Californian Road Trip
Car hire companies are not at the airport and require a courtesy coach which can take up to 40 minutes due to the traffic through the airport. We upgraded one of the cars and paid for a Mustang, what a dream that was! Worth every penny. Whilst in California you must rent a Mustang! Just a note about luggage – two big suitcases or three medium size cases fit in a full size car – not much room at all really!
The hotels were great and hosts amazing. We were met in the Loews Hollywood that surprised me but everywhere else the hosts were fantastic and honestly couldn't do anymore. They made sure we had their contact details and that they would look after our guests if we emailed or called ahead. My favourite in Hollywood was W hotel - worth every penny. The roof top pool was awesome! Views all over Hollywood, I didn't realise how close the Walk of Fame, Chinese theatre/Kodak was!
Travelling in convoy to Santa Barbara - a stunning place with a great hotel, Harbour View on the beach. We stayed a couple of nights here and we tried out the bars/restaurants/discos and more! We also hired bikes which was the highlight of those two nights - great fun! They have 30 wine tasting places - we didn’t try them all!
We travelled to Santa Monica and stopped off at Paradise Cove in Malibu for a few selfies, a great celeb house-hunting opportunity.
I absolutely loved Santa Monica where we stayed at the Le Meridian Delfim and wish it was longer - one night was too short! This is where the real California is and it lived up to its dreams. We did a site inspection of The Loews and it was excellent in so many ways. I have clients that stay in Shutters on the Beach and took a nosey in there and it was amazing - a great 5* hotel on the beach.
The hotels here were amazing and in a great location. Also they now have a Metro that you can link up with Hollywood so you can stay here longer and have a day trip. Metro station right outside the W Hollywood hotel Santa Monica has a Ferris wheel on the pier- fantastic views all around – we also hired bikes here and rode from Santa Monica pier to muscle beach/Venice beach – but you can go as far as marina del Rey – all nice and flat! In the evening we watched the sunset from the Erwin hotel – advisable to pre book a table (just drinks).
En route to Palm Springs we diverted and went to Rodeo Drive for a couple of hours (two hours free parking in Beverly Hills- who would have thought). We took in some retail therapy and the famous Cupcake ATM. If I am honest Palm Springs was a lot bigger than I expected, with great hotels/resorts and good golf facilities. Most people go here for a spa or golf few days. There are lots of lovely restaurants and shopping outlet malls. We went up the Ariel tramway – four inches of snow and -2 degrees – bit different than down in Palm Springs! It was an experience though.
Los Angeles airport is very busy and I do recommend you check in at least 3-4 hours before as the security at this airport is especially keen.
The trip was ridiculously awesome - California Dreamin!