The Final Leg: Venice, Los Angeles

Venice, California = our final stop on #thelongwayhome (Michael also referred to this as the death of freedom - always the optimist). We arrived mid-afternoon and immediately set about exploring. It was SO NICE to be able to speak English! Although my Spanish got pretty good (as far as basic communication goes), while we were in Central America, it was a relief to be able to speak without thinking!

Our first afternoon we spent exploring the local area. We walked to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, this is a well known shopping strip in Venice and is filled with boutique stores, cafes and bars. We stopped at Blue Star and grabbed some amazing donuts - because when you are in America your diet tends to go out the window!

Once again, we had access to bikes for the duration of our stay - I do love being able to get around on a bike! Hence, our first full day was spent on bikes!

First stop was the Venice Canals. I have actually been here before - in 2009, on my first overseas trip. Last time I had been here it was January - Christmas lights were still up and it was pretty chilly. This time it was warm and sunny!

The Venice Canals are man made and lined with beautiful (insanely expensive) houses.

From here we rode our bikes down to the Venice Beach Boardwalk - there is a walking area and a bike riding area, I could probably spend the whole day riding up and down the board walk - beach, bikes and sun, I couldn't ask for much more!

Michael cycling along the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

We cycled from Venice and through Santa Monica - stopping along the way to admire the beautiful beach views. 

Bike selfies!

This was actually one of my favourite days of the whole trip - I love the simplicity of riding along the coast line and soaking in the sunshine!

After stopping for lunch we rode to the Santa Monica Pier - I have been here plenty of times (my family used to live in this area) but never in the summer so I was excited.

Beach views from the Santa Monica Pier. 

Above: the Santa Monica Pier has a small amusement park on it (it reminded me of the Brighton Pier in the UK but, obviously, warmer). 

While we were in Venice there was a mini heatwave (30 degrees +), which meant plenty of beach time for us! Having said that, the water along this coast line was absolutely freezing - like, toes going numb cold, so most of our time was spent reading on the beach rather than actually swimming in the water (a pretty brutal change after the lovely temperate Central American beaches). 

A long summers day - the sun starting to set over the Californian coastline. 

Although I have visited California several times, one thing I have never got to do was to hike in the Hollywood Mountains - so this was high on my to do list. We, cleverly, choose the hottest day of the month to do this!

In this photo I am at the Griffith Observatory, the actual observatory was closed but from where it is located we had amazing views of the Hollywood Mountains (above photo) and downtown Los Angeles and the beach cities (Santa Monica, Venice) - which Michael is looking out towards in the below photo. 

The Hollywood Sign - it seemed a lot closer in real life!

Hiking up Mount Hollywood - it was HOT.

You can (just) see the Hollywood sign to the left of Michael.

The peak of Mount Hollywood! Again, you can see the Hollywood sign to our right. We had actually planned to hike all the way around to the back of the Hollywood sign but it was absolutely scorching so we decided to be sensible and head back down.

Hiking fun!

On our final night in LA, our final night of our whole trip actually, we went to an NBA game - Michael's boyhood dreams were finally coming true!

Michael outside the Staples Center in downtown LA prior to the game - LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz.

We had to have some hotdogs while at the game - most expensive hot dogs I've ever had in my life but as they say... YOLO.

Pre-game entertainment! The NBA has such an amazing atmosphere, so many songs / chants and free stuff being given away!

Well, this was my third trip to LA and I still loved it - the beach cities have such a relaxed vibe and there are some amazing restaurants and coffee places (especially in Venice as it's filled with hipsters). 

Well - that's it! The trip has finally ended (I realise that it actually ended a while ago but it's taken me a while to get around to writing this) - we were so fortunate to spend an amazing three months in some really unique and very off-the-beaten-track locations. I would highly recommend Central America to anyone that wants to travel somewhere predominantly authentic and unexplored (while you still can).

This isn't the end of our travels, there is plenty more world for us to explore, but for now we are going to focus on making Melbourne our home. 

xxx