Okay, so LA is both amazing and a bloody nightmare rolled into one. We definitely want to come back, as we only really scratched the surface of what this city has to offer, but ONLY when they finish the metro extension that they are currently working on. I feel like we spent most of our visit in LA in traffic and I honestly feel for anyone who lives there because it must be such a pain in the ass to get anywhere!
For starters, our drive there was supposed to take a couple of hours and we were going to arrive around 3pm and head out to explore. Cue horrendous traffic and we finally pull up to the hotel in Hollywood around 6pm, exhausted and hungry. We dumped our bags and popped into a random Thai cafe next to our hotel for a quick bite to eat before getting the metro to see the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theatre. It was busy, buzzy and fun and it was cool to see the celebrity handprints on the floor. Those 2 sightseeing spots are easily accessible via metro, but that’s kind of where the metros usefulness for tourists (and probably locals too which is why everyone has to drive everywhere) goes dry.
We wanted to see the LACMA at night as they have an art installation outside called ‘Urban Light’, which is essentially just lots of ornate street lights grouped together. To get anywhere near the LACMA, we had to take a 45 minute bus. We felt a little uneasy walking from the bus stop to the LACMA too, because nobody seems to walk in this city so the streets are dark, dingy and empty. However, we got there and it was very pretty! We took some nice pics before getting on another 45 minute bus back to the nearest metro station and heading to the hotel for a well needed sleep.
The following morning, a Saturday, we wanted to spend the day at Venice Beach. We considered driving but were told by the hotel staff that this was a very bad idea due to traffic/parking. Instead, we spent an hour and a half on 2 different buses to get there. If you’re tired of hearing about buses in this blog post, imagine how it felt to bloody be sitting on one all this time! Thankfully, Venice Beach was very nice and gorgeously sunny. We checked out the original Muscle Beach and walked along the front with an ice cream.
You can easily walk all the way along the beach from Venice to Santa Monica, which is what we decided to do. It’s a lovely walk and there’s lots of cafes dotted around for drink stops. We stopped in Perry’s Cafe for lunch. They don’t advertise their gluten free options but they offer gluten free bread and can make almost all of their meals gluten free upon request. I went for a California Beach Bowl because I felt it was very fitting for our current location. It was yummy!! Californians love avocado and I’m totally on board with that obsession.
We eventually came to Santa Monica pier, which has everything from a mini theme park to an aquarium! The view from the pier was beautiful and we came across this group of pigeons on a day out.
Once back in downtown LA (after an hour long metro ride, of course), we got the DASH bus to Griffith Observatory. Note: do not drive or uber to the observatory. The queue to get in was crazy, and the DASH bus only costs 50 cents and bypasses all the traffic! The observatory is an amazing place to visit, there’s stunning views everywhere and lots of interesting stuff going on inside the building too. There’s tones of hiking trails to choose from and we went for a short one that took us to a viewpoint of the Hollywood Sign. LOVED it. One of the highlights of the whole road trip for me.
Because we might have actually burned some calories during the hike, we obviously had to go for an enormous dinner. We chose Umami Burger for the location of this feast. Umami Burger is a very cool burger chain that caters to basically everyone, specializing in the ‘impossible burger’, a 100% vegan patty that apparently tastes just like real meat. I didn’t go for the vegan option (shocker) and instead opted for the Cali Burger, lettuce wrapped, with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts. YUM.
We spent the rest of evening chilling in the hotel at my request, I couldn’t stand the thought of spending any more time that day sitting on public transport. That sounds super boring in hindsight but I was so over it! I’ll have to make up for it next time I’m in LA!
The next morning, we got on the road to the Getty Villa on the outskirts of Malibu. The Getty Villa was the brainchild of Paul Getty, a very rich business man who wanted somewhere to showcase his art collection. The whole place is designed to be a replica of a villa in Italy that was buried by lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted and it is indeed stunning, inside and out. It’s free to visit ($15 to park though) but you won’t get in without a reservation. You can make reservations online up to 2 months in advance of your desired date.
We drove along the beautiful Californian coast until we got to our Santa Barbara hotel. It was a little cloudy but still warm, so we walked all the way along the beach and Ewan skimmed lots of stones (7 was his best ‘skim’ of the day). During this walk, we kept seeing little, clear bodied things jumping in the sand. Intrigued but not worried, we continued to walk barefoot along the beach until we got to the town.
Downtown Santa Barbara is actually very good for shopping and is full of buzzy cocktail bars and coffee shops. We had coffee on a patio at one place then walked along for some wine on a balcony overlooking State Street at another. Gorge.
It was soon time for dinner, so we headed to PizzaRev. Brathaus also deserves a special gluten free mention as they do gluten free schnitzel and hotdogs, but we ultimately went for pizza because pizza > everything. I was treated so well as a coeliac in PizzaRev that I felt like Queen Gluten Free of Santa Barbara. He cleaned the whole pizza oven even though my pizza was going to be placed on a brand new pizza pan to cook, put on fresh gloves, explained everything to me during the process and got another staff member to open the fridge door for him so that he didn’t have to touch it, thus avoiding any kind of cross contamination. You also get free unlimited toppings on their pizzas which you just can’t go wrong with. If you want all the cheeses they do (which I obviously did), you can have all the cheeses! Gluten free heaven exists, guys.
Remember I was talking about those hopping creatures in the sand? Well, when we got back to the hotel I noticed lots of tiny bites on my feet. I googled the little buggers it turns out that they are SAND FLEAS. Is nowhere safe?! Thankfully, sand fleas aren’t actually fleas, they are very small crustaceans so I’m not carrying them around with me or anything. Still – GROSS. Hope I haven’t ruined beaches for you forever. Ps. Check out Ewan’s shoe tan below!
Gluten Free Piggy 