Los Angeles Travel Diary

First thing’s first, sorry this has taken me literally 18 years to write (ok not literally 18 but it has felt like it)! Ryan and I took a trip to the west coast (Los Angeles, to be exact) for the very first time from December 25th, 2017 to January 2nd, 2018. It was SO much fun and one of my favorite trips to date. We jam-packed the trip and did some really awesome things. This winter trip has become sort of a tradition for us (last year we went to Nashville and New Orleans) and I really liked having our trips last year saved on the blog for posterity. It becomes increasingly hard to remember details surrounding trips as the years pass! Anyway, you guys also seemed to like reading about Nashville and NOLA so I figured why not do another big post about LA!

I called this one “LA travel diary” because I am 100% NOT an authority of things to do and see in LA. There’s SO much to explore and while I think we did an awesome job of hitting the good spots, there’s inevitably 800 other things we’ve missed. SO here’s a look at our take and how we did LA!

Our Airbnb

The Airbnb scene is always pretty overwhelming for me but it was ESPECIALLY overwhelming for LA. So many places to choose from (which was awesome) so we had a rough time settling down on an option. We ended up going with this place which I thought was really cool! It was pretty cozy but just enough space for the two of us and we had some GREAT views. We were glad we rented a car though because the trek up the literal mountain is definitely not an easy one!

PS: If you have never tried Airbnb but you want to, now is the perfect time to sign up! When you sign up today you’ll get $20 towards your next trip and I’ll get $20 for showing ya!

Universal Studios Citywalk

We hit this up our first day thinking it’d be a lot cooler than it was. It was cool, but if you’re JUST doing CityWalk it’s not worth the price to pay the parking garage. Take an Uber or, if you have plans to go to Universal, hit this up while you’re there! There’s a Voodoo Doughnuts which was sooo delish.

Santa Monica Boardwalk

We had fun in Santa Monica! We drove up here for the day and loved seeing the coastline and the pier!

Griffith Observatory

The first day we attempted to go up here, it was super packed and we couldn’t even make it up the hill. So instead we headed back the next morning first-thing (even before brunch!) and the views were definitely awesome. Didn’t get any great pics of me so here’s a shot of me looking confused with LA in the background.

Malibu + Zuma Beach

It was here that I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time! I also got pooped on by a seagull but that’s neither here nor there. The beach was pretty quiet and we did have to pay to go here but the views were incredibleeee. While we were in Malibu we also drove around Pepperdine which I highly recommend! The views from up on top of the hill were crazy beautiful!

Pacific Coast Highway

We took this from Malibu to LA and it was a lot of fun! We rented a Camaro convertible for the trip so I’d say that the experience was heightened due to the car we were driving but it was still freakin’ awesome.

Venice Beach and Skatepark

Was cool to check out Venice Beach just to say we’ve been there but I’d probably pass if we go a second time around. Reminded me of the New Jersey boardwalk but with many more homeless people. If you do go, definitely check out the canals they were so cool and the highlight of my time there!

Urban Light

Totally go see this! We only spent a few minutes here but it was really cool to check out, especially at night! There was a girl there getting pictures taken for her Quinceanera in a crazy awesome gown.

Arts District LA

Lots of murals to explore around LA and these were just two of my favorites (and right next to each other!)

Pasadena

We drove around Pasadena to check out where we’d be for the Rose Bowl a few days before the game. We didn’t do anything else there but drive around but I thought it was cool to see!

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Ryan and I loved the Warner Bros tour! It was definitely worth the money we paid, and if you love movies/TV you would totally appreciate this experience. We were in awe the entire time and saw so many things we didn’t think we’d get to see like the inside of a prop house and the set of The Big Bang Theory. Like I said, TOTALLY worth the money (it was a 3 hour tour!) and the best tour we took while in LA. The groups were small and I felt like it was a really personal experience. Highly recommend!

The Last Bookstore

One of my favorite places in LA was The Last Bookstore. If you read the blog often, you know that I loooove books and getting to cross this place off my list was AMAZING. I spent probably 2 hours there but I could’ve hung out there for hours. I even got myself four used books for fairly cheap! If you’re into books, definitely check it out. Or if you’re into cool art made with books, you should check it out too! The picture Ryan took of me in the “book circle” is one of my favorites from a trip EVER.

Manhattan Beach + Pier

We drove around here and checked out the pier. It was a cool place to drive around and wished we would’ve had more time to explore!

UCLA

If you’re into it, it would be cool to drive around UCLA! Ryan and I stopped here one morning just to drive around and check out the campus. It was really pretty and something we checked off our list!

Beverly Hills + Rodeo Drive

Obviously couldn’t afford anything on Rodeo Drive but there are tons of places for photo ops! We mostly just walked around and didn’t step into many stores but I’m glad we went to explore and see all the swanky stores and fashionistas walking around!

Universal Studios

Universal Studios was fun for 2 main reasons: Harry Potter World and meeting a fellow blogger IRL! Dani messaged me when she saw I was coming to LA and we decided to meet up at Universal on New Year’s Eve! She even got me into one of the special effects shows because her boyfriend works there! It was so cool and a ton of fun. Harry Potter World was AMAZING, especially if you’ve read all the books which I finally did this year! Other than that though, the lines to rides were very long (it was a busy day since it was NYE and there was a party thing that night) so we didn’t get to do many of them around the park. If you can visit on an off day, I guarantee you’ll have fun though! Ryan even got me to do the Walking Dead ride which I was literally terrified to do.

Rose Bowl

To close out our trip, we went to the Rose Bowl which was actually amazing because Ryan’s favorite team, the Oklahoma Sooners, were playing! We thought about going to LA before the Sooners were set to play the Rose Bowl and when it was confirmed Ryan grabbed tickets ASAP. It was such a cool experience and although the Sooners didn’t win, we got to see Baker Mayfield play and that’s all that mattered.

Notable Places We Ate:

There were a ton of spots we tried but these were the ones that stuck out the most! I linked all the places Yelp pages for easy bookmarking! You can follow me on Yelp here!

Laduree — really good macarons!

Voodoo Doughnut — crazy doughnuts, based out of Portland!

Blu Jam Cafe — lots of vegetarian options!

Fratelli Cafe — cute little cafe that wasn’t touristy!

In-N-Out Burger — a must-have!

Top Round Roast Beef — another smaller chain we found in LA! was really good

The Griddle Cafe — Hollywood — amazzzzing pancakes

Millie’s Cafe — really fast service and so good!

& Waffles — North Hollywood — chicken & waffles was DELISH

Bea Bea’s — Burbank — mouth watering crepes and a huge menu!