Sunday morning in San Mateo was laid back, Eli and I had breakfast and then said goodbye, although I think we'll keep in touch. With the deadline of turning in the van quickly approaching my focus was now really shifting towards organizing stuff. The plan: drive to LA in two days, camp at Walmart the first night, check in at a hostel for the last two nights, using one day for cleaning the van, and one day for turning it in and being a tourist in LA. Reality pretty much turned out as planned. The drive along the coast was uneventful: a few nice views and a campsite that for once did turn out to be exactly as I had thought. Along the way I gave myself an hour per surf spot to try and sell my surfgear, but this turned out to no avail. Just when I was beginning to lose hope I got a sms from a guy wanting to buy just my board, and he was in LA as well. We agreed on a meeting spot, and this was the first thing I did when I got to LA: sell the board!
Camping at Walmart did turn out to be a little more difficult than expected: I was sent away from the first one after the manager had told me that it was not officially allowed, but that I could camp out in the corner (if the police would turn up it would be my problem). The parking lot guard did not agree however, and he gave me the address of another Walmart. This looked better and also had some other RV's there. I already sorted and cleaned part of the van before going to sleep. The next morning there was another parking lot guard. This one told me that I could not camp here... well that's too late now mate, already done :-D.
The cheapest hostel I could find at a reasonable distance from Universal, the airport and Escape's van drop-off turned out to be right on the heart of Venice beach: cool! The staff was relaxed, the atmosphere good, lockers in your room, and relaxed roommates as well: good. Too bad I didn't have any time for socializing: get a new camera, pack my bags, clean the van (inside and out) and do the laundry. This made for a very long day actually, and by the time I got back to the hostel it was dark... I got the last slice of pizza from the pizza place on the boulevard (where all the hobo's were already out and about) but the dusk turned out pretty well to make pictures.
The hostel itself was the last building near the boulevard, and beautifully painted at that too. Ofcourse I spent most of my evening behind the laptop in the lobby, apologizing to the few social people in there for my anti-social behavior. Apparently this is not done much anymore nowadays: almost everyone was behind a laptop or staring into a smartphone.... not what I was used to from hostels! The wifi generation has really appeared! It's pretty sad to see a guy laughing out loud while wearing earplugs and staring into his screen streaming youtube, while surrounded by others drinking beer and socializing... In the other corner of the room was a Chinese girl, doing the same thing, but then on a phone. All of a sudden there was a large dog in the lobby... a few minutes later follows a strange guy and his friend... offering beers. Turns out it's two Swiss guys: one a former professional skateboarder, the other a friend of his who has lived in LA for the last 5 years. The LA-guy is pretty crazy: right at home in LA. We share some conversation, the guy asks around if people are scared of his dog (who is a puppy, but big already and running wild all around the lobby). He tries keeping it away from two girls who are scared, but doesn't really succeed... after a while he gets tired of all the people staring at screens and starts running around pushing and shoving them to get away from those screens and start having some fun! Little response from the wifi-generation. By the time I am done with planning my transport and tickets for the next day they are already gone, having met a 50-year old guy who was interested in sharing their spliff. Nice little disturbance :-D.
What I had planned: at what time to get up to arrive at Escape at 07:30, what route and public transport to take to get to Universal Studios afterwards, and how to get back to my hostel after spending the day at Universal. Not much interesting again when bringing this plan to reality. I had a nice chat with Robert, one of the guys operating the LA office of Escape campervans. He shared some stories about why their insurance is so expensive (US suing culture) and we bounced some idea's around about what they could improve about the vans and their service. Of course we also shared our travel experiences while road tripping the US west coast.
I couldn't spend all day talking though, so off to Universal!
One of the major tourist attractions, and of course ridiculously expensive (yeah, that's the stingy Dutch again)! Highlight of the visit is of course the studio tour: you get to see all the fakeness that is created to make movies and TV-series, besides there's some pretty cool ride's/shows on the tour as well: A visit to King Kong, with very nicely done 3D animations and motion simulation. Of course everyone has seen Jaws, but there's also a scene/simulation of being inside the big LA earthquake. An impression:
After the studio tour it was time to explore the rest of the park: more of a theme park experience, but with some movie flavor here and there. First up was a special effects show. Not much interesting there... afterwards I went down to the lower area: first up: the Transformers ride. This was the best ride in the park: if I remember correctly it was a combination of a roller coaster, motion simulator and 3D immersion movie. You're part of the movie and get slung around by explosions, decepticons, crashing buildings, etc, all the while with Optimus Prime getting your back just in time. Definitely ride this one when you're there!
The area holds some other rides, but also a little museum with famous artifacts and props from some recent movies. A cool thing to witness from really, really up close were the puppets used in stop motion animated movies: what an incredible detail, and what an incredible amount of expression can these artists create from paint and clay!
Another highlight was the showcasing of the animal actors... lots of different animals and an instructional talk on how they are trained and how close the animals and their trainers are to eachother. I ended the day by a walk through the scary house... there's some people in there that have the best job that a high-school drop-out can have: scare the shit out of people by jumping out of dark places threatening them with rubber knives... hilarious!
While on the metro in the morning I had seen that one of the stops included the hollywood walk of fame.. visiting this was a plan B, but since there was time I snapped a few must-make-pictures.
Camping at Walmart did turn out to be a little more difficult than expected: I was sent away from the first one after the manager had told me that it was not officially allowed, but that I could camp out in the corner (if the police would turn up it would be my problem). The parking lot guard did not agree however, and he gave me the address of another Walmart. This looked better and also had some other RV's there. I already sorted and cleaned part of the van before going to sleep. The next morning there was another parking lot guard. This one told me that I could not camp here... well that's too late now mate, already done :-D.
The cheapest hostel I could find at a reasonable distance from Universal, the airport and Escape's van drop-off turned out to be right on the heart of Venice beach: cool! The staff was relaxed, the atmosphere good, lockers in your room, and relaxed roommates as well: good. Too bad I didn't have any time for socializing: get a new camera, pack my bags, clean the van (inside and out) and do the laundry. This made for a very long day actually, and by the time I got back to the hostel it was dark... I got the last slice of pizza from the pizza place on the boulevard (where all the hobo's were already out and about) but the dusk turned out pretty well to make pictures.
The hostel itself was the last building near the boulevard, and beautifully painted at that too. Ofcourse I spent most of my evening behind the laptop in the lobby, apologizing to the few social people in there for my anti-social behavior. Apparently this is not done much anymore nowadays: almost everyone was behind a laptop or staring into a smartphone.... not what I was used to from hostels! The wifi generation has really appeared! It's pretty sad to see a guy laughing out loud while wearing earplugs and staring into his screen streaming youtube, while surrounded by others drinking beer and socializing... In the other corner of the room was a Chinese girl, doing the same thing, but then on a phone. All of a sudden there was a large dog in the lobby... a few minutes later follows a strange guy and his friend... offering beers. Turns out it's two Swiss guys: one a former professional skateboarder, the other a friend of his who has lived in LA for the last 5 years. The LA-guy is pretty crazy: right at home in LA. We share some conversation, the guy asks around if people are scared of his dog (who is a puppy, but big already and running wild all around the lobby). He tries keeping it away from two girls who are scared, but doesn't really succeed... after a while he gets tired of all the people staring at screens and starts running around pushing and shoving them to get away from those screens and start having some fun! Little response from the wifi-generation. By the time I am done with planning my transport and tickets for the next day they are already gone, having met a 50-year old guy who was interested in sharing their spliff. Nice little disturbance :-D.
What I had planned: at what time to get up to arrive at Escape at 07:30, what route and public transport to take to get to Universal Studios afterwards, and how to get back to my hostel after spending the day at Universal. Not much interesting again when bringing this plan to reality. I had a nice chat with Robert, one of the guys operating the LA office of Escape campervans. He shared some stories about why their insurance is so expensive (US suing culture) and we bounced some idea's around about what they could improve about the vans and their service. Of course we also shared our travel experiences while road tripping the US west coast.
I couldn't spend all day talking though, so off to Universal!
One of the major tourist attractions, and of course ridiculously expensive (yeah, that's the stingy Dutch again)! Highlight of the visit is of course the studio tour: you get to see all the fakeness that is created to make movies and TV-series, besides there's some pretty cool ride's/shows on the tour as well: A visit to King Kong, with very nicely done 3D animations and motion simulation. Of course everyone has seen Jaws, but there's also a scene/simulation of being inside the big LA earthquake. An impression:
This fake alley has been used in lots of series/movies... bonus points for people who can name scene's!
Well I guess you recognize the painting style on this car?
Special effects: cool!
We all know this one! It's a lot more scary in the movies!
Yup, all fake... just a facade
Any fans?
I didn't see this movie... I think it was used in the Grinch?
Very impressive war of the worlds scene (a 747 crashed in a residential area)
After the studio tour it was time to explore the rest of the park: more of a theme park experience, but with some movie flavor here and there. First up was a special effects show. Not much interesting there... afterwards I went down to the lower area: first up: the Transformers ride. This was the best ride in the park: if I remember correctly it was a combination of a roller coaster, motion simulator and 3D immersion movie. You're part of the movie and get slung around by explosions, decepticons, crashing buildings, etc, all the while with Optimus Prime getting your back just in time. Definitely ride this one when you're there!
The area holds some other rides, but also a little museum with famous artifacts and props from some recent movies. A cool thing to witness from really, really up close were the puppets used in stop motion animated movies: what an incredible detail, and what an incredible amount of expression can these artists create from paint and clay!
Yup... there was something with a clock tower now wasn't there?
Incredible detail on these little guys and gals!
Pffft, this piece of rubber and electronics made me cry when I was 8?
I'm not gonna describe all the rides here.... but the Jurrasic Park one was pretty nice, but in most other rides you kind got the impression that they didn't want to spend the money on physical decoration anymore. Most of the other rides have you sitting in a chair watching a screen with 3D glasses, while being shaken/tilted/sprayed on. This kinda gets old after the third ride (even though all have different 'themes'). Well, Universal is in the moving pictures on a screen business, but well, especially the newest ride felt kinda uninteresting to me (might be because I am not <10 year old anymore... it was the minions ride). The return of the mummy ride is a nice little roller coaster, but the theme here consists of two mummy heads illuminated with strobes...
A true highlight: the waterworld show! Pyrotechnics, stunts, fun little interaction with the crowd (a lot of people get soaking wet!). Some pictures:
thanks neighbor...
Yup: pretty scary pieces of plastic!
More scary plastic: The Beast and his bride! ;-)
While on the metro in the morning I had seen that one of the stops included the hollywood walk of fame.. visiting this was a plan B, but since there was time I snapped a few must-make-pictures.
Hollywood walk of fame*
This concludes the visit to the western US. Next up: Phoenix and Florida.
Picasa pictures:
Day 59 & 60: Driving to LA
Day 62: a visit to venice beach
Day 63: Hollywood
* I have no special love for Britney.. she just turned out to be the star closest to the bus stop
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