Glass half empty
We arrive at our hotel, sleep deprived but confident that the early check in we had requested would be available. The joys that hotel loyalty bring, with little jewel named levels of rewards and redemptions to keep your custom. The loyalty was however not rewarded and we are sent on our way with mention that check in is at 3pm however they thank us for our loyalty and will text us as soon as our room ready. So we tip a man for putting our bags in a cupboard.
We cross the road to the “Beverly Centre” billed in the airNZ app as “America invented the Mall so be prepared to be impressed”. We were not. We sit down in one of the very few cafes and have some lunch. The whole mall is so quiet it’s eerie and lunch is no exception. We wonder if its just because its a Monday or is retail really this badly hit. At the end of lunch the tipping nightmare begins, how much? Leave it on the table? Put it on the eftpos? what’s fair and what makes you a Scrooge? Our theory is we leave cash for the service staff as then you can be sure they receive it rather than on the bill. The thought process takes up too much time in our simplistic kiwi service tipping minds, where if its good leave some cash if not, don’t.
We go back to the hotel at 2.40pm to check if our room is ready and we are told that it is not and when it is, they will text us. We get a text at ten to three to tell us our early check in is now available.
As you can read between the lines I need to flip the glass.
GLass half full
We head to our room and our advertised balcony room with pictures of the hills beyond and potted plants on the balcony is a dingy balcony where the door is situated behind the desk and it looks straight out to a big blank wall of the Beverly centre. Ooops I forgot I flipped the glass, perhaps in hindsight I will just bullet point instead.
Had a shower to wash off the travel dust and germs.
We decide to do a hop on hop off bus and see the sights and make the most of the sunshine outside.
Hollywood star walk street closed because Oscar’s are on Sunday and its getting ready.
Not many other sites to see but learnt that there is lots of oil in California and we saw places that famous people had once stayed at or ate at or maybe walked somewhere. Which is actually not that interesting.
Got very very cold very quickly as the sun was setting and had no jersey. So as my skin bumped and my bones froze the words of travelling niece whispered in my ears.
Got back to hotel and had another shower to warm the bones.
Head to the restaurant for dinner. Eat. Average. Tip, how much?, It says On the bill that a gratuity of 21% is already added to the bill but then under that it says tip amount? Aren’t they the same? FFS
time for bed.
Wake up. Head down to meet yellow bus 1.5 km away. Hot, sunny not a breath of wind.
Pass a Ponsonby Road cafe. Yippeee. Flat white, just what the dr ordered. WH promise to come back tomorrow for a pie but for now on a missh to catch the yellow bus 1.5 km away.
3.7km later and multiple amounts of FFSing we board the yellow bus.
Heading to Santa Monica. Sunny, warm, not a breath of wind.
Arrive at Venice beach where we are going to hire bikes and bike to Santa Monica. Foggy, freezing, and no jersey in sight. Also not in sight is the Pacific Ocean.
We settle for some brunch in a cute little restaurant and are seated under a cozy heater and offered snuggly rugs. Brunch is good and warm. We head off and rent our bikes.
We bike along the ocean promenade and take in the view of the ocean hiding behind the fog. We can see the surf patrol huts and utes parked up and I can’t but help wonder what they will be doing today on the very empty beach with the hidden ocean.
The biking is still fun and the boardwalk empty and if you go fast enough its almost warms you up a bit.
We hit the pier and the end of route 66.
We ditch the bikes and wander with the tourists. We can finally see the ocean and the grey horizon begins to fade a bit and let some light in, but for us we hop on the yellow bus back to the warmth only a few kilometres away.
Day three: We decide we can’t be bothered renting a car and driving to Las Vegas so we stay another night at the hotel and go to Universal studios
It’s fun as we play Mario carts, ride the mummy roller coaster, and tour the movie lots. It’s a cruisey sort of day and it’s warm. Nicely warm and we make sure we head home before the sun gets to low in the sky. But just in case we have our jerseys, finally lugged around all day but never venturing out of the back pack.
