Thursday 25 September 2014

LA Day Four & Five 21st/22nd

Hello and welcome back!
I am starting to run ever so slightly behind on my daily posts! Eiiip! Hopefully I will be able to catch up if I have some time. I am at the TIU Retreat hotel now and the Retreat starts Thursday (i am SO excited!). Its going to be flat out busy so I'm not sure how easily ill be able to post but I promise to do my best!
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Anyway let me share with you LA Day 4 & 5 which was NFL day!
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James and I woke up at stupid o'clock (5am) to get a taxi to the airport to fly to Phoenix for the day so we could go to the Niners game! 


We hired a car for the day! This was a totally last minute choice because we found out that the stadium has super strict rules on what you can bring in. You are only allowed to bring in a clear plastic small ziplock like you do for flights and nothing else! And there is no lockers or places to store your stuff.....crazy! We planned to go to an outlet mall in the morning before the game so a car was the best choice for us to get around and to store all of our things - so glad we did that, it ended up being a perfect choice! However watching my brother drive was a tad scary and stressful haha! 




Desert and flat flat flatness for days! 










Ahhhhhh! This was such an incredible experience! James bought us the tickets and LOOK AT OUR VIEWPOINT! We had such amazing seats with the best view of the game - it was so awesome! This was my first ever NFL game and the atmosphere of the stadium, the excitement of all the people, the INSANE cheering and the overall feel the entire day was just SO COOL! Honestly one of the coolest experiences I've had, and it was so much fun to get to experience it all with my brother (who btw is the biggest Niners fan - to the point of having the SF tattooed on his neck....yes big fan!). 





People here are absolutely bonkers for sports - WAY more so than at home in Australia. They literally go nuts, screaming, cheering, talking to strangers, high five-ing the person next to you, spotting out other fans on your side, rowelling up the opponents and other fans - its just like nothing else I've ever seen! 


















Sadly the Niners did not win - boo hiss! James wasn't all too impressed by the result but he managed to handle it pretty well I thought. It was really nice when we were walking out and for the rest of that day whenever we saw other fans they would say things like 'we'll get them next time' and 'too bad' and things like that, there is such a community feel to it all that I really liked! 


This was our little car for the day! Really happy we got to have a car for the day! We then went and did a bit more shopping and had dinner at the Red Lobster which was so tasty! We got a late flight back to LA and didn't get back to the hotel until 1am I think! Yawn, very long but amazing day was had! 


You can't go to Arizona and not try and kiss a cactus right?! 
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The next day I didn't actually take any photos! I know crazy right haha. We had a sleep in and spent the day around the hotel before James had to fly back to Canada. We had lunch at Tender Greens - SUCH yummy food! I spent some time by the pool and then James hopped in a taxi and headed off! 
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I had SUCH an amazing and enjoyable time with my brother in LA, it was truly awesome in every sense of the word. We get along so well and just had so much fun doing all the different activities and exploring together, I am so so so so grateful that we got this chance to travel together and to see each other after such a long time! Thanks GOOBER, love you! 
xoxo

Tuesday 23 September 2014

LA Day Three 20th

Hello and welcome back to LA Day 3! 
Today we hired bikes from our hotel and spent the day exploring Venice Beach and Santa Monica!



The houses that line the beach in Venice are so cool! This one had a tree house at the front, so unique! 









There was the VBL (Venice Basketball League) happening so we locked up our bikes and stopped to have a watch - it was very cool, they had a DJ playing music, a guy on the mike talking about the games and all the courts being used.  







We stopped on the Pier and had lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co - tasty!









We then headed up to the 3rd Street Promenade to do some shopping, so happy my brother was cool with that!!! I got some great deals; like a pair of jeans from A&F for $34 - winning! 



Headed back down to Venice Beach and people watched - the guys in the skate park were really talented! 

















Headed back to our hotel for a drink and chill then had dinner over the road at Tender Greens - which WOW, LA I am so jealous of all the amazing healthy take-aways, cafes and restaurants you have! I had grilled chicken with a giant kale salad and it was so tasty! 



Another wonderful day spent seeing the sights and spending time with my favourite brother! 
See you tomorrow for day 4! 
xoxo