Hopped on a Plane to LAX

but I just try my hardest to escape it a few times a winter. This year, we scheduled two. A trip to Orlando with extended family that ended up being 29 degrees (not a winter escape and story later) and thankfully, a second trip where we hopped on a plane to LAX with a dream and my cardigan…

One of my kids is a huge Clippers fan and it turns out, people in Los Angeles love the Lakers but Clippers v Bulls tix are like $7. I found insanely cheap flights on one of those discount airlines where you can only bring whatever you can shove under the seat in front of you and a VRBO above someone’s garage in Santa Monica. All in, the 4 of us got to LA with the rental car for $1100. Not a person. Combined. So that is what we got the kids for Christmas– a scavenger hunt that ended with plane tix.

We had a great time. We toured UCLA, the Getty, Hollywood Blvd, Griffith Observatory, Downtown LA, Staples Center, LA Botanical Gardens, Santa Monica College, and Venice Beach. I walked 40 miles in 3 days. Literally a half marathon of walking each day. You may rightly question how my family handles these “forced death marches”. Well, my lifemate knew what he was marrying. I didn’t spring these on him, we did them all the time when we were dating, and then I would proceed to fall asleep on the car ride home as he listened the White Sox game on the radio. The kids know full well that either they march with a smile, or we don’t bring them with next time.  Not in a mean way.  In a way that says, let’s have fun!! Either with us in LA!  Or with your grandparents back home!  No wrong choice!

The Good: LA has paradise like weather. It was 75 every single day. In the sun it was warm and in the shade it was a perfect breeze. The nights cool off so I wore a cute dress but brought leggings and a light cardigan in the car with me. There is so much to do that it is hard to narrow things down. I could stay for months and feel like I’ve still got places to see. The drivers in LA are REALLY good. They just have it down. They are aggressive but conscious of everyone around them. We honestly didn’t see one accident on our trip.

The Less than Good: Public trans isn’t great. Apparently from UCLA you can get buses to the beach and to downtown for a reasonable price but there isn’t rail service and it isn’t a great option from the airport especially, which leads to my next point. The traffic is pretty crazy. I can’t imagine a tourist attempting to navigate without a really engaged co-pilot. Parking is expensive. Nearly everywhere we went, I felt like I was plopping down $10 – $20. Most took credit cards so I didn’t need all that cash, but parking wasn’t cheap. You’d think with Cali’s crowding, limited land, and environmental concerns, it would be a top priority to figure out quality public trans. Which also segues nicely to my next point. The smog is pretty weird. It makes for amazing sunsets but it is a little more than disconcerting to see this haze just covering the whole area.