An afternoon in Los Angeles

Sadly my flight to LA wasn't a connecting flight and when I asked the lady at information where I can store my luggage, she looked at me as if I'd asked her to solve the world's problems. I took the massive hint along with my life for two months and tried to explore LA in the seven hours that I had. 

The complete saviour that is Google Maps got me to Griffiths observatory from which I could see the Hollywood sign and a lovely view of downtown LA in the distance. It was surrounded by rocky mountains so it was very peaceful sitting and watching the world go by in the thirty degree heat (I'm not even going to attempt to convert that to Fahrenheit). It was even nicer to take my luggage off before my back broke.

As always, I chatted to some lovely people along the way which gave me a great impression of California despite being somewhat terrified on the Metro initially. A guy kicked off big time as everybody looked at the ground, attempting not to make eye contact for fear they'd get badly hurt. He was extremely angry and bitter but I'm glad this was just a one off and the rest of my time spent in Los Angeles felt very safe. 

While I was waiting for the bus having successfully survived the underground Metro palaver, a lady approached me wondering how heavy my backpack was. The unit barrier meant that she had no idea about kilos just like I couldn't tell her in pounds, but she got the gist that I was implying it was very heavy as I struggled to adjust the strap to make it that bit more bearable. She tried to help by suggesting places I may be able to leave it and things to do that would be easy for me, though her suggestion of heading down Hollywood Blvd to go shopping didn't go down so well. No lady, my back hurts, the last thing I want to do is add to the weight and not be able to put it down.

The observatory was perfect because after I'd got a sufficient amount of photos so I could claim I've officially been to this place, I just chilled with no weight on my back. Here, I met a great guy from Devon who chatted to me until I got the bus back to the airport which was cool about all the stories he'd heard about celebrities, filming and life in LA. A relaxing time was definitely had.

My next destination is New Zealand and having just googled the weather, I'm scared. It's 17 degrees Celsius which in my calculations is bloody freezing and I'll probably get frost bite, so I've spent the majority of my time at the airport layering up in preparation. Another thing which kind of scares me about going is the amount of time zones I'm passing through. From Florida to LA I've already gone back in time 3 hours. When I arrive in New Zealand I'll skip forward seventeen hours and I just know I'm not going to have a clue when I get there. I love my sleep so we shall see how I cope. See you on the flip side when I shall tell you all about my Kiwi Experience and keep you posted along my journey down both islands of a country that I've always wanted to go to. I'm already loving the accent!

Things I've learnt in LA:

-don't judge a place by one idiot on a Metro
-stay chatty and smiley, even if you look rough from travels. People will like you and gloss over the face/hair situation
-chocolate is a necessity on a long haul flight
-pack more layers
-make the most of all the time you have, even if it's a few hours to explore one of the most famous places in the world. You'll in no way see everything but pick one thing and go for it. It's better than sitting in an airport.

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