Thrills, Chills and Skateboard Spills
Trip Start
Dec 22, 2009
1
2
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Trip End
Sep 23, 2010
Los Angeles, California
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Feeling surprisingly energised and with plenty of daylight left I decided to stick to my 'this won't really happen' plan and save 16 bucks by catching public transport rather than the shuttle. All was going swimmingly - a helpful bus driver, some new friends (Asian tourists) who were transferring to the second bus also, and the sounds of "fo sho man like keep that real you know?" - I was feeling pretty down with it. Disaster struck when I worked out I had traveled a little too far... 3 beaches to be exact. Thinking it would be a nice stroll back to where I needed to go, the bus driver assured me it was only 'about 2 miles' - no big deal. So, with my 12.7Kg pack I set off down to 'the pier' (think Baywatch - very cool) and started walking towards Venice Beach. Starting to doubt the distance and feeling my spine under serious strain, I asked some randoms how far to Venice Beach 'Oh man, like 30 minutes?'... hmm.
Finally got there, passing Muscle Beach - has to be seen to be believed (photos to come), Santa Monica Beach and finally Venice Beach. By this time I was ready to throw away half of the contents of my pack and get new shoes, decided to be sensible and see how I felt tomorrow.
Checked into 'Venice Beach Cotel', pretty cool little place and have just been chatting to my roommate about Mexico - she is off to teach English there starting tomorrow (Melbournite originally).
Went down to the beach - thought of Jon straight away as it is arty and skateboard central, he must've loved it. Warmer than I expected, 20 degrees C so was glad to be back in thongs (sorry, flip flops). The Beach has a central skate park, arty sculpture things and plenty of...how shall I put this...different people. I met a woman with a skateboarding dog, a poet 'I;ve been writing for 10 years baby', a guy who wanted me to help him 'get everyone to stand on the pavement lines', the list goes on. The fact that they have a testing centre for Medicinal Marijuana says it all - I don't think the test would be too hard... Anyway, darkness and chilliness came pretty quickly so I grabbed a chicken skewer and headed back to the hostel. Attempted to 'bond' in the common area (too many people with noses in books), luckily my roommate was in our room for some Mexico slash 'let me inform you about Perth' convo.
Can't believe it's only 7:30pm - feels like midnight, think I'll hit the hay soon ready for another mad day.
