the hotel in SD, shower and all that Jazz and headed out to La Jolla, to see the sea lions. Ventured the area a little bit, never went to see downtown. Next day, had breakfast over at La Jolla, cruised around a little bit along the coast. After checking out, we drove along the pch 101 had some Pizza, stopped by encinitas. Hopped on the highway and went straight o Anaheim, for
Disney bug. She has never been to Cali before. We stayed at a Marriott but it turned out to be kind of a dump, for one, all the non-management front desk staff are being trained, which something tells me this place may have a high turnover, because it doesn't seem to run right. Gives me PTSD of the shitty marriott I worked at. Boy was I right,
wanted to take a shower when we arrived and wait for it, the bathtub faucet came out when she tried to open the shower head
immedietly marched to the front desk and told them whats up, they were quick enough to give me an even better room. In the end, before we left, when we walked barefoot, we noticed the housekeeping didn't really fully clean the floor. We noticed the housekeeping was just a boy who looks like 13 that doesn't speak english (poor guy). Which explains everything. It was clearly owned by a motel previously. Nonetheless, we had our fun at Disney,
a big fan and I just don't dislike it and go along with it, the pixar cars was pretty cool though along with food and wine festival, so daydrinking ftw.
Now Anaheim bound is over, headed over to El Segundo we go. We were super tired spending an entire day in Disney, quite the work out. The day we arrived to El Segundo, we decided it was a chill night and headed over to Santa Monica for dinner. My legs and thighs were still sore.
The next day consists of sightseeing, visiting a a few tourist attractions, Peterson Auto Museum was nice, but did not get the vault which I kinda regret due to questionable duration. It was cool to see some things for sure. Stopped by to see Toretto's house, of course
and all that jazz. At the time we were there, which was only 2 minutes. A couple cars passed by and filmed it, along with another jogger wearing super short green neon shorts took a selfie with it across the street. Down the street was the market, which you can easily see from the house. Then headed over to Griffith Observatory. No Max, luckily not a single car has been damaged from theft. It was a great experience. Drove around in Beverly Hills and the like and got back to hotel in an hour.
Last full day, thank you @sawce, Hermosa is slept on underrated. It's a neat cute little hidden gem of a town. Had breakfast at one of the iconic brunch places that's a block away from pier. Explored downtown LA a little bit and I can see why people say LA is not worth it. Blocks and blocks of tents, we did saw tents in areas outside of it, but per block it appeared to be mostly 5 at best and not exactly everywhere you see.
All in all, would come back again and probably do a cross cali trip, if it can be accommodated.
and her younger gen z sibling truly underestimated the state.
Starting the new gig tomorrow and see what happens from there.