ICYMI, I am in San Diego for the summer working a research fellowship {it’s a ton of fun and super rewarding so far}! When I decided to come to California for the summer, I just knew I had to make it to one of the other major cities here. As a content creator {I don’t know if I really like this term, but I think my creativity is pushing me even past being “just a blogger”}, I really wanted to check out Los Angeles, CA.
So, I enlisted a friend, booked a train and AirBnB, and went off to explore the City of Angels! Fun fact: I was in LA for less than 48 hours{!!}, but we did so much stuff! Today, in lieu of my normal Friday Chit Chat, I’ll be talking all about my first day of my LA Trip; next week I’ll continue the story with part 2!
Most of the time in my Friday Chit Chats, I like to recap my weekend anyway! So let’s just call this a special edition post. To be completely honest, these are a lot more popular than I was anticipating they would be. Anywho, let’s get to the good stuff: my adventures in Los Angeles!
Friday
When my friend, Sam, from school approached me about using some of her leftover Amtrak credit to travel with her to Los Angeles, I said yes so fast even I didn’t know what was happening. I had never taken the train before because it’s not super practical where I’m from to take it anywhere super meaningful. But, for traveling up and down the SoCal coast, the train is such a great option especially if you want to skip out on traffic!
Amtrak Travels
The Pacific Surfliner will take you up from San Diego directly to Los Angeles which was incredible because ya girl would not have been prepared for transfer trains! It was so easy to get on the train because the Downtown San Diego station is first on the line up and the train was entirely empty. I was able to grab a window seat that also had an impeccable ocean side view during parts of the train ride!
Overall, I think that the train was great for solo travel and was pretty comfortable. They had food for purchase, but I came prepared and brought along some snacks and a water bottle! The train ride took 2.5 hours and I was #blessed because there were no delays. Amtrak also allows you to bring 2 carryons that can be pretty big in my opinion basically double the amount of things that you can bring with you on a plane and two personal items like purses and camera bags. I bring my DSLR and vlogging {yep, I vlogged!} camera on every trip; so my Vera Bradley Grand Traveler was stuffed with 4 outfit changes and my pretty chunky camera bag! But, I do recommend only bringing what you can easily carry especially because you have to walk a tiny bit to get to and from the train. Also, super important when trying to deal with LA traffic and being super close to missing your departure time! {Thanks Saba for the lift. LOL}
Saturday
Breakfast at Joey’s | West Hollywood 
Saturday morning was literally the perfect morning in SoCal. It was sunny and breezy; so naturally we had to start with a delicious breakfast to keep us fueled for our long day of tourism. The thing about LA is there are so many breakfast, brunch, and coffee items that I had no idea where to start! We picked the perfect location for our AirBnB in West Hollywood right off of Melrose Avenue. STAY HERE PEOPLE. It’s a safe area and there are tons of shops, restaurants, and bars within walking distance.
Sam and I were bad travelers and forgot a few things, so we walked to CVS and picked up some goodies before walking down Santa Monica Blvd. to this cute little breakfast place called Joey’s Cafe. I had the Denver Omelette and it was SO good. 5/5 stars to my friends over at Joey’s Cafe.
After our delicious omelettes, breakfast potatoes, and actual fruit salad, we needed coffee. There was a coffee shop pretty close to Joey’s called MoCafe. It was such a cute little coffee and pastry shop; the patio was also so dang cute that I needed to snap a couple of photos. Also, Sam is the best because she actually takes 100 different pictures from different angles and so naturally she’s a keeper photo friend!
Views @ Griffith Observatory | Hollywood
This was probably one of my favorite spots that we visited in LA. The view was incredible!! I’m going to write an entire travel guide on LA and have some great tips for easily getting to Griffith Observatory that involves absolutely no hiking, so be on the lookout for that! Overall, the views are stunning and the free museum-like exhibits are so cute and entertaining. One of the coolest things was probably having a pretty good view of the Hollywood sign! I would love to hike to the sign during my next trip in LA; maybe when it’s a little cooler outside!
Typical Tourist Things: Walk of Fame | Hollywood
The next place we went to was the Walk of Fame, which is easily accessed by the Metro! Now, I wasn’t a huge fan of this tourist-heavy, very fast moving part of the city! But, it’s LA and I feel like you can only be a first-time tourist once! I was able to find the queen {in my eyes} of Hollywood, Viola Davis! I also took photos of some fun ones that I passed as we walked up and down the strip! We also passed by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre which just reminded me of the LA montage that was played in the Nancy Drew movie. Lol random, I know!
Photoshoot at Alfred’s | West Hollywood
We ate lunch at Urth, which if you aren’t familiar with Youtube is every LA Youtuber’s go-to lunch spot. But even though it was 100% a hyped-up spot to visit, it definitely did not disappoint! I got a quesadilla and it was delicious! I’m also not much of a tea drinker, but also had their Traditional Iced Tea and it was SO good. After a little post-lunch nap, we went over to Alfred’s {In the Alley} for a quick iced coffee and a photoshoot with the fun decor and murals along the alley! You could say it was my perfect afternoon!
Santa Monica-Venice Bicycle Adventure | Venice
If you are ever in Santa Monica or Venice, I definitely recommend renting bikes and riding from one end of the strip to the other! We wanted to spend the rest of the evening in Santa Monica so we rented bikes there, rode to Venice, and then rode back to return the bikes! The coast line is beautiful and it’s also great to people watch and ride past the Venice Boardwalk that has a ton of fun shops that I’d love to walk through if I had more time!
Now, the Santa Monica Pier was also really cool to see and ride past, but I loved walking down Third Street Promenade and grabbing a quick iced tea from The Coffee Bean and Leaf! We had the best guac ever at Blue Plate Taco which had an incredible outdoor patio and then finished off with some dessert at Sloan’s Ice Cream!
Overall, I had the perfect weekend in LA! I’ll be rolling out Part 2 next week for my Friday Chit Chat! Be sure to stick around for more of my LA adventure; if you are into art, then you’ll definitely want to check back next week! Any guesses on what it could be?
What I Loved This Week
Okay, low key obsessed with The Bold Type of Freeform! You should watch!
Hannah’s post on THE truth about blogging!
I’ve been working really hard on my personal instagram! Go give it a follow!
keep on keepin’ on,
