Day 1 – Wed 23 - Arrive Los Angeles

Arrived 4pm direct from Heathrow with Virgin. Initial thoughts on flying over city was where was any greenery! Now understand why family friend who lives in LA loves London in the spring and spends so much of her time in the parks when she visits.

For some reason thought trip to hotel would be quicker. Took over an hour and cost $70. Soon came to realise that any trip in LA took ages.

Stayed at Magic Castle in Hollywood. Only there for 2 whole days. One day was going to be beach and the other Hollywood / Universal so location was always going to be ok for one day and a bit of a trek for the other.

Hotel was ideal for us in that it had bedroom with 2 twins and also a lounge with a sofa bed. Also had a large lounge area open plan to dining room and kitchen. There was a central courtyard area with a swimming pool. We paid $219 a night for the room which was good value compared to booking 2 rooms in any other decent local hotel.

What made it even better value was that breakfast was included and also you had free soft drinks and snacks (unlimited) from front desk. Also parking was only $9 a day.

Do not expect high class accommodation – all needs a bit of a paint job, grilles on air con units were filthy, room safe was not working (more about that later!).

Went out to get something to eat and found the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall (few hundred yards away). This is a small open plan mall with a few shops and restaurants but opens out onto Hollywood Blvd which was buzzing.

Although always busy there was the premiere of the X-Files movie that night with red carpet etc. so lot of people hanging around watching.

Had meal at an Italian in Hollywood and Highland called Trastevere ($130).

I will now mention my irritation at the gratuity system which seemed to exist in the US for visitors. I have no issue with leaving a tip. Good service should be thanked and waiting staff etc the world over rely on this to supplement their otherwise poor wages. Conversely if service is particularly poor I feel I have the right to reduce any gratuity I may of left. I know that in UK we leave lower tips (10/12%) compared to USA but I also know that I am not in the UK.

With every bill we got a leaflet describing that foreign visitors often ask what they should leave with it then going on to describe levels of service warranting 15,18 and 20%.

But what annoyed me was they added 18% anyway as if saying a)we don’t trust you to read this b)if you do read it we still don’t trust you to leave enough.

Throughout the whole holiday (Vegas excepted) this was nearly always the case. We even got bills stating service charge will be added for parties of 6 or more but still had it added automatically.

Right – that’s that off my chest and will not be mentioned again.

Meal was good but after 24 hours without sleep I’m sure anything would have been fine. Had the normal no sleep during the night even though exhausted.

Day 2 – Thursday 24 - Los Angeles

As mentioned we had a family friend who lives in Marina Del Rey. She had come to pick us up from the hotel and show us around the beach area from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. What was great was that she took us through a lot of different neighbourhood areas / streets so we could see different architecture styles etc which we would have missed if we had gone on main roads.

Was interesting to see that it seemed if you had the money you were allowed to build any style house in any area whereas in UK you can generally only build if it matches existing style properties. I am all for free expression and know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but am not sure that some of the houses been built there were exactly enhancing the area.

We were dropped off at end of Santa Monica by the Pallisades where we walked down to the pier where we met our friend who had driven on (she is in her 70s).

Was a nice walk down but was surprised by the amount of down and outs sleeping rough. I say this only as something that bothers me in that in countries as affluent as ours it is a sad state of affairs when so many people have this as their only option.

On the walk down we went into the Camera Obscura which was free and definitely worth a look.

Must admit I was a bit disappointed with the pier. Sometimes your expectations are a bit too high and I had some rather romantic notion of this beautiful 1950s ferris wheel. In reality it was really like any pier you might go to in UK. We of course went on it and it does afford great views in all directions. Had a well deserved beer at Mexican place at end of the pier to take in views etc.

Good pictorial history at end of pier charting its history which is worth reading.

We then walked down at the water’s edge to Venice Beach which was a reasonable distance.

The beaches are fantastic with wide expanses of sand with again a noticeable difference to the UK being a lack of beach infrastructure ie drink / food outlets. There seemed to be none around where in UK they would be lining the back of the beach. Our friend said that Santa Monica were very keen to keep it like this.

Kids were keen to swim and wife was keen to sunbathe but having to meet our friend meant that this was not possible (regret number 1 in LA).

Got to Venice Beach area which was an immediate change to Santa Monica. We really liked this area. There was a great buzz and energy to it. For anyone from London it was like a chilled Camden Market by the beach. Yes everyone was after your money bit no more than any normal market area.

I was expecting it to be a little more ‘weird’ in terms of characters etc but again coming from London perhaps you get immune to the norm.

Liked the basketball court areas which you don’t see at home but found the Muscle Beach area also a bit disappointing. It was like an outdoor version of the latest hi-tech gym with only one person in it.

Carried on walking down to Washington Blvd and ate at restaurant on corner (sorry forgot name – opposite Whalers). Really good cheap food.

We then went to the canals at Venice which I am sure we would not have bothered to had we been on our own but found them a really interesting place to walk around.

Ended up back at our friend’s house to see her husband (lecturer at UCLA) and ended up back at hotel about 7pm.

Being tired and hungry we again walked down to Hollywood Blvd where I had identified a couple of eating options. 20 minutes walking later the kids pointed out that we were walking the wrong way and could we please just stop and eat.

As we had not passed anywhere we went back to H+H and went in uWink.

This was a strange sort of place where you had to order your food and drinks on an interactive screen on the table. After 3 beers arriving I wasn’t sure if I was doing it wrong or in fact had really got the hang of it!

Were then told that kitchen staff were low in numbers and orders would take a while. Interactive screen came into its own at this time as you could play a number of games on them against each other which made the waiting time bearable.

Manager came over at the end and apologised for problems and took off 15% but still had the gratuity automatically added (sorry – said I wouldn’t mention that again). Although food was average for most of us my son felt his steak was best of the whole holiday including steakhouse in Vegas.

Day 3 – Friday 25 – Los Angeles

Went on a Starline Hop On Hop Off Double Decker Bus Tour. We wanted to get a city tour but did not want to be inside a coach etc and wanted ability to get off and look at things at our own leisure. You get tickets and start from the Chinese Theatre and is supposed to run every half an hour. Cost $30 each.

This is the first problem – as far as I could see it runs when they decide they have enough people to make it worth it. This causes issues when you get off and are waiting for the next bus supposedly half an hour behind. One of our waits was 70 minutes.

It is a 17 mile route taking you through all the major sites in the area with 15 stops that you can get off at.

We got off at Beverly Hills / Rodeo Drive as the kids wanted to see all the shops that they claimed they would shop in when they were at work.

We also got off at the Farmers Market which was far more our scene. I really liked it here with the food stalls and more ‘affordable’ shops. Son was straight in Abercrombie (not for the last time during the holiday). Would liked to have spent more time there and could of done if known was going to wait for 70 mins. Would suggest you allocate a day for this trip if you intend to get off and look at anything.

Reason we had to go was that we had promised kids we would go to Universal in the afternoon. It was already 3pm when we got on the Metro at Hollywood for the one stop to Universal.

When you get out you are faced with a huge hill up to the Universal entrance. Don’t walk – it goes on for ages.

When the free shuttle turned up and was obviously only going to fit about half the queue in we soon realised that the English tradition of orderly queuing was going to count for nothing. Very reminiscent of the storming of the Alamo as everyone broke ranks and no thought given to age, place in line etc.

We had purchased online front of queue tickets. These were not cheap at $109 per person but a) knew we would have limited time and b) I find nothing worse then queuing an hour for a 5 min ride. These tickets were great – literally no wait longer than a couple of minutes for any ride or show.

Park shut at 9pm so we had about 5 hours and even with these tickets only went / saw 90% of what we wanted to. The queues were enormous for everything. General family ratings were:

Excellent – Studio Tour, Jurassic Park, House of Horrors

Good – Waterworld, Revenge of the Mummy

Average – Backdraft, Shrek 4D

Big split decision- Simpsons. This is their big new ride which kids loved but we thought it was just another simulator ride.

It is very easy when you go on a road trip type of holiday to sometimes forget that, especially with kids, you need some good old chill out time whether on a beach, by the pool or at theme park rather than just sightseeing etc.

My interest in the Art Deco influences of a Santa Monica Hotel compared to my son’s will be as polarised as the need to be thrown around on a rollercoaster but on a family holiday both you need to try and accommodate everything and everyone.

Decided to have dinner at Citywalk adjoining the park. It was absolutely heaving. Every restaurant was queuing out the door. We went to Bubba Gumps and were told wait was over an hour. She then asked where we came from and on answering ‘London’ she said she loved London, made a quick call and took us straight to an outside table overlooking all the action. No idea why this happened but more than happy. Food was not exactly a universal thumbs up with son saying he never wanted to see a shrimp again after been served enough for a family buffet. ($135)

We were slowly coming to grips with the notion that a normal entrée would serve at least 2 and that ordering to share was perfectly acceptable (never really done in UK). (never any need to in the UK!)

Day 4 – Saturday 26 – Los Angeles / San Luis Obispo

One of the reasons for staying at the Magic Castle was that you could go to a lunchtime brunch at the Magic Theatre next door. Although we had booked this it had subsequently been booked for a private function which left us with a free morning.

We had not wanted a car whilst in LA but were picking it up this morning from Hertz on North Brea. I cannot stress enough how much you can save if you shop around for car hire and I mean for pick up location as much as hire company.

We hired a 4x4 SUV for 11 days to be dropped off at Las Vegas airport. We paid £250 + $100 one way drop off fee. To collect from Hertz at the Renaissance (both close to our hotel) was £300 more! £ not $

Me and son got in cab to go and collect where we encountered the most aggressive cabbie ever. Red lights were met with a volley of abuse and any other driver met with a hand signal (not a wave) and words questioning the other drivers parentage.

Decided to see the more local Hollywood sights which we had not really looked at like the Chinese Theatre, handprints etc.

We were then driving to San Luis Obispo. On advice we did not go down to join Highway 1 at Santa Monica as it was a weekend but drove along the 101 to Ventura.

Stopped at Santa Barbara for some lunch. Being a Saturday the beach area was buzzing and we took it all in having a sandwich down on sea front. Whilst kids and wife were dipping their toes in the water I was happily minding my own business enjoying a beer when I was approached by someone who had obviously enjoyed more than one beer that day who decided I was the man to discuss the merits of Obama and the war in Iraq. The former was actually something that a number of people seemed interested in seeking the views of during our holiday.

Although lucid to a certain extent the words ‘I have got to go now’ seemed beyond his comprehension until I was literally dragged away by the kids.

I had earlier mentioned that the safe in the hotel had not worked and it was now that I realised that our passports were still in the main hotel safe. We rang them up and they promised to UPS them to our hotel in San Francisco where we would be in a few days time.

Drive to San Luis Obispo took ages. We carried on the101 until you have a choice of staying on it or going on the Historic Route 1. I would strongly suggest staying on the 101 as much faster and also that Highway 1 is not exactly scenic for this part of the route. It does not go along the coast and whilst more attractive than the 101 I don’t think it warrants the large amount of extra time.

(Highway 1 from SLO onwards is a different thing all together).

We were staying at the Madonna Inn. Really looking forward to it as whole concept etc was something that appeals to our nature.

What we had done was book directly by ringing the hotel. This way you can choose what rooms you want. If you book online you can only choose the type of room leaving them to allocate to you and you finding out on your arrival.

We had e mailed them to ask about the kids having their own room and we told this was not allowed. Again on ringing this was not a problem.

We had 2 rooms a few doors apart. We had the Safari Room and kids had the Old World Suite. Both rooms were absolutely fantastic. Ours was a rock room with the bathroom having three showers / waterfalls going into one area with a rock seat in their as well. Really romantic place to spend our wedding anniversary.

Check in was excellent and keen to inform us about all the amenities. They now have a new pool area with spa which we went to. Has a really nice bar area with great Mojitos.

For the evening I had booked at Novo restaurant in SLO. Only about 5 mins drive from hotel. This was lovely where service, food etc were all top class. We had number of dishes including Moroccan lamb and Thai fish cakes. Restaurant was packed. I would recommend booking restaurants wherever you can as everywhere on our trip it seemed this was advisable. Not exactly the cheapest meal of the holiday at $240 but well worth it.

Really like the look of SLO – seemed lively with a nice feel about the centre.

Day 5

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Great trip report. We like Magic Castle too with its good location. Sorry the safe did not work - ours worked well here on the several times we visited. Yeah - Marina del Rey has changed so much since they allowed the high rises in for those with sizeable $$$$. As such, its really eclectic now than it was in the past. Again, just wanted to say great trip report and thanks for sharing!

Day 6

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Very detailed trip report. I have to say it almost sounds like you were expecting the US to be like the UK and were disappointed when it wasn't.

In terms of tipping, it's a completely different concept in the US and you can't apply what you have in Europe. In Europe, you tip IF you feel that the service deserves it. You don't have to and it's not expected. In the US, it's basically a requirement because that's the waiters' wage. That's why it's ok to add it to the bill. Obviously many Europeans stiffle waiters because they come as tourists with the same assumptions they use in their home country. That's why restaurants in Hollywood hand out flyers to give you head up.

If the service is really really bad, you can lower your tip to 10%, but not tipping at all is not appropriate (unless maybe you never got your food or no one really served you) because tips in the US are considered the waiter's wage by the employer. In CA, it's not even as bad since employers are required to pay waiters minimum wage (still, it's very LOW). In the Midwest, waiters only get paid $2 per hour because they're expected to earn the rest of their "wage" in tips. It's a huge part and often the major part of their earnings.

Enjoyed your trip report so far. More, please?

About the tipping. I have lived here a long time and eaten in restaurants more times than you can believe.

We have NEVER had a tip automatically added to our restaurant bill, EVER, EVER.

Are you sure that you were not confused about the 14% and more TAX? In the UK is VAT, or whatever, included in the bill, so you don't see a separate tax?

As for the shops in Carmel. There are all on Ocean Avenue. It sounds as if you might have taken the 17-mile drive, or somehow missed the main street of Carmel. No houses there.

Great Trip Report; a very good read indeed! Look forward to your TR on Las Vegas: "The Home of Buffets!"... and apparently they have a couple of casinos as well.