Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Monica and Venice Beach, California Nov 19-25, 2017
This trip was initially planned for college tours in Southern California but we were able to turn it to a nice family vacation as well.
Sunday Nov 19
We arrived LA early morning and took a taxi to our hotel in North Hollywood area. It was too early for us to check in, therefore we just left our luggage at front desk and started to explore LA.
The reason we chose this hotel was the location as it was near a metro station. Since we didn't have a car for the first 2 days, this place was perfect for us.
The first thing we were going to do was to eat lunch at Vicious Dogs but since it opened later on Sunday, we decided to eat lunch at Ano Hawaiian BBQ. We were the first customers there.
Once we walked up from the subway, the kids looked excited and surprisingly to me. This was my third time here so I knew what to expect. One thing that I didn't like was there were so many people handing you things and trying to sell them. I told my kids to be careful not to just accept those stuff from them but we ended up paying $20 for a picture we didn't need.
We walked to Chinese Theater where all tourists would go, take pictures and enjoy visiting celebrities hand prints. We were going to see a movie in Chinese Theater but it wasn't a good time so we decided to go to Madame Tussauds. It was actually really fun as this was our first time in this wax museum. We did take a lot of pictures with celebrities (wax) we know.
Monday Nov 20
We stayed at the hotel today for some works. For the lunch break, we went back to Vicious Dogs. The kids really enjoyed and were happy with their foods
In late afternoon, my friends picked up us at the hotel and we went to see Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. It was a beautiful evening as we got to see sunset from the Observatory and the whole LA city. We visited Thai town and had Thai dinner again.
After dinner, we went to a mall walking around and shopping. The area was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights.
Tuesday November 21
We traveled by Uber and started the first college tour at USC. The college was beautiful and the tour was informative for us. We moved on to find a place for lunch and we ate at Wings Stop.
Then we again uberred to the second college, UCLA. We were lost for a while as we didn't get an official college tour here but finally we got to see the big beautiful campus and talked with the admission office for helpful information before we uberred back to the hotel.
We got to relax at the hotel for almost 2 hours until our friends picked us up for a nice dinner at a BBQ place. It was a great choice!
Wednesday November 22
My husband arrived late last night and today we were ready to drive to San Diego for the 3rd college tour, UCSD. The drive wasn't bad as I thought. We had time to sit and relax before the tour began at 1 PM. It was a good tour except the weather was warmer than we expected so we were pretty tired walking.
After we were done with the tour, we visited Balboa Park. Unfortunately, since we arrived late, we didn't have a chance to visit museums as they were about to close. However, we walked around and enjoyed the park before heading to a Ramen Noodle restaurant for dinner.
Our hotel for tonight was beautiful. The room view was perfect for us.
Thursday November 23
Happy Thanksgiving.
We walked along the harbor by the hotel before breakfast. The hotel area was really nice. After checking out, we headed to Hotel Del Coronado as we reserved "Ice Skate By the Sea" for the kids. Unfortunately it was so warm, they only ice skated for a short time but we got to explore the hotel. The hotel was located by the sea and an iconic of San Diego.
We had lunch at a small cafe before driving to Point Loma. I didn't know anything about this place as I just found it on the internet the last minute. I was happy that we made it here because we enjoyed the spectacular views, the excellent tidepools and the old lighthouse.
This evening, our friend invited us to her friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We drove back to LA late but we were able to meet and get to know them.
Friday November 24
We came back and stayed in the same hotel. In the morning, we used the metro to go to Universal Studios Hollywood. It was only one station away from the hotel. This was the second location of Universal Studios we visited.
We did the following rides.
- Flight of the Hippogriff
- Harry Porter
- Despicable me
- Mummy
- Studios Tours - the tour was awesome. We saw a lot of studios that were used and shot in several movies. This was our favorite 60 min ride.
- The walking dead attraction
We had dinner again at Thai Town.
Saturday Nov 25
We booked a bike tour at Santa Monica located about 1 hour from LA. Our tour route was from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. We were nervous for Luke because he wasn't a strong biker but he was doing pretty good and we had a lot of fun riding almost 3 hours. The weather was wonderful and the tour guide was doing a great job showing us places where we wouldn't know if we did it ourselves.
Good lunch at Santa Monica mall. We drove to Malibu as it wasn't too far from Santa Monica. However, because we had to fly back that evening, we didn't get to do much there.
It turned out to be a nice family trip. We did and saw so many things. We were so thankful for our friends in LA who showed us around the city for the first 3 days when we didn't have a car. I know my kids would forever remember the first time in California. I hope to take them back to the other part of California in the future especially San Francisco, one of my favorite places.
Other trips:
- Canada (Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Yoho)
- Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Monica and Venice Beach
- Transit Tour in Hong Kong
- Salzburg, Vienna and Prague
- Southern Laos
- Japan (Tokyo-Hakone-Kawagoe)
- Washington State
- Universal Studios, FL
- NOLA and Bahamas
- Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Antalop Canyon
- Paris, France
- Montserrat and Barcelona, Spain
- Dubai
- Laos (Vang Vieng and Vientien)
- Disney World, FL
- Skiing Red River, NM
- Niagara Falls, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles
- Western Caribbean Cruise (Jamaica, Cayman Island and mexico)
- Camping Guadalupe River, TX
Sunday Nov 19
We arrived LA early morning and took a taxi to our hotel in North Hollywood area. It was too early for us to check in, therefore we just left our luggage at front desk and started to explore LA.
The reason we chose this hotel was the location as it was near a metro station. Since we didn't have a car for the first 2 days, this place was perfect for us.
The first thing we were going to do was to eat lunch at Vicious Dogs but since it opened later on Sunday, we decided to eat lunch at Ano Hawaiian BBQ. We were the first customers there.
After finishing lunch, we went to the metro station across the street from the restaurant. We used metro in different places so this wasn't difficult. The first and only stop for us by train today was
Hollywood and it was only 2 stops away.
We walked to Chinese Theater where all tourists would go, take pictures and enjoy visiting celebrities hand prints. We were going to see a movie in Chinese Theater but it wasn't a good time so we decided to go to Madame Tussauds. It was actually really fun as this was our first time in this wax museum. We did take a lot of pictures with celebrities (wax) we know.
We came down to Kodak Building or Dolby Theater Building, relaxed and waited to be picked up by our friends to Walt Disney Concert Hall. Our friends showed us around the area. The building was really modern. We then went to have dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was a great first day.
Monday Nov 20
We stayed at the hotel today for some works. For the lunch break, we went back to Vicious Dogs. The kids really enjoyed and were happy with their foods
In late afternoon, my friends picked up us at the hotel and we went to see Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. It was a beautiful evening as we got to see sunset from the Observatory and the whole LA city. We visited Thai town and had Thai dinner again.
After dinner, we went to a mall walking around and shopping. The area was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights.
Tuesday November 21
We traveled by Uber and started the first college tour at USC. The college was beautiful and the tour was informative for us. We moved on to find a place for lunch and we ate at Wings Stop.
We got to relax at the hotel for almost 2 hours until our friends picked us up for a nice dinner at a BBQ place. It was a great choice!
Wednesday November 22
My husband arrived late last night and today we were ready to drive to San Diego for the 3rd college tour, UCSD. The drive wasn't bad as I thought. We had time to sit and relax before the tour began at 1 PM. It was a good tour except the weather was warmer than we expected so we were pretty tired walking.
After we were done with the tour, we visited Balboa Park. Unfortunately, since we arrived late, we didn't have a chance to visit museums as they were about to close. However, we walked around and enjoyed the park before heading to a Ramen Noodle restaurant for dinner.
Our hotel for tonight was beautiful. The room view was perfect for us.
Thursday November 23
Happy Thanksgiving.
We walked along the harbor by the hotel before breakfast. The hotel area was really nice. After checking out, we headed to Hotel Del Coronado as we reserved "Ice Skate By the Sea" for the kids. Unfortunately it was so warm, they only ice skated for a short time but we got to explore the hotel. The hotel was located by the sea and an iconic of San Diego.
We had lunch at a small cafe before driving to Point Loma. I didn't know anything about this place as I just found it on the internet the last minute. I was happy that we made it here because we enjoyed the spectacular views, the excellent tidepools and the old lighthouse.
 |
| Thanksgiving Dinner at our friend's house |
Friday November 24
We came back and stayed in the same hotel. In the morning, we used the metro to go to Universal Studios Hollywood. It was only one station away from the hotel. This was the second location of Universal Studios we visited.
We did the following rides.
- Flight of the Hippogriff
- Harry Porter
- Despicable me
- Mummy
- Studios Tours - the tour was awesome. We saw a lot of studios that were used and shot in several movies. This was our favorite 60 min ride.
- The walking dead attraction
We had dinner again at Thai Town.
Saturday Nov 25
We booked a bike tour at Santa Monica located about 1 hour from LA. Our tour route was from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. We were nervous for Luke because he wasn't a strong biker but he was doing pretty good and we had a lot of fun riding almost 3 hours. The weather was wonderful and the tour guide was doing a great job showing us places where we wouldn't know if we did it ourselves.
Good lunch at Santa Monica mall. We drove to Malibu as it wasn't too far from Santa Monica. However, because we had to fly back that evening, we didn't get to do much there.
It turned out to be a nice family trip. We did and saw so many things. We were so thankful for our friends in LA who showed us around the city for the first 3 days when we didn't have a car. I know my kids would forever remember the first time in California. I hope to take them back to the other part of California in the future especially San Francisco, one of my favorite places.
Other trips:
- Canada (Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Yoho)
- Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Monica and Venice Beach
- Transit Tour in Hong Kong
- Salzburg, Vienna and Prague
- Southern Laos
- Japan (Tokyo-Hakone-Kawagoe)
- Washington State
- Universal Studios, FL
- NOLA and Bahamas
- Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Antalop Canyon
- Paris, France
- Montserrat and Barcelona, Spain
- Dubai
- Laos (Vang Vieng and Vientien)
- Disney World, FL
- Skiing Red River, NM
- Niagara Falls, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles
- Western Caribbean Cruise (Jamaica, Cayman Island and mexico)
- Camping Guadalupe River, TX
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