Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / December 2005

What time of the day?

Well assuming you'll have 5 to 6 hours free time, you may want to take
a taxi to Marina Del Rey for some beach time and a pleasant beach side
lunch.  Or a little further north to Santa Monica and stroll on the 3rd
Street outdoor mall, if the weather is nice.  There are a couple of
other beach communities (Redondo beach, for example) which is close
enough for you to taxi over.

If it's on a Saturday or Sunday .... gotta be VENICE BEACH!

For a more sedate option -- The Getty Museum.

Since you're on a budget, here's a low cost $3.00 option to take a
short walking tour
around Hollywood & Vine to see the Walk of Fame, Capitol Records, etc.

Metro rail station.  Get on the metro after purchasing a $3.00 metro
day pass and head east towards Norwalk.  Get off at Imperial/Washington
station and transfer to the Blue line heading North to Downtown Los
Angeles.   The blue line runs above ground until the last station at
7th and Metro Center - take in the sights of urban blight along the
way.  At 7th and Metro Center, transfer to the Red line subway and head
towards Hollywood / Warner Center - get off at Hollywood & Vine station
- admire the interesting art work in the station before you head up to
the street level.   Including the shuttle bus, the one way trip will
take you about 90 minutes to 2 hours.  After you're done touring and
taking pictures, get back on the metro and do it all in reverse.  Enjoy
the show!

Thanks you for all the tips. They were very useful in planning for the
8 hour transit time at LAX both on the onward and return journey. Below
is a summary of my trip.

First of all, I have to say Los Angeles residents are extremely
friendly and helpful. Never have I been to a large ciity where the
residents when out of their way to help an ousider. When I report this
to friends and family they are surprised, but they have never been to
LA and have only experienced it through Movies/TV which does not potray
it well.

On my outward trip, I had an 8 hour transit at LAX. I missed the City
tours as they started befor I arrived at LAX. I took the cortesy bus to
Aviation station (LA metro station) - my goal was to take the metro to
Rodendo Beach. I erred in not taking the taxi as advised by posters to
this group - the metro takes ages and basiocally I had to turn back
when I reached Rodendo Beach station as I was already 4 hours into my
transit stay at LAX.

I wanted to have dinner before reaching the airport, where the food is
extremely expensive and not the best of standards. I kept looking out
of the Metro to look for restaurants near the stations - it made me
realised how much of a car culture there is in LA. Most of the Metro
stations are in the middle of no-where and close to large highways and
are not pedestrial friendly. I stopped at Imperial/Wilmington station
where I saw a MacDonald restaurant sign (I did not particularly want
Fast Food - but I was getting hungry). The walk was further than it
appeared amnd it was to an almost enclosed strip mall - not sure why
there wasn't more ready access to the Metro station. I ended up eating
at the Denny's restaurant. It was beggining to get dark when I left -
the area looked a little on the rough side. It may be my imagination
preying on me - perhaps LA residents can confirm if this is so. There
were police at the staion and most peopl seemed pretty friendly and
smile when eye contact was made - big difference for travellers who
have been to cities such as Berlin, Paris and Moscow.

The trip back to LAX was uneventful and I felt pretty good to get out
of the airport and get a feel of the city. It was a sunny day and I
found it interesting watching people and overhearing conversations on
the Metro - - part of the fun of travelling.

On my return trip, I had a 9 hour transit at LAX. I arrived at 10.00
AM, and after clearing immigration, it was 11.30 AM. My flight to
Vancouver was leaving atv 7.30 PM. This time around I was more prepared
and was also better familiarised with the airport and transit system. I
stopped at the Info booth at the Tom Bradly International terminal and
obtained the bus timetables for Santa Monica. The lady at the booth was
very friendly and also gave me a step-by-step printed guideline on
getting to Santa Monica and back. Again it was great fun to travel in
transit and sample a bit of the local vibe - I was pleasantly surprised
at how easily strangers on the bus started conversations. Santa Monica
was an ideal location for me to visit after a 19 hour flight. It was
sunny and the view of the Ocean was lovely - it was just before
Christmas and it was fun to walk on the open shopping streets. I had a
latte at a coffee store patio and enjoyed watching people - theye must
have been some people from the movie industry there as they had some
interesting, and expensive, fashions.

I was in Santa Monica for abou two hours - and headed back at 3.00 PM.
The ride back was busy as there were a bunch of school kids. They gave
me a seat as I had a large back pack and was by now looking pretty
tired.

I made the mistake of not eating dinner before reaching LAX - after
checking in to the Air canada treminal, there was not much choices for
food: Burger King (long queues), Wolfgang Puck Express, Sandwich store.
And the food was pretty expensive for the portions given - I ended up
going to Wolfgang Puck as the food appeared remotely healthier. I was
charde $10 for a pizza the size of a small dinner plate.

All in all, 8 hours at LAX is not much time for exploring LA, if one
uses the public transit.  Part of the fun experience I had was meeting
people on the transit. Next time around I may take the Taxi and head to
a City neighbourhood and sample the atmosphere.

In conclusion, I had a great time and, again, I could not get over how
friendly people were. Is my experience unique? I plan to return to LA
and spend a longer time there.