Lifestyle

West Coast America Photo Diary – Los Angeles and Las Vegas

Today I thought i’d update my holiday photo diary to include some of the pictures that I took whilst in Hollywood and Las Vegas. Hollywood was the second leg of our trip, which saw us moving out of Disney and into the “Loews Hollywood Hotel”. We stayed here for another 3 days and then took a flight to Vegas where we stayed at the “Aria”

Day 4

west coast america photo diary

IMG_0975

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

We paid to upgrade our room (which turned out to be free in the end!) to get a view of the Hollywood sign. It was pretty amazing being able to look out of the window and to see the Hollywood Hills.  The hotel was conveniently situated practically on the “Walk of Fame” and next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Me and James usually have a habit of visiting waxworks exhibits when we go away. When we spotted the Hollywood Wax Museum not too far from the hotel we decided to pop in and have a laugh at some of the dodgy waxworks. It was actually surprisingly good. Plus they had a torture chamber section which was absolutely terrifying! I was absolutely wetting my pants whilst James stood there tutting at me.

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

The one thing I didn’t realise about Los Angeles was that it is such a huge city. They don’t call it the city of the car for nothing! That evening we decided to go to the famous shopping complex “The Grove” and thought it would be a good idea to walk there. We were sorely mistaken and about 3 miles and nearly 1 and a half hours later we made it! Nevertheless it was a beautiful complex – so nicely landscaped and maintained, it sort of felt like going back in time to an America of the past

Day 5

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

This was the day we headed over to Universal Studios to take our VIP tour. This is definitely something I would recommend to anyone visiting Hollywood. It was absolutely amazing – we got to see all of the backlot sound stages, have a tour of the props department and walk onto movie sets. You might recognise the plane crash scene from War of the Worlds below.

We also got front of line passes to all of the attractions as part of the VIP ticket. Universal was gearing up for their Halloween Horror Nights events at the time, so the whole park was themed with creepy props. everything Universal does is off the scale so I can imagine HHN would be absolutely crazy!

Day 6

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

Our last full day in Los Angeles was spent at Santa Monica pier, visiting the beach made famous by Baywatch. It was such a nice day,  I did venture into the sea slightly, but I’m too much of a wuss as I always think the water is too cold.  On our way home we visited the iconic Beverly Hills sign and got some cool photos. In the evening we went over to “Dave and Busters”. It’s sort of an arcade themed restaurant, where you can play games, eat, drink at the bar etc. It was only later we saw on the news that Justin Bieber was there just a couple of days earlier!

Days 7+

On day 7 we flew to VEGAS! If you know me you know I’ve become a seasoned Vegas traveller (4th time this year!) Sin City isn’t for everyone but I always have such a laugh and an amazing time here. This year we stayed at the Aria resort. We had a super cool view from our room, with MGM Grand to the right.  We ate, we drank, we gambled, we saw Cirque du Soleil(!), and we cried with laughter.

I got to go up the Eiffel Tower at night which was something I had been really keen on doing for a while. Looking out across the entire strip at night is incredible. We were also able to watch the Bellagio fountain show from above! Looking out across Vegas that night I was truly grateful that I was able to experience something so amazing It makes working all year 100% worth it.

We also got to visit the “Neon Boneyard”, which is a final resting place for all of the old Vegas neon signs. We got a really thorough history from our tour guide about the history of many of these iconic pieces of Vegas memorabilia! Again something I would recommend to visitors – and if you go at night they switch the signs on!!

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

west coast america photo diary

I hope you enjoyed my pictures – and if you made it this far, well done! Let me know if you have any fun travel plans coming up!