Hmmm, posts about LA, Beverly Hills and Hollywood don’t really belong on a blog about living a frugal lifestyle, do they?
Up until recently, I did kind of agree with that sentiment so even though, we’ve had some AMAZING holidays over the last couple of years, I haven’t really shared all that much on here with you. But, after my post earlier this month, I thought I’d share some photos from last year’s trip to LA with you because it was a year ago today that Miss Frugal and I were enjoying the last day of our holiday of a lifetime.
I feel like I can genuinely call it a holiday of a lifetime because it was like everything just lined up for us to make it a perfect trip and the circumstances just couldn’t ever be repeated I don’t think.
First of all, we booked a budget hotel somewhere in downtown LA but there was an issue with the location not being as advertised and when we complained, we were given a complimentary upgrade to a top hotel in Beverly Hills – it actually backed on to the Fox Studios lot so we could see filming going on from the hotel!
It was way out of our posh range though with a concierge and a Tesla town car that was available to take guests anywhere within a set area. We must have gone at a quiet time as it was available for us almost immediately every time we went to use it (which was frequently). They even gave us a card so we could call and get a ride home when we were done!
The drivers were amazing and pointed out all sorts to us – the hotel from Pretty Woman, the places where all the celebs hung out and the best places to eat and shop. Apparently, we were the first people who ever asked to be taken to a Target using the Tesla – the hotel doorman’s face was a picture when we got back to the hotel in the car and he realised that the boot was filled with Target bags. 😉
In his defence, he recovered pretty quick and unloaded them all with as much care as if our bags filled with random bits were designer bags filled with expensive purchases.
The fact we had access to a car saved us an absolute fortune – we used it to go to and from the nearest shopping mall for breakfast (more often than not just something from a bakery we discovered) and then to where we were going for the day or at least to as close as we could get it to take us, and then on a night, we’d go back to the shopping mall and eat at the food court there before it picked us up to take us back to the hotel again.
We also found that most of the things we wanted to do didn’t cost anything other than the odd Uber to get there when they were too far for the hotel’s car to take us and the odd attraction we wanted to visit.
We filled our six days in LA with all of the things you’d expect and much much more! And although I’ll not bore you by talking you through the things we did, I thought I’d share a few photos of some of our highlights…
Obviously, you can’t do LA without going to see the Hollywood sign which was a very surreal moment!
We *almost* went on the Famous Ferris Wheel on Santa Monica Pier – it was closed when we were there though!
We sat and watched the muscley men working out at Muscle Beach – those guys had MUSCLES!
We walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and spotted the names we knew – did you know the stars have to apply for a star if they want one and there’s a cost of around $35000 for one that they pay themselves!
We obviously went shopping on Rodeo Drive and did some posing in front of the Iconic Beverly Hills sign.
We did the Warner Bros studio tour and saw where lots of our favourite films and TV shows are filmed. It was pretty surreal being on the sets of some shows we loved but the highlight was probably seeing Chuck Lorre walking out of The Big Bang Theory studio lot (he’s the producer of so many shows that I’ve loved over the years).
We walked along the beautiful Venice canals which are tucked back along from Muscle Beach. We used Google Maps to find it and it was well worth it.
Obviously we had a beach afternoon and Santa Monica Beach is everything we thought it would be and more!
Our hotel had a rooftop so we spent our last afternoon relaxing around the pool and just generally chilling after a busy week.
We saw the most beautiful sunsets – there’s no filter at all on this one!
And the sunrises were almost as spectacular – this was my morning cuppa watching the sunrise on our balcony!
We shared cheesecake in the Cheesecake Factory!
And then we brought home half of Target with us!
And then on the way home, our flight was overbooked so we somehow managed to get upgraded on the flight to the front row seats in the Premium cabin which meant we had our own little area in front of us to spread out.
Even now, a year later, I still can’t believe the things we did and the places we saw but the thing I remember most about the trip was how much fun I had with Miss Frugal. We made some memories that I know I won’t ever forget and I’m so grateful for everything we were lucky enough to do while we were there!
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